In this second installment of our “Super Dogs” series we take a look at the world-class sprint dogs of Blayne and Terry Streeper. Shown on the next pages are many of the dogs on the Streeper team that not only won the Anchorage Fur Rondy World Championships this year, but also took home the honors in the Open North American Championsips in Fairbanks in the same season. With these dogs, Blayne has won races ranging from limited class sprints, to 300+ mile stage races in Oregon and Wyoming, to 3 day mid distance sprints in Yellowknife and The Pas. Versatility, toughness, and above all, speed, are the qualities of a Streeper dog. Blayne takes us through his team and explains what each dog means to him and what each contributes to the team with its own special and unique abilities. For more information on these and other Streeper dogs visit www.streeperdogs.com.Dee Dee is a 6 year old, 40 lb female. She has two nick names – Little Dee was her original name because she was named after her mother who was Dee, Her new name is Big Dee because she has grown up into a big dog, I also call her Big 5 because she is the only leader in history to win the big five majors. Now she is the mother of another little pup I call Dee 2, so I am going to keep that little tradition going. Her lineage comes out of the Streeper yard – her father’s name is Cody who is a Hop son. Her mother Dee actually comes from Dale Raitto. Both parents have finished the ONAC. Dee is so good for us now because she has mothered three dogs off the winning team this year. Her three sons are Dale, Danny and Dylan. They are very similar to Dee with light bones, really “husky” features like longer hair and pointy ears. They are smaller dogs compared to the bigger pointers now, a little more husky in design. Dee as a matter of fact is full husky, there is no pointer bred into her. Dee is a major poo eater. At races she has to be tied up when the dogs are loose dropped otherwise she will have a cigar hanging out her mouth. Top five races: ONAC twice, Rondy twice, Yellowknife twice, Laconia and The Pas. She has never broken into a trot in her life, she lopes from 8 to 20+ mph. Rookie race as a 2 year old in ONAC, she won this race on the third day in lead. Best dog I have ever driven. Not the fastest dog, but one of the best leaders. This is the main dog on the team. I run my entire team just watching this dog, and watching her tug line. What ever speed she puts down I know it is enough to win. Hopefully she will be contributing to the team next year as well.Danny is a 2 yr. old, 43 lb. male – a Pride and Dee son. He is one of my best up-an-coming. He is a three day finisher of all the major races of this year. He has the husky attributes of long hair and a good undercoat and the point ears. He has a very efficient run, he runs like he is hopping up and down, more of an energy conserving lope. He is light on his feet, and I have never seen this dog injured. He is also a leader, we use him as a leader in training. He will probably make his leader debut next year, but he usually runs in the middle of the team. He is a few ahead of wheel, which is a difficult spot when you are running a larger string of dogs. 2 or 3 ahead of wheel, and even 4 and 5, what happens on tight corners, like in Anchorage when you are winding through the city, is the line tends to pitch over the dogs and this causes dogs to slip over to the wrong side of the line, so you are running two dogs on the left or the right, What Danny is good at is correcting himself on the run very quickly, and he and some of my better dogs have learned to anticipate this problem; they lift their head up a little so the mainline can’t pitch right over them, they take a lot of the pressure on their necks or sides, this causes the line to stay between him and the dog beside him. Lyle: 3 year old, 50 lb male. He has been the largest dog on my team for the past 3 years. He is a wheel dog, he is an exceptional dog, he handles the distance and the speed very easily. He has a long efficient run. All of his parts are moving in the correct manner. In order for a big dog to make the speeds and distances we are going, they have to really be flawless. They have to not be wasting energy on a bad run or crooked gait. He is a very smooth running dog. 50 lb is a big dog on my team, he is also strong around corners. And he is good at slipping himself in and out from underneath the line. He knows how to get himself out of trouble, if he gets on the wrong side of the gangline he will come back, but if the other dog gets on his side he knows how to push those dogs over. He has trained a lot of dogs for me. He is from the breeding of Tuffy and Helen. Both of these dogs are ONAC finishers. He raced the ONAC first as a 2 year old, and he completed every heat of every race this year as a 3 year old. Super tough dog. I will be breeding this dog in the future.Pride: 6 years old, 45lb. Oldest male on the team. He is the best male our kennel has ever raced in recent years. He