Supervising

I'm sorry I haven't blogged a lot recently. Apparently mommy's lecturers at the big bad place that usually steals her away are on strike, which means that I have been terribly busy following her around the house making sure she's staying home. And I guard her while she sleeps. And right now, I've been supervising more sewing and knitting projects. She currently has a new blanket on the floor, all kinds of pretty colours. It's what's called a granny square blanket, so I'm assuming that it is for granny, even though she is not square. I am supervising from the couch, a rare luxury since granny doesn't want me up here. I was a very good, patient boy all day, though, so Mommy's letting me sleep there while she works. Whenever she gets up to rearrange squares and then pick them up for joining, I give my approval on her colour matches. It is a lot of fun.

Now what do I do while mommy's at the big bad university place, usually? Well I supervise my quilter granny, even when she's using the noisy innova machine. Soon you will get an idea of how well I work, but how will you know? It's a surprise!
Louka who is now tired from his hard work.

Spring woes

Spring has unfortunately arrived. My nice schnee is no more. I am enjoying all the new scents and the glorious mud, though. I've been digging, rolling, splashing... Mommy did not approve. I had to go through the indignity of a bath and since I have not shed my undercoat yet, all my nice fluffiness was wet of hours. And then even worse, Auntique chased me off her nice soft white wool rug.

Anyone else going through winter withdrawal?

Woos,
Louka

Hockey night

I am a sports-loving dog unless I'm doing them or unless there are horses involved. I love horses, even just on tv, I could stare at them for hours. But they never want to play with me. Anyway, this is why I never understand this whole Hockey thing. Lots of people come over, there's screaming sometimes to the point that Mommy has no voice for a week and there is lots of cheese that I don't get to have any of! What is this! Last weekend I got really scared because Mommy was shrieking and all the guys were screaming and I was accidentally locked in our room and I couldn't go and save her! And then I found out it's just Hockey. She hasn't been able to talk since. This is my revenge.
Anyone else have to deal with this?
Louka

Yay!

Great news! All four dogs were found safe and sound (a little freaked out, but it's to be expected), tied to trees in a parc. The people who found them called the SPCA who took photos and sent them to the owners who confirmed that yes, those were their puppies! The car is still at large, but they more or less care now that their beloved doggies are home!

Here's the message I got: "DOGS WERE FOUND !!!! THANK YOU to everyone for all your good wishes, help & positive thoughts!!! So someone called the SPCA when they saw the dogs tied in a park somewhere in Montreal. The SPCA went to get them and had their pictures in hand, and knows all their names, and they have been fed and watered and tucked in for the night!"

There is much rejoicing!
Very happy woos,
Louka

Just in case

I know not many people read my blog and fewer are in Canada, but just in case. I know I would freak if someone stole me from mommy! Some mean human took off with a truck that belonged to three humans and their dogs coming back from a flyball competition. Unfortunately, the dogs were still in the truck. This is why she never leaves me alone in the car, you never know...


Their names are Trek (Border collie, top left), Tronic (border collie, bottom right), Zoom (JRT, top right) and River (bottom left, I'm not sure what breed).

Try and get the word out, we hope these puppies find their way home soon!
Louka who is very happy to be snuggled down with his mommy on the futon and not stolen somewhere.

Pictures!

Someone just sent us some pictures of the night I talked about last post.

I am not looking that scared I swear.
Now give me the treat so that I remember not to be scared! I am a good boy! Watch me not look at the scary dog!
This is the dog that was scaring me. Notice how big he is. If you see the very pink person in the background, that's mommy and the curly tail you see is me trying to run away from the scary dog. And wanting to play with Vega. Because she's a real nice lady-dog.
So Mommy thinks it was a fun night. I am not so sure. But we did good and mommy won a chance to have a portrait of me made in an auction, so soon you sill see my portrait, like as if I'm a real star!
Woos,
Louka

Traumatised For a Cause

I have never been so upset in my life. Mommy firstly ABANDONED me forever to go and play with Harem member #1 (although mommy swears it was work), then she comes home and I'm happy, because mommy is home, right? Then she takes out bags. Uh-oh. Uh-oh! That means she,s going to leave again! But then my squeak-toys came out! And the leash! Yay! Walkies! And playing with squeak toys! I never get to play with my squeak toys! Something about breaking them and squeaking being annoying...

