Cimmaron Sled Dogs

News 2009

15 May 2009:
Not dog related but I wanted to let everyone know I passed my first accountancy exam! Thanks for all the good luck messages I received. Only another 2 to go before the summer!

12 May 2009:
I have eventually updated our blog page. Must try to do better in future! :-)

17 March 2009:
Thanks to Bethan and Emma/Henrik for sending us some nice photographs of the 6 and 4 dog teams which they took at the SDAS Tentsmuir race. It's great to get nice photos of the dogs in action.
We've got some video that we took on the headcam at Tentsmuir too. We'll hopefully get that uploaded to the site soon. Forgot to switch it off at the end of the race so there is about 1 hours worth of the side of the trailer - it needs some major editing!!

10 March 2009:
Good news! Keith has won the 6-dog open and 2-dog open classes in the 2008/09 SDAS Championship. We are really pleased with the results considering we only competed at 3 out of the 4 SDAS races this year. The boys and Remey are doing very well and we are incredibly happy with their performance again this year. Mandie came 5th in the 4-dog open class. A good result considering the dogs' average age is 9. We can see Bruce and Orly really slowing down now though, so we'll see what next season brings for them.
Congratulations to Steven on winning the 4-dog open class and to all the other competitors who placed in the championship and competed at the SDAS events.

4 January 2009:
We have recently returned from our trip to France over Christmas and New Year. We had a great time and it was nice to go back to Vassieux as it's been nearly 3 years since we were last there.
Keith competed at the Alpirush race and did very well, coming in 1st place in the 6-dog class. Not bad considering he hasn't been on a sled for such a long time!
Alison and Steven travelled with us and it was nice to spend some time with them. Steven also did really well in the race results as did Michael McRae. So, a good showing from the Scots.

News 2008

11 May 2008:
Just back from Poulton after collecting our new van. Just the same kind as before but a bit newer. Now the trauma begins kitting it all out for the dogs and us.

1 May 2008:
After calculating the SDAS Championship points for the 2007/08 season, we are happy to say that Keith has gained overall 1st place in the 6-dog open class. Mandie came 2nd overall in the 3-dog open class.
Keith just missed out on a place in the 3-dog registered championship with the old husky team as he only competed in 3 races with them. C'est la vie.

It will just be fun times during the summer now, taking the dogs to the beach and for the occasional late night/early morning run in harness if its cold.

16 April 2008:
Just returned from a trip to our friends' house in Grenoble to collect Tosh, Mac's brother. A very successful trip - the boys seemed to remember each other and Mac certainly seemed to remember that he used to live there.
We travelled by ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge as we only had 2 dogs and Superfast allow this number of dogs in your cabin. A really relaxing way to travel and saves the stress of driving through Birmingham and London.
Tosh was introduced to the rest of the kennel with relatively few problems and is now enjoying playing with his brother and Stitch in their kennel.

5 March 2008:
Last race of the season at Tentsmuir - where does the time go!
An excellent race venue, with really good, fun trails put on again by Gary and Sandra Hulme. Such a pity that the weather was poor on the Saturday night and put paid to our plans for a "social event" at the camp site.
Keith was happy with his 1st place with the boys in the 6-dog open class and really happy with the old husky team who were 2nd in the 3-dog registered class - their last competitive race.
I came 4th in my class with the trailhounds. I was very pleased with the dogs' performance as I was full of a horrible cold and unable to help out much on the sand. I managed to make up a place on the Sunday, so I was pleased.

18 February 2008:
Just back from the penultimate SDAS rally at Culbin. What a beautiful weekend. Cold and sunny - perfect. Keith did well again with the 6-dog team and is still managing to keep in the top 3 in the 3-dog registered class with the "retired" team of huskies. I was 3rd with my trailhound team and had a lovely run with them both days.

Looking forward to Tentsmuir now, but can't believe that will be the last race for us this season! Time is flying!

25 January 2008:

Just wanted to say "well done" to Matthew Clarke who came in 7th place in the 3-dog class at his first Aviemore. He was running our Orly in his team and we hope she was a help to him.

22 January 2008:

Back from Aviemore and we had a great weekend. It was nice to meet up with people that we hadn't seen for a while.

Keith came 8th in the 3-dog class and we were really pleased as it's difficult to run someone else's dogs and he had a nice clean run with them.

Thanks to Graham and Sue for lending Keith a dog team and for their hospitality over the weekend.

16 January 2008:

Sorry we have not updated our web site for a long time. There has been such a lot going on, but nothing exciting.

We took delivery of our new puppy, Remey, in September last year. She comes from the kennel of Graeme and Carolyn Scott. Such a sweetheart - we are really pleased with her. I am hoping to have her picture and pedigree on the web site in the next few days.

Our race season started in October and I can't believe that we are now more than half way through the rally calendar! Keith has been successful again this year, and has moved up to the 6-dog open class, with Mac and Stitch now included in the team.

