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The Dog Days of Summer

June 17, 2014 by robertforto Leave a Comment

Here in the land of the midnight sun, the mosquitos are out and the dogs are enjoying their vacation. They spend their days lounging around in the barking lot and wishing for the colder days when training will start again. We are truly in the dog days of summer here at Team Ineka.

That does not mean that nothing is happening, the mushers are busy running triathlons, working their summer jobs, fishing for salmon that they will use for trail snacks and backyard BBQ’s, plenty of chores to be had, dog houses to build and kennels and fencing to be installed, bees to attended too and cord wood to be stacked.

We are already planning our season. Robert will attempt (once again) to do his Iditarod qualifiers IF the snow comes and none are cancelled like they have been for the last two seasons. Nicole will run the Junior Iditarod for the last time before she heads off to college in the fall of 2015, Michele plans to enter a small race or two and our friend Dale will too.

We are always looking for people to be a part of the team too! You can learn more about our incredible athletes, the mushers and our daily life with 40 sled dogs.

You can sponsor a dog, booties or become a race entry sponsor, or help with the daily kennel needs with your generous contributions.

It takes a small army to get to the starting line. Our sponsors and supporters are not just people that donate money, goods or services to us. They are part of the team. We appreciate your support and look forward to new partnerships.

Our sponsors receive letters and pictures directly from your favorite mushers. You have the opportunity to meet the team at race events and if you are up in Alaska we can teach you how to drive your own dog team. The mushers are always willing to travel to speak to our sponsors and supporters and to school and other groups that would like to learn more about living a life with dogs!

If you would like to find out more, comment below or check out our sponsorship page by clicking the button below.
Sponsor

Filed Under: Alaska, Daily Post, Dogs Tagged With: alaska, dog, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Junior Iditarod, MUSH, Sled dog, Sled dog racing

Fortos Fort: 3 Years in the Making

July 4, 2013 by robertforto 2 Comments

Three years ago today, on a rainy Fourth of July, my daughter and I arrived in Alaska to take a look at a house in the small town of Willow.

I am sure you know the story by now, I have talked about it many times before. Long story short, Nicole was given the choice to move here or to stay in Denver. She texted her mom who was still in Denver while we were up here looking. She said, “Mom, we are moving to Alaska!” Nothing like leaving the biggest purchase in your life in the hands of a 12 year old.

I moved up a couple weeks later and got to work. It was in a sorry state of repair and it would test our construction skills, our financial well being, our family dynamic and even our marriage.

I was here almost a year by myself while the family stayed in Denver for a couple reasons; school for the kids and our dog training business.

My son, Tyler moved up in June 2011 and Michele followed in September, with Nicole around Christmas time.

Over the last three years it truly has been a labor of love and much a labor of necessity. We have fixed, repaired, replaced and remodeled most of what you see in the before and after pictures.

We couldn’t do this with out the help of some great friends–Marvin “Pee Wee” Rankin has not only become a good friend but also his expertise has helped so much in our daily projects to make our house a home here in the Great White North.

While there are still tons to do around our property we are happy to report that a lot of things are checked off the list.

  • a new roof
  • a green house
  • a walk in smoker
  • all new appliances
  • a kennel for 30 dogs
  • lots of paint and carpet
  • tons of trash and debris (literally) removed including a broken down truck and a half of a boat
  • and much, much more…

There are still things on the wish list that we will get to in our short summer months. We are realized that we can tackle two or three major projects a year. Upcoming are:

  • an overhang on the back of the kennel building with a sliding door
  • a deck on the second floor–our answer to a tree house–so we can enjoy the stars and the northern lights
  • a fence around the backyard and the dog yard
  • to level and a drainage system for the dog yard
  • remodel some of the rooms inside–we can do a lot of this in the winter
  • a sauna

Thanks to all of my rabid readers that have been along with me during this journey. Your advice and encouragement has been very helpful. Stay tuned for more to come!

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Filed Under: Alaska, Daily Post, Fortos Fort Tagged With: alaska, Blog Talk Radio, denver, dog, Independence Day, July, Michele, Talk Radio

Nome Sign 40 race recap

March 25, 2013 by robertforto Leave a Comment

This past weekend my son Tyler and I participated in the Nome Sign 40 race. It is a 40 mile race over the orginal Iditarod trail to the Nome sign and back. It starts on Knik Lake in the heart of Redingtonville. There is more mushing history in the first two miles of this race than probably anywhere in the world!

This was actually Tyler’s first race ever. He was super excited to give the dogs a run when we decided to go late Saturday afternoon. We packed up the gear in a hurry Saturday night and made our lists of the dogs that would be going. It was the first race for the Nightmare Crew pups as well as some others too.

The teams (This is the first race for dogs with an *):

Robert

TyTy-Vela

Rasp-Shock*

Barrel*-Dandy*

Cassie-Burton*

Shifter-Denali

Aussie-Trapper

Tyler

Ringo-Sidney

Scarlett-Lock*

Ragnar*-Zero*

Casper*-Raegan

Bodhi-Spencer

(Lock didn’t run in the race as we found she was in heat at the race)

Sunday

We were on the road early Sunday morning for the hour drive to Knik. The roads were terrible, it has snowed almost two feet in the last 24 hours. We had 22 dogs loaded up. All of the spots in the dog box were doubled, we had two in the cab in my truck, two in the cab of the Ranger and four in crates. We need a bigger dog truck!

About 10 miles in I realized I forgot my beaver hat and Tyler calls from the other truck and says we forgot the snacks for the dogs! Rather than turn around we stopped at 3-Bears and bought the hamburger patties again. No the optimum trail snack for the dogs but the seem to work.

