Pictured here are Auke, Alloa, and Atlas napping after a good play session. Hula's pups are all growing and developing well. Their personalities are all emerging. Axle is becoming the biggest social butterfly of the bunch, followed closely by Atlas. Alloa is the most cautious of the group so far. I always find it interesting to watch their early behaviors and see if they stay consistent, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.



Here are Acorn and Atlas hanging out with Jesse. Jesse and Peter have been spending alot of time with the pups this year which is great for both kids and canines.



Here are some of Hena's pups. While we had thought maybe these would be the "b" or "y" litter we eventually decided on a "V" litter. Pictured here are Vesta, Venus, and Viper. The other four are Vegas, Velvet, Vixen, and Vulcan. Vulcan is the Roman god of fire which we felt was a great name since Hena is the Hawaiian goddess of fire. They are all doing great. Vegas is emerging as the spitfire of the bunch - she is always moving and her tail never stops wagging.

Pictured is our "dog train"- Sam up front with 6 dogs, Peter next with 4 dogs, Jesse with 2 dogs then Kate and I holding up the rear with 10 dogs.

We decided to go out for a day trip as the weather was  perfect,and everyone was excited about taking their own dog teams.The kids all left on their own accord right from the yard, a little disconcerting at first but everyone made it accross the roads and no "wipe outs".
We traveled together for about 5 miles and stopped at a neat spot close to some dead fall- for firewood, and a few spruce - for a platform.
We made a campfire and dined on Bannock and Hot Chocolate and Tea.
The kids played around for a bit and climbed tree's and gathered firewood.
The weather has really warmed up quick here, the snow has melted to the point that the culverts are all running out onto the lake in front of our house. The weather is supposed to cool off again in the next few days.

We have been busy training last years puppies.  I have noted that they seem very capable and are naturals when we harnessed them up. I have trained many dogs over the years, and  over the last couple of years the mental abilites of the dogs we are raising appear to be at another level.
We have missed a few of our brood bitches so far this season. Filbert was bred to Ricky  in January, but did not take. Lena was in heat just as I was leaving the start line of Iditarod so did not get bred, Katrina was going to be bred to Ricky but missed her heat cycle in Montana.

We have bred Raphael to Hula.  Raphael really impressed me this winter. He had a problem with his lower back  and groin that kept him out of the final team for Iditarod, but he went on every training run. He could not pull much but he was always the first to bark , always ate, etc etc.. He would walk around like an old man after the run - ( up to 140 miles at a time). So needless to say it was impressive. I think that it is a good match.
Jean and Blackdogs pups are doing extremley good as well. The are close to 1 year old now, and are the oldest pups form last year.
All the pups  have run in lead.
I never thought we would have a problem of too many leaders to train. Its a lot of work! As I am sure everyone knows, you need practice to keep the skills up to par , and we try to rotate dogs into lead so that their skills keep up.

