Before he reached his second birthday, however, Jasper had a very serious accident (3/14/99). As he chased a bird out into the road in front of our farm in southern Michigan, he was hit by a truck.  The impact literally shattered his pelvis, pushing the femur up into the pelvic bone.  Jasper almost expired from shock before Ann could get him to the nearest Vet.  After a couple days of stabilization, Jasper was transported to a specialist and after a four and a half hour surgery his smashed pelvis was rebuilt with two pins, two screws and a plate, and the head of the femur bone was sawed off to produce a false socket.

As Jasper "re-learned" to walk, Ann applied increasing resistance with weights so he would place each foot in front of the other is the proper sequence.  Ann got Jasper his own saddle bags and loaded 5 lbs of sand in each side of the bag to require him use his injured leg.   With the extra weight he could not "hop" around on his three good legs.  Ann knew that if Jasper did not use the injured leg he would lose all the muscle through atrophy .   Later that Fall, in October, as Ann was hooking up a team for a training run, she noticed Jasper running up to her using his injured leg.  On the spur of the moment, Ann decided to hook him up with the team and see if he could keep up without too much trouble.  Jasper ran as a team dog on the outbound leg with nor apparent problem.  At the turn around, back towards home, she put him up in lead and watched him in awe as he led the team home. 

Later that day, Ann said it was one of the happiest days she'd ever experienced as a sled dog driver and pet owner.  She, and Japser, never believed he wouldn't run again, but she never thought she'd see him run as well as he did.   In January, ten months after his accident, Jasper ran lead in the Merrill WI race and on Sunday posted the second fastest time against the top four dog teams in the lower 48. Also in January, and again in February, Jasper sired two litters of pups.

Jasper is a good example of the drive and desire to run that our dogs have.  According to the experts, Jasper should never have raced again but nothing in his makeup told him so.   Jasper will always be the cornerstone of the foundation of Northwind Kennels along with his mother Sneakers.  Jasper and Sneakers are not only sled dogs, but with Jasper's cousin, Hunter, Ann conducts numerous school programs and nursing home visits every year.  Since they started the "Believe In Order To Achieve" Program (click here for details) they have visited over 35,000 children with their dog program.  In one year alone, 2001-2002, representing the Flambeau International Sled Dog Classic, they conducted 17 school assemblies.  In addition, over the last six years Jasper has fathered many puppies....too many to count!