When we arrived at Knik Lake there were just two other mushers there, one was my friend Karen Cline who I met on the Serum Run Boot Camp last year.

We had about an hour and a half before race time and several other mushers arrived pretty quickly.

Our musher meeting consisted of paying the 50 dollar entry fee and drawing our starting order from a coffee can as the race organizers came around to our trucks. Pretty informal.

There was only six teams in the 40 mile race and several others in a ten miler-six dog class. I drew bib 2, Tyler number 4. We would be going out four minutes apart.

Race Time!

Our friends and sponsors of the teams, Kim and Dale came out to help out and see us off. They were a huge help in getting us to the starting line (we actually ran off right from our trucks). In usual fashion I was yelling hurry up from the back of the sled as the “handlers” scurried to get all of the dogs on the line before the last second. And I was off!

The race left the lake and winded through Redingtonville and past the Dog Mushers Hall of Fame before hitting 7 mile lake. Just about 5 miles into the race, Rasp, one of my best swing dogs quit on me. She laid down right on the line and wouldnt get back up. I quickly set the hook and couldn’t find anything wrong with her so I put her in the bag of my new sled from Sled Dog Systems and dropped the 50 pounds of weight I was carrying on the side of the trail.

I travelled with Rasp in the bag for about an hour as teams passed us and we passed them. I think Karen and I passed each other three or four times.

We ran up and down the rolling hills and I made it a point to let the dogs work up each one. I wanted them to learn that hills mean to continue to pull. The trails were awesome with the snow falling and not too cold. It was a perfect day for mushing.

About 15 miles in Rasp was anxious to get out of the bag and I put her back in the team. I don’t know what happened to her back there but I am thinking that she had a stinger or something, sort of like when you lay on your arm and it goes to sleep.

As we approached the halfway point the other four mushers passed me going the other way. I knew I was getting close when Karen said, “the turn around is just up there.”

Sure enough there was the Nome Sign. The nome sign is a piece of mushing history that has been there since the early days. It points towards Nome (of course) along with a symbolic 1049 miles.

About a mile heading back towards the finish I passed Tyler and let him know the turn around was coming up. His team looked good and he was in good spirits.

We mushed on for a few hours by ourselves occasionally seeing Karen in the distance.

At about 7 Mile Lake Tyler caught up to me. He was running Sidney in single lead! We decided to mush in together. It was fun talking to him on the trail and enjoying each other as we headed toward the finish.

The Finish

We arrived at the finish line at 4:42. Five hours, 38 minutes after I left. Everyone else was in and up at the Knik Bar except for Karen who (I believe) was resting in her truck.

Michele overheard one of the mushers say as they came onto the lake on a snow machine, “I have ran every race with those guys and they come in last every time. It is like they don’t train their dogs to run.”

Excuse me?

I am very pleased with our run. We knew we weren’t going to break any records. It was Tyler’s first race ever and we had eight dogs that I had never experienced this, ever!

All of our dogs came in with their tails waggin’ and were happy. No dog was pushed too hard. We finished with all the dogs, including all of the Nightmare Crew, in the team and “smiling” as we gave them a snack at the truck.

I learned a long time ago that mushing is not about winning or losing. It is about spending time out in the woods with your dogs. It is about the bond you have built over countless miles on the trails with the team and knowing what to look out for on the trail. It is a sad day when mushing as turned into; I have to be first no matter what, or I have to win because I have to be in the “money.”

If mushing is that way for some, I am sorry. That is not what Team Ineka is about. We are a family kennel with dogs that we love and care about. Sure we have several dogs from other kennels that make up our teams but for us it is about raising our two litters–The Nightmare Crew and the 9-11 Crew–to get out on the trails and have fun with every one in the family taking part. That is what mushing is about, at least for us.

Mush on!

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Alaska, Daily Post, Mushing, Team Ineka Tagged With: alaska, dog, Iditarod Trail, MUSH, Sled dog, Tyler

The Sibe Vibe

December 3, 2012 by robertforto 2 Comments

Our show offerings at our little Internet radio station, Dog Works Radio, keep getting better and better. We currently host four shows; our flagship Dog Works Radio, Mushing Radio that is both on the web as well as a studio here in Alaska, the Gypsy Musher with my good friend Hugh Neff, and a brand new one, The Sibe Vibe hosted by my friend, Dorothy Wills-Raftery who lives in New York.

The Sibe Vibe is about the Siberian Husky. Having owned Siberians practically my whole life it was only natural that I co-host a show with none other than the Five Sibes mom herself!

Over the past few months The Sibe Vibe has become very popular and is one of our most downloaded shows on the network.

The Sibe Vibe is a monthly show and usually airs on the second Sunday of each month.

Listen to The Sibe Vibe now

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Filed Under: Alaska, Daily Post, Dog Works Radio Tagged With: alaska, Blog Talk Radio, dog, MUSH, New York, Sibe Vibe, Siberian Husky

Dog Works Radio Show

November 30, 2012 by robertforto Leave a Comment

For almost four years I have been on an incredible journey hosting the Dog Works Radio Show. We have had some of the greatest guests in the world. Some of them have been world famous movie producers, authors and filmmakers, others have been cancer researchers, service dog advocates and even a dog that was campaigning for mayor in Denver.

As we approach our fourth anniversary in January, I just want to thank all of you for listening and for making all of this possible, because without you, the rabid listener, there is no reason for this show to continue!

Listen to Dog Works Radio shows now

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Filed Under: Daily Post, Dog Works Radio Tagged With: Blog Talk Radio, denver, dog, dog works radio show, pets, Radio, Recreation, Service dog

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