Another new resident...

Introducing Princess Sophia....

She's actually been here for about 10 days. She's a "foster" cat, but we all know how well I do at fostering. Basically I just haven't paid her adoption fee yet. I'm on holidays and refuse to go to town unless it's a dire emergency(like running out of dog food or beer!). Next time I'm at the shelter, we'll make it official.

Finally finished...

After sitting in the yard, half finished; the way I bought it; for two years, my dog box is finally done and on the truck!

Yes, I picked the color myself!

Kennel artwork courtesy of my father-in-law. Nice, eh?

Now I just have to use it!

Can be difficult to convince myself to load everything up when I can get here from my yard!

What a difference a week makes...

Well, more like 10 days, but that wasn't a very catchy title!

Stuart has been chainsawing like a madman. Quite a bit of the wood pile has been sawed up. He's taking a couple days off the saw as his hands are rebelling. Last night, he couldn't work the pepper mill!

A view from the other side, with the always present husky thrown in!

And Founder is up and around. He is healing well. Well enough to take a couple pics. He doesn't look like he's been through a massacre anymore! His wounds are healing well and so far no sign of infection.

A little late for the cold snap...

But we could still get another cold stretch and now we are prepared for it!

Prepared with 13 cords of beautiful, dry wood! Running out at -40 truly sucks and will not be happening again!

You know it's a lot of wood when the wood guy drives a semi!

Look at it all fall off the truck!

It's good to have friends with big toys!

Like everything else around here, the wood has been throughly inspected by the dogs!

And a little Founder update--Yes, it was a fight. A big, nasty pack fight. I hate those. Of course, I was home alone! Breaking the fight up wasn't the hard part. The hard part came when badly injured Founder went under the deck and would not come back out. I had to get my father-in-law to come over and make a bunch of noise on the deck so Founder would get scared and crawl towards me! I didn't have that brainstorm until I'd been laying in the snow trying to get him myself for over an hour!

At first I thought he had a broken leg. He wouldn't move and when he did finally come out, he made sounds I have never heard before, didn't believe a dog could make and never, ever want to hear again. Those screams pierced my heart! Fortunately, Founder was not as badly injured as it first appeared. All bones, tendons and ligaments are intact. The screams were caused by intense pain which was in turn caused by multiple puncture wounds! He is covered with them. He looks awful, but after three days of good dope at the vet, he was able to come home!

He still looks awful, but he's moving better, eating well, wooing and would really like to be allowed outside more to play. He's a little hard to pill and needs a massived dose of antibiotics. Assuming I manage to get them all down his throat and no infection kicks in, Founder will be fully healed in a couple weeks! That's worth the enormous vet bill!

You know you spend too much time with your vet when...

When you call the emergency after hours line, the operator at the answering service doesn't ask for details, just asks "home or cell number, dog or cat this time".

When the vet calls back, he says "Hi, it's Rick." And laughs when you respond with "it's always you."(In the 7 years he has been my vet, I can only recall 2 occasions when I needed help after hours that he was not the vet on call).

You fondly remember the days when you called him Dr. Brown and had no idea what his first name was, or his wife's or his children's names...didn't even know he had a family!

While explaining what happened, he interupts to say "you've never called when it wasn't an emergency. why don't we just meet at the clinic in half an hour?"

He knows your kennel name and all your phone numbers off the top of his head. (I have two accounts at the vet, one for the sled dogs under my kennel name and one under my name for the cats and non-working dogs.)

While checking out your injured dog, he jokes about how his kidneys are in the right spot and his tail muscles are intact(referencing previous injuries suffered by your other dogs!)

He no longer bothers to explain which medications do what, cuz you know as well as he does what Domitor, Metacam, Cephalexan and Amoxyicillan are for, what they do and potential side effects.

He comments that you've had a run of bad luck since Preacher died. I did not point out that it actually started when Kasha died a month before Preacher.

While waiting for the sedation and pain control to take effect, you sit on the floor petting the injured dog and go over the progress of the other animals he's seen recently. (Anvik, Tehya, Earle...)

The bonus of spending way too much time with your vet...being able to walk out of the clinic at 10pm on a Saturday night knowing that your dog could be in no better hands and that when Rick says Founder will be alright, Founder will be alright.

Plus the knowledge that his kids will be able to afford the best post-secondary education money can buy!

Because I couldn't stand one more minute...

Not one more minute of listening to Anvik howl, wail and carry on about not being allowed to work. I caved a week early tonight and put him in harness. We didn't go far, we didn't climb many hills, but that dog needed to do something! Six weeks is far too long for a working dog to be banned from work!

"Where is my harness? It's the purple one, remember, the large-extra long one?? C'MON HURRY UP WOMAN, LETS FREAKIN' GO ALREADY"

Hobo really wanted to come to and I didn't feel like messing with the gangline to take seven dogs so I only took five(Hobo has to run solo or it gets ugly!). Anvik ran up front with Pingo. He had one small problem when we made our only road crossing. The road looked easier and faster to run on and Anvik thought we should turn. Pingo straightened him out and got us across without any major trauma, just a little tangle!

When we got home, the only problem I could find was a small patch of harness rub. I'll have to add a little extra padding to the spot where his harness crosses bare skin! His fur is just not coming back! He showed no signs of pain or discomfort. I'm sure he would have gone much farther, but I think he should work his way back up to long runs after six weeks of being a crate potato!

He has been blissfully quiet all evening! A tired Anvik is a good Anvik!

Introducing Tehya....

Yes, I know I need another dog like I need another hole in my head, but she's here anyway.

Tehya is a 7 month old border collie-husky mix. How fun will that combo be!? A friend of mine pulled her from the city pound a few days ago, where her time was up. She was in doggy jail for the second time for being found running at large. Her owners decided not to pay her bail her this time.

She is unbelievably little! There's nothing to her. She wants to be a lap dog and is little enough for now that she actually fits.

She loves to run and play.

Anvik is her new best friend. He had a little panic attack when he had to go back in his crate and Tehya stayed outside.

She has the border collie focus and brains. She is way too smart. She watches everything and you can see the little wheels turning in her brain! She's going to be a handful!

Introductions went very well for the most part. Heyoka is not impressed with her. The rest of the boys want to play with her and the girls are ignoring her so far. Tehya acts like she's been a pack dog her whole life. She fits right in!

Now to find a tiny harness and see if she wants to be a sled dog too!