Nimbus completed the requirements for his Working Samoyed Excellent (WSX) title. This title is granted by the Samoyed Club of America to dogs that have earned over 2,000 points in various working categories. Nimbus specialized in: sled, scooter, and skijor racing; excursion sledding and scootering; and backpacking.

Nimbus (closest) is shown with Lightning on the 5-mile scooter run that finished his title. He is an incredibly hard worker and loves to run fast!

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Our powerful Lightning was the official scooter salesman at Wolf Packs during 2001. When the US distributor of BlauWerk scooters went out of business in early 2002, we bought their entire remaining inventory and passed the price-break we received along to our customers.

Lightning's Downhill scooter is shown here. This device was originally designed for cruising down snowless ski runs, but we have found it to be an excellent lead dog training tool. With this unique mode of transportation, we always turn the heads of people who see our team on the local logging roads and trails.

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Four-month old Nimbus loves to help his older brother Lightning, who puts between 30-60 miles a month on his scooter. Nimbus is quickly learning about this sport, and has already decided that the lines do not taste very good.

Young puppies can learn a lot from a trained working dog. Nimbus runs free alongside Lightning during some of our scooter runs. We travel at the puppy's pace for about one quarter of a mile, rest, then return home. Lightning continues his workout while one of us entertains the puppy.

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Lightning completed his Working Samoyed Excellent title on April 22, 2001. Here he is at the halfway point on the five-mile scooter run, which completed his WSX title. Due to a light snow overnight, I couldn't decide between the kicksled and scooter. Upon studying the driveway, I saw that not enough snow had fallen, and running the sled would have risked damaging the runners. Out came the scooter. As we climbed 400 feet to the halfway point, I was wishing for our sled. There must have been six inches of lovely snow out there, which was surprisingly easy to run with a scooter. Our scooter, a white Blauwerk Downhill, is one of the most rugged mountain scooters made.

Lightning's focus has been in skijoring, excursion sledding, excursion scootering, race skijoring, and herding. He is likely among the youngest Samoyeds to earn this advanced working title. Working points are awarded by the Samoyed Club of America (with proper documentation - here is a listing of all Working Samoyed titled dogs) for adventures which meet certain criteria. Many of the rules require a distance of no less than five miles per outing. We have waited to backpack with Lightning until spring. Until recently, he was too young to carry the required 25% of his body weight over a minimum of five miles. We are sure having fun earning these titles with Lightning, and hope to continue our adventures together for many years to come!

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Thirteen month old Lightning has begun to work with our scooter. These mountain bike-like devices have no seat or pedals, making them safer to use when working dogs. As with sledding or skijoring, Lightning wears a harness which is specially designed for dogs who pull sleds. A special line with a shock cord is attached to his harness, then to the scooter frame.

This image shows Lightning and Linda shortly after passing our friend's six dog team. We did a five mile run this day. Whenever we can, we practice passing and running with other teams.

Our scooter is one of the few Blauwerk Downhills in white. Lightning was responsible for selling many Blauwerk scooters until the American distributor went out of business in early 2002.

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