Louka's life

National shame

2011-02-02T23:32:00.003-05:00

I am dreadfully sorry for not being a better blogging husky. I don't really have an excuse for it apart from saying that I'm just not a good blogging husky.

Anyway, today I kinda wish I didn't have anything to blog about. I wish it was just life as usual. But it isn't. Today I really feel the need to share Canada's shame.

I was wondering why, a few days ago, Mommy started being really cuddly with me and telling me what a good boy I was. I thought that this was maybe just because she was starting to feel bad about making me eat kibble again, putting booties on me and then, horror of horrors, taking me to the vet. But I realised pretty quick that it was more than that and I did some digging. And what I found shocked me.

So you guys probably all know that Vancouver, which is somewhere far away but still in Canada where Granny goes often, hosted this big game thing called the Olympics. Mommy was all excited about it and proud that Canada was hosting. There were all kinds of jobs and stuff created around that to make all the thousands of humans going there happy. One of the tourist attractions were sled dog rides, where pretty sled dogs pulled tourists around on sleds. Sounds like fun, right? The tourists are happy, the dogs are happy working for our stupid humans running around and pulling sleds... Note that their job was "running around and pulling sleds", not "making stupid humans lots and lots of money".

Well apparently the stupid humans thought that the dogs' job was that second one. So now, over 100 of those pretty, loyal, happy sled dogs are dead. These were not even "humane" vet killings. I am not a husky who loves vets, but these ones at least had morals. They refused to be involved because the dogs were young and healthy. So the owners went ahead using horrible methods to kill the dogs, then buried them in a common grave as if they hadn't loyally done their jobs to the end.

We are a nation shamed. How Canada could allow this to happen without punishing those responsible is beyond this husky's understanding.

Please hold these poor dogs in your prayers or light a candle for them or at least observe a moment of silence. Some people have tried to start a facebook movement of replacing your profile picture by one of a sled dog (if it isn't already one). Please don't stay silent about this. Remember them. Hold them in your hearts.

And don't let Canada have olympic winter games ever again.
Louka

Supervising

2010-03-27T00:51:00.002-04:00

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

2010-03-16T02:35:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-04T11:06:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-02-22T11:14:00.004-05:00

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

2010-02-22T00:48:00.008-05:00

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!

2010-02-20T22:40:00.006-05:00

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

2010-02-13T22:41:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-11T19:06:00.002-05:00

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.

2010-02-08T02:01:00.006-05:00

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

2010-01-17T16:15:00.002-05:00

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

2010-01-04T16:05:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-01-02T22:46:00.005-05:00

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

Now this is much better

2009-12-26T01:54:00.003-05:00

Mommy has not stopped laughing since she came back from the evil place that took her away for 8 hours. She came back smelling of all kinds of interesting things and people, including my cousin Thulku the pit bull and of baby. I am very upset she didn't take me wherever she went, but she says that I wouldn't have liked it anyway and at least she left me three nice juicy bones to play with.

This little excursion also came with some rewards for me! You see, usually, at Christmas, I get abandoned for hours with a bone and then mommy comes home and that's my present, getting her all to myself for days until lots of people come over to adore me on granddaddy's birthday. But this year in the family gift exchange, my cousin Thulku's mommy picked MY mommy, which means that I'M the one who got all the presents! Mommy came home with a nice, big, soft cushion for me to sleep on. I love being comfy when I sleep! And unlike some huskies, I like keeping my right to soft things to sleep on, so I don't tear up cushions and stuff. So I got a nice, comfy cushion that's big enough for me and so soft that mommy said that if I didn't want it SHE was stealing it. It's a little warm for my hot husky self, but it's good for lying on a few hours, at least. I also got this weird thing to wipe off my paws that's blue and shaggy and that I just want to eat and some hand-booties for mommy so that she doesn't lose a finger mushing, this winter because that would not be good. All nice me-oriented gifts, as it should be. Mommy is laughing at me and telling me I'm spoiled. I'm just ignoring her from my nice new throne. Mommy says I actually look all tiny, curled up on it, not huuuuuuuge like she knows I am when I sleep in her bed (that is totally mine when she's not around. Just saying).

I also have some very sad news. My cousin Thulku who, like me, is a former shelter dog and who unlike me is elderly and is like bionic spinless Sammy has no hip, has just been diagnosed with cancer. Even worse, it is leukemia and since it is in his front left leg, on the same side as his hiplessness, it cannot be amputated to keep the cancer from spreading. His chances for recovery do not look good and his mommy is very sad. Thulku is an old dog. He is not a very pretty dog and he can be a bit of a grumpy dog, but he is a good dog and he has spent a very, very long time of his life as an abused dog. Unlike me, who has a rather good story, as shelter dogs go, he was one of seven dogs bought from an abusive owner who decided to liquidate her "stock" of dogs. When the shelter came to take the six they had been called for, the mean person said "oh, yeah there's this other dog you can take too and him you can have for free" and showed them to a back room where an old, depressed, uncastrated male pit bull was lying, in bad shape. He moved painfully and he had most probably been used for breeding pit bull puppies irresponsibly. He had quite possibly never known love, was despondant and showed signs of physical abuse. That was my cousin Thulku. My mommy's aunt was looking for a dog and fell in love. She made sure he got the surgery he needed, even went to Ontario to get the best care possible for him. She gave him physiotherapy and, most importantly of all, she gave him all the love and affection a dog needs. He went from a depressed, moth-eaten old mutt to a happy, smiling, stub-wagging (you just can't call that a tail...) family dog. He has had a wonderful two years and I would like all of you that can to spare some good thoughts and hope that he does not suffer and manages to stay with us a long while yet.

Here's to you, Thulku.

Humiliation

2009-12-17T23:51:00.004-05:00

Can you believe mommy is going to be sending these out as christmas cards to all kinds of people? It's not fair. To top this off, I, the proud, noble husky, have to wear booties outside. Booties! I mean yeah, sure, I have sensitive feety feets and even scabs and rashes on them from allergies and stuff, but I shouldn't have to wear booties!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long, but life has been fairly boring, recently. Mommy let me keep Jay once a week when she's really really busy so that I can go play with my buddies and right now they're plotting to have my buddies and I mush together! Other than that, I've had a very normal husky life.
Humiliated woos to you all
Louka

Blog hiatus

2009-06-10T02:19:00.003-04:00

Well, I don't post very often, but I thought that it was just fair for me to tell you pups that I will not be able to update the blog at all until the end of August. The reason for this is very, very sad for me. Mommy is running away with the circus. Without me. How is this not abuse?

Mommy says that she feels very bad about this, that it's temporary, that she's leaving me in good hands, but... It's my mommy! And she's leaving! For two whole months! And for two whole weeks, I won't even have Auntique to console me! Mommy leaves on Friday and I'm already moping and wailing. The nice landlady and granddaddy have said they'll take me out (granny can't because hip replacements + pulling husky = bad idea) and Jay the dogwalker is going to come and take me on walks with his pack, which is fun, especially since there's another cute husky named Shelby and I like her, but... But...! Auntique gets back in two weeks and then at least I'll have a member of my harem to cuddle and pet and spoil me as I deserve, but I'll still have to wait until August 18th to have my mommy back from the evil circus.

So good luck all you lucky dogs, I'll be moping in my corner.
Sad woos,
Louka

Pleased

2009-05-20T17:25:00.002-04:00

This week, even if granny and granddaddy and auntique are all gone and it's just me and mommy, I'm very happy. Firstly I'm happy because I have mommy all to myself, but secondly we aren't exactly all alone. There are lots of strange men coming in the house and breaking the walls, bringing in wires and doing all this stuff mommy calls "renovations". The landlord comes up at least once a day too. All these men ADORE me. To the point that they woke Mommy up knocking on her bedroom door because I was in the bedroom and they wanted to pet me and love me. I'm now their assisstant! So I can now add "renovations" to my list of jobs! Guarding is out of the question, I like these guys too much!

Do you guys ever have renovations in your lairs?

Happy woos,
Louka

Huskies are not watch dogs

2009-05-14T23:23:00.004-04:00

I'm sorry for the long hiatus. Nothing very interesting has been going on. Mommy was very mean and started "working" which meant she was gone ALL DAY and I had to go mope on my rug or heave very deep, mournful sighs near granny so that she would pet me and scratch my ears. So then when mommy was home, I had to cuddle and sleep on her feet and be particularly clingy.

Of course this meant that I had to neglect all other duties, including my "guard dog" duties. I had started barking a bit every now and then when someone came in. At least I would go and check out who was there in case they had tasty food or, more likely, to see if they would pet me. But with mommy home... Well, let's just say it doesn't matter if someone else will pet me when mommy's around. That's why I didn't bother to get up when the plumber and landlord decided to come upstairs to pay a visit. I don't know why mommy was so upset. I was still faithfully sleeping on her feet. Of course she was sleeping too. And the landlord and plumber were in the doorway to her room when she woke up. Still. no reason to get upset.

We've started biking together, now that the schnee is all gone. I don't like it as much, but it's ok. I'll keep you posted.

Woos,
Louka

Back to normal

2009-03-28T13:44:00.005-04:00

Well, the schnee is mostly gone and the sled has been put away. Both mommy and I are a little sad, but that means that life has gone back to normal, here.

Yes, our room is kind of messy. But that's ok. I have other rooms to lounge in that are less messy, especially since Auntique is gone. Mommy's been a bit depressed because she and auntique are from the same litter and they've never really lived apart and auntique won't be back for months and months. She's in Europe. I don't mind too much because now I have taken over her room and... her balcony! I love the balcony. I get to spend all my time out there, now, just chilling.

I also have been spending a lot of time at Harem member #1's house. They've determined that I'm not too bad with kitties, so I can go visit when mommy does. Of course there are no soft surfaces to lie on, so I am resigned to this:

That sleepy person is my mommy. And before you ask, yes, we are about the same size. I'm big for a husky and she's small for a human. Like Rusty, I'm definitely a lap dog. It's all about being cuddled, for me. I am a hard-working husky, I totally deserve this.

Harem member #1 is not just #1 because she's the one who comes to visit and scratch and worship me the most often. She's also #1 because she collects all kinds of cool stuff, like furs and bones!
Don't I look like a scary husky? That's one of my jobs, apart from pulling the sled, being a good guard dog like Qannik and therapy dog like Nanook. Mommy has some anxiety issues and having a big scary monster like me protecting her makes life easier for everyone. And I work for cheap. I'm paid in kissies.

Sigh. A husky's work is never done. I have to go lounge on the balcony, now. Maybe I'll get all nice and brushed and groomed later. Woe is me

Woos,
Louka

Auntique

2009-02-06T01:20:00.007-05:00

Some of you have figured out that I do not live alone at home with my mommy. There's Granny, Granddaddy, who didn't like me at first because he thought I looked scary but who now baby-talks me and scratches my chin on demand, and, finally, Auntique, my mommy's twin sister who sometimes takes care of me if mommy abandons me.

Well yesterday, Auntique asked Mommy a very important, fun question: "Can I go mushing with you?" The answer:

Mommy and Auntique are colour coded, so you can tell who's who. Auntique is blue and/or green, Mommy is red/orange/all those colours that look the same.

And one last one, mushing into the night. Not exactly the sunset, but it'll do.

This is proof that I am very strong and a champion mush dog who totally does not deserve this abuse:

I get that she wants to get rid of that backpack, but I do NOT have to model it for any reason! I was so good at Storm of the Ao4's cooperating for photos class. It took mommy a long time to get a good shot, despite the fact that I'm normally photogenic.

I am so abused.
Louka

My motivation is back

2009-01-27T18:52:00.003-05:00

Since the begining of the season, I was enjoying mushing, but I was a little bored with it, I had a hard time seeing the point. Then friday, I met Felony, who finally isn't a German shepard but an ADORABLE little mutt and we mushed and ran and played together and it was AMAZING! I was so happy I pushed myself harder than I should of and was out of it for two days. But that's ok, I can't wait to get out again! We went out Monday and some evil person had graveled our trail, but I was still so psyched about Friday that I decided that we were doing the whole trail, something we haven't done this season yet.

Next Sunday I'm going to see Felony again, and a golden retriever named Sierra. We're starting a mushers of the moutain coalition! I'm so happy!
Tail wags
Champion mush-dog Louka

Weather

2009-01-16T20:27:00.008-05:00

Well, of course the humans are all going ballistic, but I'm happy as a husky in snow. Lots of snow. And cold. The main news story on the magic picture box and on the radio is the weather. In Montreal it's stayed under -20 Celsius (So about -11 Fahrenheit, I think). It's nice and perfect, but Mommy takes an eternity to put all her thousands of layers of fur on and doesn't want to stay out long, except today, when we went mushing. Some places where Mommy has buddies reached -43 (Celsius, but -40 is the same for both scales, so you get the picture) and she's sighing about wanting to bring me to live over there. As long as I get the three Ms: mushing, meat, but not the icky chicken stuff that gives me a rash and certainly never kibble, and the mattress. Because it's mine. I swear. No matter what mommy says and how many times she puts it away. Oh yeah, and I want mommy too. I hate it when she goes to the evil University place without me.

This is one of my Ms, Meat! Of course I have my own dining room outside so that I don't get girly salmons or e-collars all over Granny's floor. Whatever those are. I don't get enough salmon, really I don't.

