Dovre and I

Have I ever introduced you to Dovre, my fine four legged friend? Hehe. Most likely!

I'm proud to be his owner, in his (active) retirement! He's an ex-racing husky, which means he participated several times *we are not sure how many, but think it was 8!* as one of the two leader dogs, at the front of the pack in the team of Tove Sorenson, in Finnmarksløpet, the world's most Northerly dogsled race. (http://www.finnmarkslopet.no). This meant he helped steer the course for a team of 12 dogs, covering 1000km over a 10-day race. It's a wild race, and I guess you have to like a bit of snow in your face at times to complete this, and not just give up and 'park-up' (stop running). As snow in your face can feel like sand in your face at times, (hence why military helicopter training for Afghanistan takes place in N Norway) this must be hard on the dogs, and you have to have a willing and keen canine to keep up the team momentum.

I adopted Dovre in his ageing years from my great friends, Ane and Jan, who had acquired him from his previous owners a few years back. He was working for them, pulling sledges with tourists on long winter trips in the mountains. Nowadays he no longer pulls sledges for a 'job', but instead pulls me. I seem to have progressed a little since my early days of skiing with dogs (see previous posting:http://helenjewell.blogspot.com/2008/12/skiing-with-dogs.html )

-these days I mostly faceplant only on the downhill phase!!! ;)

Huskies are practical dogs to own here in Norway, as the many great winter huts in the mountains and backcountry do not normally permit dogs inside. (Its an allergies thing!.....). So, this works well with a dog with a thick winter jacket like Dovre, who is used to sleeping in a snowball outside. You just chain him up outdoors, and he sleeps like a king! Going on hut trips = no problemo!

So, here are some Dovre photos for you. (see this post, and the next: easier to upload and space them that way!...lazy me....!)

(you can well skip this Blog Post if you are a 'Cat Person'....)