How I spent Solstice...

Tonight is the longest night of the year. I didn't see the few brief hours of light we did get today--Never let all the managers and all the assistants go on holidays at the same time. It can get ugly! Like letting all the female dogs loose at the same time! I will be pointing that out to my director when he returns from his holidays. Thank God this isn't really my job! I like being a peon!

So after the nuttiness at work, did I do anything fun today. Go to the longest night concert, light a bonfire....anything fun?? NOPE! I came home to discover someone had bit Paxil. I am instantly pissed. So I tie up the most likely suspects while ranting about what a bunch of ungrateful heathens they all are. Nothing my dogs hate more than being on a chain, even if it was for less than an hour. The bite is in a weird spot, on her chest, near her front legs. I suppose it's possible that she ran into something, but I like to think she's not that clumsy--she's my leader; she's not supposed to be clumsy! None of the other dogs have any wounds or even look like they've been chewed on. So I spent the first 20 minutes after I got home doctoring Paxil up. The wound looks worse than it is and she's already on anti-biotics. I expect it will heal fine. She ate and wooed at me to hurry up with the grub so she's feeling okey dokey.

Then I go into the back pen where I discover that Mac has killed a raven--the bird not my dog by the same name. Nice work, Mac. I do hate those birds. Apparently this one teased Mac a wee bit too much. He is a fast little bugger. Of course Stuart is not home so I had to clean up the raven remains myself. Good for the diet though as it did kill my appetite!

Then I notice Raven, the dog, not the dead bird, is limping. What the hell!? She has a nice gash on her front leg, right on the ankle joint. I have no idea when she did that. It's not a bite. It's perfectly straight, no jagged edges, no puncture sites. So I let Raven into the arctic entry. Did I mention she's insane? She forgot her leg hurt and did a couple extra laps of the yard before coming to the door. Not quite as fast as usual, but enough to make me think that the limp was faked! Cleaned her leg up and wrapped it with some vet wrap, made another mental note to buy my own stapler. It's going to take forever to heal. Every time she bends her leg it pops open. But it's not bleeding, doesn't look infected, and Raven is more or less her silly self. I'm sure the vet wrap has been chewed off in the 10 minutes she's been alone! Good thing that stuff is cheap!

Not a great pic and an older one, but it does explain why we call her Crazy Raven!

Apparently, the dogs had a very busy day. I'm exhausted just dealing with the aftermath!

Just cuz pics...

Today's team--I love not working on Mondays. Even driving the ATV is better than working! I had planned a longer run today, but I was freezing--another drawback to not having enough snow for the sled. It's hard to run beside the quad! Much warmer on the sled! It wasn't even really cold today, but sitting still equals cold toes and thumbs! So we did our most frequent loop of about 15km. Pingo-Raven, Hobo, Antare-Chum, Pacer-Chase. Raven is a much better leader than I tend to give her credit for. She got Pingo to turn today when she wasn't listening to me.


Back in the yard. It was cold enough to get frosty today. Chase has great eyebrows!


Hobo the happy. It is impossible to stay grouchy with this little guy around. And that tongue! I have more pics of Hobo with his tongue out than all the other dogs combined!

Getting a harness on Chum can be challenging. He has issues with his paws being touched. He does really well once he's hooked up, it's just getting the harness on that's tricky.

Oh, and getting it back off. This is Chum's very best "I dare you to touch my paws" look!

And a quick Paxil update. She amazes me! She is choked that I left her behind twice! She's bouncing around the yard like nothing is wrong at all. She blew a stitch yesterday while she was outside. Apparently she's feeling just fine! I haven't got any further test results yet, but based on how Paxil is acting, I'm not that worried!

This was yesterday afternoon as she was enjoying a Jumbone--the only treat she really likes. Of course, she likes the expensive stuff!

Pretending it's winter...

Since winter won't really arrive here this year, we are relagated to using the ATV some more. God, I hate that thing! But a tired husky is a good husky and my dogs have not been tired lately. Yesterday, Heyoka went after Preacher first thing in the mornign, Mac and Founder got into it in the afternoon, then the whole pack of them chased Pacer around in the evening and freaked him right out. Fortunately, there were no injuries or serious alteracations, but it was painfully clear that there would be and soon. The dogs needed to run!

So I hooked up a 7 dog team, should have been 8, but Hobo wanted to run and he has to run alone. There were nine dogs in total as Mac and Daisy(not one of mine, but she tags along anyway) ran loose. I consider them my early warning system. I always know when there is something ahead of us on the trail and can kind of prepare for it. Unfortunately, their reaction is the same to a loose dog, a hiker, a skier or a moose so I never know exactly what is coming at us!

"Why are we stopping? Put the camera away, we don't need a break yet!" They ran 15km with very little help from me and never did need a break. Several of them would have run the loop again!

The trails were very busy today. It's too nice out so everyone is out walking. I greatly prefer it when it's -25C and almost everyone stays home! Pingo lead us by several loose dogs, walkers and skiers without incident. She has picked up Paxil's habit at barking at people with loose dogs--"Get your **&%$%$ @## dog outta my way!"

I was a little worried about this combination when I hooked them up. Franklin and Deuce have never met and certainly never run together, but they are similar in size and stride. I tend to worry about Deuce as I'm still waiting for the aggression I was warned about to suddenly surface. I suppose after 7 months I can relax a bit. I've never seen any sign of aggression from Deuce. He's a great dog and it makes me ill to think his extreme energy level almost cost him his life!

Franklin has issues with loose dogs. He has no problem with other teams or people, skiers, or skidoos. It's just loose dogs. He has been jumped so many times, that now he is the aggressor. He's an alligator. I've been trying to run him when the trails were quiet and hopefully build up his confidence. Turns out that putting him beside Deuce may have done just that. Deuce has a one track mind in harness. He's working and that's it. He keeps his head down and his tug line tight. He never veers off the trail, never even looks up at distractions. Today when Franklin thought about going after a yappy little Jack Russell, Deuce kept him on the trail and moving straight ahead. Franklin never had any negative interactions with any dogs today! I will be running these two together much more often!

Tuckered out Deucey! I love his frosty look! He's very sweet when he's tired too. No bouncing into my nose which makes him much more pleasant to pet!

Ozzy and Antare, just because I adore these two timid little souls.

Going to do a snow dance tonight...hate the ATV, hate it! I just need enough to convince myself I could set a snowhook if I had to!