Speaking of Mushing, I may start getting help pulling mommy around! You may remember my friend Charpentier the lab mix who got stuck in my collar, last year and that really scared me. Well, we're still buddies, although we sometimes get a little worried about playing rough with each other and now Charpentier is going to take up mushing! He has his own harness and everything and this weekend, if it's not too cold for our wimpy humans, or next week, mommy's going to try out a twwo-dog hitch with me and him! And there's another potential friend, Felony, a German Shepherd, who may want to come help me too, some time! This is all very exciting for me, I love pulling with friends around me, it's so much more fun than plodding around all by myself.

So woos from the frigid north,
Louka

No longer on strike

2008-12-12T00:06:00.004-05:00

The Husquebec union has decided to come out of strike due to AMAZING trails. We went mushing again today and went all the way up to Lac Castor, a nice 7 kilometer run, half of which is uphill, the other half down (since we just turn around and double back). The trail was gorgeous and icy, but no match for my fur wheel drive. It did make the sled glide like a charm, though, so mommy felt nice and light again. Going downhill... Well that was a dream come true. I got to flat out RUN the whole way, so fast that Mommy was a little nervous that she was going to take a spill. But she didn't, even in the hairpin turn. I even proved today that I know "Whoa" and "easy" even without her putting on the breaks, which surprised her. Hehehehehehe. I like to keep her guessing. She never knows when the command is actually assimilated and I'm ignoring her or when I just haven't learned yet. It's generally the first of those two statements and she finds out after the fact, but she keeps falling for it.

Mommy ordered my new harness today, too. She found that mine was a little too small. This is because when she got it, she got the size that corresponded to my weight... but she was using my weight from when I came out of the shelter, not figuring that I had gained a whole lot of weight since then. I was 60 lbs January 2007, but 75 lbs January 2008 (mommy knew I had gained weight, but she thought maybe 5 lbs, not 15) and then 77 lbs May 2008! So the harness bought in December 2007 which is meant to fit a 60-70lbs dog... Well, it's a little on the tight side, now. So I'm getting a brand new harness a size bigger, which will make mushing even more comfortable! You see what Husquebec can obtain when we strike for better working conditions? You knoooow you want to join our union...

I'm very tired now, so I'm going to keep this post short. I'm going back to snoozing and dreaming of nice, long trails.

On Strike

2008-12-09T23:36:00.004-05:00

It was the beginning of the first ride of the season and already I could tell that things were not going to go well. We huskies know these things. The snow was way too deep and fluffy and Mommy felt way heavier than usual. I did not like this. I did not like this all the way uphill. I made her walk behind the sled, kick to help me make the sled go forwards... We make a good team, mommy and I. This is why I did not want to stop.

Turn around? What do you mean turn around? I was perfectly fine going in this direction. Perfectly fine! No, that slowing down meant 'get off the sled', not 'let's go home'. I totally don't understand why we should go home.

Ah. I see the problem now. Sinking sled syndrome. Maybe mommy hasn't really gained weight since last year. I still don't want to go home, yet, it's so nice out...

We finally were headed downhill. On the hairpin turn that goes down pretty steep, I was finally able to pull mommy well. I always like downhill better. And I really do like pulling, when I'm able to. Every husky has his limits, though. Mommy was muttering something about borrowing friends for me, at some point.

I would like to be able to say that after the hairpin turn everything went downhill. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The trail was flat again, mommy was heavy again and we just kept getting more and more fun, fluffy schnee to slow the kicksled down. Mommy was still trying to convince me to pull. So I decided to show her and go on strike. The trail ended a few meters ahead anyway. She could walk, right?
So anyway, we have learned several things about this last venture: #1, if the snow is no good, the husky will strike. #2, if it is the first run of the season and the husky is not yet in top shape, going out in difficult snow is stupid. #3, Mommy is out of shape. #4, in such snowy conditions, we walk to the trail, we do not under any circumstances take the car. In fact, the husky would prefer that no cars be used in his transportation ever. #5 Despite setbacks, mushing is still fun. And having people fawn over me as I go past is REALLY fun.

If you're looking for me, I'll be here, nice and comfortable, waiting for the perfect mushing conditions. Which will hopefully be soon.

Many lazy woos,
Louka (who yes, owns half the loveseat, but only when granny's not around to see)

SCHNEE

2008-11-25T01:28:00.002-05:00

It's snowing. Let's hope we get enough and that it sticks long enough to go sledding on Friday. Now Mommy's really wishing she wasn't working on Wednesday, hehehehe.
Many woos,
Louka

Betrayal for a cause

2008-10-28T20:34:00.006-04:00

today mommy left me for hours to go play with other dogs. But for once, I'm not all that upset. I will leave the blog to her to explain.

Three or four weeks ago, there were two raids on puppymills around here. The SPCA had over 300 dogs to take care of. Some got taken in by other organisations and now they "only" have about 30 or so. Court cases are still pending about their ownership and they need dedicated volunteers to go and clean cages, give baths and walk dogs. I mostly did the fun stuff, walking and playing with these doggies. Some, despite three weeks of TLC are still so skinny that you can not only count their ribs, you can almost see the rib, all the way around. If I was living somewhere of my own instead of with my parents, I'd have asked to foster one of the girlies. But I'm limited to one dog and I respect my mother's wishes.

All of the doggies are amazing and sweet, even though I like some more than others. Two of the german shepherds have gimpy mutatoe-paws like Meeshka's mutatoe brother Loki. I had never really got what his paw could look like until I saw the oversized, flat paw on the front right of each of the two girls, so I thought about him a lot as I played with them, especially with the older female who had other problems and was a real gimpy. The younger gimpy-pawed one is one of the skinniest dogs I've ever seen and she's very pregnant. We're all praying for her and her puppies, praying they have the strength to pull through. She's so affectionate despite her condition, she'll make a good family dog eventually, I think. One of the big black mixed-breed (I think?) dogs just laid down in my lap and begged to be loved. I've rarely seen a dog that affectionate. There was a husky named Frank who totally won me over. He looked a lot like Thrawn as he chilled in his cage, totally ignoring the barking dogs around him and his food. He was above all this, a total zen master. I seem to remember a picture of young Thrawn curled in the back of his cage, looking up at the camera with a very long-suffering expression. This is how Frank looked, as if he would be just totally fine if the rest of the world stopped being idiots for a minute. A typical, beautiful husky. My last mention is of Freya, a beautiful pretty girl german shepherd who was the only one with no name. She was in a different room along with the two giant breed dogs, so she tends to be a little forgotten, but once you get her going, there isn't a dog to match her in playfulness and affection. I had a vague recollection of Freya being the norse goddess of love and beauty, or something like that, so I thought it suited her. She's now no longer nameless and she's going to make someone very happy, one day when she's let into their homes.

I return tomorrow and then again this weekend. I love those puppies, It's a joy spending time with them, even if I will be cleaning cages soon.

The blog will return to Louka next post,
Take care,
The Mommy.

Cooking

2008-10-16T13:17:00.019-04:00

I've been inspired after reading Zim from the Ao4's posts about doing KP while his mommy cooks. It's apple season, so mommy's been going a little nuts. Of course, I as the dog must help her with the cooking, supervising and making sure that any cheese that might be wasted goes to me.

Mommy thought I was being cute, so sue tried to get some pictures. Of course, I'm a sibe, so managing to get me cooperative was a chore.

But I can always be tempted with some cheese. It's a failing, I know, but I can't help it.
After helping with dishes, I had to make sure that Mommy was getting her recipe right. What is that I spy up on the stove? (please ignore the ugly floor with the suspicious stains from "the raspberry incident")

Oooh! Apple pie, apple cake and applesauce! I want some!

Mommy is being mean and not letting me have much. Just a tiny bit of applesauce, because it has no sugar, just maple syrup, and not a lot at that. It's very good. I'm perfecting the begging eyes to get more. But Mommy wasn't caving, so I told her to just stop with the pictures already. Honestly. She doesn't know when to quit.

I love doing KP, it's a nice bonding experience for me and Mommy. It's so fun that she says when we move out, we need a bigger kitchen so that I have more room to watch her (and so that she stops tripping over me, hee hee)

Oooh, is someone opening the cheese in the kitchen? I'd had better go check it out!
Woos,
Louka

Betrayal most foul

2008-10-15T01:55:00.004-04:00

Every now and then, Mommy leaves. Sometimes it's just for the day, to go to work, or for a few hours to go to class, but every now and then she leaves for a few days and I have to stay with my Auntique. I love my Auntique and she takes me to the mountain and she loves me and plays with me, but she's not Mommy.

So I'm always very sad when Mommy leaves and very happy when she gets back. I was thrilled to have her back until I discovered this on her laptop:

That's my Mommy, fraternising with another dog while away on vacation! And a famous dog at that! She went and met Balto without me! I thought I was her husky-woo! She says its only a statue and that she did it because she was missing me and because she needed a picture with a famous sled-dog who could inspire me but woo! The betrayal!

She could have at least taken me to meet him. She'd had better make it up to me.

Louka who is sulking

My nefarious plan has worked!

2008-10-09T01:56:00.002-04:00

Not only has mommy given in and gotten me things I like to eat (and talked to the butcher about acquiring more "brick"), now that I'm eating again she's so happy that tonight when i was feeling a bit peckish? I just whined and paced mournfully towards the kitchen and I got fed! ok, granted I only had one meal today and so this is my normal portion, but I managed to get fed at quarter to two in the morning! And I got sardines!

Fear the siberian mind meld
Louka

Further abuse

2008-10-08T01:48:00.003-04:00

Someone call the SPCA!

I have just finally had my first meal in three days. Three days! Three and a half, even! Mommy would just not get the point. I'm sick of chicken. I've been eating chicken for the last week. Why should I have to eat more of the same, boring thing? But of course instead of just being a good mommy and giving me something else, she just took it away and gave me the same thing at supper! I finally managed to wear her down, though, she gave me innards for supper because she's afraid I'm going to start losing weight. And the puppy-dog eyes finally worked. I've been fine-tuning that expression all week, eying her mashed potatoes longingly, sitting in front of the fridge, glaring at my food...

But I'm still abused.

Hawoos,
Louka

Mommy's version: Does anyone else have this problem? There's nothing wrong with him, health-wise. He's just picky. It's the reason he's raw-fed, he refused dog food (even when soaked, soaked in chicken broth, mixed in with yogurt, etc) for at least 4 days straight while trying to counter-surf, something he never does, and trying to chow down on anything that looked vaguely edible outside. I thought I had solved the problem. Suuure, he doesn't like kidney, but he'd eat pretty much anything else. Since last week, when I started giving him "brick" (chicken carcass and snippets and whatever that the butcher just put through the grinder to make a kind of paste), he pretty much stopped eating. I finally had him eating two meals a day again, after two days of no food and two or three days of one reluctant meal a day. Then I ran out of "brick" and bought more carcass, which he generally loves. Three days. Three WHOLE days of no eating. He'll lick his bowl mournfully. He'll sit in front of the fridge. He'll actually deign to beg at the table (sitting and staring at my food), which he never does. He'll howl happily in the morning when I tell him it's "manger" (eating) time and dance and scold until I take his food out. Then one look at it and he wants to come back inside from where he eats on the balcony and he won't touch it. Everyone I've asked says "well have you tried just taking it away after 20 minutes? He'll eat then when he sees food isn't always available". Those people have never dealt with a determined sibe, I'm sure of it. In the last two weeks, he's eaten two meals a day, which is his normal ration, only two or three times. I've had five or six whole days of no eating at all and the rest he just takes one meal. I'm going back to the butcher tomorrow to ask for more "brick" and get ground beef, but I'm at the end of my rope. Any one else has this issue and has advice?

My mother's laughing her head off at me. I have always been a very picky eater and she has been waiting for revenge for a long time, now. She thought she'd have to wait for me to have kids for the karma to catch up to me. I've been apologising for two weeks, now. Sigh.

Back to trying to figure out how to make the cute mutt eat
The Mommy

Three!

2008-10-02T01:50:00.007-04:00

After a very traumatic summer, good things are starting to happen again.

I say traumatic because Mommy was working way too much and leaving me alone and neglecting my blog and worse, neglecting me! Woo! I'm still kind of upset. But I've started sleeping in the big bed with her again, so her punishment is mostly over, especially since she's staying home most of the time.

But that wasn't the point of this post.

The point of this post was to tell you that I'm now, officially at least, three years old! I got salmon for both meals today and mommy stayed home all day with me and played with me and napped with me and cuddled with me and... Ok, ok, that was because she always stays home all day on Wednesdays but STILL! It was a good birthday. We went to the dogrun for a long time andmy friend Misha the boxer mix tried to eat my face a lot (that was fun) and my friend Inook who's a not-as-cute-as-me husky tired to steal my mommy because he's a suck up, but it was till ok because I got to play in the mud and then in the snow! Because the magical snow pile is back and mommy lets me go play there until there's real snow to dig in.

I also want to show you something else good that happened to me this summer
Yeah, that's a good thing. That's my cousin Thulku the rescued pit bull. We were having a lot of fun when that picture was taken, even though we look like we're arguing. Mommy and Thulku's Mommy were a little nervous that we'd REALLY argue because Thulku doesn't always like other dogs and we both were "fixed" older and I really don't like not fixed dogs most of the time and Mommy wasn't sure if I'd think that Thulku was still broken. But I didn't and he liked me and we had so, so, so much fun! He has a HUGE property out in the country by a lake and after we played, we went hiking outside all together and I got to model my harness.

Me showing how happy I am and waiting for mommy to pet me

Thulku and me taking a break

Me getting my well-deserved petting and no, I am not an attention-hog. But I thought it would be appropriate, given all the huzzy pictures going around. Strangely enough, despite the pose this is one of the rare times I'm actually wearing a collar. I only wear one when I'm not at home.

