Just like the previous post, this was another routine dog run out into the valley and back. The only thing of note was the new trail markers set out by a local club that was having a dog race. They do it most every year and it's no big deal, they only use a small segment, maybe 3-4 miles of the same trail we run. and so far, had never seen any of the racers. So after we got back, unhooked the dogs, gave them a snack, then went over to start the tractor. It had snowed a couple of inches overnight, so wanted to get the driveway plowed. Right about then the dogs started barking, so walked back towards the dog yard and saw a dog team where the trail starts/ends. Behind that team was second one, bunched up in the little space left to them. The lead musher was screaming at his dogs, who were certainly confused by it all, so couldn't figure out where to go. When I finally got down there, he hadn't paid any attentions to me up to then, I yelled "what are you trying to do?" "Going to take that trail there" he yelled back over the cacophony of the dogs. Well that was the tractor trail to the garden and compost piles, so told him no, he needed to turn his dogs around where they were and go back on the trail they came in on. He didn't want to do that but eventually convinced him that was the way go to get back to the race. Surprisingly, he quickly turned his team around, and after a short stop, passed the team behind him and was soon gone. I helped the guy behind him get turned around, gave him directions to get back to the main trail, and then he was gone too. From what he said, they apparently missed a marked turn, saw our tracks in the fresh snow, and followed them thinking it was a race team. The whole thing took just a few minutes, but seemed a lot longer.
Didn't have a camera, so this is a pic of our team after todays run. Imagine two teams lined up here, with ten or more dogs each, barking and trying go somewhere, anywhere else!
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