Meet Summit/Happy New Years

Happy New Years!

Well here we are in a new year, these days I find myself living in Norfolk, VA with my husband and two huskies. I have already posted about Miko who is now a whole 5-6 years old! Though I feel the need to introduce our second boy Summit (3.5 yrs old) who we got about a year and a half ago.

This is our little goof ball! He thinks he's so cute....and he is haha. We got him after Ava passed away and somehow he found a way to bring back a lot of joy to my life. Ava left a hole in my heart bigger than I ever could have imagined, but he has done his damnedest to make up for all that loss. Though he can never be my little Ava girl, he sure has found a way to my heart. 

Now I have to tell you though, he hasn't always been the little angel he is today, oh no. Being the typical husky that he is, he has bolted off more times than I can count. Including the time we were camping in Illinois on our cross country road trip and he darted out of the tent! And I won't even mention the crate he destroyed when I first got him!

Yeeeeaaaahhhh.....

These days he is pretty self managing though and has turned into an...almost mode canine citizen. Sadly he and his brother aren't much for playing together, don't get me wrong they love each other...they...a...well they tolerate each other, maybe love is a little strong of a word. They both seem to agree that having a female dog in the house would be best so eventually we will be expanding our pack, but for now they will have to live with each other. 

As seen in a previous post I occasionally mush, I actually got Miko specifically because I wanted to get into mushing. You see Ava just could never be trained out of pulling so I figured why fight it, I would just tap into her instinct. Well I gotta tell you...after I got Miko she just let him pull all the weight! Which made his job much harder considering how hilly San Diego is, which inevitably made it hard to mush regularly. So when we moved to the East Coast with two huskies I figured I had hit the jack pot! Two pulling breeds, flat land, and cold weather! What could be better?! 

At this point I will mention I have adopted all of our dogs from high kill shelters so none of these guys have been trained to mush or even come from lineage of racers (at least that I know of). So there is a serious learning curve they go through most of the time. In fact all the articles I have ever read usually suggest getting an experienced mushing dog or at least one from a kennel that races. 

That wasn't how I decided to do it since I like to do things the hard way haha. I just picked up my little terrified broken husky (seriously if you saw Miko's adoption picture you would think the same) from the shelter, nursed him back to health, bought a harness off of Alpine Outfitters and hitched him up. From the moment I put that damn harness on him he knew exactly what to do, I got seriously lucky with him. He is the most driven shelter husky I have ever seen, he wants to work and do his job well, now I won't say I haven't still taken any spills! I will also say he was never the one to cause the spills, Ava usually did. A rabbit can run out in front of him and he won't even consider chasing hit, he has saved my butt more times than I can count. 

So when I got Summit I figured "well hey, should be natural for him too!".....wrong...big.....fat....wrong! Ok he wasn't awful but when I put Ava's old harness on him he looked up at me as if saying "what do you want me to do in this mom?". Not only that but he crumpled up on the ground as if he had been strapped up in a straight jacket! Even after going on a brisk walk he still was convinced I was just torturing him. Well I kinda gave up on that idea for a while and resigned to doing strenuous hiking instead since it was too warm in San Diego anyway. 

Once we moved to VA I finally thought I would give it a go again since the conditions seemed perfect and we had arrived just at the right time of year. This time I also had my husband to aid me in training so it would make it that much easier. We found a perfect location and we set out to do it! Mike already knew when we got there that he was gonna get to go mushing and Summit was just excited cuz Miko was. So when we finally took off, Summit just goofily ran alongside Miko like a dinky little brother. Not really pulling and not very coordinated but hey he didn't fall to pieces so we figured we would keep doing it and work up his stamina. So I ordered him his own harness, custom fitted. We went a few more times and he just didn't quite seem thrilled but was getting the hang of it. 

Well when we did get his harness we got some results that shocked us both! The semi lazy dog who we weren't sure was enjoying himself turned into a pretty eager musher! Neither of us realized what a great difference it was going to make to have a harness specially made for him. Ava was very close in size and shape to him so we didn't think much of it. Now after the second time in his new harness I have to say he really his turning into quite an athletic boy. We even saw some wild cats on our mush and he kept his cool enough to just sniff and not let his nose take him away. Couldn't be prouder of our little Summit!

So hope your new years is proving to be an amazing one! We sure are hoping this season provides us with even more mushing experiences!

Our Husky

This is Miko our Siberian Husky. He is our first northern breed and our second dog ever, Ava being our first. Its been a learning experience to say the least, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. By making this blog I hope to show people why this breed is both amazing and yet not for most people. That's right, the Siberian Husky is not a good home for the majority of families looking for a new household pet.

I will start off by talking about the wonderful things our little Miko has brought to our life, besides his very handsome looks he is also EXTREMELY affectionate. I would consider him to be a velcro dog, for those that don't know what that means, it means that they are clued to your side. Miko is also not an escape artist, while that is very abnormal I keep a close eye on him non-the-less. He has a wonderful personality and enjoys talking to you back and forth. He has an incredible drive to please (at least when he sees the point in it) and is a natural for land mushing.

Now for the less wonderful part, when we first got him he was a complete mess. When I first saw Miko over the internet all I had to go off of was a picture of a terrified looking husky. He was crouched down with his claws dug into the tile in fear. He looked so upset that my husband and a few others suggested he might be a broken soul. So after a friend went and checked him out and he seemed friendly, I drove the 2 hours to LA to go meet him. I fell in love with him and took him home that day.