So that was the highlight of my summer. I think back on that and on Mushing for the first time as I turn three and think about the past year.

Woos to you all,
Louka

Mean Mommy

2008-07-18T18:33:00.002-04:00

I haven't blogged in forever!
This is because mommy now has something she calls a job, which implies her being gone almost all the time and being tired when she gets home. I disapprove and scream at her when she gets home, but she never listens. She says that she's earning money to get us a car to go to better mushing trails next winter, but I don't believe her. Woo.

Then this morning, there was a HUGE storm! I was pretty freaked out and I woke mommy p to tell her this. She was not at all amused. She took me outside, then went back to bed. I started crying again. "Louka, it's five in the morning! Go to sleep!" No sympathy. She let me go hide in the closet, cuddle on the bed, but nothing was comforting enough. Finally she turned on the dehumidifier to blank out the noise from outside and fell asleep again. She stayed home all day to play with me, though, so that was ok. But she's been grumbling about a "stupid furry idiot who wakes her up on her day off", whoever that could be.

Woos
Abused Louka

Tagged!

2008-06-29T14:43:00.002-04:00

I've been tagged by the amazing Queen Meeshka in a very fun game. It's my first official tag, so I'm kinda excited about it. Here are the rules:

1. Copy the question and paste it into your post.
2. Answer it - and give a few reasons for why you think you'd be that breed or breeds.
3. Post these rules!
4. Tag ONE other blogger. If there are multiple pups within the same pack/blog, each pup should only respond when he or she is tagged. One at a time!
5. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Based on your pup-onality, if you were a breed other than the one or ones you are now ... what would you be?

Hmmm. I've been giving this a lot of thought. It's very hard to decide what other breed I'd like to be because there are a lot of very cool breeds out there and because I love being a husky so much. I've finally decided, though, and please don't laugh too hard.

I would be a standard poodle.

Why? Because standard poodles can still mush and can mush well, because they're very smart (like me), because they're noble (like me), because they love to get fawned over (like me), because they often get mistaken for girls even when they're boys (what can I say, I have a girl's name, apparently), they're elegant (like me), because they're playful and friendly and cool (like me) and because they can get shaved in the summer with no ill effects and don't die in this stupid heat like I do. Ok, so that last one is why I'd WANT to be a poodle not why I would be based on personality, but whatever. I have a few friend poodles and they're all pretty cool. Besides, mommy thinks they're cute and she thinks I'm cute(r), so that's another reason to be a poodle.

Now I have to tag someone. I think I'll tag fellow Montreal-dog Sophie!

Not sure I like this

2008-06-21T01:51:00.002-04:00

Mommy has strange ideas, sometimes.

Her newest plan involves me, which makes me a little suspicious. She was reading some posts on a dog forum she's on and someone was asking who's going to be signing up for the Canine Good Citizen test in August given by guides canins. She perused the information and has decided that I'm a good enough dog (as if there was any doubt) and that I could probably pass it, with a little practice. I need to work on test 4 (out for a walk) because usually she lets me walk ahead as long as I'm not pulling to hard and she just tells me left, right or "tout droit" (straight) as if I was pulling the sled. I can do it if asked nicely, though, as I've demonstrated in practice. The only test that she's sure I'm going to fail and that we have to practice intsensely is test 8 (meeting another dog) because I always want to go say hello. What can I say, I'm curious and friendly.

The rest, apparently, I will pass without problems. Especially the grooming part. I love when people pay attention to me! I don't like it when strangers pinch between my toes, though. This happened to me once. I was a little upset, so I gave mommy the "martyr look", as the vet calls it. But I let her do it.

Have any of you guys passed your CGC? Was it hard? did you practice lots and lots?

Woos,
Louka who doesn't want to have to obey.

Chilling

2008-06-09T20:14:00.002-04:00

Today Mommy came home with a noisy white thing that looks, as granny says "like R2D2", whatever that means. All I know is that it makes a lot of noise, but suddenly my lair, or Mommy's Room, as most people call it, is lot cooler than the rest of the house. It's 27 degrees Celcius and crushing humidity, so this is a welcome development.

Yay.
Happy woos,
Louka

Three words

2008-06-08T17:47:00.001-04:00

Portable air-conditioner.

I want one.

I want one bad.

Someone save me from the heat.

Louka

Booming and impending doom

2008-06-02T19:05:00.002-04:00

Today was not a good day. First of all, mommy was holding the stupid snake and I was locked out. It's bad enough that I have to go sulk with mommy in the mornings because the stupid bird is out with granny and I can't go into the kitchen and see if there's cheese to be had, now mommy, MY mommy, was holding the stupid snake. And worse, mommy is going to get a second snake. I'm not pleased.

Then I heard mommy on the phone, talking with someone. This isn't a rare occurrence in and of itself, but I heard the words "heartworm preventive treatment", "Louka" and "appointment" all mentioned within a short space of time. This is never good. Then mommy, laughing, tells me that we're going to the vet's tomorrow for a blood test before she can put me on preventives against nasty bugs. I'm not thrilled, even tough the vet-ladies are nice and pet me and give me treats. Sticking me with needles and stealing my blood is not nice. Not nice at all.

That wouldn't have been so bad, but then it started booming! There was all this rumbling and loud noises... It was a storm (with a small s)! I was having a hard time finding a lair to hide in, so mommy kindly cleared out her closet for me ans put covers down. Instant lair. I'm dictating this for her from inside this lair and I'm not coming out until I get cheese or the booming stops, whichever comes first!

Woos,
Louka

A visitor and a missed meal

2008-05-27T18:08:00.002-04:00

Well, I just had a fun few days. Harem member #1 came to visit for FIVE WHOLE DAYS of petting and adoring me. AND she and mommy took me to the mountain on sunday to chill at the tamtams.

The Tamtams, to those who are not from around here, are a big, semi-spontaneous, semi-traditional gathering of noisy humans who make lots of noise on big drums (I'm more or less thrilled about this part, but mommy doesn't take me too close to the noise) and smoke strange-smelling stuff (well, some of them do, mommy doesn't) and dance and generally have fun. There's also, a little higher up, a place where strange people dress up and hit each other with foam swords. Since it's quieter, less smelling of strange smoked stuff and very amusing to watch, this is where mommy takes me. I like it there because it's A) outside and B) full of people who just want to pet me and adore me. Including little girls. I LOVE little girls. They're the best petters. Little boys are ok too, but what can I say, I'm a ladies' man, I always prefer girls, given the option.

So everything was going well, mommy and harem member #1 were sitting in the shade watching people hit each other with foam swords and commenting on the battle, when I spotted something small moving towards me. Now generally, I consider small animals, with the exception of small dogs, food. So naturally, what I'm seeing moving towards me is a meal. Mommy, who has my leash around my waist, turns around, a little annoyed that I've gotten up and wanting to see what's interesting me. What SHE sees is a turtle with, as she puts it, a death wish. She grabs tighter at my leash, but she's sitting on the ground and I am a strong sled dog with a mission to eat turtle. I managed to knock her on her back and step on her a few times before I stopped, waiting for the turtle, who's headed towards me at a speed mommy didn't consider possible for turtles, to simply hop into my mouth. Finally the guy who owns the turtle decides to be proactive about keeping his pet alive and goes to pick it up. Now why he had decided to bring his turtle to a gathering of 300+ people where there ARE dogs who are off leash (lucky dogs whose owners are less suspicious of their ability to stay than mommy is of mine) and where people are not expecting a turtle is an interesting question which was never answered. Mommy says it has something to do with the guy not being a knife and therefore him not being too sharp. I just know that now I had Mommy on the ground clinging to my collar, people laughing their heads off (Harem member #1 included) and a dude holding a turtle up to my face. Being a polite dog, I try not to snarf food that is held out to me. So I didn't move fast enough when he put the turtle in my face and I, gratefully, tried to take a delicate bite out of the head. The head disappeared, mommy yanked me away (or tried to) and the guy finally decided that he wasn't going to give me the turtle. I was sad. I perked up a little when the guy put the turtle back down and it tried to come see me again, but Mommy distracted me a bit with a toy and the guy got the point and picked up his turtle. I'm rather disappointed, it smelled very good.

Apparently this turtle has already been attacked by a dog. Mommy says that it has no survival instincts. Harem member #1 just told her to look at who owned the turtle, to consider what that turtle's life must be like and then to draw her own conclusions about the turtle's will to live. I just think that I should have been faster.

Speaking of food, I think it's Manger time and mommy's late with my food...
Woos,
Louka

Frappe!

2008-05-21T21:39:00.003-04:00

Well, Mommy was inspired by Nanook and Pooka's mommy and decided that since summer is here and I can't pull a sled, it's time to make me do other things. I was going to object, but there was cheese and clawing involved and anything that involves cheese and clawing can't be that bad. If you go and see the aforementioned blog, you'll see that Nanook's mommy is teaching Nanook "target", which means bumping his nose against a paper in exchange for treats. Now officially, I know how to bump things with my nose. I just don't because hello, it's my nose. My cute, little nose. So Mommy decided to take a different approach. Since I "talk" a lot with my paws and I know "papatte" and "other papatte" very well, she decided that she would now teach me to hit things. So, she took out my favourite toy that I'm only allowed to have on special occasions at the dogrun when no one else is there, got some cheese and set to work teaching me how to claw my toy in all kinds of situations. She calls this "Frappe" (hit it). She thought the toy would motivate me, and it did. Unfortunately for her, the toy is a small target and I'm used to pawing HER when I want attention. So now her arms are all clawed up, because I can do this nifty digging my claws in like a cat thing. I did very well. Later, she switched to a container lid, which is better for practice and that she can use as a shield. Wuss. But thank you Nanook's mommy for encouraging her to start working with me again! The more cheese I get, the happier I am!

Apart from this, we got some sort of bad news, today. The house sold, after only three days on the market. This sounds like a good thing until you realise that we are tenants, not owners. The landlady, who lived downstairs, died in December and her family have been dealing with the property. We have another year here, but then we'll have to leave because the new landlord wants to move his father in upstairs, where we are. And he started asking if I bark and examining the lease to see if I was really allowed to be living her. Which made Mommy really panic, even though I am legally allowed to stay here. Now there's the whole question of where we're moving to and if we're going to be staying with Granny and Granddaddy or not... Mommy's pretty upset. I've been trying to calm her down with licks and good behaviour and many, many cuddles. I'm trying very hard to resist the urge to steal the covers again tonight (to lie on, not under), too. Maybe more clawing would be in order?

Anyway, that's my news for now!
Thanks again, Nanook's mom, for being an inspiration for me getting more cheese and clawing things
Woos,
Louka

Still rattling around

2008-05-15T23:41:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted much recently, not much interesting has happened for a while. There's no more snow and it's progressively getting hotter, which makes granny happy, but mommy and I a little sad.

Because I'm bored, I'm going to fill out this quiz thing I've seen rattling around a few blogs. Maybe it'll help you guys to know me better, and it'll be fun to do. I stole it from Huffle's blog, but I've seen it a few other places and hopefully he won't mind.

1. Your age? 2 and 1/2 yearss old

2. Your age when came to live with your people? 14 months

3. What color is the collar you’re wearing right now? I don't wear a collar in the house, but the one I use when I go places is black with red, green and yellow chili peppers on it.

4. Who is your favorite person other than the people you live with? Any of my harem members.

5. How much do you weigh? 75lbs, last time I checked

6. Most expensive thing you’ve ever chewed up? Um... Everything I've ever chewed up here was hand made. I guess the doll my mommy's great-granny made was the thing that got me into the most trouble, though.

7. Do you like cats? Yes, of course! But mommy thinks that if one was running around, I might hurt it. I've lived with cats before, or so Mommy was told, but she doesn't really trust me.

8. Who is your best non-human friend? Hmmm... Vaks the husky x lab. He's GOD. I so want him to love me and play with me and run around with me, but he always ignores me. This makes me sad. Otherwise I have quite a few friends at the dogrun who I play with regularly.

9. Squeaky Toys or Tennis Balls? Squeaky toys! I LOVE squeaky toys. But I'm not allowed to have any because Granny hates the squeak and I destroy them too fast.

10. Do you like to be brushed? When I'm shedding, yes. Generally if it means that I'm getting loves and attention, I will sit through anything.

11. Peanut Butter or Cheese? Cheese! Mommy says I'd sell my soul for cheese and I probably would.

12. Do your people cut your toenails? Yes. But generally mommy does this while I'm getting petted and loved on, so I barely notice. I like being fawned over, it's my job in life, apart from pulling the sled.

13. Any formal education? I attended at least one obedience class. I don't remember if I did in my former home, but Mommy took me to a class here where I got to play with a baby jack russel and terrorize a poor daschund. She was just intimidated by my size, don't worry, I wasn't mean to her. I did very well, which surprised the teacher and made her say I must not be a pure husky.

14. Couch potato or Energizer Bunny? In the house, I'm calm until after supper, when it's time to go Marcher. Outside, I zoom a lot.

15. Five nicknames your people call you. Loulou, Wookie, Husky, Bebe, imbecile.

16. What is your best trick? Papatte, other papatte. If I do that, it goes faster to put the harness on. Other than that, left, right... I don't do tricks that have no purpose.

17. Do you like puppies? Um.... Depends on the puppy. Mommy says I can be a bit of a bully, sometimes. But I'm really, really nice with some puppies and i roll over on my back and let them bounce all over me.

18. What did you have for breakfast? Ground beef, today, and a carrot. I'm raw fed, so every day is something different. I've been getting ground beef a lot recently, though, I'm starting to be sick of it.

