Clara Oswald

Clara was born to White Elk Tamaskan's first litter (Explorer) in July of 2013. I went to Seattle to pick her up 8 weeks later and bring her home to North Pole, Alaska.  It started off a little rocky as my intent was to get a male and start with a possible stud before settling into a forever home and adding a female to the pack. However, when the litter evaluation (done by Pat Hastings) was performed at 8 weeks Clara was assigned to my pack instead. She was the best dog in the litter in structure and temperament and to date only one other Tamaskan evaluated as tied her scores. I trusted my breeder and evaluator and walked into their home to meet Clara. She literally launched herself into my lap and ever since my live have never been the same.

From the very start she was being socialized, trained, and prepared for the life of a working dog. She became the foundation of Sundog Tamaskan with the full intent of starting a line of Tamaskans that could not only work in their original roots as a mushing dog but in other working capacities (specifically SAR/HRD or service work). I could not have ever hoped for more than Clara. I started off with training classes and shortly following Clara passed the AKC Puppy Star exam and then the CGC exam. At that point she had also started to naturally alert and respond to different medical conditions. I started shaping and building these alerts and responses while continuing with basics. By a year she was accomplished at tasking in multiple capacities with an established log, excelling at everything we introduced her to, and had been reevaluated by Pat Hastings on a visit to Fairbanks for a workshop, confirming her original scores and continued positive growth and development.

At this point she was everything I could have ever dreamed of and more. I officially announced my intent to breed Clara in the future and formed Sundog Tamaskan on her first birthday and also started completing all of the required health testing along with the testing we saw fit to add to our schedule. Clara was then slowly and safely introduced to a wide range of sports and activities to test aptitude and drive. Some of these were mushing, skijoring, barn hunt, lure coursing, rally, conformation, scent games/tracking, agility, etc. While Tamaskans cannot compete in any AKC events without being altered and a part of the PALS program I still attended classes, meet-ups, and introduced different aspects of these sports as she grew. While in an ideal world we would compete openly it is not practical in all of theses areas and was even more limited when we lived in Alaska. It was more important to me that we try these things and she establish these skills so I could properly evaluate if she had any aptitude for them and therefore what I would need to look for in potential studs or any additions to our Sundog pack.

After her second birthday Clara was running on a 6-18 dog sled team in Fairbanks/Two Rivers as they prepared for multiple competitions. She was included in their full schedule for two seasons where I ran as well. This team competed in the Yukon Quest 300 and a number of other races and we went out 2-5 nights a week mushing 10-60 miles. She was placed in every position on the team to give us a well rounded opinion on her skills and what position she may fit in best. She was also simultaneously skijoring and running with other dogs at my house and work in 1-3 dog teams where she was typically our lead dog.

All the while she was quietly, but efficiently continuing her training as a service dog. By two and a half she had been evaluated by another trainer while working with me and independently working with the evaluator. Since then she has been evaluated annually to make sure that she is still preforming to my standards. At this point she has multiple medical alerts as well as multiple psych related tasks. Some of the tasks are as follows, but are not limited to: blood sugar alert, migraine alert, find help on request and/or with a behavioral cue (a friend/family member, emergency services, or staff member at a store/business/event), find car (or any other "tagged" form of transport - including but not limited to bus, boat, monorail, or train stops), blocking, guide with block, removal, and many other additional tasks.

In the Summer of 2018 I finally had an opportunity to attend a confirmation show. Clara swept her class and received all of the cards needed for her IABCA IntCH title and also won Rare Breed Adult (August 2018, Fort Worth, TX). In February (2019) she attended her second IABCA show (King, NC) and completed the classes for her NatCH and HnrCH titles.

On August 25, 2019 Clara officially became the first Tamaskan dog to earn her Expert trick title with DMWYD!. I will also be converting her highest trick title to AKC once we complete her CHTD title as well.

Due to a wonderful opportunity for me in the summer of 2019 I began a new job that should allow me more flexibility on weekend for competitions and travel while still listed as an occasional employee for PT 305. 

In February (2020) she attended her third IABCA show (King, NC) and completed the classes for her HnrCH-B and HnrCH-S titles. She was also the first Tamaskan eligible and who has competed in the Gold Cup, and the First Tamaskan entered in Veteran (she won reserve and best on the 15th/16th respectively) and the first dam to enter Family with her pups (which is also the first time a Tamaskan family has been show in Family as well) where she, Sassenach, and Loki took best along with wining best in Rare Breed Adult.

After the PT Litter went home despite everything going on in 2020 around the world we had a number of life changes and achievements throughout the year. While working had with Sassenach we still took time for Clara and she became the first female (second Tamaskan) to complete their TDCH title. We then used her DMWYD! Titles and had them all converted with AKC for their trick program (resulting in 4 additional titles). We continued to compete in conformation when events were safely available and added Barn Hunt to our list of activities. Clara earned her first two BHA titles (RATI and RATN) in October of 2020. We found a wonderful community local to us that has made the sport infinitely more assessable. She also earned a 4 additional conformation titles before the year end, maintaining her as the highest conformation titled Tamaskan and started competing in Veteran as well as the adult class.

In 2021 little changed. We were able to make it to a pair of  conformation shows and she earned an additional two titles. Very little happened in sports or training over the year as we were busy moving into our new home and starting to make it our own. In 2022 we did make it to a few more Barn Hunt trials and  she earned her RATO title and started to work through her Senior.