Anyway, I'm all happy about a walk and then what does she do? She walks me to the car! Already, I was not too thrilled. But then she brings me into this HUUUUUUUGE room filled with strange doggies and everything smelled of doggy and it was just overwhelming! It was ok at first, but then there was this really ginormous great dane who was not fixed and he was really scary! I don't like males who are not fixed. They smell funny. And this one smelled like he was going to eat me! I was very terrified, so I hid behind Mommy and under tables for the rest of the evening, except when people petted me (I hid next to them, leaning into the petting), when people gave me treats (Vega's owner is the best! Vega the tervueren is the prettiest and her owner has the nicest treats!) or when mommy played squeak-toy with me.

The worst was that she tried to make me do agility! I know huskies are supposed to be good at jumping fences, but I don't want to! I don't care how low those fences are! I am not going to jump them, there is no point. I ill go around. Unless forced, lured by treats and dragged by a leash. And even then I will whine and complain. The A-frame was better, but I draw the line after that. Climbing is all I'll do. Honestly. It's ok for Vega to do it, she's not a husky. Her breed likes obeying and listening. And she was good! She disobeyed to come and play with me a few times, though. Because I'm just that irresistible.

Anyway, the suffering was worth it. That little party raised a good amount of money for our favourite shelter, Sasha's den rescue. Here, in a province where animals have virtually no rights, considering our animal "protection" laws are over a century old and where puppy mills operate virtually unopposed, shelters, especially ones that are too small to get government grants (what little grants are given, that is), barely scrape by. If a fundraising activity raises more than 1000$ canadian, it's considered a windfall, a blessing from above. We managed to raise over that amount, so I guess all that being scared was worth it. Now doggies like deaf little Moo-moo the boston terrier that has made Mommy start perhaps liking BTs, Jake the pointer I didn't really like and Theo the husky mix will be able to find loving homes.
Please give, if you can, in any way you can, to shelters. They need you desperately. I know this from experience.
Grateful woos from his comfy futon, not from his former cage at the pound,
Louka

A word from Mommy

Hi, Louka's mommy speaking. I've bribed Louka with cuddles and sledding to convince him to let me take over the blog for the day.

I'm heartbroken, right now. There was a seizure of about 100 huskies a few hours north from here and they're now at the montreal SPCA's emergency shelter, in limbo, waiting for their court date to see if their owner gets to keep them or not. Since the seizure happened a few months ago (in November, I think), they're starting to run out of volunteers to help socialise and care for the dogs. They also are running low on supplies and are calling for donations. Despite midterms coming up, I am going to volunteer a bit next week. I'm encouraging anyone else in the Montreal area to do so or to donate bleach, newspaper (that's easy, right?), rags, money or anything on their wishlist to the SPCA e-shelter.

For more info email: spca.emergencyshelter@gmail.com

Thank you so much.
Margot, Louka's mommy.

What I have been up to.

Mommy has been developing a small sideline and I have been helping her a lot.


The first try was this, inspired by me



Then, horror of horrors, a hoodie of such an ugly colour that I'm colour blind and I know it's bad. See those glowing eyes? That's my retinas burning.


Now she's branched into all kinds of commissions. But I always supervise.

It's very, very hard work. I think I need a nap now. This is why I have not been posting. Work, work, work.
Woos,
Louka.

A message

I always have a lot to say, especially when Harem member #1 comes over and she, Mommy and auntique all start chatting with me in husky. Mommy finally filmed me. So here's my message. The extra gibberish is them harmonizing and the annoying voice talking at the beginning and end is Mommy. You can hear the birdies that I want to eat also adding their two cents with their evil screeches.



Louka

Penelope, Husky of Evil

Someone posted this on a husky forum I'm a part of. It's hilarious and
makes Mommy thank my lucky stars that I'm not an overly smart husky, meaning
that I'm just bright enough to be very obedient and manage to learn
tricks, but not smart enough to need mental stimulation constantly without which I destroy the house. I disagree with this assessment. I am a very smart husky. I'm just lazy. I live to be spoiled and if I'm bad, the spoiling stops.

Without further ado, the story of Pénélope, the French Husky. Just to
prove to you that husky owners are NUTS. This story is written and by ans property of Sophie, Penny and Princess's owner, so please don't use it or reproduce it elsewhere without permission. Mommy translated it with Sophie's permission to post it here, so if there are a few weird turns of phrase, it's just because the translation is a little off.

Why having just one husky is a bad idea

I totally fell in love with Penelope the first time I saw her. I knew
that huskies were dogs that didn't do well being left alone and I had
already had a husky when I was young, Kim. She hated being left alone,
but had never really done any bad things, mostly because she was never
alone. We had another dog and my mother was always home.