19. Can you hunt (aka have you ever killed anything living)? If so, what? I am the master hunter! I caught and killed a wild baby bunny, once. And I almost caught a skunk, but it was mean and sprayed me and that was not fun.

20. When & why was the last time you went to the V.E.T.? Um... A few months ago, I think. It was for a general check up and vaccines.

21. Where do you sleep at night? On my rug next to Mommy's bed, sometimes IN mommy's bed, sometimes other places in the house. But mostly next to mommy, somewhere.

22. Do you like to swim? Not really.

23. Can you make puppies? I'll have to ask mommy.... No. Apparently I can't.

24. Your favorite place to visit? Hmmm, decisions decisions... The dogrun, then the mountain, then the good-smelling dogfood store, in that order.

25. Do you give kisses? Yes! Sometimes. When I feel like it.

26. Can you potty on command? No, why would I do that? As I said, I don't do things that are pointless to me.

27. To Cuz or not to Cuz? CUZ! I love cuzes. But I can only have mine at the dogrun if there are no other dogs. It's a special treat.

So that's it, folks... You can also ask me questions, if you want, and I'll answer them...
Until next time,
Woos,
Louka

Mommy is proud of me

2008-04-20T22:42:00.002-04:00

Like the title says, mommy is particularly proud of me today.

You guys may not know this, but I'm not always 100% nice with other dogs. I don't like most uncastrated males and I can be a bit toy possessive. So I'm only about 90% nice. But mommy keeps an eye on me and usually I'm fine.

Now there's this other husky mix who comes to our dogrun, Tattoo, who I really can't stand. He's not fixed, you see, and he's afraid of me, so it's kind of fun to growl at him. A few months ago, we got into an argument over a ball that mommy still hasn't forgiven me for. And he remembers, because he cries when he sees me, which makes mommy feel really ashamed, because I'm a bad dog with him.

Today, he was at the dogrun. I had friends, though, so I didn't really see him or care. Mommy was a bit worried that I may go harass him, though (who, me?) and was toying with the idea of leaving, but didn't, because I was playing with Domino, who's TOTALLY COOL and it was fun. But there was still a potential for a situation, there. Well, let's just say that for once in my life, I had 100% recall, today, I came and gave Mommy the ball every time I found one lying around and she didn't want e playing with it and I did this without growling even though there were other doggies around and I didn't resist at all. The result? I didn't go growl at Tattoo, I didn't pick a fight and we were in the same dogrun together for an hour without any problems. Mommy was very proud of my behaviour and happy that we didn't have to leave. She says that at the first sign of disobedience on my part and we would have headed straight home, but I got an A+ in getting along. I didn't even growl when Tattoo got kinda close and he was crying or when he barked triumphantly as Mommy led me away to the other side of the dogrun so that neither one of us would get any bright ideas.

And I got to play with Domino for an hour and a half. So it was a good day.
I hope you all had as good a day as me!
Woos,
Louka

Viciously attacked!

2008-04-06T22:33:00.002-04:00

As most of you know, I go to the dogrun every day. I don't have a nice yard to zoom around in. At the dogrun, Mommy has to watch me, sometimes, because I don't always agree with the presence of uncastrated males and sometimes I get growly around toys. I've even gotten into fights a few times. But never, ever has mommy been hurt in these incidents and always, once separated the fight stopped.

Today was different. Today, I wasn't the one getting into a fight. I got jumped by two very vicious boston terriers who wanted my death and who didn't hesitate to bite mommy to get to me. I was pretty freaked. I've never encountered that level of vicious. Now I'm a pretty big dog, but they were so after me that they managed to pin me to the ground, then their friend the boxer who was on leash got close enough to jump me too. Mommy was very angry. She finally managed to grab me (I may have accidentally bit her on the arm, then, but this just goes to prove that putting your arm into a dog fight is stupid) and was running away with me and these little monsters were chasing us, still trying to rip into me and got mommy on the leg. Several times. We left very fast, with me running for the gate faster than even mommy. She was very upset, and I was afraid that she was upset at me, especially when she got out the stuff to put on the cut in my ear which was my only battle wound and it stung, but she said that I was a good boy and that she was proud of me (mommy's note: This is the first time I've ever hoped that he's hurt another dog in a fight. I am so pissed, I hope those ill-trained rats at least have a couple of cuts of their own) and I'm sleeping on the bed right now, dictating my message while she types.

Dang, she just noticed the cut under my eye. She'd had better not put stinging stuff on that too...

Sad woos,
Louka who does not like being attacked or ganged up on.

Oprah on puppy mills

2008-04-04T19:12:00.002-04:00

Well I'm certainly getting a lot of attention. Mommy got a head's up this week that the episode of Oprah that aired today would be about puppy mills. Although it was nothing she didn't know or hadn't heard about before, she was very, very happy that someone as influential and widely known as Oprah would do such a show to tell people about this horrible reality. Of course, watching the show meant her bawling and petting and cuddling me a lot. Which means that I'm grateful too. Not only is Oprah getting the word out, she'd directly responsible for even more spoiling of me!

In other news, we're getting more schnee. Most of the humans aren't amused. I am.

Woos to all,
Louka

No more schnee

2008-04-03T23:35:00.002-04:00

Well, my beloved snow is vanishing quickly, which makes me sad. It does mean, however, that there's lots of interesting smells coming up at the dogrun and lots of things to roll in. Unfortunately, this means more baths for me, which I really hate. Really. But I get cheese and I'm allowed to sleep on a towel on the bed as a treat after, so I don't complain too, too much. The lack of snow also means that we can now see the fence all around the dogrun and it needs major repairs. The chain link part came down on one side, where the snow cleared from the road was piled on it. But we have a good dogrun and all will be fixed in short order, or so I'm told.

There were lots of friends to play with at the dogrun today, which made me happy. I got to run and run and run and wrestle and roll! My favourite thing. Mommy says that she can't wait for the day we have our own place and I can have a sister. But she wants to work on my toy possession around other dogs first. Any suggestions, anyone? I don't want to share, but Mommy says that I have to learn or she may sic Granny on me! Help!
Woos,
Louka

I've got it made

2008-03-25T23:01:00.002-04:00

Two posts in one day! Unheard of! But I just had to post. I just had to brag about how far I've come from that scary little cage at the pound where Mommy found me.

Today, I decided to snub my meal. I do this every now in then, in hopes that mommy will give me something better or that she'll run around like a good slave trying to make it more tasty. Usually, one of these two things happens. Today, pig spine was on the menu. I decided that no, I wanted more ground meat, preferably with a little liver. Mommy was annoyed. So she let me in (evil granny insists on exiling me to the balcony to eat, something about not wanting my food on her floor. Really.) and started teasing me a bit with the spine, hopin to make it more appetizing. I made my "ick" face. She growled and tore off a pit to show me all the nice meat on the spine. I pretended to be interested and took it, tugging a bit. Now she was sitting on the floor, right where I wanted her. I started gnawing experimentally, then took it away from her and laid down next to her. Then put it down and ignored it. She tried again. Now, sneaking into her lap, I allowed her to hold the spine for me while I ate, comfortably cuddled in her lap, being petted with her other hand. Now that, my friends, is the life.

Woos of happy spoiledness,
Louka

Bye bye fence

2008-03-25T02:33:00.003-04:00

Sigh, it's getting warmer here and it's almost time to say goodbye to the snow for good. Of course, since we still have 20-foot snowbanks in some places, it'll be a while since it leaves completely. One of Mommy's major concerns, this winter, has been the fence at the dogrun. Since we were mushing a lot, she hadn't been too worried, but now she says it's the only reason she wants the snow to melt. the fence is, all around, way too short to keep dogs in, with all this snow. It's only an inch or two high, in some places. We've been doing a lot of walking on leash, but we have been going to the dogrun when I have friends to play with. I'm a bit of a mommy's boy (shhh, don't tell) and unlike most huskies, I generally stay close, especially when there are other dogs to play with. As soon as my attention goes near the fence, I'm captured and either redirected or taken home, but mommy can't wait to not have to watch me as closely anymore!

I still want the snow to stay forever

Woos,
Louka

Too much snow? It's abuse!

2008-03-11T23:38:00.003-04:00

So, apparently I'm abused. Mommy found this out the other day when I was pulling the sled to the mountain to mush. There were lots of snowbanks and the sled kept getting stuck on ice blocks so mommy wasn't happy and may have been whining a bit at me. I don't really remember, I tend to ignore her when she gets like that. She hears this woman yelling at the other side of the street and suddenly realizes that the lady's yelling at her. She's in a hurry and she can't really hear her, but finally she catches what the woman is saying. The lady was accusing her of abusing me! Of course later, as I was lounging on the big bed mommy thinks is hers with Harem member #1 petting me and cooing over me and Mommy giving me a pedicure, clipping my nails and rubbing salve into my road-salt abused paw pads, she was laughing about it. She hasn't stopped laughing since. Especially since when we went mushing with harem member #1 and I refused to pull for her, only for mommy. Who does she think I am! I'm not going to take the chance that mommy never catches up with us! I thought I was pulling mommy, but it was all lies and deceit! So I stopped as soon as she yelled a command and I saw that mommy was nowhere in sight and waited for mommy to find us. So I still think I could be treated better. Mommy could stay home more.

Because that's not what she did the next day: she left. And she took Harem member #1 with her. She left me with Auntique and she went up to Rawdon in the country where there was LOTS of nice snow and skidoo trails to mush on! She left for the whole weekend and then we had a HUGE snowstorm that even I didn't want to be out in (snow is great, howling winds, not so much) and got stuck there so she couldn't come home! I stayed in our room and sulked until she came home. Now she's home, there's snowbanks taller than I am everywhere (but Auntique left for New York with the camera, so I can't show you) and I'm finally happy. She's even taking me mushing tomorrow and getting me more pig spines to eat. Maybe I won't call the SPCA on her after all...

Speaking of snow, we're 31 centimeters away from our all-time record snowfall. We're supposed to get a few more centimeters tomorrow and I'm hoping for another storm or two to beat the record! Sibes, help me fix the weather!

Woos,
Louka

Mad

2008-03-05T13:43:00.002-05:00

I'm upset

We just got (well, are still getting) another foot of snow and what is Mommy doing? Sleeping and doing homework. She isn't taking me, her lovely husky, to play in the schnee, never mind taking me mushing! It would be perfect, even the roads are a bit covered, so our sled runners wouldn't get scrapped on the cement walking to the mushing trail, but no. Homework. Apparently she's tired because she stayed up until 3AM translating and redoing a powerpoint presentation about puppy mills. How dare she. She had the light on in our room until all hours and now this! She thinks that she's buying me off with this nice bone, but she's wrong! She will suffer my husky wrath.
Unhappy woos,
Louka

Skunks and Sniff

2008-03-04T22:10:00.002-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again. We're starting to smell the skunks, the weather's being iffy again, with temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Celcius (32 Farenheit) and Mommy's starting to mourn the snow with me. And granny starts cackling and telling Mommy to get out her camping gear because "You know he's going to get skunked again. They don't learn". Her plan would be to exile me to the balcony in case of skunking. And if I get exiled, Mommy's volunteered to go sit out there with me and cuddle with me because I hate being alone for very long periods. Don't I have a good mommy?

I also want to send a final woo out to my virtual friend Sniff the German Shepherd who crossed the rainbow bridge yesterday. Sniff was a 100% working dog who was training in shutzhund with his beloved master. They were a team and Sniff was his master's perfect dog. He was one of those dogs who few people would really want to own, too crazy to really be a housepet, but with the perfect energy and drive for the work he had been bred to do. Sunday, he was limping and couldn't support his weight in one of his back legs. The verdict: ruptured ligament. He would never have been able to work again, the vet said, some light exercise, nothing more. A dog like that, who has been bred and trained his whole life to be a working dog, who has an insane amount of energy to spend would go crazy as an inside dog who's only allowed a slow walk after supper. So Sniff's beloved master, with a breaking heart, did what he thought was best for his sweet boy and let him cross the rainbow bridge where he can work and run as much as he wants forever. His master is heartbroken at the loss and I want to send him some good vibes. Here's to you, Sniff, and to your master.
Woos,
Louka

Working hard

2008-03-02T21:07:00.005-05:00

We went out mushing 3 times last week! And since Mommy's on march break, we're going to be going out a lot this coming week, I sense. Mommy is very pleased with my progress. We've started doing the whole trail, all the way up to the cross on the top of the mountain, instead of just doubling back. I like this too, because I get to run more. She says we have to practice a few things like passing left and right, holding to one side of the trail and turning. I don't always agree with her sense of direction. Sometimes yes, but other times no. Apparently we're going to be doing leash practice, which is boring. We did a little bit at the dogrun, but I got bored and hyper fast, so Mommy let me play more. We got a half foot of snow, yesterday, so there's lots to zoomie in.

Apart from that, life's been pretty good. Mommy's been letting me sneak up to the top half of the bed for cuddles, Auntique has been petting me lots, granny's finally home... Granddaddy too, but he and I have a guy thing going on that keeps us from really admitting how much we like each other. I will totally cuddle-hog my girls, but with Granddaddy I have to stay a bit more reserved. But I totally adore him too. He gives me cheese. And all kinds of other stuff.

I have to go now, Auntique is trying to steal my rug again, I have to go make sure she knows it's mine. And that she pets me.

