Looks like Benny is going to be famous through his vinyl wall sticker. Originally intended as a one off commission by Wall Glamour, Rick has asked if they could sell it on their site.
So if you want a lovely husky puppy sticker for your wall - just go to Wall Glamour, choose your colour and buy this original design.
If you want one of your own dog, just contact them direct and Rick will quote.
Over the last 6 months, I’ve been toying with the idea of resigning from the SHCGB committee to free more time to spend on my eye tracking business. I’ve served, without break, as a committee member for about 8 years. In that time seen the SHCGB evolve into the great club it is today. Last week, I emailed the club secretary with the news of my intention.
My decision to take a break from committee matters came down to the realisation that I was working quite a few 7 day weeks, leaving little time to spend with the dogs, let alone husky club matters. Attending four committee meetings and an AGM each year is quite a commitment, especially when you factor in preparation and the jobs you walk away with.
I plan to continue with my role as webmaster for the husky club and co-organiser of the famous Aviemore Sled Dog Rally. The web site will be ten years old this year and will hopefully get the long awaited redesign, now I’ve got a bit more time on my hands.
We (myself and Helen) have accomplished a lot for the club over the years. Things that immediately spring to mind are:
Publishing the magazine for quite a few editionsOn top of this list of things I’ve remembered, there’s a huge amount of stuff that we’ve just done because I was a committee member or Helen was married to a committee member. We’ve put a lot into the club over the years and got a lot back in return.
If you have the time or can make the time, then please do consider putting yourself forward for committee. It is good fun, you get to meet a huge number of people and gain an amazing insight into everything that goes on.
I took some more photos of the racehome today as I realised most of the photos on the site were from when it wasn’t complete. There’s still a few jobs outstanding – but it’s a project that will never be finished.
I also shot a quick video using my upgrade iphone.
Benny was out with the older boys in the dog run, so I thought I’d take a video with the new phone.
I got a surprise delivery today from my friend at Wall Glamour, the wall sticker people. Rick had taken one of my photos and turned it into a big wall sticker. I first wanted to put it above my desk at work, but then decided to take it home and place it in the kitchen.
Only took 5 minutes to put it up, most of that was just deciding what angle to put him at.
Look really cool and Benny keeps looking at it as he trots past.
A question was asked on the husky club bulletin board about fitting roof vents, so it prompted me to write the first page about how we converted our van into a high spec race home. The first page is about the glues we used and notes about caravan adhesive and caravan sealant. They are a blend of advice I got from professional builders, the self build motorhome website and stuff I learned.
read about the wonderful world of caravan adhesives and sealants here
Still a work in progress, but we’ve finally made the updated website live. The old site (shown in the image) was getting quite dated and the code was broken. We’ve moved over to a wordpress site using a modified Wootheme.
A new controllable webcam is under trial and we’ve finally gone ‘pro’ with the Flickr account.
We’re hoping to add more content to this site, covering the things we’ve been asked about over the years and stuff we just want to log as a journal.
Benny has been with us now for just over seven days. He’s still an absolute joy to spend time with – whether that’s playing or cuddling. Making me late for work throughout the whole of last week.
He loves ripping up newspaper and pulling magazines out from the coffee table. Runs around the house like a crazy thing not really understanding that jumping over the bigger the dogs is not the correct thing to do. Leaps onto the sofa with ease and loves his toys.
He’s been very good at night, sleeping in his crate in our bedroom. Not causing any major grief, even if disturbed when I’ve been working late.
Today, we headed down south to collect our new puppy, Rigrunner Slider – or Benny as he will be known. He was very well behaved in the car, only howling for 5 minutes and then slept all of the way home.
Once home,introducing him to the older boys was not as simple as we’d hoped. All of the dogs are not interested in him and Mookie has decided that he really doesn’t need another pal at the moment.
very much looking forward to welcoming our new pup to chez redwood. he is nearly three weeks old and growing fast. here’s the latest pic of the handsome little chap taken earlier today.
more photos can be found on sarah and keith’s website.
it’s not been the best 12 months for us with the dogs. on the afternoon of Monday, 6 July 2009, we said goodbye to our first husky, Teba. he lost his battle with a health issue that meant he struggled to keep his food down. he left us with just under 12 years of memories to look back on. he gave us the biggest cuddles in return for leaving the least amount of room on the sofa. with only three huskies left in the house, it’s starting to feel a little empty.
15 September 2008 will be remembered as one of the saddest days of our lives. elvis, our superstar, was taken too early from us, at the age of 8. an ordinary day started with 5 happy huskies leaving the bedroom and ended with us finding one sunbathing in the dog run with no pulse. a tumour in his heart had brought on a sudden fatal heart attack without any warning. he leaves us with 8 years of amazing memories. we’ve had many emails and messages from far and wide about elvis. he touched so many people with his kind ways and tom-foolery.