So a beautiful Sunday in June, I adopted Penelope. Even if I had
already had a husky, I had never imagined the problems of having just
one, solitary husky could cause. No, I am not a pensioner and I do
have to work to pay for the dog food. I should have wondered at least
a bit. Penelope had already been abandoned four times in her two years
of life.

Monday, I went to work, slightly apprehensive. I naively told myself
that if I put everything away and picked up after myself well, the
risks of trouble were slim. For those who own huskies, you know that
this was a terrible mistake.

I get home that first day and I've barely opened the door when I step
in the nice, fragrant present she had left me right behind the door,
then I almost slip and kill myself in the puddle she left a little
farther. I enter the house proper and realise that all my curtains are
now... Well, curtains. On the ground. And in pieces.

I tell myself it's not too bad, it's the first day and she'll get used
to it. Hahahaha.

The next day, I go back to work and I barely make it there when I get
a phone call from a lady calling to tell me that she's found my dog.
So I leave work. Penelope managed to open the door's window and
decided to go exploring. The next day, I tell myself that since she
managed to open the door's window, I'll just close the shutters and
that way, she won't be able to get out. Well, she somehow managed to
open the door's window, then gnawed just enough of the shutter's slats
away so that she could go out. So I decide to solve this problem by
reversing the handle of the door's window so that she couldn't just
press it open anymore. So she decided to go out the other windows.
Same operation for the window handles. This worked up until she
figured out how to open them by lifting the handles.

After the escapes, the pranks (on days where there were escapes, there
was no husky amusement in the house)!

The kibble: Penny never finished her plate. To amuse herself, she'd
hide her kibble all over the house, mainly behind the couch cushions,
but also in the VCR. We decided to no longer leave her bowl out, so
she decided to go help herself directly in the bag.

The fridge: Penny finally figured out how to open the fridge. She
would steal food and instead of eating it, she would do as she did
with her kibble and hide it for later. We found:
- One Camembert cheese unwrapped and hidden in our bed, under the comforter.
- One chicken, minus a leg, hidden in a cupboard that she had
carefully emptied before to hide her booty.
- One stick of butter that disappeared in the middle of august and was
found several weeks later in a suitcase.
- Many different food items hidden behind the couch cushions.

I decided to "husky proof" the fridge by wrapping a strong cable
around it to keep her from opening the door. I come home to find the
fridge in the middle of the room (you know, just in case there was a
door behind it) and the joint torn off (just in case she could reach
food through this hole).

Since we had an unused room, we decided to lock Penny in there while
we were gone, hoping to contain the damage. Well, they were contained,
but more concentrated! The sofa's covering was turned into lace and
the foam cushions into swiss cheese. She made a huge hole in the wall
and of course, her water was always upturned.

One day, she tore all the electrical outlets out of the wall. That's
the day I really flipped out, since she could have electrocuted
herself. I put her on anti-anxiety drugs with, of course, no effect.

One day, she managed to make the TV fall. She has the habit of
climbing on top of the TV to look out the window. She must have fallen
behind it (the TV is in a corner) and the only way to get out was to
push it over.

So I resigned myself to at least an hour of cleaning up a night after work.

Then, being a crazy husky person, I decided that what she needed was a
friend. So we got her Princess and since then, oh miracle of miracles,
(almost) no more pranks!

Wooo! Isn't Penny great?
Louka

Fur wheel drive is fixed!

Haroo!
I am very happy. I haven't had to wear the booties in a week. Well, I lie. I had to wear one bootie until yesterday, but my pretty papattes are all better now! Mommy decided to try making absolutely sure that I don't even get a scrap of food I'm allergic to, because people sometimes give me a little chicken or egg if they don't want to waste it even if it'll do bad things to my skin, adding more oil to my diet which I am not AT ALL complaining about because I like the greasy stuff and giving me a spaw treatment before we go outside. She got this stuff I don't really like called "Paw protector" cream that is supposed to, well, protect paws from road salt and cold. My rough, dry pads are a thing of a past in just a week! She's very happy and me too, because I don't have to wear the ridiculous booties anymore, except if I have a particularly sensitive paw to fix.

To prove how effective this was, we went out for a whole hour, walking to the little mini-mushing trail and then doing two back and forths and then walking back home without me hurting a paw! I am very tired now, though. Mommy feels guilty because she says I'm out of shape. Harumph.

We had to walk to the mountain because my ride, what mommy calls her car, died again. Alternator trouble, again, she thinks. That car has had problems for a while, now. I'm hoping she gets it running well soon so that we can go fun places. Jay always takes me fun places in his big van! But that's not all my ride, I have to share it with my buddies. But that's ok, because they're my buddies!
I hope you're all well,
Louka