Woos,
Louka

Mommy's folly

2008-02-24T00:44:00.008-05:00

So, it's Saturday, which means that the trail we usually take is probably full of people and dogs, so mommy doesn't want to go mushing there. But the snow was nice and she was going out in the evening, so she decided to take me mushing on the little trail. As she thought, it turned out to be too steep and turny and narrow for us to really mush properly going up and she had to keep a foot on the ground on the way down to slow the sled so it wouldn't run into me. But after that, what does Mommy decided to do? Mommy decides to take us on the little trail. The little trail that gradually disappears and suddenly has so steep an incline that SHE has to climb on her hands and knees. So the ride went a bit like this:

Beginning of the trail. Now the question is, where is the trail?

Some kind young men broke the trail for us. I'm very good at following trails. And Mommy's random waving when she's trying to point me in a specific direction. By this point she was behind the sled pushing (and clinging to get a lift up) while I was valiantly climbing on every time she said "Marche", which is my command for, well, Mush! Mommy says that it was very good for practicing my weight-pulling skills and I'll be better at pulling her, after this. She also says it was good cardio for her and she needs to get back in shape.

Then we ran into Jay the dogwalker and Mommy unhitched me so I could play with the other doggies., I was on leash, though, because she doesn't trust my recall, even when I'm in a pack and having fun. She was tempted, but she trusted that little voice, because she would be devastated to lose me. And she would have had to pull the sled herself.

Don't those unleashed doggies look like they're having fun? I like Jay the dogwalker, he's very good with his pack and he loves to pet me. And he always has lots of doggies for me to play with.

Then mommy abandoned me to go see a stupid boy (ok, he's not so stupid, I actually let him in the house and don't act like a brat around him even without Mommy making me be good), saw some of my harem members and petted a cat. Without me! I'm upset. But I got to take over her bed while she was gone, so some things are going moderately well, at least.

Just to show you that huskies really are a working breed!
Woos,
Louka

Louka, CHAMPION mush-dog

2008-02-14T16:22:00.013-05:00

Mommy FINALLY took pictures of me working! I was a lot happier, this time. I didn't want to stop at all. Mommy's mushing Mentor, the amazing Julie, made mommy a new tug-line, with a bungee under the sled that acts as a shock absorber. You have no idea how much easier this is to pull. Of course mommy helped me out a tiny bit by kicking for the sled to go forward while we were going uphill, especially during the last bit, but she didn't have to hop off and run at all (damn, that was kind of amusing) and I pulled her all the way back down no problem! I even got CHEESE when I got home for being such a good boy! Mommy usually doesn't give me cheese because she says it turns me into a biological weapon and I do sleep in her room. I have no idea what she means

Well, here are the pictures. They aren't very good, but at least you'll get an idea of how fun this is.

Before the ride, just to see the whole getup

Let's go, already!

Hard at work

Stop chatting and get back on the sled, already

Ok, break time. Remember, this is Hard Work.

Do we REALLY have to stop now?

Relaxing while Mommy takes pictures and puts the sled away

Hmm, are there any skunks under here?

You can really see my flipped back ear well, here. See how the right ear curls back a bit? Well mommy WON'T STOP BITING IT because she thinks it's cute.

And finally, my just reward. It's her fault she didn't pick up the futon.

Well I'm really tired now, but I had a LOT of fun. Mommy only has a class in the morning tomorrow and they're announcing more snow on the radio, so we might go again TOMORROW!!! What a great life. And if ever mommy follows through on her plan and we move to Nunavik, I might get to do this every day! Of course, it'll be a lot more fun when I have a sister (or brother, but I'd prefer a sister) to do this with, but it's nice mommy-time, too.

Well, it's supper time, so I have to leave you at that
Hope you had as good a valentine's day as I did!
Woos,
Louka

Vet and other news

2008-02-03T14:21:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know I don't post regularly, but it's not my fault that not much happens around here. Apart from the melting of the snow, which was sad and made mommy depressed in January and her attempts to make me mush, which are working more or less well. She's decided that I need someone to pull with me since I probably don't have the muscle tone yet or the will to be a good lead dog. I like having someone with me up front. She's promised me that one day I'll have a sister to mush with, but right now she can't have two huskies, so she's ALL MINE! She says we're getting a new piece of equipment that'll make it easier for me, a better tugline with a bungee to absorb the shock of when we start. I'm still skeptical.

Anyway, I went to the vet last week! It was a new vet, since my last one retired. It was kinda nerve wracking, with all these new smells, new people, new dogs... I cried a bit. But I also proved to mommy that I like cats! I have lived with cats before, but Mommy's always been a bit worried, because I like to hunt things and I killed a bunny once. At the vet's office, there was this pretty kitty who was loose and who came to say hello and I was wagging my tail and happy and not at all in 'hunt mode', as mommy puts it. She still thinks that I'd try and play with the cat, though, which is not good, because I play very rough and I don't really care about size. Speak of size... I got weighed at the vet's. I've put on 15 pounds! I now weigh a healthy 75 pounds, which the vet says is good and is my healthy weight. Mommy is now 99% sure I have a malamute ancestor not too far up my family tree. Huskies are supposed to not weigh more than 60 lbs and are usually quite a bit under that, not have tails that are all curly like mine, not be as tall... But she says it doesn't really matter, I'm 100% Good Boy. Mommy also liked my new vet a lot because this vet follows the 3-year vaccination protocol, which is what Mommy wanted for me and she doesn't try and push all kinds of products and stuff on Mommy all the time. The old vet did.

We've been getting lots of snow, ice and hail around here. It hasn't gotten particularly cold, which is ok, just hovering around the -10 C mark, which is nice and comfortable. Mommy was very impressed with the hail, because we got about a foot of it and it was like sand. She thought the texture was really neat. We got more snow yesterday and this morning, too, which was nice.

Before I go, I'd like to send a little thought out to my friend Kumu qho just lost his mommy, Carmen. Kumu is a beagle friend of mine and his mommy was a very nice artist-lady who loved me and loved my howling. She was delighted when Kumu and I, along with two of my husky friends, started a quartet, one day. She and Mommy loved to chat while we played, although I wasn't really allowed to play with Kumu because I've been known to toss beagles before, and she was very interesting. She died in the end of last month. We only found out yesterday and Mommy's been very sad about it. It's a pity we didn't get to know her better in the short time we knew her. Rest in peace, Carmen, and watch over Kumu until he comes to join you.

Woos to you all,
Louka

Huskies are working dogs

2008-01-19T01:38:00.001-05:00

And Mommy has decided that I should do what I was bred for. So I've been learning to be a good musing dog. It's pretty fun, when we're not going uphill and when the snow is nice, but Mommy doesn't let me sniff around! I don't get that. I actually lay down in protest, the other day. Mommy should lose some weight. Or at least keep running behind the sled. I don't get the big idea of her jumping onto the runners. It's annoying. She was wondering why I was flattening a bit, but she figured I was just trying to pull the sled better and she was happy with me, but then I just lay down and started eating snow. She laughed and came to pet me a bit. Haroo roo roo! I have her well trained. Anyway, on the way back the trail is slightly slanted downhill, so it's easier and I love it. Lots of trotting, without that stupid leash.

Besides not being allowed to sniff around, I'm not allowed to play with other doggies when I'm in harness. I don't get that either. Aren't sniffing and playing my jobs? Mommy is strange, sometimes.

We're still working on getting Auntique to come with us to take pictures and help Mommy out (Mommy thinks she's so clever, planning to have Auntique on the runners and her beside me so that I run with her, but she doesn't see that I've just gotten her to do what I want). when we do have pictures, we'll post them.

Until then,
Harroo and enjoy the snow most of you just got!
Louka the Champion Mushing Husky (Granny says so)

More pictures!

2007-12-19T15:54:00.002-05:00

Mommy's finally on the computer that has the pictures on it, so prepare to be bombarded!

First, pictures of the snow we got on Sunday. It's still falling a bit, but not as much as I'd like.
This is our street. Actually, the house directly behind the stop sign is ours. Of course these snowdrifts are from what was cleared from the street, but even on our front lawn I'm wading at least chest deep in snow and I have nice long legs!
Gotta love the snow. I'm still not sure about this whole mushing thing, though. Mommy's waiting to get my real harness to try again. So far, I'm not all that happy about it. I want to lie in bed with my harem and be petted all day. Mommy's slightly depressed about this.

In other news, I have been hard at work guarding mommy's room from possible intruders.
Actually, I was sleeping. Why Mommy had to get up at that godawful hour to take pictures of me is beyond me. Hmph.

The Army of Four were saying the other day that they don't do outfits. Well, when I wake mommy up at 5AM because I got stuck trying to look at the pretty snow and she has to rescue me from behind the ficcus plant, apparently I have to get dressed up.
As if the santa hat wasn't enough, she had to mail this out as a christmas card to her La Patte Douce card exchange. Then she said that since I'm supposedly a sled dog, I should infiltrate Santa's reindeer. I don't think so. Now that's her la Patte Douce forum avatar. I have been publicly humiliated. I demand treats.

Here's a bad picture of the old cellphone case. The white triangle-thing is supposed to be my face and that's the part that is made out of my fur, felted onto the brown wool. Mommy has a hard time taking good pictures of things, so there'll be a better picture of the gorgeous new case. Granny's been getting a lot better at making pretty things with that machine. Now if only I could find a way to get at those colourful rovings that look so fun to play with...

Until next time,
Louka

More snow

2007-12-16T20:17:00.000-05:00

Monday 2 weeks ago we got about 2 feet of snow. This was good. I appreciated it. Unfortunately, all too soon it was still there, but all tamped down and not quite as fun. I still enjoyed zooming around in it, but there was something missing.

Today, my prayers have been answered. It's been snowing non-stop and the temperature has been hanging around -10 Celcius (that's about 10 Farenheit). It's heavenly. We got to go "play in the schnee" (schnee, pronounced shnay, is the german word for snow and mommy finds it funny so she uses it), but not for very long. Mommy says that if she finishes her paper before 10, she'll take the sled out and we can go play with the sled.

That;s another interesting thing that's happened to me recently: mommy has decided I need a job. More specifically, she says I should do what I was bred to, which is to pull sleds. So we now have a very pretty one-person sled that mommy is nuts about. Me, not so much. I really don't know how I feel about a big thing following me around everywhere. We don't get my pulling harness until christmas, so I can't pull for real with the little walking harness that used to belong to cousin Gaia, but Mommy's been trying to get me used to it. Ah well. At least I get to play outside more. And she says that I'll be able to really run, with this sled! That sounds like fun. I'll take pictures tomorrow when it's light out and no longer snowing. And on the 26th, with my real harness.

Oh, about the pictures of the cellphone case... Granny wants to redo it. She says that it's not pretty enough and that my fur deserves better. So I'll wait for the new version to post them.

Woos,
Louka

Thrawn

2007-12-13T23:12:00.001-05:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while, my mommy's going through something she calls the "end of the session" which involves a lot of hogging the laptop and being at the evil university place. But today, I just wanted to post a brief note in memory of my friend Thrawn who has just crossed the rainbow bridge.

Thrawn and I never met in person, but his blog was one of the first mommy started reading. She was completely charmed by his crystal blue eyes and his curious expression. The pictures of his pranks from his younger days (especially the flour picture) made mommy laugh so hard she showed it to all her friends. She worried about him (and his mommy) throughout his many health problems. It's very hard to make mommy cry, but when she read about his passing today, she burst into tears. The world has lost a good husky who managed to charm his way into our hearts and get pretty much whatever he wanted including an amazing, loving home and pack. He will be sorely missed.

Thrawn, I hope you're somewhere where there's perpetual snow, cold and many other friends to keep you company.

Maryann, our thoughts, prayers and love are with you. Losing a dog is hard, especially when the dog is as wonderful as Thrawn.

We will miss you, Thrawn.

Louka and his mommy.

SNOW

2007-11-21T00:53:00.000-05:00

I was going to post pictures of the cellphone case, but more important things have come up.

such as SNOW!!!!

We got an inch of snow last night. It's kinda melty and slushy now, but it's still snow. I tried to tell mommy about it this morning, but she was too tired to understand my woos until granny poked her head in and said "you know, it snowed last night". Suddenly mommy jumped out of bed yipping happily, dressed and took me outside at last.

So yay, snow, with more expected this weekend.

To all of you who haven't got snow yet, I'm going to talk to the Magic Snow Pile to see if it can migrate south now that I don't need it anymore.
Woos,
Louka

What I've been up to

2007-11-04T14:16:00.000-05:00

Haroo, all!

Howl-o-ween was very fun for me. We didn't give out candy this year like we're apparently supposed to because Granny just got back from New Mexico the day before and mommy didn't get her act together (and had a class until 7...), but we still had fun. Luckily for me, mommy doesn't believe in dressing me up in costume (although there were a few vague threats), but I still got to be a part of her costume! She said that since the pizza delivery guy, the mailman and random people on the street all think that I'm at least part wolf, I should go as the Big Bad Wolf to her Little Red Riding Hood! Check us out.

Am I supposed to look scary?

That was fun. We walked around the neighbourhood and people smiled at us and admired us. As it should be. Mommy wore her costume to her classes at the university, but no one really noticed that she was in costume because yes, she dresses this way every day. I mean even I with my limited colour vision can tell she's in fire-engine red, it's that bright.

A while ago, Zim from the AO4 asked me if I would ever be allowed to help my mommy with her knitting projects. The answer to that is apparently still no, but I am allowed in the sewing room when other people were there, so I got to help my Antique with her embroidery project! She makes a gorgeous circular project to illustrate every year and this year, I got to help cut the fabric! I have some pictures of me hard at work. The images may be a bit dark.

Just getting started

You sure you're doing that right?

Ok, now I demand payment in bellyrubs

A dog's work is never done, eh? I stay in there and supervise while Granny does her quilting, now, when mommy's at the evil university place or still sleeping (mommy is lazy).

