Team_Galloway's Champion Racing Sled Dogs

"Yes we can!” The 2009 Race Season Re-cap!

2009-03-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

"Yes we can!” At our house Bob the Builders (anyone else have a 2 1/2 year old?) anthem of being able to achieve goals and challenges became our motto as we juggled being new parents of a beautiful baby (Sylvie Lynn born May 2008) and of course our beautiful Wren (born May 2006), working our non profit jobs and maintaining a competitive kennel.

We entered the Beargrease 150 with one team this year and were able to pull of a second place win and the Best Cared for Team award! The race was fast and very competitive with 32 teams competing. Mug ended up with a cramped shoulder muscle but besides that every dog came through healthy and happy with tails wagging at the end. This was August’s first time away for the night from baby Sylvie but baby was well cared for by a group of our amazing family and friends. 20 specific fans of Team_Galloway awaited us at the finish line! How fun was that?!!

The Midnight Run in the UP of Michigan was also a very competitive turn out, again with over 36 teams and this year a new trail to run on. We came in with a third place finish and despite our newbie Tuck pulling out of his harness and giving Don a chase on the trail for awhile….we were very pleased with the dogs performance.

The Red River was the highlight...this race is just plan fun and a great capstone to our season. Don gave our friend Harry Lambirth (whom we got our first sled dogs from 9 years ago) a 10 minute ride down the river to retrieve his lost team and received not only 1st place (2nd year in a row) but also the Sportsmanship Award...the first time that our team received this recognition

2009 Results and Awards

2009-03-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

RED RIVER DOG DERBY CHAMPION

BEARGREASE 150 2nd PLACE

MID NIGHT RUN 3rd PLACE

BEARGREASE BEST KEPT TEAM AWARD

RED RIVER DOG DERBY SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD

Why do the dogs wear boots on their feet?

2009-02-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

We put cloth (cordura) boots on the dogs feet to help protect the webbing between their toes from getting what musher's call “fissures” or splits in their skin caused by ice crystals of cold fresh snowfall. Also the boots protects the dogs feet from getting snowballs forming in the hair and from ice or frozen gravel on the trails that we run on. The dogs generally like their booties...once we had a dog (Song) who liked booties so much he ate 20 boots during a race! We know this because we counted them in his poop afterwards.

2009 RACE SCHEDUAL

2008-12-17T03:03:00.000-08:00

Follow along as our athlete's compete for glory and doggy snacks

Beargrease 150 January 25-26, 2009

Mid-Night Run February 20-21, 2009

Red River Dog Derby March 7-8, 2009

TEAM GALLOWAY SEEKS SPONSERSHIP

2008-04-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

This racing season was another record year for Team Galloway placing well in the Beargrease 150, Mid-Night run and the Red River Dog Derby. Don't miss out on an opportunity to be a part of Team Galloway for the 2009-2010 racing season.

We would be proud to list you as one of our sponsors for the upcoming season. Let us give your business exposure throughout the racing season as we travel to races and speaking engagements.

Your logo could be prominently placed on clothing, our truck and in media write-ups. Don't miss out getting your business logo placed on our dog box, patches sewn on the sled bag and jackets, website etc.

If you have questions please Email us for more details.

Sponsor Checks can be sent to:

Team Galloway

5180 Farmers Road

Makinen, MN 55768.

Keep an eye on the web-site for updates on training, races, appearances and more.

Trail is great for racers, By John Pepin

2008-04-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

WETMORE — In an exciting finish, Minnesota’s Don Galloway won the Midnight Run Saturday for the second year in a row.Spectators cheered as the frost-covered faces of Galloway’s orange-booted lead dogs could be seen rounding a corner through the cold early morning darkness in Wetmore.With temperatures sunk to near 10 degrees below zero, Galloway of Makenin, Minn., crossed under the wooden arch and over the blaze orange finish line painted in the snow at 7:24 a.m.“It’s great,” Galloway said. “I won last year so it’s fun to come back and be able to retain the title.”The mushers race 49 miles to a layover at Deerton in Alger County before continuing on another 42 miles to the Wetmore finish line, located just south of M-28 about four miles east of Munising.Galloway said his eight-dog team performed well. Temperatures were cold and the trail was hard and fast. There were a couple of icy hills near Marquette, but the rest of the trail was good, he said.“The dogs were just awesome, and they’re what it’s all about,” Galloway said. “They were dog-o-mite.”

