Tehya's near miss....

This puppy is going to be the death of me. That is if she doesn't kill herself first. Besides the usual puppy antics which can be more than enough somedays, she has an amazing ability to get herself into trouble! Today was the first time she's almost offed herself though.

I had to go to town this morning, so I left her in a nice, safe pen with two other dogs who are also nice, safe boys. Tehya has spent many days hanging with Pacer and Chum since her arrival and always without incident.

Three hours later I get home and I can't see her. She's not in the pen, not coming when I call her, both highly unusual. Opened the first gate and discovered that little miss had wiggled her way under the gate. Apparently her skeleton is collapsible--it's a very small gap under that gate! The small pen she had got into is where I keep my dogsled. Tehya was laying under the brush bow. It looked like she was lounging there, but she wouldn't move and her eyes were a little wild, wilder than usual that is! Then I thought her collar was stuck on the brush bow of the sled, but taking it off did nothing. She still wouldn't move, not even turn her head.

I have no idea how she managed this and if I own dogs for another 100 years, it will probably never happen again. Tehya had got her head stuck in the bridle line on the sled. If she moved even a little bit, she couldn't breath! Fortunately, I have learned not to panic until after the doggy crisis is resolved and there is almost always a pocket knife handy around this place! I had to cut the line to set Tehya free.

I'll have to remember to redo that line before next winter. I'm not sure I could have handled a different outcome and I am very grateful she was smart enough to stay still! If it had happened to one of my more panicky dogs, this would have been a much sadder post.

Within a few minutes, Tehya was back outside and harassing Anvik. I was still shaking and looking for my bottle of Tequila!

She even went for a walk to the lake later in the afternoon. We were both very careful about avoiding the thinning ice...one near death experience a day is more than enough!

A double bill...

And not the fun kind, like two movies! Two vet bills!

Hobo had dental surgery today. At least I was expecting that bill. It had to be done. He was having trouble chewing and just wasn't his nutty little self. He lost five teeth on this top jaw, mostly big molars. Hobo is unconcerned by this and even at a bit of canned food for his dinner tonight.

He's a little quiet and a little wobbly, but otherwise he's Hobo.

The other half of the bill was not expected and the dog is not so happy!

Thursday night, I let Pacer out of his pen to come inside. That's the routine, I let him out, he runs to the house. Pacer isn't allowed to be in the main yard unsupervised as he has been beat up before. He's very timid and won't fight back, so he gets bullied sometimes. This routine has prevented any injuries to Pacer for almost two years. That night he ran too close to a cranky Pingo, who has sore hips right now and who was guarding her precious tennis balls. It's out of character for Pingo to be snarly. I assume the painkillers hadn't kicked in yet and that she didn't really mean to connect with Pacer's head. But connect she did!

It looked like a simple puncture wound. I called the vet on call...Dr. Rick Brown again! He's on call alot it seems! I got instructions on how to clean the wound, give out some Metacam and pick up antibiotics in the morning. All seemed to be well.

Until Saturday when the wound started to look a bit puffy. By Sunday it was clearly infected despite the antibiotics. So Pacer got dropped off at the clinic this morning too.


Pacer's handsome little face does not look like this tonight! He looks more like a gargoyle than a pretty boy! The area above his left eye is swollen and gross! Some of the tissue under the puncture had died so they had to cut his face open a bit and clean that out. Then they left the bottom of the incision open for drainage. I'll spare you any further details of that!

At least Hobo will be able to chew again soon and Pacer's vision is unaffected. He may have a scar on his handsome profile, but he'll be able to see!

The big 4-0

Stuart turned forty on Friday!

I think he was hoping to already be out at work so there would be no fuss! But no such luck for him!

We had a bonfire/bbq/party last night at our house. Somewhere around 40 people showed up with the die-hards staying til the wee hours of the morning!

The dogs were right in the middle of everything, of course! Visitors usually give up their food easier than the usual humans!

A good time was had by all and Stuart now has enough Scotch to get him through to his 41st birthday!