has completed every major race I have run in the last 4 or 5 years, including the 2003 season where we went undefeated winning 21 straight. He was also part of the winning stage racing team – both the AttaBoy 300, the Wyoming Stage Stop and the AttaBoy the following year. He has incredible speed. This is our best performing stuff, which also relates to our best producing stud. He comes from the line of Mike, Ellis’ former leader and Candy who is from our yard, she also raced the ONAC. He is a bit of a stockier male with a bigger chest and shorter back. He has a different gait than the rest of my dogs, a slightly shorter gait, but it doesn’t slow him down at all. In fact I had him loose the other day and he and another dog got chasing a bird and ended up pretty far back. He ended up racing another dog who was 4 yrs younger than him, (a quick dog) and Pride out-ran this dog. He runs in any position in the team, although I have never run him in lead, but he has run point. He is very good at correcting himself. He is an invisible dog on the team. You don’t need too many super stars, I would take a dog like Pride anytime.Myia is 45 lbs. and 3 yrs. old. She is has been a main team member for 2 seasons. She has also been a main leader in every heat of every race in 2007. Littermate to Macy, mother is Mimi, ONAC top 3 finisher. Father is Tritt (Redington) ONAC top 3 finisher. Extremely fast and hard-driving, Myia leaves it all on the line every heat, and she is one of my fastest free running dogs. She is very long , smooth and has a straight stride for this large of a female. In 2006 at the Frazee, Minnesota open-class race, she broke through in the lead position on Day 2 to overcome a 1 minute deficit. The trail was soft and deep. The day 1 leader was too small for these conditions and was pushing the snow with each stride. Myia’s size allowed her to run above the deep snow, and keep the speed up, carrying the team for a come from behind victory. This summer she was bred to Pride, for our most anticipated litter of 2007.Dime: 3 year old female, 44 lbs. Her father is Nelson, and mother is Penny. She raced in every position of my team from behind point to ahead of wheel, so this is a very good team dog and one of the faster free running dogs. This dog can free run in excess of 30 mph. Best suited on the left, she is always watching through the bushes. When dogs are real fast they tend to notice other things, so she will let out a bark if there is a dog loose or if there is a spectator crouching down, or she may have even barked at you at the bottom of Cordova because she likes to say, “Hey what’s that,” which means she is feeling good and is running well. We bred her to Bill Kornmuller’s main leader Marvin and hers will be the first litter born this year.Julie: 4 years old, 43 lb. Another older dog, her father is Buck, and mother is Gypsy. She is a leader. She has raced lead in numerous races for me in Canada; however, in the ONAC and Rondy she is a team dog and she runs 1 or 2 positions behind point, so 2nd or 3rd swing. She is a great dog to have on the right-hand side as she has really good speed, really light on her feet. I have yet to see this dog tire. She has raced at The Pas, Yellowknife, Laconia, Rondy and ONAC. This is one of my better dogs. She has the husky look, longer hair, good under coat. She is very good to free run, and is very focused on me. Julie is a really good friend of mine. I have bred her this year to Pride, and it is one of the litters I am most excited about. She didn’t finish all 3 days of ONAC, but finished 3 days of Rondy.Donna: 3 years old, 40 lb female. Donna will race anywhere in the team from mid-team to lead position. Donna’s best race this season was the final heat of the Fur Rendezvous where she replaced Dee to run lead on the third day and did an excellent job. She ran very strong and steady. Her real name is Madonna but we call her Donna for short. She was bred and raised in our yard. Her mother was a leader named Iris and her father is Cory. Donna has run every race on Buddy’s main team for the last two years. Her strength is her incredible speed, one of the fastest dogs in the kennel. She has a really good attitude, very smart, one of the main leaders.Macy: 3 yr old, 42 lb female. One of the best dogs on the team. She is the main point dog. She has run in that position in every heat for the past three years. She is a leader, but she is more valuable to me in the point position and I prefer to run her on the right. She is a hard driving dog, real smart, and real athletic. Macy runs wide; if the leaders do slack off she runs to the outside of them and keeps the lines between her and the other dog. One key element that my point dogs need is to be able to fix themselves if they step over the line or the neckline. In the past year, I don’t think I had that dog over the neckline for more than a few hundred meters at any one time. She is from Mimi, an ONAC leader, her father is Tritt from Joe Redington Jr., also an ONAC