Location: Haven Township, just outside of St. Cloud, Minnesota
Occupation: Sheriff’s deputy and dog musher
Next Race: I’d like to do some winter camping with my young new dogs.
Late in the 2024 Team and Trail Tour we had the pleasure to sit down with Renee at her home just outside of St. Cloud, Minnesota. She and I (Robert) have been friends on Facebook for a long time and it was cool to get to meet in person. We had the chance to meet her new pup, Sawyer.
Socials: RM O’Casey
I would really like to do the Beargrease someday.
I would back up and say I’d like to start probably with their 40 mile or rec race and be responsible about it. Know my limits too, because of course I don’t like the sprints enough.
It’s kind of local, but I haven’t done it there. I want to mush through the Boundary Waters.
Large dogs that are not well trained that charge us on the trail. Like aggressive dogs.
Coffee. I cannot live without is coffee.
I do like my darker brews and I probably drink about two cups in the morning and probably the rest of the pot at work.
Follow your path.
The sled I am currently running is either the Risdon Sprint Sled or the Wolf Trek Canine Cruiser, which is the racing rig.
My Risdon is beautifully made and lashed it is lightweight and it flies, and it’s a basket.
I tend to be accident prone just in general.
So I’m having to learn to slow down, even though that doesn’t always happen. It is a work in progress.
Maybe the dogs. The number of dogs.
Have patience. Know your limits. Be willing to push yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Dogs is just too vague. Being with good, positive, happy people who support you, in dogs.
When I was running a foster dog out back here, it is prone to drifting big time with the winds out here. And so I tell folks I had a leg day workout trying to trudge through about three feet of snow, trying to break trail and having a new dog who didn’t know whether he should be facing front or back and just I feel like it took an hour to move a quarter of a mile. It was just so daunting trying to get through that snow, get this dog right, get back to the sled. He turned back around. I got to get back up front trying to get the dogs to move the sled because we’re trudging through three feet of snow. Yes, it was a little. You came back a little It was little challenging.
We weren’t really sledding. We were just kind of, I don’t know what we were doing. We were hooked up to the sled. That’s about it.
anything happening to my loved ones and I’m not there to help or fix it. kind of a fix it person. Maybe control freak a little bit. That scares me.
We have these lovely salmon sticks or we make satin balls, which are often a favorite. The satin balls are more in the winter. The salmon sticks are more kind of the fall thing.
A satin ball is basically think of a very fatty meatball made of ground beef. There will be some flax, maybe some bran flakes ground So this is a snack for the dog.
Wait…I am talking about you, said, Robert:
Well, there’s never a shortage of coffee.
if I’m going to have a snack, some type of high protein bar, a Lara bar. What are those like four ingredient bars called, This square, they’re very chewy.
Rx bars. Rx? Yeah, they’re basically made out of like four egg whites and dates.
Working in concert with your dogs as a team. You don’t speak the same language, but yet you do.
Attempt a horseshoe turn with my dogs!