Simon Luxmoore wrote in Dogworld:
Recently the saddest news was that Guy and Helen Redwood have lost Elvis. This really pulls at the heart strings since he was so young. He had been trying for so long, finally succeeding, to win his title. That made him a familiar figure at shows yet he was not over shown. His final tally was five CCs and eight RCCs – he really did himself proud. It was very much a case of when he crossed the line he became very much recognised as a nice example of the breed.
It is pointless trying to understand the loss that is felt on an occasion like this but, as I have mentioned to Guy and Helen, they must cherish all those happy memories. We send them our sympathy.
The reality of his departure is still dawning on us. Helen has lost her champion show dog and I’ve lost half of my 2 dog race team. the arkward reality of husky ownership has meant our grief has eased and almost swept away by the four bundles of joy we have around the house. all I can do is celebrate my elvis with a smile from a memory and cuddle from his mates Teba, Baloo, Basil and his special soulmate Mookie.
well, it’s been over a year since we last wrote anything on here. we’ve both been way too busy with work, the dogs etc.
i decided to take a break from showing this year and spend more time at home in the garden and, with the way fuel prices are going, save some money. we will be doing a few shows, but more as a holiday than anything else so guy can go fishing. we had a nice weekend away in the Borders a few weeks ago, staying at a great B&B near Melrose (recently voted the best in scotland) for a few days before Border Union and then over to Carlisle for the club show. i’d missed the entry for Border Union so just entered Elvis in Veteran Dog at the club show under Yricka Gardner, which he came first in. the last show we did was darlington i think, so Elvis was full of himself and my handling skills were a bit rusty.
we’re on our third set of hens, courtesy of mr fox. re-starting with 2 hybrid free range type breeds that are based on classics. they originally were a bit too flighty and insisted on wandering around the garden to finally perch on the bench less than a metre from the huskies. which obviously wound the poor boys up. we cured the wandering hens by keeping them in the ark for a week and now they are more than happy with their huge chicken run , laying over 10 eggs a week between themselves.
only a few days left until we’re packing that van with 2 monkey rigs, 1 danler sled, 1 diggler scooter, 1 santa cruz heckler, 1 dyson vacuum cleaner and my fly fishing tackle. not forgeting the 5 boys and Helen, of course. today I slipped out to buy a fast sinking line from the tackle shop – ready to fish the trout ponds in Aviemore. it was at that point, clutching my bag of goodies, i realised the annual holiday is just around the corner. my business, SimpleUsability is moving to Leeds whilst away on holiday. i return from holiday to spend a weekend fitting out an office, ready to receive some very special clients. whilst the leasing aggreement states no dogs, I’m tempted to reinact our own iditarod with some of these orange dogs from Alessi.
the trip up to Scotland on Sunday was certainly worth it with Elvis gaining his 4th CC and winning BIS at the first SSHC Championship Show. his sister Pearl, CH Huskidoo String of Pearls, was RBIS. it was great to end our show season on such a high note. guy spent the day at home kitting out the van which is coming along now, so hopefully it won’t be long before the cages are finished.
Elvis was awarded his third CC at Southern Counties Championship Show last weekend. the judge was Lisa Tebay who gave him a RCC back in 2002. we were over the moon to make him up to champion.
our Danler Hornet racing sled arrived today from Austria. just need some more snow to give it a whirl. and for those who’ve ever wondered, you can fit a racing sled in the smart car.
only 2 weeks until we’re off to Aviemore for that world famous race and we’ve already been out on the sled twice this season. Christmas 2005 was fabulous. fab turkey from the farmers cart, fab company from down south, but unfortunately Santa forgot to leave the psp under the tree so Fairy Dixons may have one saved for me next time we’re passing through duty free on a Swiss mission. many new things happening at Aviemore this year, new venues and activities to build on the vintage that was last year. i must remember to pack the new rod and flies for a spot of trout fishing on the Rothiemurchus Estate. after all the money we’ve raised for the race, will be nice to spend some time pulling trout of an edible kind.
training is finally well under way at the York HQ. new lights have been bought to cope with the extra visibility needed with my increased team and the weather is finally starting to head into reasonable temperatures for running. the lights are a heath robinson system made from maplin parts – plastic case, 7.2 amp hour battery, xlr connectors, fuse holder, power switch, battery conditioner and a 55w drivers lamp from halfords. think it cost around 80 quid and built in a few hours. the main feature of the system is using xlr plugs/sockets so that the battery terminals are protected and the charger just plugs straight in.
the move from a 2 dog to a 3 dog team is impressive. far less scooting and the ability to promote and demote team members from lead to wheel is useful. it’s early days yet and the dogs need many more miles. first rally is in a few weeks and we’re not expecting much, unless everybody else is as unfit as us.
