MARKOBOSCO was bred in Spain, born on Christmas day in 1992, the son of RIVER VIEW'S HURLEY (by Jazz of Windigo ex Powder of Markovo) and NORDE OF SEPP-ALTA (by Hercules of Sepp-Alta ex Uelen's Ali). Parvovirus was rife in northern Spain at that time, and three of the males in his litter fell ill despite a good vaccination schedule. Boz pulled through with hydration therapy, although the virus killed a brother, a lovely brown- eyed white male that looked so much like his sire we had called him "the white Hurley."
We never expected Bosco to be a lead dog! In early training he was started at wheel, where he showed himself to be strong and enthusiastic. One September day in 1994 on a 4-dog tricycle rig run Isa "promoted" him halfway through the run to lead position, where he did quite nicely. His next chance came a month later, with another run at lead on snow about a month after that. But that 1994-95 season he was mostly run at wheel paired with XPACE OF SEPPALTA, usually on Isa's 6-dog team which was the fastest of our teams that season. Boz seemed set for a career as a wheel dog.
The next season (1995-96) began with BOSCO at wheel on Isa's team as before. But soon she ran him a couple of times at double lead with SPRITE; he seemed bewildered at first, but performed well enough. His big break came on 13 February 1996, when Jeffrey hooked him at lead with SEPALLEO in an 8-dog team. LLEO had previously been paired with SABRINA (an Anadyr leader we had bought that season). LLEO and BOSCO ran the 8-mile course in 37 minutes (13 mph), 4 or 5 minutes less than the same team had been doing it with the LLEO/SABRINA pair -- Jeffrey commented, "Didn't realise just how badly SABRINA has been holding us back!"
MARKOBOSCO ran double lead with SEPALLEO routinely from that day forward. The Anadyr leader was relegated to puppy training where her slow pace was an asset. BOSCO and LLEO were excellent together and Boz gradually learned his directional commands through "on the job training"!
Thereafter BOSCO became an all-purpose leader. He would work happily with any other running mate, and quietly accepted the responsibility of command leadership. As I look through stacks of old photos I see Boz's distinctive dark face and blaze at the head of many different teams. He was a trouble-free standby for us, a dog we could put at lead wherever and whenever we needed him, any time there was a front-end vacancy to be filled. Isa and I both miss his quiet dependability and his unfailing friendliness and cooperative nature. Thank you, Bosco -- may you romp in fields of gold forever, beyond the Rainbow Bridge!
