Whitney went from a pretty good puppy last year to a superstar leader this year. She was born in 2007 and is a daughter of Doug Swingley's Peppy from his last breeding season. Whitney was outshone last year by her sister, Detour, but this year, Whitney was the unflappable one. I got Whitney in October 2007 from the Swingley camp along with Detour, Annabel, and Jersey who were all the same age. They had never been run by anyone but me. I harness broke the pups for Doug and Mel earlier that spring while they were on a horse trip and I was dog sitting.Whitney is one of my smaller dogs in a kennel of reletively small sled dogs. She may be blond, but looks can be deceiving. This smart little girl is a very responsible leader and takes her job in front of the team very seriously. She keeps the line held tight and keeps everyone moving at a good pace. She is getting very confident in her turning commands. And best of all, Whitney led a team last weekend for my friend Goob in his first sled dog race in Polebridge. And they had the fastest time of the whole weekend in the 6-dog class.
Whitney is a very happy dog and smiles a lot with her squinty eyes and always greets me with a good "woo-woo". She thinks she is queen of the dog yard which is a tough position to claim around here with 75% of the dogs being female. (and me, of course.) But she gets along with everyone and doesn't let anyone push her around.
I expect to see Whitney become even more confident and reliable in lead next year and am sure she will be making the run with me from Fairbanks, AK to Whitehorse, YT. More pictures coming soon.
Annabel & Whitney
Whitney & Margaret
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