When we got home however things began to change, it was clear he had absolutely no training. He was counter surfing, peeing/pooping inside, attacking Ava, tried to chew out of his crate, and was generally dog aggressive. The two most problematic issues were the aggression and him being able to be left alone. Luckily he was very food motivated so training was easy in that respect.

Miko was a stray when he was found and was at least 20lbs underweight. Here is a picture of him when we first got him:

This is a picture of him about a month ago, in a similar position:

I believe him being a stray also has a lot to do with his aggression, it has been a long process but we have eliminated the majority of his dog aggression. He is now able to play with other dogs without showing the same problems as before. Now I am not saying most huskies are this way but since he was likely not socialized as a pup he didn't know any better.

The best description I have ever heard of a husky is that "they carry their domestication lightly" it fits their personalities very well. So take GREAT care when you think about getting a Siberian Husky, they require a lot more exercise and training that most dogs. Do your research and meet as many huskies as you can.

Not Such A Happy Ending

Well me and the husband decided to go on a bike ride with the dogs, it was going to be a pretty laid back ride since it was hot. We got out there and the dogs really wanted to speed it up so I let them go at their own pace. We got to the 1/2 mile mark and things were going really well, however just a little bit past that a squirrel darted out in front of the dogs/bike. As you might be able to imagine the dogs were like kids in a candy store!

They ran after the squirrel which ran under a fence to the right, the dogs were on the left side of me, so they went out in front of me and I face planted into the pavement. My hands went out in front of me to save my face and when I got up I realized how bad it was. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt so I didn't have much to save me. This was the outcome of the collision... (Just a side note, the knee looks much worse in person)

I Break For Caterpillars...

First I will start off by introducing Ava. She is a smooth collie mix who I would like to think has more intelligence than most children these days. Although I must confess she does have at least one major flaw...shes a drama queen. Yes the world falls apart if we get into the car, something falls on the floor (that's not food), the vacuum moves, or sees anything that looks menacing. On days I am in a rush or annoyed at something she undoubtedly thinks I poisoned her food because she wont go near it.

Because of her "drama queen" reaction to everything she had picked up the habit of whining. As you can imagine this just adds to her "the sky is falling" persona, however she has different kinds of whines just to let you know what kind of problem she is facing at that moment.

So as we were on our way she begins to make this unearthly noise that sounds like a dying whale who has beached itself. Drowning her out in music never seems to work since she finds it necessary to blare her distress cry as loud as the radio. Once we get there the whining doesn't end, oh no, she must now whine out of excitement. This is when I put in my head phones and ignore her urgent cries for adventure.

Now to make it clear this is my first bikejoring ride with Ava on a busy jogging/bike path. To say the least Ava is not trained at all so I knew this would be interesting.

To her the basic idea is to pull mommy on the thing that always means fun. AKA the bike.

In a few minutes we are off and things seem to be going really well. She passes a group of teenagers and a homeless guys grocery cart without any hesitation. The first 10 minutes was the only bliss on the ride today for the rest of it Ava seemed to lose her mind. At this point of our training I had been lucky enough to not fly off my bike, however there are a few things that I was not counting on today. Squirrels and caterpillars.... Yep I expected people, bikes, homeless people, and birds but I can count on two hands how many squirrels and caterpillars I have seen since coming to San Diego!

Might I add that while joring I wear a helmet and motorcycle gloves 

I guess you could say I don't trust my dog...apparently for good reason! For as we were ridding along a squirrel suddenly runs into the bushes. Now mind that the squirrel is on the other side of a chain link fence so I have no idea what Ava was thinking when she went after it.

Was she going to pull herself, me, and the bike over the top of the fence? Somehow I think not...

Well then the line that connects me to her harness gets caught in the wheel and the bike comes to a sudden stop, luckily I just slip off the seat and start hopping on one foot trying to get my balance as Ava is dragging me and the bike over to the fence. The seat on the bike is pretty high so I can't just lift my leg to get off the bike without falling over anyway. So there I am hopping around like a hogtied retard.

This is when Ava seems to notice my apparent distress and comes to aid me.

Only she goes around the back side of the bike and pulls it out from under me making me crash in a heap to the cement. Meanwhile she stands at my head looking at me as if asking "What are you doing mom?"

At this point I can't help but let out a laugh. That was until I saw the bike tangled in her joring line. *palm to face* it took over 15 minutes to get it out of the fork. Luckily I got it out and we were off again like nothing had happened. We managed to go 2 miles this afternoon before we turned around.

It was maybe a half a mile into our journey back that it happened. All of a sudden Ava comes to a full on stop to smell what I thought was a piece of dog poop! The bike tangles once again in the joring line and my front end stops, it stops so fast that I flew over the handle bars. By this time Ava is done sniffing the suspected piece of crap and is out in front of me as I am flying through the sky. I land right on top of her and we both crumple down to the ground in an explosion of yells and yelps. Once I got my breath back I pointed at her and said "bad dog" but barely got that out before I realized how funny we probably looked and burst out in laughter. She seemed unfazed and as we got up I chanced a glance behind me at the stupid turd that sent me over the handle bars.

Come to find out it was a caterpillar quickly squirming over the cement to get to safety...

All that to sniff a caterpillar? Really? I looked at Ava and then back at the caterpillar again...