Traumatised For a Cause

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

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

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

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

On Strike

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)

Three!

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

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

Too much snow? It's abuse!

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

Mommy's folly

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