Endurance Kennels

Getting Settled In

Tone — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:56:01 +0000

My new Mailbox

I’ve been established at our new location now for four weeks, and I love it more and more each day that I am there! The silence of the woods is amazing, quiet and peaceful. Another good thing about the location is that it’s close to work, only 17 miles from downtown Duluth!

I’ve had a few projects going already such as leveling out the shed, building a mailbox, constructing a puppy kennel for pups due in June, and of course clearing woods for the new kennel and chopping firewood.

Come on out and visit! I love having people out and showing them the northwoods of Minnesota.

If you want to stop by just give me a call for directions, 218.721.2571

We’ve Moved Back To Minnesota!

Tone — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:20:49 +0000

Last week, I moved the kennel back to Duluth, MN! Our new location is on 40 acres surrounded by state forfeit land in the Normanna township. It’s a perfect location for sled dogs with the north shore snowmobile trail just a 1/2 mile down my dead end dirt road. The superior hiking trail also crosses the road about 2.5 miles away. We can now train dogs right out of the driveway, no more loading up to go out training. We’ve been very fortunate to purchase this prime property, and I’m looking forward to it’s tremendous potential.

We’re only 20 minutes from Woodland, give us a call if you want to come out and visit! There’s plenty of room for camping, 4 wheeling, hiking, and all recreational activities.

Dogs Sold! – Clara & Magnus

Tone — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:57:48 +0000

I’m going to miss you guys, good luck with your new owners!

“Good dog for sale. “Clara” (E. Streeper). Check out http://www.dogtec.com/kennel/endurance-kennels/dog/clara for bloodlines. Great attitude, yearling, intact female, 40 lbs. I harness broke her last fall (2010), she has at least 70-80 hookups on her and is currently training with the team at 8 miles. Call 218.721.2571 for more info.”

$250.

“Magnus (2007) – Curtis Erhart and Roxy Wright-Champaine bloodlines. He’s about 60 lbs, runs in all team positions and is a race proven leader. Great drive and attitude, has never missed a day of racing or training since I’ve had him. He has mid-distance experience too.”

$400

$500-Package deal if you want them both!

2011-2012 Dog Practice Has Started!

Tone — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:41:36 +0000

It’s finally cool enough to get out there training dogs! The athletes are very excited to be out and running again. Only 4 weeks until the first dryland race so we have some work to do, wish us luck!

Video “The Mean Machine” Showing Incident During the 2011 Rondy Which DQ’ed Blayne Streeper

Tone — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:40:57 +0000

I picked Buddy to win the Rondy until this happened on day two. I’m not sure it warrants a DQ, but he should have been a little careful what he said in front of all those ppl. while passing Luke. Luke never filed a protest either so that raises even more questions. However he did, scratch from the race.

Video submitted on Flickr

Bud Streeper "hits" Luke Sampson

From Buddy’s Facebook Page

February 27, 2011

Fur Rondy World Championship

Statement from Blayne Streeper on events in the 2nd heat of the race.

Yesterday evening following the second heat of the Fur Rondy, I was informed by the Race Marshall that I was being disqualified from the race for unsportsmanlike conduct.

This incident happened on Cordova Hill as I caught Luke Sampson. I hollered, “Luke Trail Luke,” several times. He did not hear me and as my leaders reached him and attempted to pass he jumped off his sled and started running along side, interfering with my leaders.

As my team caught and passed Luke at the top of the hill I slapped his arm to get his attention and hollered, “Luke, Pay Fu—ng attention!” The way it was perceived by some in the crowd was that I was assaulting Luke. I felt that as an experienced driver that I had an obligation to advise this driver of his failure to pay attention and that he caused a safety risk to my team and that of others. At the finish of the race the Race Marshall came to me at the truck asking what had happened and that a trail official had phoned her and stated that I had punched Luke and yelled profanities. The Race Marshall also contacted Luke Sampson, who refused to file a protest.

I feel that the Race Marshall has over reacted on this incident and the penalty of disqualification from the race is too severe. I know the safety of our dogs is of the first concern for all of us. The dogs are defenseless and count on us to care for and protect them.

I regret using profanity during the race and apologize to all of the fans that I may have offended and to my friend Luke Sampson.

Sled Dog Racing: Coughlin Third in 10-dog Class

Tone — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:22:54 +0000

By: News Tribune staff, Duluth News Tribune
Published on February 15, 2011

Tone Coughlin of Iron River was third in the adult 10-dog class Saturday in the Pine River Run of the Wisconsin Trailblazers Sled Dog Club races in Merrill, Wis. Jan Bootz-Dittmar of Wausau, Wis., won the 20-mile event in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 47.20 seconds. Coughlin’s team finished in 1:08:32.16.

