Wocket

Compared to his in-charge sister Page, his creature-from-another-planet brother Speck! and his natural athlete sister Marian, Wocket is the one that can be overlooked. In my experience, though, those silent and non-standout puppies often grow to be critical team members over time.

Looking at the training log, Wocket is the unassuming valedictorian of the 10 yearlings: most hookups, most miles, never displaying a single misstep other than some snow-scooping off the side of the trail that a few runs without a neckline quickly had him dropping that habit. Never running in lead, Wocket also never looked back, never was phased by our tough trail conditions, and ran every single run with an adult team on the ATV. His last run on the sled was in a team of mostly adults, led by Gem and Gemma.

As he matures, slowly but surely, Wocket continues to evolve the balance of personality between his mom and his dad. The hook of his paw around my leg, the slow leap up, and his ridiculous flat tire are all his dad, and the smiles, hugs, and pure drive from his mom. Also, of all his siblings, Wocket seems to possess Hawkeye’s unnatural calmness during hookup, and on the trail: never a harness-banger, Hawkeye waited patiently to go. When Brianna did rides with clients, the other mushers thought Wocket was an 8 year old, because of his calmness and unnatural maturity.

Wocket has a gentle and loving personality, a temperament that is a pure mix of both of his parents. Whenever there are visitors to the dogyard, I point them in the direction of Wocket, as he is polite and not-overwhelming for first time sled-dog visitors. Wocket is a talented athlete, and I’m looking forward to seeing him succeed in confidence in the team. Wocket is still maturing, but he’s worth waiting for to become invincible.

Born: 6/24/2019

Fanzine x Hawkeye (Mahoosucs litter)

Race Record:

2022:
Wilderness 35: 1st place
Open Class World Championship Laconia: 8th place
Can Am 100: 1st place

Wocket, from the Mahoosuc range theme, is the name of a remote and rugged ledge and viewpoint roughly 5 trail miles from our home in Shelburne. The name ‘Wocket’ seems to be an echoed appropriation of the name of a woman of the Abenaki nation, of the Pigwacket tribe, Molly Ockett (a garbled mis pronunciation of her Christian name Marie Agathe). Her presence loomed large in the valley in the late 1700s as a healer, at the height of the advance of colonial settlers and the genocide of the Abenaki. The fact that Wocket is a messy version of the messy version of her Christian name Marie, adds layers within layers, a mind game of language and culture and power. I have also seen a further confusion of this name, written as ‘Walk-it’ ledge, which I’d like to think is some kind of joke.