I’ve not done a great job updating all of you about Ian’s new dogs. The last two I properly introduced were Falcon and Pilgrim, but it wasn’t much later that I shared about the untimely loss of Pilgrim. Since we lost Pilgrim, Ian has added two more huskies to his kennel: Shallot and Carly.

Lunobes You Shallot Pass is a 2022 running line Siberian Husky from Stephanie’s kennel, Lunobe. Stephanie planned this litter carefully and ended up with some amazing puppies that are now exceling in racing. Shallot was Stephanie’s favorite of the litter, and she thought long and hard who to place Shallot with. Stephanie knew about Ian before we knew about Shallot. When I spoke with Stephanie the first time, my initial question was to ask if Shallot could be a lead dog. Stephanie confidently answered that yes, Shallot had what it would take to be a leader.

Shallot came home with us May 2023, and had all summer to bond with Ian and the rest of his dogs. She is quite an opinionated little husky and doesn’t mind to tell us exactly what she thinks. By fall, she was ready to start harness breaking. Initially Shallot went on the line beside Jenna, following behind Falcon and Balto. Jenna is our calm lady who stays chill all the time. She’s never, ever, going to run a race, but she’s great to teach pups to be calm and friendly. This was important with Shallot when she moved in because she was on the shy side and not in love with the idea of being a pet. While Shallot didn’t want to waste any time on cuddling, she was all about running! Shallot didn’t spend many four-wheeler sessions behind Falcon before we swapped her spot with Balto so she could run in front. Our little lady LOVED leading!

Shallot kept improving, and by December Ian was running the dogs with the rig, letting Shallot lead the way with Falcon. Her gee and haw weren’t solid, but her go and whoa were flawless. Shallot has the best work ethic and is always enthusiastic to go. The only problem was that Falcon was slowing down. He’d already told us that he didn’t want to race, and now he was beginning to show signs that maybe he didn’t want to run at all anymore. Ian tried to let Balto run lead with Shallot, but Balto just doesn’t have the focus that Falcon does. Shallot wasn’t ready to make all the decisions on her own. She needed more help learning how to be head honcho, and it looked like Falcon may not be up for finishing Shallot’s training.

Around this time, I developed a nerve condition in my face, and started seeing a neurologist for the pain that had developed. For a time, we had to rule out some scary conditions. I came through all the testing with the good news that I didn’t have the ugly C word, or MS, but until we had ruled those diseases out, I was afraid to do any dog shopping. For several months, I didn’t know what my future was going to look like. Soon after receiving my clear MRI, I saw a Facebook post for an Alaskan husky that might be a good fit. I forwarded the post to Shantel to ask for her thoughts. She had set some pretty specific criteria for Ian’s next dog: 4-5 years old, Alaskan, lead dog training, previous experience in dryland mushing, and similar size to Shallot. Carly happened to check all of these boxes! Shantel encouraged us to go meet Carly, so we scheduled a day with her owner, Chelsea.

Chelsea runs 4 dog dryland, and had switched to running hounds. She decided to find special homes for her Alaskans, but was adamant that those had to be active homes that would run the dogs, while also bringing them inside to live as members of their families. That was us! Ian and I left with Shallot at 2 am to head to Illinois to meet Chelsea and Carly. I didn’t actually tell Ian we were going to potentially pick up a new dog until we were almost to Chelsea’s house. For Ian and Shallot, it was love at first sight! Carly needed a few weeks to think about how she felt about us.

Carly was the perfect fit for our family. Chelsea is not only a mushing trainer, but also trains obedience. She did a remarkable job with Carly’s training. Carly has solid recall, heels beautifully, and has perfect manners. But Carly’s mushing training was something else. Chelsea installed auto pilot buttons in this dog. If Ian whispers gee, Carly instantly turns right. If she hears a haw, she jumps onto a left trail. If Ian says nothing, she turns her head back to confirm that Ian is okay. Clearly if you need someone to start a dog, Chelsea is the trainer!

