Skee Ball

Skee Skee! From the tiniest of the litter, Skee has grown from a 35 pound shaggy thing into a sleek muscled athlete charging in front of the team with her mama Aurora’s confidence and drive. Skee’s story and maturing is a reminder of how long it takes and the patience needed in training young dogs.

When I harness broke Skee and her siblings as tiny puppies, it was Skee who drove forward hardest, flinging her (then) 30 pound body against the line. Skee has an intensity in her harness that is larger than her body, I picture her three times larger than she really is because of her work ethic. As a yearling, Skee ran with the big dogs and took to lead with equal parts natural talent and insecurity of youth, rivaling her no-nonsense exceptional soldier of her brother Bruce with her work ethic and wriggle-ness.

As a 2 year old, Skee did best with her mom Aurora in lead, where she watches and listens. Both of them lead in similar fashion, ears peaking forward in curiosity about what’s ahead, heads down and always forward. Skee loves and finds comfort and confidence in her mom, while Aurora appreciates that Skee doesn’t try to boss her around. When put in lead together, Skee plays a little bit with her mom in joy and then gets down to business. Now that Aurora is fully retired, Skee interacts with her mom in the house, literally squealing with joy when she comes in from the yard to see Aurora. Skee absolutely adores and worships her mom.

As a 3 year old, Skee has formally and finally taken her place at the front of the team, and with Gemma stepping back Skee is needing to step forward. Watching her set a pace, drag Jax out of the snowbank, and head-on pass teams in training, I think she’s ready to rock and roll.

While a perfect sled dog, Skee is allergic to life and is year-round on anti-allergy meds, sometimes needing special baths to wash off her coat, and occasional anti-allergy injections to fight back. She often wears a jacket as her undercoat doesn’t grow in as thick as other dogs, as a result. As a result of this inflammation, Skee has a little ostrich neck that collects her slobber and it’s so cute. While Skee is the best of her litter, because of this funny allergy I spayed her as a young dog and have no regrets.

Born: 7/26/2019

Aurora (Stielstra) x Zippo (Hendricks): Jersey Shore/ Lilliputians

Race Record:

2022:
Wilderness 35: 6th place
Open Class World Championships Laconia: 8th place
Can Am 100: 1st place

Our time at the Jersey Shore always included a trip to the boardwalk and, of course, the arcades. Skee Ball was one of my favorite arcade games, just as Fried Dough (one of the brothers, now named Chugach) was my favorite boardwalk treat. The Jersey Shore litter was named in memory of my cousin and godmother Suzy, who died the same night these pups were born after two years of fighting cancer. Suzy was a relentless cheerleader for me, and loved all the dogs, and took great pride in her Jersey Girl-ness.