Galloway wins John Beargrease mid-distance sled dog race

2008-04-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice article by Andy Greder of the Duluth News Tribune published Tuesday, January 29, 2008. It's a great article. That got national press.

BEARGREASE NEWS CLIP

2008-04-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

RACE RESULTS

2008-03-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

2008

BEARGREASE 150 CHAMPION

MID-NIGHT RUN CHAMPION

APOSTLE INLANDS 4TH PLACE

RED RIVER DOG DERBY CHAMPION

RED RIVER DOG DERBY BEST KEPT TEAM AWARD

2007

MID-NIGHT RUN CHAMPION

APOSTLE INLANDS 4TH PLACE

2006

BEARGREASE 150 2nd PLACE

BEARGREASE BEST KEPT TEAM AWARD

BEARGREASE 150 4th PLACE

MID-NIGHT RUN 2ND PLACE

MID-NIGHT RUN 12TH PLACE

SEE OUR KENNEL ON-LINE

2007-03-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Team Galloway

To view pictures and pedigrees click the above link.

WE HATE GLOBAL WARMING

2007-03-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

It does not rain!
A big fire may burn all our houses down!
It causes bad weather!
We get extra hot and have to hide in the shade!
We catch new viruses from Florida!
It makes our masters grumpy!
We may never be able to run to the north pole - only doggy paddle

THE TEAM_GALLOWAY MISSION

2007-03-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

To be a responsible, positive, competent, and competitive team representing the best of Minnesota mushing.

To have the team finish each race healthy, happy, and wanting to continue.

To challenge ourselves to continue in the face of difficulty and in spite of hardship.

To share the love of mushing and the bond formed between human and animal to children of all ages.

To contribute back to our community.

MINNESOTA SLED DOG HISTORY

2005-11-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

Sled dog activities, as recreation and friendly competition, may have existed for almost as long as the relationship between dogs and humans, in the regions where snow was a seasonal probability. The first written account of a race was an informal challenge between travelers on the route from Winnipeg to St. Paul in the 1850's. In 1886, the first Saint Paul Winter Carnival featured sled dog races and ski competitions to glorify the attractions of winter in Minnesota. Sled dog races have been part of the Winter Carnival to the present day. The most memorable event was the 1917 race from Winnipeg to Saint Paul, on which a recent Walt Disney movie (Iron Will) was loosely based. In reality the race that year was won by Albert Campbell, a Metis from The Pas, Manitoba followed by his brother in second place.
*Taken from IFSS "mushing a breif history of the sport."

MONSTER MUSH

2005-10-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

Running at night is scary and somewhat dangerous. But also exciting and a lot of fun. We run at night for three primary reasons. If it is too warm during the day, during hunting season or if it is a special occasion such as Halloween, Winter Solstice, New Years Eve and of course, our annual date, on Valentines Day.

The dogs can’t run above 50 degrees without risking overheating. We use the 100 point rule—add up the temperature and the humidity—if it is 100 or less we can run. Even if the temps are near 50, we need to stop often and water the dogs so they will cool down. So during the early part of fall we often need to run at night when it is cooler.
We live in a pretty remote area, which means lots of woods, which also means there are lots of hunters out during deer season. We want to respect their time in the woods and also not risk being mistaken for a deer! So that means running at night when hunting does not take place.
Nothing is more fun than running at night on some special occasion such as Halloween —especially if the moon or Northern Lights are out. This year we are planning a camp out during the Halloween weekend, inviting some friends of ours to come along, and are going to call the event “The Monster Mush!” I of course plan on wearing my Dracula teeth!

For safety sake we train the dogs to stay on the right side of the road/ trail at all times, the leaders wear flashing red lights and we installed reflective signs to our ATV’s to warn vehicles coming up from behind.

BACK PACKING WITH HANK

2005-09-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

This September August, Hank, and I went on a 9 day backpacking trip in the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area. CPWA is located in the Big Horn Mountain Range in central Wyoming.

We spents our days hiking, fly fishing, sleeping, we climbed Cloud Peak and up to lower and upper Crater lakes.

