Lowlandstrail will race Femund F600, WCh longdistance 2011, 12-dogs teams

The starting point is downtown Røros, Norway on Thursday 3rd February 2011.
More information about the race you can find on the Femundløpet website .
All about the IFSS World Championships Sleddog Racing 2011 in Røros (Longdistance) and Hamar, Holmenkollen (Nordic style, Sprint and Midle Distance) on the special website for this event VM 2011.  

Nederlands:

De zomer hebben we besteed aan (allereerst) werk, de kinderen en natuurlijk de honden. In de kennel waren er de gebruikelijke onderhoud- en herstelwerkzaamheden aan equipment en onderkomens.

Daarnaast hebben we zoveel mogelijk tijd gespendeerd bij en met de pups, om te lachen en te spelen of gewoon om naar ze te kijken en daarbij hun ontwikkelende karakters te leren kennen.

De volwassen honden proberen we zo actief mogelijk te houden door ook met hen veel tijd door te brengen en met ze te spelen en ze dagelijks te laten rennen en ravotten (graven! ) in de hondenweide. Maar zo langzamerhand duurt te zomer hen en ons (veel) te lang.

We voelen allemaal de behoefte om weer te gaan trainen voor het nieuwe seizoen, maar dan moeten uiteraard de temperaturen lager zijn. Laten we hopen dat we (vroeg) in september weer serieus aan de slag kunnen.

 

English:

We spent the summer sharing our time between (first) work, the children en and of course the dogs. In our kennel we performed the usual maintenance and repair jobs on equipment and dog housing.

Besides that we made an effort to be with the pups as much as we possibly could, laughing and playing or just watching them to try and learn about their developing characters.

We also tried keeping the adults as active as possible by interacting and playing with them too and letting them run and fool around (and digging! ) in the dogyard every day. But to be honest the summer is taking too long now, both for them and us.

We all feel the urge to start training again for the new season, but then temperatures need to drop first. Let's hope we can make a serious start in (hopefully early) September.

A genetic dissection of breed composition and performance enhancement in the Alaskan sled dog

Written by: Heather J Huson , Heidi G Parker, Jonathan Runstadler and Elaine A Ostrander

BMC Genetics, Published: 22 July 2010

Background

The Alaskan sled dog offers a rare opportunity to investigate the development of a dog breed based solely on performance, rather than appearance, thus setting the breed apart from most others. Several established breeds, many of which are recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC), have been introduced into the sled dog population to enhance racing performance. We have used molecular methods to ascertain the constitutive breeds used to develop successful sled dog lines, and in doing so, determined the breed origins of specific performance-related behaviors. One hundred and ninety-nine Alaskan sled dogs were genotyped using 96 microsatellite markers that span the canine genome. These data were compared to that from 141 similarly genotyped purebred dog breeds. Sled dogs were evaluated for breed composition based on a variety of performance phenotypes including speed, endurance and work ethic, and the data stratified based on population structure.

Results

We observe that the Alaskan sled dog has a unique molecular signature and that the genetic profile is sufficient for identifying dogs bred for sprint versus distance. When evaluating contributions of existing breeds we find that the Alaskan Malamute and Siberian Husky contributions are associated with enhanced endurance; Pointer and Saluki are associated with enhanced speed and the Anatolian Shepherd demonstrates a positive influence on work ethic.

Conclusion

We have established a genetic breed profile for the Alaskan sled dog, identified profile variance between sprint and distance dogs, and established breeds associated with enhanced performance attributes. These data set the stage for mapping studies aimed at finding genes that are associated with athletic attributes integral to the high performing Alaskan sled dog.

The complete article is available as a PDF 

Nederlands:

Vandaag hebben Nalin en Aven (Alta x Macho) ons verlaten: ze gaan een gelukkige toekomst tegemoet bij de Duitse musher Daniel en zijn familie, die ook Minsk van Ruby's nest van vorig jaar hebben. Veel geluk met de pups familie Bachmann! We komen ze graag eens bezoeken.

 

English:

Today Nalin and Aven left the litter (Alta x Macho) towards a happy future with German musher Daniel and his family, who before took Minsk from last year's litter also. Good luck with the puppies family Bachmann! We hope to come visit them sometimes.

Nederlands

Er staan weer nieuwe foto's van de puppies online, van week 6. De pups beginnen nu hun verschillende karakters steeds meer te tonen en de strijd om de favorieten die moeten blijven is dan ook in alle hevigheid losgebarsten

Hadden we daarbij vroeger alleen onderlinge discussies, nu moeten we overeind blijven in de stroom van argumentaties van Sharon en Sven en zelfs Luna. Aaaaagh!

Maar uiteindelijk heeft de musher natuurlijk de doorslaggevende stem...

 

English

We uploaded puppy pics of week 6 today. At this stage they start showing their own spirits, characteristics more and more and therefore the battle for the favorites that should stay started

Before it was just the two of us discussing the choice, but nowadays we have to survive the strong motivations of Sharon, Sven and even Luna. Aaaaagh!

But in the end the musher has the final decision...