Tasha - Kayak's Faun
7th July 1986-16th May 1998
Tasha was our first Siberian Husky, from Maureen Nicholls Kayaks Kennel near Bath. Both of her parents Huskygaarden's Igloo for Kayak and Kayak's Candy can be seen in many pedigrees in the UK today.
We probably got Tasha for all the wrong reasons that would be frowned upon today (Snow Dogs or 8 Below scenarios). When Lesley and I were courting one of the first video's we watched was "The Thing" which contained a number of Huskies. We both said there and then that we wanted a "husky" type dog when we had our own house. A couple of years later Lesley done a bit of research and off we went to the Nordic Show in Lamport and after seeing the size of the Mals decided a Sibe would be a bit more appropriate in a 2 bed end of terrace with a postage stamp sized garden.
Tasha ended up being rather on the tall side for a bitch to the extent that at one show we were asked if she was a Mal, this resulted in her only being shown a few times with no success except a 2nd place in "The dog the judge would like to take home" at a local exemption show.
Despite her size she was very much in proportion and her temperament really was unquestionable. At the time of bringing Tasha home, Shaun was 6 months old and the pair were fairly inseparable.
Initially I had no intention of working Tasha, however Maureen Nicholls and Chris Jackson had a team run by Pete Day, who just so happened to live near to us. They were short of a dog for their 6 dog team and asked if they could try Tasha. We agreed to this and off she went to Cannock and a few other rallies including Aviemore in 1988. By this time we had acquired another Sibe from Maureen, Katie - Kayak's Icecream.
Tasha had such a sweet nature that everyone she met fell in love with her, even "non-doggy" people. She was top dog in the kennel and stayed there until her final days, one of the sadest days of my life was when she passed away in my arms at feeding time one evening
Katie - Kayak's Icecream
24th July 1987 - 18th December 2002
Katie was also from Maureen Nicholls Kayak's Kennel. Because of Tasha's temperament we decided that we'd go back to Maureen and as she had bred Candy again, this time with Charvak Oneko of Skiivolk, we thought that we'd stand a good chance of getting a similar temperament. And we were not wrong, Katie was a real sweety.
We did have problems getting weight on her and think this was because she spent most of her energy in growing those ears, needless to say she wasn't a show dog either, although she did get a few placings.
At a year old we began working Katie with Tasha in the 2 dog classes and although not too quick we were middle of the pack and most of all enjoyed running.
Despite living to the ripe old age of 15 we nearly lost Katie at 7 when she suffered from pyometra but luckily got her to the vet in time and after several hours of pacing Katie pulled through.
Jayca - Kayak's Jayca -
17th August 1988 - 16th August 2000
Jayca was a character and a half. Her parents were Kamchatka's Alexei at Aceca and Kayak's Candy. Although she wasn't exactly bred to order we had light-heartedly given Maureen strict instructions that we wanted to be first on the list if she had a black and white bitch puppy. So within hours of her being born she was ours and we were on the 3 hour trek to Bath to see her.
If we had ever got into breeding you would just know that Jayca would have been the auntie that looked after the puppies. She loved everyone and everything and would do anything to please.
With those ears she would never be a show dog but she did enjoy running. She was very comical usual moaning the majority of the way around the track with the tips of her ears wagging as she ran.
Jayca was reasonable in harness, usually put in wheel where she could use some of her strength and weight.
Nica - Kayak's KiakNica -
1st February 1989 - 16th March 2000
Nica was our powerhouse which I think she got from her dad Igloo (Huskgaardens Igloo for Kayaks), her Mum was Lady (Huskygaardens Lady for Kayak). She was a real pretty puppy and although we did not show her very much she was always placed highly when we did.
Nica had a great working attitude, we started training her in harness at 6 months and by 9 months was confident enough to run in a charity event at Wareham. Nica was Miss Reliable and where the others would have their off days she would go out there and put her heart into it every run. I could also put her anywhere in the team, in wheel where her strength came into its own and also in lead where her attitude and pace seemed to motivate the others.
Nica was quite a quiet dog, very rarely got into trouble around the house and was realy a pleasure to own.
Jenny - Kayak's Labelle
Jenny was probably one of the prettiest huskies we'd seen and when we added her to the team gave us another gear.
We had Jenny on breeding terms but sadly she past away at a young age as a result of a terrible accident whilst at her breeders.
Malarni - Kayak's Malani
Malarni was owned by Maureen Nicholls but we had her for a couple of years making up the team.