 Warren

Well, things are progressing here for team NorthernStar Kennels. We have completed all of our necessary vet checks. We had our team ECGs yesterday morning. Each dog that runs the Iditarod has a full panel of bloodwork done as well as the electrocardiogram to assess their fitness level and ability to run a race such as the Iditarod. All dogs are also microchipped for identification purposes. Most of our dogs are already microchipped but the few that weren’t are now.
We were there at the same time as the Discovery channels new news program so keep watching the Discovery channel everyone. We don’t know when it will air but we will let you know if we find out. Warren was interviewed while he was holding the dogs for their ECGs and I was interviewed after the tests were all done. Our dogs not surprisingly hammed it up for the cameras. One thing about my taking so many of pictures of our dogs is that many of our dogs are posers as soon as they see a camera, very convenient for the media and spectators.
After the testing was all done we had to run around town to pick up things still needed for the race and the very necessary washing of the truck and trailer, both of which had become substantially darker in color after the Alcan highway! All that took up the afternoon and then we headed into Anchorage, about an hour from Wasilla where the Iditarod headquarters is located and where we had the first vet check.
In Anchorage we had the second of the pre race vet exams last night. In this exam each dog has a full physical. We are lucky enough to be friends with a great veterinarian here in Alaska, Dr. Deni Albert, and we had her do the pre race exam on our dogs again this year. She has worked at countless sled dog races and really knows sled dogs and we value her opinion greatly. One of the really cool things about the Iditarod is the way that mushers and vets work together for the best care of the dogs. We are happy to report that Deni gave our dogs a clean bill of health, remarking more than once about the great shape they are in. While we already knew this, it is always good to hear it from a vet and helps us with team confidence.
Finishing up well after nine pm with the vet check we were happy we were able to have a late dinner with Deni and her partner Mark Nordman, also the race marshall for the Iditarod and a good friend of ours. We got reports of the trail from Mark and it happily is not in as tough a shape as it was for last years race. We were really happy to get the chance to visit with them both before the race starts. During the race Deni will be a vet on the trail and Mark will be busy nonstop as race marshall so we shall not have another chance.
This morning we turned in all of our mandatory vet paperwork at headquarters and it felt good. Slowly but surely all the logistics are getting finished and soon it will only be about running the dogs. I know Warren is anxious to get out on the trail.
This afternoon was all about getting organized with our most important goal to get the second sled packed up. Warren will be sending his second sled, a lighter sled than the one he will start with, to Takotna. The sled is all ready to go now. Tomorrow while Warren is in the mushers meeting, I will head out to the airport to send the sled out, another big logistic to check off the list.
We are now en route back to Anchorage where we will spend the night. The musher meeting is at 9am tomorrow morning and we don’t want to fight with the traffic going into Anchorage in the morning. That is the best thing about our trailer; we have our living quarters in it so we are quite self-sufficient. We will park it at the Millennium Hotel, the race logistics headquarters during the race, and then in the morning Warren can sleep in abit and I can be with the dogs while he is in his meetings.
We are excited to go have a late dinner with our friends Laura and Jane who are flying in as I write. We are hoping to go to an Anchorage icon, the Club Paris, where we all dined together before Iditarod 2006.
Cheers,
Kate

As we move into November this time of the year.. Late fall, early Winter, is the most intense for training, The dogs are in a 2 on 1 off sceduale, training anywhere from 8- 50 miles in the few weeks. the mileage really starts adding up.  We have been unable to "lose" any dogs in our main pool, and to be honest could easily throw Ike , Jean, Marley, Keno, or Wilton  back into the main group. But we want to eventually get to a number of about 24 dogs ultimatly ending up on the truck.- to pick for the Iditarod pool. It is going to be a great group if I might say! We still have 29 running in the main crew.
I have to say that it has been an absolute delight training so far, The "main crew" of leaders are really tuned into their commands now. to the extent that I can command them to trun off the trail into the bush .. Ive tried it. trail or not they go when I say.
I have incortperated in our home trails a number of loops, truns and options that in a typical 19 mile run give at least 30 gee-haw commands, during the run at times alomst running a slamon of consective turns --- Gee, Gee, Haw, gee... Etc
Its neat to watch thier ears perk up in anticipation of the commands. I also note that its not only the leaders that iniutaie the turn but essentially the whole team! 
So who are the main leaders crew... tough choice- Edinei is the most responsive with Calvin and Mudslinger a close second, Frank, Blackdog ,Earl,Cash... I dont know.. Its definatly a great problem to have no doubt!!  Maybe I wont really know untill I get to Unalakleet?
I do see that some are better in different situations, Some set a faster pace, etc etc. So that only adds to the versatility of the team.
We have a decent amount of snow on the ground, We should be able to get on the lakes in the next few days, 
I just got news this A.M that the Great Slave 200 is back on the qualifier list as a 200 mile race for the Yukon Quest,
The race is starting on December 14th, I invite all to come up and race!
 
Thank you to all that have emailed us, in regards to the new site etc, thanks... Feel free to leave comments for everyone to see!
Its been alot of work, but will now be much easier to maintain, a Big thanks to Jacques!


I am off again this A.M to the Cut Line, I'll be back on Thursday evening

We  will add a page devoted here for the race site when I get back from my training camp

Warren