Huskies 1, Mink 0

Such excitement around here last night. We were out for dinner with friends and got home around 11. No Mac at the gate. Mac is long, leggy and has a wicked vertical. Few fences can stop Mac if he really wants to go, especially in the winter when the snow pack makes things a little lower! With the recent melt, Mac has been staying in the yard and I haven't had to tie him up for a few days. I assumed he had gone over the fence and was visiting his friend, Daisy, who lives not far away and is allowed to roam.

Drove to Daisy's house, no Mac, although Daisy was at her own house for a change! Come home and change into hiking/searching clothes. An hour of falling through crusty snow, still no sign of Mac. So I came home to make up a poster and start putting out "LOST DOG" ads.

Then I went to pet Ozzy, Mac's littermate. Imagine my delight to see Mac playing with his brother! Should have checked that pen first, but who ever heard of a husky who lets himself into a pen! Delight and relief quickly returned to frantic worry. When I turned my flashlight on Ozzy, he was covered in blood! A quick once over revealed that none of it was his own blood. His penmate, Antare, had a few scratches and Sundin was no where in sight. In my ever optimistic way, I immediately assumed that Ozzy and Antare, who are troublemakers sometimes, had seriously injured Sundin. I should probably apologize to them for a few of the things I said while looking for Sundin!

About fifteen minutes later, I found Sundin, still in the pen(it's huge) and completely uninjured. He was wooing and doing his "happy dog" prance. He kept running back and forth between me and the spot he had been laying. While walking over, all I could think was "please don't let it be a cat". I had already made sure all my cats were accounted for, but one neighbor does refuse to keep his cat inside. Surely, she wasn't stupid enough to come through the fence....

Fortunately, she wasn't and the neighbor's cat is alive and well. A young male MINK was not so fortunate! I thought it was a weasel, but my father in law(who has worked on a mink farm) says it's a yearling mink. A quick Google image search seems to confirm this! A freakin' mink; a species described as "small but extremely aggressive". They are supposed to live much closer to water, but it is mating season. Poor little guy was just out looking to get lucky and ended up in a heap of trouble!

Hard to believe such sweet little faces are capable of such mayhem!

Sundin

Mac

Antare

And Ozzy

All I want to do...

What's a musher to do when spring arrives? Being of a slightly obsessive nature to start with, the only plausible answer is to find a new obsession. I have found mine--playing with gas and fire to make tiny works of art--glass beads! All I want to do is make beads! (Try not to freak out Mom, so far no explosions and only a minor finger tip burn--note to self, glass stays hot for a long while!)

This was my first set, made 8 days ago, the beginning of the end!

These were my second batch of beads, made on Thursday of last week. I don't really like any of them, but I had a great time creating them!

And these are my most recent creations and the ones I like the best so far!

Carmen at Aurora Glass has been a very good teacher, despite the fact that I'm sure she's sick of seeing me! She used to work at Yukon Vet though so she is used to seeing my face! I spent alot of time and money there before Alpine opened. I have no doubt that I will be spending just as much time and money in her glass store! I need my own torch, oxygen concentrator, a kiln, more colors of glass, more tools....ect, ect. Cuz I didn't have enough ways to spend my time and money already!

"Keep pet quiet for seven days"...

That's what the post-spay recovery instructions say!

Tehya finds this hysterically funny! She got spayed on Tuesday. She was a little sedate that evening, but Wednesday morning she was raring to go. Poor Anvik got less than a full day's break from being chewed on.

Whoever came up with those guidelines has never met Tehya! I've never been this bendy and certainly wouldn't be 48 hours after major abdominal surgery!

"Surgery, what surgery? Can I go outside and play now?"

Just for Stacie...

For Stacie's viewing pleasure, more pictures of the woodpile!

It is a well used dog bed. Cuz the straw filled dog houses or the nice expensive beds in the house are just unacceptable!

Sawdust is way more comfortable!

Sawdust clings to dog fur very nicely! Making a mess when they do come inside is just an added bonus of sleeping in the woodpile!