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

Louka, CHAMPION mush-dog

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

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

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!

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

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

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.