I had to ask myself today, “How many pictures of dogs do I really need?”  Not enough it seems.  I wanted to share a few on this post, but realized “a few” was the hard part.  The mushers we teachers have met over the past few days have all been open about sharing their dogs and their dog knowledge.

We began Tuesday at Jon & Jona VanZyle’s beautiful home and kennel.  The dogs there are always happy to see people and get an ear rub.  They are eager to meet new people and treated us all (humans) with respect.  We always love going to VanZyles where one dog demonstrated the wheel for us.  Dogs are free to jump on and off the wheel – they love to run!

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On Wednesday we went to Iditarod Headquarters where many mushers were gathering for their Vet check.  Again, the mushers were generous with teachers and let us ask them questions and pet their dogs.  The Vets doing the check-ups were a calming influence as dogs politely let them poke and prod.

Teachers ended the day at Martin Buser’s Happy Trails Kennel.  Martin has an exceptional relationship with his dogs based on mutual respect.  As we stood among his almost 90 dogs, the only sound we could hear was our own voices talking to the dogs.  A barking dog is an unusual sound.  Unleashed puppies (18 months old) raced through the crowd of teachers down a trail following a snow machine.  They are already being trained for future Iditarods.

So I guess the answer to the question to myself is, I don’t think I’ll ever have enough dog pictures.

            ALSO . . . an update on an earlier post.  I heard from Kathy Booth at Wesley D. Tisdale School who used the Fingerprint Dogs idea and added her own twist.  Thanks for sharing Kathy!