With Carly to run beside Shallot, Shallot’s running skills improved rapidly. She began to respond more quickly to gee and haw. Ian began to condition Shallot for an upcoming race in Ohio. He would be running 2 dog junior rig, so he needed to get Shallot as fit as Carly. We began going to Cummins Falls State Park every time the weather was cool enough to run dogs.

Before Carly moved home with us to TN, we were worried about Falcon and concerned that he might be approaching full retirement. He became increasingly hitchy on cool mornings, and he just didn’t want to go when we pulled out harnesses. He was seeing the chiropractor weekly and struggling to hold his adjustment. Joint supplements weren’t keeping up and our very good boy wasn’t feeling well. Dr. Mainord, Falcon’s chiropractor, sent us to Integrative Animal Solutions to rent a medical laser for Falcon’s hitchy back end. The owner, Tracy, quickly became a key player in Falcon’s health. She generously decided to sponsor Ian’s racing team and offered him laser rentals at a significant discount. She also offered some valuable nutrition counseling that helped us revise Falcon’s meal plan. Then we had Falcon see her holistic vet for an acupuncture treatment. This vet stressed to Ian that Falcon has to keep running so that he will keep using his joints to prevent them from freezing up. She showed us where Falcon has lost a lot of the muscle tone around his hips, and insisted that building this muscle back up will be important for Falcon’s continued comfort. Because Falcon was an extreme athlete for so many years, she explained that going for a leashed walk every morning and evening would not be sufficient exercise to keep the accumulating pudge off of Falcon. So Falcon went back to gentle work, and we hoped that he would begin to enjoy it again.

Then Carly moved in, and Falcon was smitten. We ran Falcon beside Carly the first few times Ian took her out so that Ian could adjust to Carly while running a dog he was familiar with. Falcon loped off well every time Ian pulled the snub line. When Ian began running the girls by themselves to get Shallot conditioned for her upcoming race, he started running Balto and Falcon together to work on their fitness as Ian would be moving up to 3 dog rig after the Ohio race. With Carly and Shallot working so well together in lead, after a few weeks Ian decided to put Falcon on the line in wheel to see how he did. The transformation in his attitude was instantaneous. Falcon was back to jumping up and down on the line and screaming!

I told Shantel that I could not believe how differently Falcon was behaving, and how excited he’d becoming about running. She laughed at me, and said that running lead is hard on dogs. She wasn’t a bit surprised that Falcon was content to move to wheel, and explained how lead dogs have to constantly pay attention to their musher, the trail, the other dogs, and more. In wheel, Falcon could focus on running, and let the girls make most of the choices for him. Falcon started packing muscle back on his loins, and his gait became more even. Our boy started wagging his tail after runs!

I truly thought in May that Falcon was fully retired, and would continue to deteriorate, but with the addition of Carly, he came alive again. Tracy and Dr. Mainord helped transform Falcon’s physical health, and Carly improved Falcon’s mindset. It looked like Falcon might actually want to race and Ian would have a 3 dog team! So here is the oddball mushing team Ian has assembled to race this season:

Left lead –Carly: white, 5 year old female Alaskan husky, trained by Chelsea. 38 pounds

Right lead –Shallot: agouti, 2 year old female Siberian husky, trained by Ian. 37.5 pounds

Wheel –Falcon: sable, 11 year old male Alaskan husky, trained by Dean and handlers. 70 pounds

Back up wheel –Balto: sable, 6 year old Siberian husky, trained by Ian. 85 pounds

Emotional support friend –Jenna: wolf grey 4 year old basset hound trapped inside a Siberian husky body. 65 pound.

It’s quite the eclectic group of dogs that Ian has accumulated. He has the excited baby, the solid campaigner, and the old man. We remain indebted to Dean, Shantel, Bonnie, Stephanie, and Chelsea for choosing Ian for these good dogs!