After soul-searching and a long heart-to-heart discussion 2010 will mark Mark’s retirement from the Beargrease Marathon. Next year we will be focusing on shorter races so we are picking up some new blood (actually buying some dogs) so we need to make room for their arrival.

We’re looking to switch from the self-contained dog truck to a trailer for hauling dogs around but we need to sell the truck first. Truck is 1996 2WD, Ford 1-ton crew cab dually, low miles (in the 80,000 range), gas engine. Aluma flatbed with four under-bed diamond plate storage boxes (flatbed and boxes were around $2500 new!). 8×10 dog box holds 24 dogs single, ventilation system throughout the box for moisture management while resting or traveling when warm (worked great for traveling to the Wolf Track this year), large center storage with back area to hang ganglines and harnesses, etc. and two bump-out storage doors on the back. This truck has been to Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Canada, numerous Beargrease and UP200s that included  two snowstorms and one white-out blizzard!

The dog box was built with organization in mind. Anyone who has had the pleasure of being a handler with me at a race knows that I’m quite anal about keeping the truck organized during the race. Here are a couple pics of the inside of the dog box:

DOGS FOR SALE

Athena, command LEADER. has the infamous Caesar as her father. Born in 2002, Athena is about 50 lbs. and has been running (and finishing) on just about every one of our races teams since she was a yearling, including Mark’s 2005 winning Beargrease Marathon team. She pulls like a freight train, or as Fast E Streeper would say: “she pulls through her harness, unlike your snow-dipping slackers”.  Born to be a lead dog, as her parents, Caesar and Innoko and grandparents on the dam side, Butthead (yes we had a lead dog named Butthead) and Tag were all great command leaders. She lead Tara’s team in the WolfTrack race to an 11th place finish, which should have been Top 5, if Tara didn’t have to carry 60-lb Calvin for half the race! $400

Hercules, commmand LEADER, is Athena’s brother born in 2002. It’s killing Mark to let 70 lb. Herc go, but an enlarged prostate that didn’t go away with neutering makes it easy for him to overheat. Like Athena, he works his heart out..so much so that we think he should only be run in an extreme recreational team, a skijor dog (you best be a good skier), or most likely a pet. He’s great off-leash in the woods, has gone moose shed hunting with us and sticks close. For someone in town, he’d need to be on a leash as he’s not used to traffic.  $100

Olive, is a 10-year-old command LEADER, is affectionately known as “Little Ah-nold” as she’s built like the Governor weighing in around 45 lbs. She’s as sweet as can be, but just can’t keep up with our youngsters. She knows what a couch is but isn’t completely house-trained. She still loves to run and literally shakes with excitement while getting harnessed. $200

Calvin, born the summer of 2008 does great in harness as long as the run isn’t longer than 20-25 miles. He even runs lead! At under two years old he’s a leggy 60 lbs. but we think he’d be happiest in a recreational kennel where the runs are short and the stress is low and/or where he gets to spend his nights on the couch. $100.

-349-7960 or info@BlackMagicKennels.com.