Winter+Ecology

Welcome to the Winter Ecology page. Our workshop leader, Jennifer Rockett, is also our host park ranger at Profile Falls Park. Ranger Rockett is a Park Ranger/ Natural Resources Specialist for the US Corps of Engineers. She holds a masters degree in education in secondary biology, so you can see why she is such an expert on winter ecology. Her main job responsibilities include flood control, forest inventory studies, wildlife and fishery studies, and education programs. This was her third NH RiverDay with the enthusiastic Newfound fourth graders.

This is a picture of a girl that is named Jen Rocket. She is talking about the bear next to her. The bear next to her is called LuLu. She was born in the winter and her mother could not take care of her anymore so then she was hungry so then LuLu went to eat some food. LuLu had to cross the road to get to the other side to find food but when she went to the other side there came a car. It was going pass the limit so then LuLu got hit by the car.

River day by Smallish Killer Bear On River Day I saw this dead coyote with a squirrel in its mouth. I wondered how the squirrel got in its mouth. At first I thought that the coyote found the squirrel and killed it, then a hunter killed the coyote too. Then I thought that the coyote was walking around and got shot by a hunter and the squirrel was put in the coyote’s mouth with string. That is what I thought. Finally I decided to ask and when I said that I thought the coyote was shot by a hunter and the squirrel got put in the coyote’s mouth, I was right.

We loved learning about the dogsledding dogs, so when Miss Rockett introduced us by e-mail to her musher friend, Jaye Foucher, who practices racing her dogs at Profile Falls Park, we made a LONG list of questions to ask her about dogsledding. Here are some of her answers, printed with permission.
 * G****etting to know Miss Rockett at NH RiverDay got us so excited about learning that when she offered to come to our class and lead a reading/technology/winter ecology project about the Iditarod and dogsledding, we jumped at the opportunity.**

Hi everyone!

1. What is the name of your kennel? Sibersong Sleddogs (www.sibersong.com)

2. How many dogs do you have? I have 20 siberian huskies (4 are puppies that are 5 months old)

3. How many mushers do you use in a race? That actually depends on the race. Sometimes it depends on how many sign up. Some races have limits to how many can be in the race (typical limit would be 25-30 mushers), some races have no limits at all. So every race is really different. I've done races where there are only 3 mushers competing and I've done races where there are 30 racers. There are also usually different "classes" in each race: some races have differents lengths, like there may be a 30 mile and a 60 mile trail and you choose which one you want to race. The 30 mile racers race against each other and the 60 mile racers race against each other. Other races may have different classes based on team size: so you may choose to race in the 4-dog class or the 6-dog class, etc.

4. How many dogs do you have to have on a team in order to race? Again, it depends on the race. Sprint races (which are races of short distances, usually under 15 miles) tend to have classes that specify the number of dogs, as explained above: so there would be a 1 dog class, a 4 dog class, a 6 dog class, and what's called an "open" class where basically you choose however many you want to run.

In mid-distance races (30 miles or more), the team size depends on the length of the race and what the race organizers tell you that you can race. Typically, a 30 mile race uses a 6-dog team, a 60-mile race uses an 8 dog team, and a 100 or more mile race uses a 10-12 dog team. The Iditarod allows you to start with up to 16 dogs on your team.

5. Do you have a favorite/lead dog? What’s its name? My favorite lead dog, and best lead dog, is Kadee. She's 4.5 years old and she's my best leader because she is really focused, she passes anything she sees on the trail (like loose dogs or other teams or squirrels) and she knows her leader commands.

6. Which race do you run? This year I ran a 100 mile race 2 weeks ago in Eagle Lake Maine. I did a 30 mile race this past weekend up in Stratford NH, which I placed 4th in and had the top finishing purebred team. This coming weekend I am doing another 100 mile race in Greenville Maine, and in 3 weeks I am going to run a 250 mile race in Fort Kent Maine called the Can-Am Crown!

