Dirty Dog Recap, Part 1

Hey, everyone! I know I said we would post updates throughout the weekend, but things were so hectic and we were so exhausted that we were in bed before 9pm after the races and didn’t get any formal updates written. We did post a couple quick updates on Twitter/X and some other UglyDogs posted photos/videos on their socials from the race too. But now that we’ve arrived back home, unpacked, and rested up, let’s talk about Dirty Dog!!! And I also think a bunch of us could use a distraction today.

So when we left off in the last newsletter, we had just packed everything up and were about to head north. The dogs each had a meal of kibble and a slice of raw chicken before we left. Ideally, they should eat roughly 24 hours before their race time.

We arrived at our hotel in Antigo, Wisconsin around 6:45pm. It took us a bit to get unpacked, then we ran to Walmart to get frozen hamburger for the dogs for after their races and grab some water. Then, we went to Pizza Hut to get some pasta for us humans to carb up for the weekend.

While we were eating, we met up with a few UglyDogs (fans and supporters of the BraverMountain mushing team), Kazi, Cathy, Carrie, and Laurie! They hung out with the dogs, and Pence even jumped up in Carrie’s lap and gave her an eyeball lick right away. That was totally not something she would typically do to a stranger!

After I finished eating, we went back to our hotel room. The dogs were quite thirsty after a day of travels. They get nervous in the car and pant a lot, so they were likely a little dehydrated. However, we made the mistake of giving them too much water. They drank over a half gallon between the two of them.

Pence started to pee in the hotel room, but Riley caught her. We took both dogs outside again. We come back in not even 30 minutes later, Boo runs over toward the door, panting. I was like, he’s not going to pee right? Riley said no, he wouldn’t do that. Boo then proceeded to lift his leg and unload his full bladder on the desk in the hotel room.

He’s been an indoor dog for a few years now, what the heck?! He’s never done that before! Outside we go, again. Almost at 2am this time.

After that, the dogs finally settled in for the night. Pence in bed with me, and Boo on the hotel room couch. Riley in the other bed. The plan was to have Boo sleep with him, but Boo had other ideas.

We believe this was Pence’s first time in a hotel room over night. Boo had been in a hotel a few times before, so we didn’t think he would have a problem, but of course we were wrong. Both of them were on high alert for new noises like doors down the hall opening and closing, traffic driving by, and the air conditioning unit kicking on and off. Hopefully they were able to get a little sleep at least.

Saturday morning, we woke up around 6:30am to pack up our race gear and head to the race site in Pearson, Wisconsin. It was held at the Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation, which is a beautiful property and well-kept trail.

We arrived just in time for the musher meeting at 8:00am. The musher meeting, or driver meeting, is where all the humans that will be competing in the races gather to hear information from the event hosts, race marshals, trail boss, volunteers, etc.

When the meeting was over, we picked up our bibs and packets. We sat down with Q and Ross Anthony (a musher who raced BraverMountain dogs in the Canadian Challenge last year, and is on the board of the UP200) to figure out who was going to race which dogs. This was Ross’s first time ever running dogs on a bike and competing in a dryland race!

To figure out dog teams, we talked about what dogs were running well at the moment, what teams we’ve used in previous races/years, what we thought worked well or not for us in the past, etc.

Of course, we brought Boo and Pence to race. But I wanted to split them up, and everyone else agreed. The reason why, is because this trail has so many hills. Boo and Pence can be a very fast team, but they may lack in strength to pull a bike or scooter up large hills by themselves. So, we decided to pair each of them with a bigger, stronger dog.

There are also some dogs who are better at leading than others, which also was taken into consideration. Pence is a leader, and Kiwi is a big, strong dog, so we put them together as my two dog scooter team. We paired Boo with Leap for Riley’s two dog bike event. Both of them have done well in two dog teams previously. Leap was the extra muscle for Boo.

Blair would run her scooter event with Yotam and Dora. Yotam the muscle, and Dora with speed and leadership skills. Ross would run Mazzy and Waller.

The two dog events were a little easier to come up with. One dog is a bit trickier, because you need a leader who does well running out in front by themselves, and is also strong and fast enough to run the hilly race by themselves.

Riley ran Zagat in the past and knew he was a powerhouse, and chose him for his one dog bike event. Ross chose Tenzing for his one dog bike. In the past, I have run Blizzard in my one dog events as he is a solid leader, super strong, and fast. But Blizzard was unavailable for the weekend. Another solid choice for one dog scooter would’ve been Forrest, but he was also unavailable. I ended up being paired with Lima, who I had never raced with before, in one dog scooter. Q said he had been running great, so I said let’s give it a go!

So, we had all our equipment and dog teams ready to go! We walked parts of the trail to check out the conditions and so Ross could get an idea of what he was in for. The trail was looking much better than last time we were there, which was exciting!

I hate to leave you hanging, BUT…we just got back home a couple hours ago (from when I am writing this) and I am beat. Check back on Friday to read part 2, where we will talk about all of our races and other adventures on day 1!

-Hannah, Riley, Boo, and Pence