We had a party at the kennel last week -- a 'Booty Party'. Yea Baby!
Very exciting.
Okay... your imagination might be getting the best of you.
It wasn't that exciting.
Sorting and packing dog boots is a chore. Usually at the top of kennel's Christmas Wish List is that a 'Booty Fairy' will show up in the middle of the night before Food Drops. But, for one person to sit in the garage surrounded by, literally, thousands of dog boots can - in fact - be a little depressing. Or overwhelming. Or simply smelly (used dog boots sometimes have little dried doggie 'gifts' stuck to them.)
Anyhow - we decided to make the entire dog boot ordeal FUN this season.
So, turn up the music and get after it:
look thru individual boots for holes and wear
size the 'still useable' used boots or new boots (sizing depends on the color of the velcro)
form boots into circular sets of 4's using the velcro
when we count how many boots we need for a training run or race, we mean how many "sets of 4"
bag a certain # of sets and sizes into baggies
these baggies will be put into race Food Drop bags depending on which dogs are on the team
SPK would like to thank: Will, Carolyn, Tom, Cindy, Wes, Scout, Willie, Lydia, Scooter, Rambler, Tig, and Sissy (although Sissy... did you have to pee on the floor twice?)
Simple Dog Boot facts:
different dogs wear different size boots
at SPK we generally use mostly small and medium, very few large, and Mac can, at times, wear XL
boots can be re used several times if they do not have holes or large wear spots
once a boot has even a tiny hole it is trash
boots must be dried out between uses
we use boots for training if conditions warrant (cold, icy or longer distances)
we use boots for all races (this is precautionary since races generally cover more miles in a shorter time frame)
most races REQUIRE a musher to carry 8 boots per dog at all times