leader. Macy was born in this yard. She raced first as a two year old and completed every one of those races. This year was much of the same, and I anticipate breeding this dog in the future. I would probably cross her with Pride. This dog will not be sold. She is also a back-up leader.Mars: 41 lb. Similar dog to Macy. She is also a main point dog. She did not miss a single heat in that position this season. She runs with Macy. Mars is a very smart dog. One of her best attributes is that she is very light on her feet. She runs with a more up and down stride than a long lope. She runs at any speed that her partner runs. I have never seen this dog go on the neckline or ever get tired. She has a really smooth, nice efficient gait. She has been on my team for the last two years and will be on the team next year. She comes from the line of Pysen, an Ellis leader, and her mother Sabine. I call her Mars Bar. She is very friendly. When free running or loose dropping, she can be pretty far away and I will let out a little chirp and she will come blazing over to me and will jump on me looking for my attention.Dylan: 2 years old, 45 lb male. One of the more huskier looking dogs on the team, this was his first year on the team. Last year he was one of the highlight yearlings who stayed home. Our handlers thought he was probably one of the best dogs in the yard. They had him running lead for most of the season as a yearling. His first race experience came this year, and he was part of the team for every heat of every race. Dylan has never seen an injury, and he has never been tired. He has a lot of attributes that his mom has. His breeding is Dee and Price. He has black wiry hair, curly, with a tone of grey. A real friendly dog, if you ever see me loose dropping the dogs, he is one of the ones directly beside me. We are pretty good pals, and he was named after my nephew. Sunny: 4 years old, 45 lb male. One of the older dogs on my team, he raced in wheel in the ONAC and just ahead of wheel in the Rondy. He has been on my team for the past 3 years. When he was a 2 year old, he was on my winning team at The Pas, Manitoba. He was also in my team in Yellowknife. He has competed in stage racing, and he was one of my leaders in the 2002 stage race. He is a leader, but I prefer to run my males at the rear of the team. He has the husky look. He comes from the lines of Bingo, and a female named Cheers, both were leaders. There were 7 puppies in that litter and all of those dogs were leaders, so it was a very successful breeding for us. He is probably the best dog out of that litter and we have since bred him a few times as I like his speed. He is one of my faster males. He has a really long light gait. Most of my dogs can run fast, but this dog can run fast with ease, so he has good durability and endurance. This is what I look for in a breeding male. The puppies he has thrown have turned out to be some very good leaders, so I look forward to breeding him more in the future. Not Pictured:Jimmy: 3 year old, 45 lb male. He ran on the team for the last 3 years. He and Calvin are littermates. Their breeding is Tim and Swifty. Swifty was my former leader for this race. Jimmy has blue eyes, which comes from his mom. Last year I bred him to Dee, and one of those pups has blue eyes as well. Jimmy is one of the faster dogs. He runs anywhere from just behind point to directly ahead of the wheel dogs. He runs on either side. He is very fast. I have never seen him get tired. He finished the ONAC last year. He has been sold to a musher in Quebec. Calvin: 3 years, 45 lb. He is not quite as fast as his brother Jimmy, but his position is one ahead of wheel. Calvin is more of a husky looking dog, all the good husky attributes with the speed of the hounds. Both of these are great dogs. He was sold to a musher in Quebec. He didn’t finish the 3rd day of the ONAC, but was there for the 3rd day in the Rondy.Seabiscuit: 3 years old, 38 lb male. He was one of the smallest dogs on my team. He comes from Ray and Rita. He can run any position of the team including lead. His best position is one behind point with his running mate Dale, as they are both pretty equal in size. Best suited on the left or right, he can correct himself on either side. Seabiscuit was a single pup at birth, he had some difficulties with his mother as she was not sure of herself being a new mum. He was born with a vision problem, definitely cannot see 100%, but he can see me fine and can see other dogs fine. He is tough, very streamlined, and light-boned.Dale: 45 lb. Brother to Danny and Dylan. Mother is Dee, father is Pride. He looks like his mother. He is a training leader, and will hopefully break into lead position this year. He is a really good dog to run on the left-hand side as he knows how to avoid the main gangline. He is one of my smaller dogs, so he is up towards the front end of the team. He is a fast, light moving dog, who is always focused on me. It looks like he will be on my team for a few years to come.