I also have been doing some Evil Husky Deeds, as mommy calls them, mostly destroying or relocating stuff. She's annoyed because I even do this when family members other than her are home, so it's not just when I'm alone. So far, I've mauled an antique doll that mommy's great-granny had made for my granny (the others are now in a box in the ceder closet, out of my reach), an earring box containing the earrings mommy had gotten from her daddy on her 16th birthday (yes mommy is ancient and no, I didn't manage to swallow the earrings) and, last but not least, I have gone through mommy's dirty laundry to find clothes that smell like her to sleep with while she's gone. Apparently, dragging dirty underwear into the hall is a no-no. Go figure.

Ah well, that's all for now,
Woos,
Louka

New behaviours

2007-10-28T19:11:00.000-04:00

Haroo, all!
I have mommy grumbling at me a lot these days. She's a little annoyed that I don't really like human guys. Well, it's not just that... I don't like human guys who could potentially take my mommy away. They make me unhappy. She's been muttering something about me being a brat and having to "desensitize" me, whatever that means. I didn't do anything wrong, this time, I swear! Sure, I clawed the first guy, but he was asking for it! He shouldn't have been trying to get kissies from my mommy. I'm the only one she's allowed to kissie. This time I only placed myself strategically between them when they were watching TV! Seriously, if she doesn't want me to scare those stupid human boys away, she should stop picking the ones that are afraid of dogs and don't adore me properly. Really.

I've also managed to confuse her (and everyone else) by starting a new habit! I sing along with the phone! One of our phones doesn't ring, it plays this annoying tune by someone named "Vivaldi". Well, a few days ago I started singing alone when it rings! Mommy woke up this morning sure I was in trouble because I never howl for no reason! Hehehehehehehe. That ought to keep her on her toes.

Woos,
Louka

Mommy's note: I seriously need to start inviting male friends over to get him used to guys before I even consider a boyfriend, at this rate...

Charpentier

2007-10-23T18:08:00.001-04:00

So I ran into Charpentier again, the dog who got caught in my collar last week and made me think that I was going to die. Physically, he's also fine, but we both were really nervous seeing each other again. I didn't want to go in the dogrun with him standing at the gate. He started crying when he saw me, bouncing around because he wanted to play, but he was scared that we were going to get hurt again. Our owners chatted, stayed calm, encouraged us to play and petted us. Mommy gave us each a tiny little bit of cheese, which went a long way towards calming us and finally, we played a bit together. The stress is gone, which is nice.

Mommy's happy that Charpentier is ok and that his owners aren't blaming her or mad at her.

I'm happy that we didn't get stuck again.

Woos of relief,
Louka

Positive reenforcement training and clicker

2007-10-21T17:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I had an interesting day!

Mommy took me to a seminar on clicker training. No, this does not mean that I can use the tv remotes (I wish). It's a very interesting way to attempt and make us dogs obey. It uses a 'clicker' which makes a clicking sound when I do the right thing. The point is for mommy to mark (using the click) the exact moment I do the thing I'm being rewarded for. So for example, to practice me looking at her while there's distractions around, she'll have me sit in front of her and hold a treat out to the side. The second I look at her, not the treat, even if it's by accident, she clicks and gives me the treat. It didn't take me that long to associate looking at mommy = getting treat! Gradually, she's supposed to give less treats, so that I'm just working to hear the click, associating click and positive things. I like it a lot. Of course, since I'm doing all of this for cheese, I learn pretty fast.

There were quite a few of us four-legs at the seminar, but as usual, I was the biggest. The only other large-sized dog was the teacher-lady's very friendly pitbull who wanted to play with me big time. I wanted to play with her too, but our mommies wouldn't let us. Stupid mommies. The other dogs were all small. There was a pekenese, a japanese chin two mini poodles, a jack and a chinese crested dog (or however you call those), but of the furred variety. And black. She was pretty afraid of me at first, but her mommy and mine worked on that until I could sniff her without her panicking. Yay her!

In all, it was lots of fun and it was great to spend a whole day outside with Mommy, even if I wasn't allowed to go play with Ivy the pitbull. We should do this more often, especially if there's snow.

Just to know, do any of your humans use the clicker on you? As a dog, what was your "training" like and how did you condition your humans to give you treats?

Woos,
Louka

My near death experience

2007-10-18T20:49:00.000-04:00

As some of you may know, to be able to run and play like a husky should, I go to the dogrun every day. Today was not such a good day, there.

We go early, because it's getting dark early and I really want to go out. When we get there, my friend Charpentier runs to greet me and to try and slam me into the ground, which is our favourite game ever. This is when things begin to go wrong. You see, my collar was a bit loose and he was aiming for the scruff of my neck. Instead he got my collar and slammed me into the ground, getting his teeth and mouth caught in mn the process. Now he's freaked and I'm freaked because we're linked in this rather unusual way. A few other dogs, sensing panic, decide to ram us. This induces more panic and attempts to escape. By now, mommy's figured out that something's wrong and all that she can see is that there's another dog who won't let go of my neck. She's sure that it's this other big black lab who doesn't like me, because never in a million years would Sharpentier try and rip my throat out like it looked like he was doing. Anyway, other dogs pounced us, we escaped, still panicked, humans pounced us and tried to pull Charpentier off of me, they finally realized that we were stuck, managed to immobilize us and mommy stuck her hand in Charpentier's mouth and finally unhooked my collar from his teeth and then tightened my collar so that this wouldn't happen again. Mommy was a bit reassured to see that neither of us was really attacking the other, but I was still traumatized! Charpentier's mouth was bleeding a bit. I think he may have nicked himself on his teeth trying to get free, but he looked pretty ok. He went home right away, so I'm not really sure, I was too scared and busy getting comforted by mommy! We went and sat on the bench together (I was allowed up as a special favour) until I was a bit calmer, then we walked around so that I could get rid of the extra adrenaline in my system and not be scared anymore. I wooed with my husky friend Inook whose mommy helped calm my mommy (Inook did too and he helped calm me with his friendly wooing) and I finally ran around a bit, but I stayed close to mommy. She petted me a lot and I've been thoroughly fussed over, so I'm feeling better, lying here in mommy's bed, dictating the post, but that was really scary!
I hope that never, ever happens again!
Louka

Pictures!

2007-10-15T10:30:00.000-04:00

So Mommy is finally on the computer with pictures and will post them!

Here's a bad picture of me with my new collar. It's the best one we have, though, because I was more interested in lying in mommy's lap than taking stupid pictures. I mean if she's going to sit on the floor and her lap is free...
It's a martingale (limited slip) collar because mommy didn't want the hassle of a clasp that may or may not break or jam like my last collar's did. This way it's nice and loose, except when I pull, when it goes snug so I can't get away. Apparently my cousin Gaia was a collar escape genius, so they got used to worrying about this. Anyway, I don't wear it often. Mommy gets annoyed at my tags jingling in the house, so I mostly just wear it outside. Rarely inside. I like it, though. It's pretty and it has chili peppers on this. Harem member #1 told mommy that it was displaying my status as a Hot Dog! Woo!

Mommy says that we'll go for a walk during her week off to take pictures of the pretty leaves and of the magical snow pile. I'll post more pictures then.

Until next time,
Woo,
Louka

Magic snow

2007-10-12T01:41:00.000-04:00

Well, the pictures will come tomorrow. I think that mommy has kennel cough because she keeps coughing like I did when I got out of the pound. But she's using lots of kleenex too, so maybe it's not that. Anyway, whatever it is it makes her stay home and sleep instead of going to that college place, so I'm happy. This evening she was feeling well enough to go on a short trip to the dogrun with me. We didn't stay that long, but it was ok, because I got to wrestle with a few friends and then mommy brought me to play in the magic snow pile! I LOVE snow, but it's not snowing yet. However, right across the street from the dogrun, there's been this snow pile for the last past couple of weeks. Because she was feeling guilty about me not being able to run as long as I wanted, mommy brought me to go roll around and pounce it it. I was so happy! I want to do that again soon! And I want to figure out how that snow got there... Mommy said something about an indoor winter place for people to play hockey and skate, but I'm not sure what she means. Any detective dogs out there willing to help me solve the mystery?

Pictures will come this weekend, I swear...

Woos,
Louka

My interview

2007-10-08T21:52:00.000-04:00

Ok, so now I can see my blog and read my comments, I can answer Zim of the Army of Four's smart interview questions. I'll highlight what he's asking in blue and my answers will just be in normal black.

1. Your mom does such cool knitting and wool projects! Do you think she'll drop that senseless grudge over that minor incident with the thread and let you help her?
Mommy says that the only way that she'll trust me around her wool is if I have a bone in my mouth. I do, however, help her by creating the need for new knitwear by destroying gloves, mittens and socks, now and then and, of course, by loving long walks in very cold weather.

2. Your profile says you're a "Siberian Husky with maybe a little something else mixed in." What do you think the "something else" is?
The silly humans around me have said many things including but not limited to German Shepherd, collie, greyhound and wolf. The current theory is that I'm part malamute, since I'm taller (26" at the shoulder) and heavier (I weighed 60lbs last time I was weighed and now you can no longer see my ribs, so I've gained weight) than huskies generally are and my tail curls to touch my back, which is supposedly Not Good in husky breed standard, but typical of the malamute. Also, mommy thinks that I look too much like a husky to be just 50% and another northern breed that's similar looking would explain some of this. I just say that I'm gorgeous the way I am. whatever else I have, I feel a strong attachment to my huskiness and I will continue saying loud and proud that I AM A HUSKY! But that little mysterious plus gets me extra attention, so I'm not all that keen on solving the mystery.

3. How did you get your name?
My first human mommy gave it to me. It sounded pretty and it's easy to say in a bunch of languages, so mommy decided that I should keep it. However, I most often here Loulou or Wookie than Louka. I got Wookie because apparently I sound like one.

4. Since you live in Quebec, can you ignore commands equally in English and francais?
Yes. I am a trilingual husky, although of course I am best in Huskese than in anything else. I understand (and occasionally obey) "Assis" (sit), "couche" (lie down), "reste" (stay), "Viens" (come), "Va-t-en" (Go away... as if!) in French, but "take it", "up", "ok" are my English commands. I also understand words for things in French, like "marcher" (walk), "manger" (eat), "nonos" (bone) and "baballe" (ball). Those I don't ignore. Those are good words. Especially marcher.

5. Do you "fetch"?
Do I look like a labrador? No. I do not fetch. I will play with a ball, but only to tease other dogs and mommy. I'll chase it if mommy bounces it, but I don't bring it back, I run around with it and expect to be chased. This is how mommy plays with me, especially if there are lots of small dogs that I'm not allowed to play with at the park.

Yay, that was a fun interview! Thank roo, Zim! If anyone wants me to interview them, just ask!
Woo!
Louka

Laptop, collar and excuses

2007-10-08T21:35:00.000-04:00

Well, the reason things are so slow right now is that mommy's still busy configuring her new laptop. That's right, a laptop, which means that instead of her going to sit at the stupid computer desk, she lies in bed cuddling me while typing instead. This is an improvement, in my mind.

So when the (pink) laptop (whose name is Floyd) is trained, I'll be able to post pictures of the pretty red leaves around here and of my new collar! That's right, I have a new collar. It's a limited slip collar, which means I can't get out of it, not that I've ever tried, and since it slips on and off, it doesn't have a mechanism that can jam when it's washed. That's what happened to my old collar.

Anyway, another little glitch that mommy has to fix is that we can't see my blog right now. We're going to try again tomorrow and when we can see it, we'll answer all of Zim's smart interview questions.

See you soon,
Louka

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee

2007-10-01T01:03:00.000-04:00

It's my legal birthday today! I'm officially 2 years old, now, which makes me an all-grown-up husky! I say that it's my legal birthday because I'm terrible at remembering dates so when mommy got me and wanted to know when my birthday was, I couldn't tell her. All she knew was that I was 14 months old in december. Then she needed to tell the nice police officer when my birthday was so that I could have my official badge of residence (what mom calls my liscence) and when I said that I didn't know, the nice officer-lady said that I could have the same birthday as her, the first of october. Isn't that nice of her?

So yeah, it's my birthday. Mommy says that I'm spoiled enough, so instead of giving me a real present, she's going to go donate to the SPCA where I stayed before coming to see her. I think that's a good idea since the money will go to help other poor doggies who haven't found their homes yet. I am also getting another present, but that's just because the need presented itself. I need a new collar. The other one's clasp broke, so I've been using an old collar from uncle Aslan, the golden who raised mommy and antique. The Funny Farm Boutique is having a fund-raising week for Le Repaire de Sasha/Sasha's Den rescue, a local animal rescue. 5$ of every sale of a collar goes to Sasha's. I needed a collar, Sasha's needs money (as most rescues do) and the fund-raising week just haaaaaaaaappened to be the week of my legal birthday.... So I'm getting an unexpected present. Woo.

I'm a happy husky, can you tell?

Woos,
Louka

Lots of pictures

2007-09-28T22:53:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I keep promising Dave that I'll put up pictures of Granny's quilts, but I never have. I'm sorry for the delay, but Mommy is lazy about taking pictures and Granny was taking a few away to get photographed professionally. So here they are:

This first one is one of two blinds that Granny made that are hanging in her room. I don't have any good pictures of her earlier work which is mostly done by hand. This is done by machine and is very handy for blocking out snoopy neighbours since our windows are about 2 meters away from theirs and they don't bother with blinds. Of course, it's mommy and Granny's bedrooms facing their Office and dining room, so mommy and Granny are the ones inconvenienced. These are pretty, I find. They aren't identical, but I'm just showing you one to give you an idea.