Helen’s been taking Baloo and Mookie swimming at a local dog swimming pool, Merrylegs – or Canine Hydrotherapy Centre – if you want the posh name from a swimming pool with dog hair. we’re swimming Baloo to help keep him mobile with his arthritis and Mookie because he’s a pup that needs some muscles for his first rally season. It’s an amazing facility and well worth the money. the staff work hard with the dogs and the two boys seem to have benefitted loads. infact, Baloo is possibly the happiest dog in York and wants everybody to know, at the most incovenient times of the day. super fit, super happy and in fine voice when ever the urge for a howl comes around. our aim is keep Baloo running for as long as he wants to. he’s had one pre-season cartrophen injection and a daily Synoquin capsule. we’re aiming to stay ahead of the arthritis this year – not wanting any stiffness brought about by over training or arthitic flair ups.
this season may see us trading in the caravan for a van. something big like a lwb sprinter or an iveco daily. the reasoning behind it is that we’ve got two boys not far off their bus passes. we want to give the old boys plenty of room at rallies cos we all know how unreasonable and grumpy the old folk get.
We finished the rally season by winning the D class at Bowlands. we’ve had a really good year with the racing and did our bit to keep the drinks industry profits high. we had our best Aviemore yet – trying lots of new places to dine out in with a great bunch of people – oh and I smashed the 20 minute barrier and even got faster on the second day due to chasing my new trail buddy, Justin. our new puppy, Mookie, is very happy with his new pals at chez Redwood. he’s definitely a character and putting a lot of effort into doing the usual ‘chew everything’ that puppies do. we’ve got a few shows on the horizon, but I’m keen to enjoy a bit more of he garden this year and that fab warm weather we keep having.
we haven’t added much here for a few months – but we will…. soon. but thought as we head into Christmas, I should publish my wishlist to help santa.
this weekend saw Elvis get a 1st in Limit under breed specialist and keen musher, Lindsey Sutherland. we all got a tad excited in the challenge as the judge carefully compared Elvis with his father, Kaliznic.
as you can see, he was looking rather good chasing his dad around the ring. there are some more photos of him from this show on his page here. what a fabulous venue this show has. it was nice to be only a minute away form the car, without having to go through barriers etc. it was noted by a few, that the few periods of rain had little affect on the dogs that work in Winter. what’s a rain shower to an outdoor dog? many a rally is spent in the wet! I do agree with the judges decision to stay outdoors. the wet-weather ring was tiny and we would never had got the chance to see our boy move so well.
after Kelso, we headed down for a sleepy night at the Metal Bridge hotel in Carlisle. on Sunday, Elvis was placed second to his brother, Fya in Open class, at the SHCGB Northern Open Show. the grass was a tad long and the terrain undulating in the dog ring. he went on to be thrown out of the working stakes class, which left me somewhat speechless, considering he was number 3 in the 2003/4 UK Dual Championship. to finish the day, our Jeep sprung a radiator leak just as we set off, which meant us travelling back to York with the car on the back of flatbed tow truck. suppose we saved on petrol?
big thanks to Mark and Bette for providing coffee and cakes whilst we waited for the AA to turn up to diagnose that we needed a tow home. it was only 12 months ago that the radiator on the mr2 sprung a leak on the way home from Blackpool on a queuing motorway – which then saw a line of husky people pulling over with offers of help. Anthony Rees gave us a bottle of water for Elvis cos this extra wait had not been part of our plan. we have some great friends in the Husky Club.
our dogs had their eye test last weekend under the club eye scheme hosted by John Evans in Brixworth, run by the leading expert, Professor Bedford. fortunately all our dogs remained clear. it has to be said that John was looking rather well and happy in himself. I’m sure it’s more than his pending wedding that produced an aura of ‘life is wonderful’ that followed him around that day.
we’ve been busy building a deck in the back garden. for the growing number of people that’s watching the webcam each day, that’s why the dogs have been sat by the right of the run for much time – keeping an eye on our workmanship. party planning is moving along with an initial list of 75 people. if half accept, it should make a rather pleasant summer evening. our international guest has booked his flight last week!
there were two new squeakers in the dove cote. one brown and one white. it’s the first time we’ve seen two youngsters sit on the edge watching the world go by. As I typed this out in the garden – Helen found the white youngster, minus a head in the grass. I do wish the cats would pick on the more ‘pigeon coloured’ doves in preference to the white ones.
This weekend sees us back in the show ring, Kelso on Saturday and then Carlisle on the Sunday…. I think. one thing is for sure, the fun starts on Friday lunchtime when the rigrunner clan visit, to break up their journey north.
the dog run is looking a lot smarter now. all 5 barrels are sat on a rack – yup we’ll be adding a young boy to our pack at some point soon. I won’t do the soapbox speech about spreading your dogs out over the years to help keep your pack stable, oap vet bills down and just simply enjoying a pack of mature dogs without upstarts finding their place. the kids now have an extended roof on the dog run and walls have been painted again. I’ll try to take some photos and update the (hidden) information on how we built our dog run for all those curious, soon.
there are some big things on the radar at chez redwood, 2004 could be a real vintage. due to popular demand, we will be having another summer party this year. rsvps will be sent out soon, i think our bedrooms are already nearly booked up. watch this space.
