Handler Profile - Keith Johnson

Country: Scotland

My Dogs

Now the kennel is home to 8 dogs:

1 Siberian Huskies
7 Scandinavian Hounds

Achievements

With many successes over the years, Keith winning the IFSS Dryland World Championships in Poland in 2004/05 and then going on to retain his title in Belgium in 2005/06 have certainly been the biggest.

Keith strongly feels that "Just owning these types of dogs, whether it is the Sibes or the Scandinavian Hounds, and getting them to work for you as a team, is a success in itself.”

Other successes on the trail:

3 x IFSS Dryland World Champion
7 x SDAS Scottish Champion
3 x UKSC British Champion

Biography

Keith has just retained the Scottish Championship after the last race at Bowland on 2-3 April 2011.

How it all started

Keith first saw Siberian Huskies racing at an event in Aviemore when he was on holiday ski-ing and after much research decided a Siberian would be a good dog for people who liked the great outdoors.

Keith was able to re-home an older dog but he was "Really just a big pet and did not like to do much other than sleep on the couch.” He then decided to get another dog to keep him company and discovered the new pup had the enthusiasm for working in harness... However, he then needed another dog to make up a team, so another pup was acquired and so it went on from there...

Keith says his kennel name ‘Cimmaron', meaning "wild and unruly” in Spanish just seemed a perfect description for Sled Dogs!

Current and future dogs

Now the kennel is home to 8 dogs:

• 1 Siberian Huskies
• 7 Scandinavian Hounds

Keith has bred his 2 lead dogs Monty and Remey, in March this year, this will bring some young blood into Keith's 6-dog team. The puppies are due 2nd week in May.

Biggest successes along the way

With many successes over the years, Keith winning the IFSS Dryland World Championships in Poland in 2004/05 and then going on to retain his title in Belgium in 2005/06 have certainly been the biggest.

Keith strongly feels that "Just owning these types of dogs, whether it is the Sibes or the Scandinavian Hounds, and getting them to work for you as a team, is a success in itself.”

However, in terms of other successes on the trail, Keith has been:

• 3 x IFSS Dryland World Champion
• 7 x SDAS Scottish Champion
• 3 x UKSC British Champion

Keith is also a stockist of CSJ products.

"After the last race at Bowland 2-3 April 2011 I managed to retain the Scottish championship. This was a very technical trail with world class surfaces for the dogs to run on. After a disaster on Saturday where I missed a left hand turn and ended up side down with my dog cart on top of me, caused me to finish 3^rd after the 1^st heat. Feeling the pressure on Sunday morning I then had an excellent run managing to beat of the strong competition. Thanks to Monty, my leader, for making it possible the best dogs ever and trusted friend, the dad of the next generation.”

To find out more, contact:

Keith Johnson, Kilmaurs, Nr Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire
Mobile: 07933 511179
E-mail: johnsonki1973@googlemail.com