None of the professional photos want to load, something about them being in the wrong format, so all of these are the "rough draft" pictures of Granny's recent quilts:

This one is a "Bargello" quilt. It now has a binding, but not in this picture. It's mommy's favourite, because it matches our room and mommy likes red. Granny made four of these for the four elements. Guess which element this is? I wasn't allowed to help choose the fabrics, which makes me sad. I was the only one in the house not consulted! I'm not allowed in the sewing room alone anymore either, because of an incident involving me and some thread. Humans. Make one mistake and they hold it over your head for the rest of eternity. Sheesh.
Pardon the quality of this picture. This is an old quilt of Granny's that hangs on the wall of the sewing room. It's hand pieced and hand quilted, so from before she had her nice Janome sewing machine and before I was born, never mind before I came to live here. She says that it's a picture of a place she used to go to near her home in New Mexico when she was a puppy. It's called the "Green place" The green is where a stream was, the only green place in the desert, the gold/brown is the sand and "mesas" (whatever those are), the purple is the distant mountains and the blue is the sky. Mommy says she remembers seeing it up on the quilt wall when she was a puppy. Granny pieced it when she was in the car, waiting to pick mommy and auntique up from the evil school-place that mommy always abandons me for. It's why she started quilting in the first place. Mommy says that she thinks that this was granny's 4th quilt.

There are more, but none that I have good pictures of and some of you dogs may get bored. But before I let you go, Mommy wants to brag about her own talents. She's not really a quilter, but she's a neurotic knitter. I try to help her by eating her wool, but she doesn't seem to appreciate my hard work. Humans, I tell you. This piece that is on her (our!) bed is what she does with the leftovers of wool that are too little for a whole project, but that she wants to do something with. She apologizes for the mess of the surrounding room.

Of course I approve anything that goes on that bed.

It'll do

Wait, why is that camera in my face?

Ok, that's enough. Take it away. Really. Humans. No shame.

Anyway, that's it for now. When I have better pictures of the cellphone case that Mommy made with my stolen fur, I'll post them. For now, enjoy the colours! Doesn't it show that my family likes colours? Even the wall of our room is bright red. With fairies on it. Golden ones. Maybe that obsession with the colour red is why mommy thinks red and auburn huskies are so cute? Not that I'm not cute enough for her. She needed a little more black and white in her life and decorating her clothes.

Til next time,
Woos,
Louka

I'm back

2007-09-23T12:06:00.001-04:00

Well, my exile finally didn't last that long, but I'm juuuuuust being allowed back into certain rooms of the house. I had to spend the night on the balcony and in the morning mommy washed me with a combination of peroxide, baking soda and shampoo. Then she washed me with vinegar. I was very upset. I don't approve of baths. Especially since she had just bathed me the day before for rolling and had to bathe me the day after, also for rolling. Well, I so didn't want to smell like flowers. All the girl dogs would have laughed at me and maybe Lily wouldn't want to play anymore and I LIKE playing with Lily. She's fun.

In other news, I lost my big red dogrun cuz. I had one of those huge devil cuz things that was so big only I could fit it in my mouth correctly. Uma the golden took off with it, though, then forgot it somewhere (she's a bit of a ditz, but we love her anyway), so it's gone. Now mommy doesn't have anything to distract me with for the times when I'm all alone with little dogs I'm not allowed to play with. Hehehehehehehehehe. Although that doesn't happen often. I've been very popular at the dogrun, lately, which mostly means I spend a lot of time being slammed onto the ground by several dogs who mob me at once. It's very fun.

So, speaking of toys, do any of you dogs have favourite toys, or toys that you're only allowed to have in special situations?

I'm in big trouble...

2007-09-09T21:23:00.000-04:00

I got skunked.

Well, what? It was under the porch and I saw it and dashed for it, so mommy, who was coming down the steps with me let go of the leash because she didn't want to fall and she hadn't seen the skunk, then I went to eat it, but it sprayed me! So now the whole neighbourhood smells and I'm not allowed in the house. I've been banished to the balcony. Which makes me sad. Mommy says I'm getting more baths tomorrow, which worries me. I got one yesterday because I rolled in something that smelled a lot, but today is a step up. Granny can't stop laughing and mommy's so embarassed...

Mommy's note: If any of you have recipes to share to make the stink go away please, please, please send them my way. I've got a few already, but I'd like as many as possible to speed Louka's return into the house. Thanks

What are they doing to my fur?

2007-09-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

Hello one and all.

Strange things are happening. A new machine that my granny is all excited about has entered the house. It's called a felting machine. So she's been making all kinds of stuff with that and tryi8ng all kinds of different fibers. So then mommy arrives with a big bag of my fur that she's collected and tells granny to try that! What! I was keeping that fur to clone myself with! How dare she! At least she hasn't found my collection under the bed... Anyway, granny says that my fur is the best material for felting so far, along with wool. And she made my mommy a new cellphone case with my picture made of my fur on it. The nerve. Why couldn't she just keep quilting like Dave's mommy?

Woos,
A very put out Louka

Challenge

2007-09-05T00:18:00.001-04:00

This is a neat little challenge that I've seen on a few blogs and decided to try to fill out. Here goes!

What is your name? Louka
4 letter word: love
Vehicle: Land Rover
TV Show: Lost in Space
City: Laval (Or L'abord a plouffe... Mommy thinks that one is funny because it means the edge of splash, but it's not technically a city anymore since it merged into Laval...)
Boy Name: Leon

Girl Name: Leila

Alcoholic Drink: Liqueur
Occupation: Librarian
Something you wear: Lace
Celebrity: Louison Danis
Food: Lox (I waaaaaaaant)
Something found in a bathroom: Loo
Reason for being late: Lost...
Cartoon Character: Lucy from Peanuts
Something You Shout: Lucky!

Shopping and good vibes

2007-09-02T11:53:00.000-04:00

Recently, mommy has started doing something new that I'm not sure I like: she takes me shopping. Not in stores, of course, but outside at these little things called "Garage sales" where, despite the name, they aren't selling garages or even selling from a garage. It involves a lot of me having to sit around while she shops and it's pretty boring, usually. Today, however, she brought me to Organic Market, where there's lots of cool smells and lots of people who pet me and tell me that I'm a good boy! That makes me happy. Mommy's also proud of me because she had looped the leash over her shoulder because she had her hands full, but I still listened to her voice commands of left, right, and halt without her having to give me leash cues. She's prepping me for sledding, she says.

Now on a totally different subject, I'd like to send lots of positive vibes to Thrawn of the brat pack and his mommy Maryann. He's been sick and needs our good energy and she needs our support. He's a wonderful husky who had a bad start in life and she's an amazing woman who rescued him and has been serving and caring for him throughout all of his illnesses despite having 4 other dogs to care for as well! Wow, he sure lucked out in the human department...

Woos to you all,
Louka

Goodbye, vet

2007-08-28T09:12:00.000-04:00

No, he hasn't died and I haven't mysteriously developed an immunity to all diseases that would permit me to never have to go there again. But he is retiring. This makes mommy sad because she really liked that vet and says he was great with me, even though his clinic was not the cheapest around. Now we have to find a new vet. A few people have recommended this place nearby, so we're going to go check it out when I need my shots which isn't until January.

I really liked that vet and, in the first few months I was with mommy, I saw him a lot, which kinda made her grumble about how expensive I was, but hey, it wasn't my fault. First off, I needed a second round of vaccines after getting my first ones at the SPCA where I was waiting for mommy to find me and take me home. Also, I wasn't fixed yet, but they did that at the SPCA clinic. But before I went in for my second shots, I was hit by a car.

I've vaguely mentioned this incident before. It happened about a week after I had come to live with mommy. My aunty had some friends over and one of them, who despite having a dog herself isn't all that careful, left the upstairs door open while she was going to put her shoes on (we live on the second floor and all shoes get left in the stairway, not in the house) and her father was standing in the downstairs door. Aunty said to be careful, not to let me out, but the guy just moved out of the way and I was free! Then the friend left without even bothering to see if aunty managed to catch me or anything. We live on a busy street and a car was pulling up to the stop. Luckily it wasn't going fast and I just fell down and scraped some fur off my eyebrow. It looked very manly, if I do say so myself. Aunty was panicked, of course, and I was packed off and brought to that vet for the first time. He was very nice to me and complimented me on how calm I was in the waiting room, lying sprawled on the floor waiting for someone to pet me. The friend who let me out never called to see how I was despite another friend who was there calling her and telling her I got hit. Humans.

Anyway, after that I had to go for my shots, then again because I stopped eating for three days and I was tummy-sick for a bit. that was all in the space of a few months, so I saw the vet a lot. He always took good care of me as did the nice techs, so it makes me sad that he's now retired.

I know that the Army of Four love their vets, but a lot of doggies out there hate the vet. Who else out there loves their vet?

My vacation

2007-08-14T13:11:00.000-04:00

Hello, all, I am back!

Friday night, granddaddy was nice enough to drive mommy and I up to Rawdon to go visit my harem member and her family. And cat. Anyway, there were so many cool smells around there! Apparently they've been having deer problems, so it was hoped that I'd scare the deer away. I was a bit upset that mommy put be on my 9 meter (30 foot for my american friends) chain, but the yard wasn't fenced and was quite near a road so mommy wasn't taking any chances. What this meant, though, is that I couldn't follow her everywhere! This made me very sad and I cried a little. What can I say, I've already been abandoned twice, so I was a little nervous that mommy was going to leave me too. I calmed down after a bit, though.

Mommy and my harem member took me berry picking with them. They had to spray some stinky stuff to keep bugs away called citronella in my ears and on by belly because the bugs just loved me. I also got a bit of a sunburn on my nose, which makes mommy giggle because the white part of my snout near my nose is mexican pink (the horror), but she's promised that next time, I get to wear sunscreen. I'm not sure how I feel about that, though. Have any of you other dogs, particularly you huskies, gotten sunburn?

I really wanted to play with the cat, but the cat didn't like me at all. Already, that cat hates mommy with a passion, so it was not a fun weekend for the cat. She was glaring accusingly at her humans all weekend. Especially since I kind of took over her bed, since my harem member's bed is a futon on the floor. I got to cuddle with mommy all night. She was a little less amused when I woke her up wanting to eat at 5:30 AM, though. She's easier to harass when she's on the floor, hee hee hee.

The car ride back was ok. I usually am not all that fond of car rides and I was a bit carsick on the way up, but since we were giving my harem member a lift to the city, I got mommy all to myself in the back seat. She cuddled and petted me all the way, so I was really happy. There were these two weird guys while we were stuck in traffic who were doing all kinds of silly things like getting up and running around outside the car, pretending to push their car, coming and asking granddaddy for his "girlfriend's" phone number nevermind that she's MY harem member and 40 years younger than him and not his girlfriend... The humans were all laughing their heads off. I was a bit suspicious. I don't like strange guys hitting on my harem members. At least they didn't try and steal my mommy cuddles. I would have had to pull a Meeshka and claw them. I did that to a guy mommy brought home, once. Stupid boy...

But anyway, apart from the sunburn and the fact that mommy only gave me one of the blueberries that they picked and none of the pie they made with the berries, I had a great weekend.

Thunder and vacation

2007-08-10T09:20:00.001-04:00

Hello one and all! I'm back after mommy's hijacking of my blog to write about my cousin Gaia. But I'm not back for long! Apparently, I'm going on vacation with mommy this weekend. We're going up to a place called Rawdon to visit a harem member of mine, pick berries and generally have fun in the country. I'm so excited! I'll get to be outside ALL DAY and there'll be lots of new smells and things to see, and people to pet me... I'm a happy husky. See my happy husky smile?

Actually, that picture was taken last week, after a big thunder storm. It thundered a lot, last week, which made me a bit nervous that the sky would fall or that something big would come and hurt mommy. Or me. Now generally I'm not a nervous husky and mommy says that I'm nowhere near as bad as Aslan the golden in the pictures of mommy's post, but I like having company when it's booming really bad. And I like having a nice den to hide in. Since I don't have a crate to hide in, I go hide behind the big chair in the r living room (where I'm technically not allowed to go, but even granny who's the one who tries to impose that rule lets me in if I don't lie down on her rug) or in a closet somewhere. And I whine at mommy to make it stop. She mostly ignores me, which makes tells me that it's noteally a big deal, but I still like my den. The picture on the left was taken while it was still booming. I was not amused that Mommy decided to photograph me instead of make it stop booming, but humans are weird. On the picture you can kinda see my under the fur freckles. My skin is all dotty like that everywhere, but it's most noticeable on my snout.

Mommy says that I'm a brave dog, even if I hide in a den during storms. She says that the golden who raised her and taught her how to do good begging puppy-dog eyes was the worst when it came to thunder. She remembers a time when they were in the Eastern Townships for the summer and there was a huge storm every day. She was about 8 or so and, she says, not all that brave. One night, it was booming really, really badly and she got scared and tried to climb into granny's bed. Granny was half asleep and thought that mommy was Aslan and pushed mommy out of bed! Mommy was really not amused and she ended up in her own bed, with Aslan who was shaking so hard that the bed was rattling, clinging to each other for dear life. Hehehehehe. Makes me feel really brave. Silly Golden and silly mommy. She told me that story to make me feel better during the storm. See how well it worked? Mommy says that there are few things cuter than a husky smile.

I will write more when I come back from my country adventure! I'll tell you if I catch any bunnies. Or raccoons. Or anything like that...