I’m sat at my hotel room desk on the 61st floor over looking the Olympic Park in Atlanta watching our huskies through our new webcam. I’ve just made it live today to all through this site today. I’m sure I found a husky hair in my breakfast this morning…. so even after a 9 hour flight, I’ve still got our boys around me! I wouldn’t want to start any rumours of importing some famous lines from Georgia and New York, would I :-) As always – watch this space.
Elvis came third in the SHCGB Dual Championship this year, announced at the club AGM on Saturday. This is one hell of an achievement. You only have to stand on the back of rig, watching him work, to comprehend what a good Siberian Husky is all about. I do think that judges should be made to take a team of huskies out to experience what it’s all about. It just makes sense when you see a dog like Elvis working without effort and then compare it to another that’s trying but just isn’t built for it.
Anyway, it’s that time of year where we pick our shows and dream of winter. We’re aiming to do less showing this year. I want to spend more time at home and enjoy a little more of Summer in the garden.
Last month, the rally season came to close with a fabulous rally in Scotland. John Carter invited the husky club up onto his land giving us an amazing set of courses with lots of turns, bumps and hills. The rally attracted a great bunch of people, who hit the town on Saturday night for a quiet meal with a few drinks. The club goes from strength to strength, and our collection of husky friends continues to grow. There’s some really nice people out there in the husky world and life’s too short not to enjoy them.
so we got snowed in at Aviemore and ended up coming back a day late from our annual holiday…. spending two days on the sled with really fresh snow at Feshie Bridge. Helen came 28th and myself 13th out of 46 in the two-dog class. my runs were slow at times, with Elvis barely trotting along in a world of his own. on the first day we overtook a few malamute and Samoyed teams – one lead Samy took a chunk of hair out of Elvis as we overtook – and I thought Samys were sweet? the second day was more interesting after meeting Sue Blake and Jim Taylor in the first mile of the course. we went around as a group, overtaking and chatting to keep up momentum. for me, that’s one of the great things about Aviemore, we have one minute start intervals so you do get to meet others and enjoy the spirit of one of the largest sled dog races in Europe. car needed jump-starting in the rally car park thanks to the technicians at our local Jeep dealership loosening the battery connectors at its last service….. the trek was absolutely magical. Snow everywhere and was the first time with the monkey for over 10 miles in rough terrain. the monkey rig made it so much more fun. Really stable in the tricky rocky descents, brakes worked a treat and the high footplates didn’t hit a thing. you may have heard me laughing all along the goat trail. it reminded me of the first time I rode a full suspension mountain bike off-road – just so much better than any other rig I’ve used.
Aviemore highlights?
- stopping Mick Bray’s loose team running towards me whilst marshalling, after he fell off his rig when his handle bars snapped on the second day.
Aviemore low points?
before Aviemore we had a very enjoyable rally at Clipstone. Mick and Ann with helpers put on a really good night and day rally. Saturday evening was a classic with the bar running out of glasses and mixed grills. it’s all down hill from here. the dogs are looking fitter and making more noise in the dog run but the rally season heads
what a busy Winter we’re having! busy with work, busy with rallies and busy fitting a new kitchen. Grizedale rally was superb. we had a cracking night in the pub, great food and crazy game of darts – with Leslie Robinson singing ‘gay bar’ between crys of ‘are you going to wee your doggies?’ in keeping with tradition, it rained….. but the dogs loved it and pulled me up the hill on both days. still not fit enough for a good performance on the second day (both musher and dogs), but still a pleasure to run.
we then went to our local rally in Dalby. new course, with an interesting road crossing that looked like a finish line to my boys on both days…. we had a house full with visitors. Friday night we discovered our local pub does serve good food, and Saturday took us for a great night in York – Meltons2 is a fab place to eat.
Fineshades was superb as always. we missed last year’s rally due to kennel cough – so this year we enjoyed it with a vengence. warmed by mulled wine on both days after two very pleasureable runs. Sunday was colder and the dogs ran faster. Fineshades send the 2 dog classes out first – which is always nice cos the dogs are fresh and excited – maybe that’s why they had a large D class entry?
we do need to get out more and train a little harder. Baloo is beginning to be a little bit of problem for the neighbours with his new found love of life. he’s howling and banging on the kitchen door a little bit too much. We’re going to have a go at building some dogs boxes for them to snooze in over Christmas, so they’ve got somewhere quiet and warm to snuggle up in.