We are travelling to Aviemore this weekend to the GB Sibe Club race. Keith is running in the 3-dog class with a team borrowed from Graham Good and Sue Blake. So, thanks to them for trusting us with their dogs. We are looking forward to going - it's been 4 years since we were last there!

News 2007

2 September 2007:

Buffy's puppies have now all gone to their new homes. We hope all the new owners have great fun with their new additions.

8 August 2007:

Pictures have been added of Buffys pups aged 4 1/2 weeks old. Sorry for the delay to those of you who have been waiting. I will add more today.

23 July 2007:

Pictures of Buffy's pups have been added to the 'Gallery - Buffy's Pups' page. All the puppies are thriving and have their eyes open now. They are tottering about on their feet and are trying to play with each other - very cute. Buffy is being a good mum and we are keeping our fingers crossed that everything continues to go well.

8 July 2007:

Buffy's puppies have arrived; 4 boys and 4 girls. All are doing well so far.

10 May 2007:

Meet Mac - our newest addition from France. He is settling in very well and is such a happy boy. He constantly has a smile on his face.

25 April 2007:

Buffy has finally come into season. Fingers crossed for a successful mating.

6 March 2007:

For us, the last race of the season is over. Drumlanrig was certainly wetter and muddier this year than any other. However, if you looked beyond the dirty faces of both dogs and mushers, it was again a great event. Where else can you get on-site warm showers and a beer tent! The best things ever after bathing in the mud all day.

Keith and the 4 boys did really well, winning the 4-dog open class, thereby securing the SDAS championship title for the 2006/07 season.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was that Keith also won the 3-dog registered class with Orly, Buffy and Kyack [average age of 9 years old] which meant the team has won the SDAS 3-dog registered championship title for the second year running . We are incredibly pleased with how well the Huskies performed at the weekend and indeed, throughout the whole season, considering we thought they had retired from competitive racing at the end of last season.

Finally, a big "THANKS" goes out to Todd Hessey from New Zealand who ran Mandie's Trailhound team, achieving 2nd place in the 3-dog open class. We are glad we could provide Todd with a team to race at Drumlanrig and hopefully he will go back home with lots of stories and pictures of him in the mud. Apparently, he can't remember the last time he raced in the rain! Welcome to the life of a Scottish musher.

A few pictures of the weekend will be downloaded to the Gallery page in a couple of days.

12 February 2007:

No snow for us this year. Snow forecasts are too uncertain for Europe. Never mind, there's always next year.

5 February 2007:

We are planning a repeat mating between Buffy and Bandit this year. See "Puppy News" page for more information.

31 January 2007:

The snow has arrived in France, but there is not very much where we need it to be.

The new plan is to go out mid February to compete at the French championships. Unfortunately, this means we will not be at the European Championships but, on the bright side, means we can go to the SDAS Tentsmuir race.

15 January 2007:

Looks like our trip to France and Germany will have to be postponed due to lack of snow. Could someone do a snow dance for us.

News 2006

30 December 2006:

Pictures from the Dryland World Championships in Germany have been added.
Up to date pictures of Stitch puppy have been added to the Puppy Gallery.

5 December 2006:

We are back! Well done to all the competitors at the IFSS Dryland World Championship race and a big THANK YOU to the organisers, the residents of Rastede and IFSS for making the race so enjoyable.

Team UK did really well, yet again. For full details, and some pictures, see our new page under Dryland WCh's 2006.

21 November 2006:

We are off to Germany next week for the IFSS Dryland World Championship race. There are quite a number participating from the UK this year, so please keep you fingers crossed for:

Steve Hopley; Keith Johnson; Mandie Johnson; Paul Keen; Vicky Lee; Steven Lindsay; Fred Palmer; Graeme Scott and John Witt.

24 September 2006:

Meet Stitch - the newest addition to the Cimmaron Kennel. From Steven and Fiona's Assam/Simon litter.

19 September 2006:

New pictures added to "Gallery - Puppies" of Gotti/Sol's puppies. See Mac and Rosie who will be coming to our kennel in 2007.

25 August 2006:

New page added "For Sale" - dog food for sale.

16 and 17 August 2006:

New pictures added to "Gallery - Puppies" of Gotti/Sol's puppies.

16 July 2006:

Buffy's puppies have gone to their new homes.

New page added "Gallery - Puppies"; to see pictures of Buffy's pups and Gotti's litter.

30 June 2006:

Just in: pictures of Gotti and Sol's babies (see Gallery - Puppies page)

28 June 2006:

Gotti's puppies are born; 4 boys and 1 girl. Very excited. Pictures to follow soon.

20 May 2006:

17 May 2006:

Buffy's puppies have finally arrived, after quite a few sleepless nights. She really did not want to part with them! Mother and puppies are all doing well. Pictures to follow.

3 May 2006:

Sol (wheel dog in Keith's 4-dog open team) has been used at stud to Gotti, lead dog of Damien dePindray (5 times French Champion). Puppies are due at the end of June and we are hoping to take 2 pups back from this litter.