Hank became an excellent mountain dog carrying his own food and personal items.

Hank really enjoyed the hike up Cloud Peak. Eespecially when he saw the dead Elk.(Hank was the first to smell it)

THE TEMPS. ARE DROPPING & IT'S TIME TO START TRAINING

2005-09-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

It’s finally cold enough to start seriously training the team! This fall we have started out with 27 dogs as the main team. Our oldest dog is Helen, now 7 years old. On the opposite end we have 10 yearlings this year, the biggest group of young dogs to ever train with the main crew since we began raising and running our own dogs. We feel that this is testament to our breeding program which has improved over the years as we have become more knowledgeable about the type of dog we are looking for and also buying proven dogs specifically for breeding from championship kennels.

We have started by running (w/ the dogs pulling ATV’s) 3 miles with 2 teams of 13 dogs each. Every week we are increasing the mileage by 20% until we have enough snow to be on sleds (usually by December.) Right now we are training on the gravel roads of our neighborhood, the surrounding fields and a few of the forest trails. Our goal is to have the team knowing how to pull steady and hard for a consistent run at about 10 miles an hour. They usually pull in gear—kind of like weight training, and at times we will put the ATV in neutral or give them gas to “loosen them up” and build in some speed training.

The hope is by the time we do make it to sleds we will still have 21 dogs ready to continuing the second phase of training. We plan to run 2 teams at the shorter races giving the younger guys a taste of race experience. It should be pretty exciting to see 2 screaming to go dog teams launching off the same truck!

Primarily fall is a time of “norming and forming” - building stronger bonds with the younger members of the team, training in new leaders and just having fun!

LET'S HUNT SOME ORC!

2005-03-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings you might remember a line in the movies that Aragorn, when realizing his friends have been captured, says: “Lets Hunt Some Orc!” So whenever I think there is another musher ahead I yell out this line and when Helen & Trot are in the team...oh we do! Helen’s ears will go up and as soon as she sees the competitor she begins to pound against her harness. Trot will begin to bark when we are still at quite a distance
away, keeping it up as we pass and for at least 5 miles afterwards. All the while running as hard as he can. Definitely leader material!

VISIT SLED DOG CENTRAL

2004-07-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

Visit

SLED DOG CENTRAL

CEASER PUPS IN ACTION

2004-07-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

Don with Ceaser/Frosty Pups

The spring (2003) we pooled our money along with Peter McClelland’s White Wilderness Kennel to purchase a multiple Iditarod champion leader who ran on Doug Swingly’s team (4x Iditarod winner—the Iditarod is a 1,000 mile race across Alaska and considered the ultimate challenge in distance mushing.) A retired male, Caesar is now 7 years old. We bought him to add to the genetics in our team to continue to improve the speed and athleticism of future puppies.
A well planned out breeding program is one of our goals in being a responsible kennel. We hope to avoid potential genetic defects such as blindness that occasionally shows up in Alaskan huskies, and to have puppies that other people would be interested in purchasing from us therefore guaranteeing good homes for all. As of now dogs from our kennel live in MN, WI, MI, ND, WA, CA, and Alaska. It is fun when we see one of our dogs we raised in an other team that we are running against in the same race!

Be tough, yet gentle. Humble, yet bold. Swayed always by beauty and truth. Bob Pieh

2004-07-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Dogsledding. Spending hours in the cold, miles away from civilization, just a person and a team of dogs. Why do it, what is the draw? I never find this question easy to answer...but let me give it a try.

I do itâ€¦ for the adventure, the challenge, the struggle and the adrenaline of competition; against others and even against myself. I do it because it brings out the sheer joy of life and the pleasure in ones physical ability. I value the bond built between animal and human, the reliance and the team that is formed...the family made. I look forward to moments of solitude, time of self discovery and finding out who I am and what I truly am made of...capable of. I find such appreciation of natures beauty, the world I live in, as I travel through the stark contrast of the trees and snow, feel the excitement of spotting a wild critter and watch the mist rise from my breath in the cold air.

I do it... because it makes me more grateful for the simple comforts in life; a cup of hot chocolate, a good book, a warm fire and human companionship. And this is only part of the answer.

August and Don