Margaret is a sweet but tough girl named for one of my favorite female authors, Margarat Atwood. I got Marge as a puppy in 2007 from Butch and Sara Parr, friends and neighbors who were also my hosts when I first moved to the area. Margaret was always a noisy pup and had something to say about everything. She was a big girl right from the start and liked to play.Although she doesn't like Charlotte very much, Margaret gets along with nearly everyone and even gets some of the older (and sometimes grumpy) females to loosen up and play. She loves attention and will hardly leave my side when she is loose after a run. When she started running in harness at 6 months, Margaret was a natural. She never looked back. Because she never looked back, she was soon leading the team, when she was only 8 months old.
The 2008-2009 season was her first season racing and she did extremely well. Margaret finished in my winning Siskiyou team and lead the second leg in the middle of the night when I could hardly stay awake. Most leaders do not learn turning commands until they are in their second year. Margaret has proven to be smart as well as tough. She is already quite responsive to "gee" and "haw".
Keep an eye on this one. I expect Margaret will be an important leader in next year's Yukon Quest, as well as a great spirit booster to the rest of her team, dog and human alike.
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