Sled-Dog Racing: Wallace, Coughlin Place 2-3

Tone — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:48:09 +0000

By: News Tribune staff, Duluth News Tribune
Published on February 2, 2011

Ted Wallace of Wrenshall and Tone Coughlin of Iron River, Wis., placed second and third in the Adult 10-Dog Speed class at the Willow Springs Round Barn Rally race Sunday in Wausau, Wis.

Wallace finished the 20-mile course in 1 hour, 15 minutes, 51 seconds; Coughlin was next in 1:17:28.57. Jan Bootz-Dittmar of Wausau won in 1:12:58.08.

The race is sanctioned by the International Sled Dog Racing Association and counts toward the International Championship Series.

Heading Out to the First Sled Races of the Year!

Tone — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:27:17 +0000

Deb, the dogs, and I are headed out tomorrow morning for the first sled race of the season tomorrow morning in Kalkaska, MI. It’s the second longest running sled dog race in the lower 48 behind Laconia, NY. I am driving three teams, 8 dog, 6 dog, and 4 dog. The teams have been training hard and have lots of hookups, Ari and Jaana (1.5 y/o) have 110 hookups in the last two seasons!

8 Dog Team Picks – 4 Endurance Kennels and 4 Windigo Kennels
Seppo-Jaana* in Lead
Ari*-Elroy*
Jetson*-Magnus
Ollie**-Ragnar**

**,* – Littermates

6 Dog Picks
Mandy-Diane
Dan-Snape
Astro*-Raimo**

4 Dog Picks
Toivo-Sven
Toivo-Prongs

Yes, there are two Toivo’s here!!

It’s going to be fun to see how they do, the 8 dog team may be competitive if we have some clean runs. I think we would do best in the 10 dog and up races, but the dogs don’t have the mileage yet. By mid Feb., they should be ready to go. The 6 and 4 are just there to get experience since most of my competition is 14 y/o girls that weigh 90 lbs! LMAO!

Ready to Race!

Tone — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:09:02 +0000

One of Deb’s long time customers from northern Illinois came up last weekend to run his rescue siberians on some snow. Jason got some good footage of my team heading out for our first interval training session of the year. The dogs in blaze orange and Raimo in wheel are Endurance Kennel’s dogs, all the other ones are Windigo dogs. Seppo and Jaana are in lead.

And here is a shot of us during the third interval.

We are unsure what race we are doing first, it all depends on when Steve is going to have his new knee put in. Most likely we will be heading to Merrill, WI on Jan. 8 & 9 instead of Markstay-Warren, ON. After that is Kalkaska, MI, Antigo, WI, Wausau, WI, and Land ‘O Lakes, WI. I’m excited to race and I think the team is ready too!

Valor’s Dilemma

Tone — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:30:27 +0000

Valor sleeping on the bed in the cabin, getting spoiled!

My number one dog hurt his toe pretty bad on Thursday, Sept. 30th, 2010 during a training run. I didn’t see what happened to him, he was running one spot ahead of wheel and of course when you are training sprint things happen so fast you barely have time to react if you can at all! After the run his toe swelled up and he was limping to the dog yard. It remained swollen for weeks with him resting in the dog yard, even with pain meds and anti inflammatories. The poor guy would get left behind every time we loaded up the trailer and would just be flipping out. I felt really bad for him, it had to affect his mood somehow. There’s nothing more that he loves than running with the team, no matter what his position is.

After about 3 weeks, his nail started to fall off. So a friend and I pulled it off and wrapped it, soaked it for 5 days and kept it dry. He went on a series of antibiotics for 10 days and the swelling didn’t go down, nor did the wound close where his nail once was. After I got back from East Meets West Dryland Championships in Clearwater, MN I decided it was time to take him to the vet. It was now 5 weeks since he injured his toe.

Doc Steve at the Willow Animal Hospital in Ashland probed his foot and found a small bony protrusion poking through the wound that could have been preventing it from healing. He suggested that we try a different anti biotic and see if that worked, otherwise he would need surgery. Well, it didn’t work and he still had swelling.

Valor went in on Monday, November 22nd, 2010 (8.5 weeks after the injury) for surgery to Willow and they found the tip of his toe bone was infected and growing bone spurs. So they cut down the bone until they found good bone and sewed him up. Now he’s in the cabin for a week getting spoiled!

I sure hope he heals up, Valor is such an important part of our team. Without him in it, the younsters have had to step up and have done a good job so far. But we would like to have him back for race season, he just loves to run. He may run as soon as Christmas, we will see how he’s doing and take it day by day!

Toe from the top, post-op