To be continued.... :-) -Jaye

Jaye Foucher says, “Here are the rest of my answers to the questions you asked:

7. How do you untangle the gangline? Sometimes dogs get tangled in their tuglines, sometimes in their necklines, sometimes in the main gangline. Usually I either have to unhook their neckline or tugline to untangle them, and then sometimes I have to use all my strength to pull back on the main gangline to loosen it so that I can untangle them (if they’re tangled in the main line that is). I always carry a pocket knife just in case I have to cut a line because it’s too tight around a dog’s leg or neck and I can’t untangle it fast enough, but I’ve only had to ever do that once.

8. Have you or your dogs ever gotten frostbite? I did on one ear one time - it was below zero in a race and my hat wasn’t very tight. My ears were really really cold but we were on a big frozen lake and I couldn’t set my snowhook well on the lake to adjust my hat so I figured that I would wait until we were off the lake to do it. By the time we were off the lake my ears weren’t cold anymore so I figured I must have warmed up! Instead it was just that my ears got so numb I couldn’t feel them anymore. After the race when I warmed up in the car one ear started burning, like I had a sunburn on it, and I asked a friend what it looked like and she said it looked bright red, so I knew I had some minor frostbite there. After that I went out and bought a MUCH better hat!! None of the dogs have ever been frostbitten.

9. What are the names of your dogs? Then there are McKinley’s puppies who are 5 months old: Quinn, Sully, Emma and Hank
 * Mikayla and Kodi were my first two siberians - they no longer race and are just beloved house pets now. *Nakita was the first siberian from sleddog lineage - she still runs with the team *Anthem & McKinley are a brother and sister pair *Kadee *Piper & Dawson are another brother and sister pair who are cousins to Anthem & McKinley *Magik is a half sister to Piper and Dawson (same daddy) *Weyekin & Matsi (brother and sister named after the Sawtooth Wolves in Idaho) - they are the son and daughter of Kadee *Maja (pronounced Maya) *Jackson & Tristan are brothers and are Maja’s sons *Snickers and Snowy are a brother/sister pair I got from a kennel in Ontario a few years ago

10. What is a reward you get when you win a race? Sometimes you get some money. You almost always get a trophy of sorts. Some races give prizes to the top placing siberian husky or purebred team, and often those are things like stuffed siberian huskies or some neat sort of gift. I’ve won 2 trophies, one plaque, and a stuffed husky so far.

11. Do the dogs eat differently when they are racing? They eat a lot more during the fall and winter because they are burning a lot more calories. During a long race, like the 250 mile race I’m going to run, they will eat even more than usual. But their actual diet is still the same: they get a high fat/high calorie kibble that is formulated specifically for working sleddogs, and they also get about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of raw meat with their kibble. Usually it’s either ground up chicken or ground up beef. On races, they also get trail snacks during the race and it’s either raw beaver meat, raw beef snacks, raw liver, or raw fish. I cut up fish or beef or other meats into small pieces and then freeze them - their teeth are very strong and they can chew right through the frozen meat if it’s not too thick.

12. Why do your dogs have to wear shoes? They are called dog booties, and it protects their feet from bad trail conditions. Sometimes in the fall if the ground is really frozen they need to wear boots or they will wear down their pad tissue and get cuts. And in the winter sometimes the snow gets small ice crystals in it (on super cold days) and this can cause abrasions on their feet. Some dogs just tend to get sore feet after running a long time. So the dog boots protect their feet from getting injured. Some dogs need to wear boots a lot, some only need them once in awhile.

13. Do you ever go over any water crossings? Frozen: yes. I’ve gone over lakes in races. I don’t like doing it in training though because I worry about whether it’s really frozen or not! We go through a lot of open water during training and sometimes in races - small streams or big puddles in the fall - sometimes in the fall we go through puddles so big that the water comes up to the dog’s stomachs!

14. How long was your longest trail? 108 miles - the race I did 2 weeks ago. That’s the longest we’ve ever run - but we had a 4.5 hour rest break in the middle. The longest I’ve done without any real break was 60 miles.

15. What breed of dogs do you have? Siberian Huskies. You can go look at pictures of the dogs at www.sibersong.com

16. Do you have a wind-wild dog? I don’t know what that is, so I don’t know if I have one! I have never heard the term before. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! I have to go out mushing with the dogs soon but I can always answer later on.” -Jaye Foucher  Sibersong Sleddogs