Louka

In memoram, Gaia (Louka's mommy writing)

2007-08-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

I didn't know that even after a year, it would be so hard for me to write this. I didn't know that after a year, it would still hurt like this. It's not as bad as it was, of course, but I still miss our loyal girl who was with us for 11 rock and rolling years.

From the first you showed strong will and character. I remember when we picked you out, one of ten in your litter, the only one of the five girls who took interest in the ball we showed you. I remember when we brought you home and you met Aslan, our golden retriever and your best friend. I can still see the concerned look on his face as you took over his bed, his toys and his life. Not that he really minded. He loved you as much as you loved him.

Mom says that she never raised a pup as difficult as you: you tore up the sofa, ate the phone jack off of the wall, tore your leash out of our hands and teased us running around the neighbourhood, climbed onto the desk to get at the paper in the printer because getting into the garbage was too easy, jumping or knocking down gates meant to keep you in... You were a holy terror. But it didn't matter, because you were our holy terror and your little pranks just made you more endearing. After the fact, of course.

You always had so much energy. You were the ideal hiking companion. I remember our summers in Tadoussac when mom would take off with you and Aslan and we wouldn't see any of you for hours. You were so funny, carrying sticks twice your length around in your mouth, whining when the logs you had grabbed were too heavy, but never, ever giving up. You were the stubbornest, toughest girl I've ever known.

You were also an amazing water dog and retriever! You'd fetch anything, sticks, balls, us... Swimming was always interesting with you there to "rescue" us. You'd never tire, even when you were old and long days of rescuing would leave you limping. Your love of your ball ensured that even though at 9 or 10 you were the oldest dog in the dogrun, you were also the fastest. No one could ever catch you, if you didn't want to be caught.

I think that that's why your death came as such a shock. The suddenness of your illness and the amount of energy you had right until the end despite partial blindness and slight arthritis fooled us all into thinking that you were indestructible. Maybe if we hadn't thought that, we would have called the vet sooner. You had us all fooled, there, hiding your pain until the end, chasing skunks even though you must have been in more pain than I can imagine. It wasn't until that last day that we really saw how sick you were. I'm sorry, puppy, for not seeing that sooner. I'm sorry for not noticing that you were hurting, or realizing that with your symptoms, I should call the vet immediately. I try to tell myself that it wouldn't have done any good, but there's always that little bit of doubt in my mind that won't leave me alone.

I'm sorry, too, that we didn't offer you a better life. You were never really meant for the city, especially after Aslan died. You were always too afraid of everything and everyone, you would have been better somewhere bigger with less scary stimuli, especially in your older years when you were going blind. Maybe it was selfish of us never to let you move to the country with a better family, but we could never have let go of our baby girl. Even when you died, it was hard to let go. You don't know how many sleepless nights I spent hoping that it was all a terrible nightmare and that my darling little girl would come back. I read everything I could get my hands on about parvo and memorized the list of symptoms that you should automatically call the vet about. I couldn't believe that you were gone and that I'd never see you again. I still miss you, sometimes, especially when I see a pretty lab go by.

I want to thank you, though, because I'm sure that you're the one who made sure that I found your cousin Louka at just the right time. It was pure chance that brought us into the SPCA that day, looking to meet another dog. I didn't even see him next to the dobermann that was jumping out at me barking angrily. But you whispered into your mommy's ear, didn't you? You told her to go get me, that he was the one. You would never have accepted another canine companion apart from Aslan in life, but I think that you chose your successor wisely. He will never replace you, baby girl, but I love him with all my heart and I thank you for bringing him to me.

It's been a year and we still love you, Gaia, I hope that you'll always know that and that when we finally cross the rainbow bridge ourselves, you'll be there, tail wagging to greet us.

I love you always,
Your Antique.

Training my humans

2007-08-02T23:27:00.000-04:00

Really, these humans are bad at their commands. Well, not all of them. I've trained them to listen to "pet me", "Feed me" and "take me out", but I still really need to work on their "stay". It was bad enough that mommy left for 6 WHOLE WEEKS to that tibet place with Granddaddy, but now Aunty is gone to a place called "fur-ants" or "fur-ance" or something like that and I have no clue when she'll be home! And now Granny's bringing up suitcases from the basement too and mommy's saying that all my harem are on vacation except for one who's already started classes so she can't come visit me! Those humans! Oh it's alright for them to do the whole "sit", "stay" thing to me, but will they ever listen? Noooooo. At least mommy's promised me that we're going to go visit the harem member who's still in the country weekend after next. She was visiting this weekend, but we didn't do much. When we go visit her, it'll be more fun. She lives in the country about 1 1/2 drive up north where it actually gets cold at night (hallelujah) and mommy got me a nice 30-foot chain so that I don't run into the street and get hit by a car. Not that I would do this, of course. That first time was a total accident... It'll be strange going up there. It's right around where my first home was. Mommy knows this because I had a vet tag from a town near where my harem member lives. I'm looking forward to it, though.

Anyway, I'll post pictures of my country weekend when I have them!

A question: how hot is it where all of you dogs are and how are you coping with the heat?

Until next time,
Louka

Yak cheese

2007-07-31T00:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I proved yet again that no matter how hard mommy tries to husky-proof the house, if I get upset, I WILL destroy something. Hehehehe. The other day, mommy left with her friend to go to a place to see other dogs without me (growl growl growl), leaving me all alone in the house with no harem to dote over me. Granddaddy came home a bit later, but he's not part of my harem so he doesn't ever count. So I decided to get even. You see, not so long ago, mommy cruelly left me for 6 whole weeks to go to a place called Tibet with Granddaddy. It wasn't so bad because Aunty is really nice and I didn't have to go into boarding or anything, but I still missed mommy. Anyway, she brought back this really yummy dried yak cheese from her trip. She gave me a few tiny bits as treats, but I pretended not to be too interested to lure her into a sense of false security. Hehehehe. See my evil husky plot? She then left the bag within my reach. I ignored the bag for two whole weeks until she comitted the ultimate crime of leaving me alone. So, to comfort myself I decided "why not have some cheese?"

Well, mommy returned smelling strongly of other dogs, but brough my other harem member (her friend) back with her, so I forgave her. Then she discovered the ripped up orange plastic bag. And the crumbs of the very hard dry cheese. She was a bit worried about the whole plastic bag thing, but it loked like it was all there. Still, she was pretty upset. I mean, it was speical yak cheese, after all. Besides all this, it kind of made me sick for a while so she had to take me out a lot and so she was glaring at me and that was less fun. But the treats were worth it!

Speaking of the place that smells of strange dogs where mommy disappears to, she says that she'll be going there more often because she got a job there! It's a doggy-daycare and boarding and lots of other stuff center called SPAWS. I'm a little miffed, but maybe she'll be able to take me there sometimes and i can play with the other doggies. That would be fun especially since she tells me that the place is air conditioned. Now I just have to work on that husky mind control thing that the Ao4 is so good at. Taaaaake me to woooooork. Taaaaake me to wooooooork! Or maybe I'll simply run out the door before she can stop me and jump in the car and force her to take me to work. Always good to have a contingency plan.

Somebody turn off the heat

2007-07-25T23:03:00.000-04:00

I am not a happy husky.

It's very hot out right now. I miss my lovely snow. Because it's hot, mommy isn't taking me to the dogrun or the mountain, I only get leash-walks because she doesn't want me to get overheated. As if I wasn't already. How did I get stuck in a house with no air conditioning? This is insane. Mommy says we may go to the doggy café with her friend Milie (who is part of my harem as are all of my mommy's female friends) where they have air conditioning.

I can't wait until winter again.

Louka

Humans are not always very bright

2007-07-23T22:01:00.000-04:00

Harooooo!

I am still laughing over this article that mommy got by email today. It just goes to prove that if you want to rob someone, you should think things through first and choose your target wisely. As mentioned in the article, running away from a lot of trained police dogs isn't easy.

I had a good day today. Not only did I get to go to the mountain with mommy and granny, but I also got to go to the dogrun. Not for long, though. It was hot out and mommy worries about me. I also went shopping with Mommy this morning and tried to chase a skunk, which kind of made mommy upset. Apparently we won't be allowed back in the house if we smell of skunk. I thought it was fun, though. We have lots of skunks around here but only mommy and I ever see them. Oh, and my cousin Gaia who I never knew saw them too. Two days before she died she was still chasing them, mommy told me proudly. My cousin died of parvovirus, a really nasty disease that really traumatised my mom. Gaia had just turned 11 when she died, which is a nice, long life for a lab, especially since apparently Gaia was a bit of a troubled child who used to run away a lot just to tease and play (luckily they lived in an area that was a lot quieter than here. I was out not even 5 minutes and I got hit by a car, here) and, on top of that, she was epileptic. Not enough to have to be on medication, but epileptic nonetheless. Mommy will talk more about her in a week or so since the 1 year anniversary of Gaia's death is comming up soon. Mommy will do the talking because Gaia died before I was adopted (the whole house still smelled of her when I got here). I couldn't have lived with her because she didn't like other dogs. Can you imagine that? Not liking me? The outrage. Only Elmo doesn't like me but that's because we got into a fight once. But that's a story for another time.

No dogrun today

2007-07-21T22:19:00.000-04:00

Today we did something different: we didn't go to the dogrun! This is very rare. We almost went to the dogrun, but mommy stopped right outside the gate. She had heard a beagle bark. Sure enough, inside was Elmo, the beagle who is so totally afraid of me that he won't get off the bench if I'm in the park, even if I'm at the other side and I can't even see him. So instead, we went to the mountain.

Well, what passes for a mountain here, at least. It's tiny. It takes about 20 minutes for us to get to the top and it's about a 10 minute walk from home to the bottom of the trail. Normally, I have to do all of this on leash because mommy doesn't trust that I'll come back when she calls, but this time, since I have perfect recall at the dogrun and since my auntie took me to the country while mommy was gone and I didn't run away, Mommy let me run off leash. It was so fun! I got to chase squirrels, run through high grass, bounce everywhere... I even met my friend Boris there! Boris is this dog who looks like he has no legs even though his body is fairly normal sized. He looks like a cross between a wire-haired daschund and a jack russel terrier and he's totally cool. He chases me a lot and I love that. His mommy works for the SPCA where mommy adopted me and where Boris was adopted from too. So he totally understands where I'm coming from as an adopted child. He has human brothers and sisters, though, something that I envy a bit. I LOVE little kids. While mommy was in China without me (bad mommy!), my auntie would walk me in front of the preschool yard. All the little kids would run over to the fence calling my name and wanting to pet me. Ah, the joy of being adored!

I'm happy now that I've trained mommy to let me off leash. It's so much funner that way. Beware, squirrels, I'm a fearsome hunter! I even caught a bunny, once. That was when I went to the country with auntie. Mommy was really proud of me when she found out.

Do any of you doggies get to go for nice long walks in the woods? Do your mommies let you off leash?

Louka

Introduction of me!

2007-07-21T01:01:00.000-04:00

Hello one and all!
My mommy finally decided to cave and let me have a blog of my very own! I'm so happy. So I'm going to tell you all just a bit about myself before I start blogging in earnest.

First of all, I am a siberian husky. At least I think I am. I'm a little tall and narrow in the chest so some people accuse me of being a mutt. Hmph. Mommy chooses to believe that I'm not a mutt, but she can't be certain and I'm not telling. She doesn't know because I am adopted, believe it or not. Mommy still can't believe it. Or more like she can't believe why anyone would abandon their year old, fully trained, completely housebroken, issue-less GORGEOUS (never said I wasn't vain...) dog. She, or rather my auntie, found me at the SPCA on the 29th of december 2006. My auntie and Grandma spotted me right away. My mommy was a little frightened by the big doberman in the cage next to me who was kind of acting mean and barking and jumping at her from in his cage and passed me by rather quickly. My auntie, though, wouldn't let her ignore me and led her straight back to my cage. It was love at first sight. I was a little over one years old, at the time, so mommy calculates that I was born in october. So I'm going to be two in a few months. We had a bit of a rocky beginning, what with me getting hit by a car (I wasn't hurt at all, I only lost a bit of fur over my eye which has since grown back), having to get neutered (I was more worried about the night I had to spend back at the SPCA to have the operation than I was about the Big Snip, to my mommy and granddaddy's surprise), getting my shots, my picky eating habits that are now solved with a raw diet that I LOVE and generally adjusting to life at home. I learned very fast that Birdie is not food as long as he's in his cage. But if he ever gets out, no matter what everyone says, I may try to snack on him. Now, I'm totally a member of the household and adored and worshiped. Even Granddaddy now admits that I'm an amazing dog. He was a little worried, at first, about the big wolfy-looking thing in his house. And I wasn't so sure about him either. I'm definitely a ladies' man.

My favourite activity is going to the dogrun. I love the dogrun intensely and mommy brings me there at least once a day since we don't have a fenced yard for me to run in. We're lucky to live so close to such an amazing park. Mommy says it's the best on the island. My second favourite activity is going for a walk on the mountain and my third is going to the country, even though I'm not thrilled with long car rides. Mommy has promised that once she's done college we're moving to the Great North where she's going to be a teacher and I'll be a little happier with the weather and house.

Interesting facts about me: I am a bilingual husky. I mostly speak French and all my commands are in French, but I know enough English to keep a blog. Although my name is technically Louka, I only hear that when someone's calling me or when I'm being talked about. Generally I'm known as Lou, Loulou or, oddly enough, Wookie. Don't blame me, my mommy's weird.

All the pictures here were all taken on the day I was adopted, so I still have the ugly orange collar on. I will post better pictures later. See my smile? I was so happy to be adopted that I couldn't help myself.
I'll start posting my adventures tomorrow,
Until then!

Louka