Kaos Siberians and Kaos in Glass

What do you mean I don't have Cobalt Blue frit????

2011-08-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well, what's a gal to do when she doesn't have the color frit that she fell asleep thinking about using? I have Cobalt confetti glass (really thin pieces of broken up blown glass) and a smasher thingie from the kitchen dept...and if you look in the bowl there you'll see it.... FRIT! Frit is really just smushed up glass... I can do that!
So, instead of playing with the frit lace one color at a time, I used some ceramic fiber paper to make 3 channels...then weighted it down with pieces of old kiln shelf. Not ideal, and I have an idea what I need to make a more permanent mold...but I didn't want to spend the 2 hour drive out to Pacific Art Glass to get it, I wanted this in the kiln NOW.

From top to bottom, Cobalt on Lemon Yellow, Cobalt on iridized clear and Cobalt on Reactive Cloud (this one I'm really looking forward to seeing).

I weighted down the top layer of fiber paper so that I had a chance of each color staying in its own place...we'll see how that worked. If these three pieces are at all what I'm hoping for, I think tonight I'll be firing the big kiln!

Frit lace

2011-08-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with this for a couple days now...and it's fun. The results are sometimes unexpected and a few have already hit the scrap heap.

This one is a violet and irridized clear frit mix. You can't see the iridescence in the pictures..but it's there. I was going to fuse it onto a piece of clear or white glass so that I could work with it...
But then I set it down on a piece of black cardstock....yeppers...this one is destined for black.
This is just a simple pile of large French Vanilla frit. I wasn't anticipating the marbling...and I LOVE it!!! I'm going to simply fuse it onto a strip of French Vanilla to work with it...and put a couple of pieces of frit in that hole to fill it in. I'm totally in love with the way this experiement turned out.

So much so that I thought I'd start playing with topping the large French Vanilla with some colored frit...in this case Olive Green. I love how it looks... And then I turned it over... and THIS is what I was really hoping for. Sometimes you just have to look at things differently, right? I'm going to break off some of those fragile edge pieces to fill in the holes and again, fuse it onto a piece of French Vanilla glass so I can work with it.

There's another experiment in the kiln now... I can't wait to see how they come out!!!

Ginkos in glass...part two

2011-07-28T15:52:00.001-07:00

Ok, I admit it, I peeked in the kiln, so I had a fair idea this wasn't going to come out quite as planned....

The two leaves that had the Thompsons' stuff had a HUGE bubble over them (the two on the right)...which left the Pearl Ex completely exposed when it pulled back. Now I can brush the powder off. Of course, I could have also maybe used too much Pearl Ex? I'll have to play with that again.

The Simple Solution leaf (far left) has a bubble too. The one that didn't bubble lost all the color in the Pearl Ex and just looks like burned silver leaf. Not the effect I was going for, that's for sure. But the Stamping Medium did the best in the kiln...that or that's the leaf I put the least amount of Pearl Ex on... so many variables.

I'm gonna try again... but this time i'm going to put each leaf in its own glass sammich...that way if one does turn out, the others won't ruin it. This is gonna get cleaned up and go in the scrap drawer for now. I've got other ideas I want to play with!!!

Ginkos in glass...

2011-07-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, that's what I'm hoping to get... we'll see.

There's a really cool technique that involves sifting glass powders onto leaves that you've made sticky with hair spray or some such stuff, sift powder onto them and then you fuse 'em and get a really cool effect when the leaves burn off in the kiln...Fossil Vitra and I've been dying to play with it. Except I don't have any glass powder (there's a mortal & pestle in my future) and well...I don't own any hairspray. But in this HUGE room of stuff, there's got to be something I can use instead.

So, I pulled down some various sticky mediums, Fuse Master's overglaze glue, glass stamping medium, Dove blending medium and Simple Solution from Dreaming in Color. Yes, I could have grabbed the gum arabic and mixed some up, but I was going for already mixed convenience.

The overglaze glue is nice and sticky and spread nicely out over the leaf. Using a stipple brush (yeah, have a few of those around from the stamping days too) I covered it with Pearl Ex.

Dove Blending medium didn't work on its own, it just beaded up on the dried leaf. On to the sticky as heck glass stamping medium..WOW.. they weren't kidding this stuff needs to be thinned. A few drops of the Dove blending medium thinned it enough to spread over the leaf and it too was covered with pearl ex.

The Simple Solution was by far the easiest to spread on the dried leaf.

Instead of setting this aside to wait for a full kiln, since it involved burning off the various mediums, I'm firing up the baby kiln upstairs.

That, of course, means I need to stay up here and babysit the fusing 'cause this kiln has a manual control (oh, poor me, two kilns and one of 'em is manual). Which means I could start some other projects to fill up the big kiln for a firing!!

Scraps of dichro...

2011-07-25T23:16:00.001-07:00

These are scraps. I took a huge pile of my scrap dichro and melted them into a big pile on a sheet of black glass. Now, sometimes I wish I hadn't done that because I can think of a million other things to do with that scrap dichro...but it was done and melted and I needed to eventually do something with the resulting chunk of glass. Today was that day.

After trimming some of the edges so that I could measure more easily, I headed over to the ring saw to start cutting up the glass.

After cutting the strips, I played with them, moving the pairs until I got a combo that made me happy...

Next I'm gonna fuse them again, using some dams to keep the glass from spread out too far and will have 4 long strips, instead of 8 short strips (that's the plan anyway). Then they're going to be come design pieces in some plates... I think.

The rest of the day was spent looking at those fused striped pieces. I'm still not liking the pink one, the pink is too pale and you really can't see the pink. They may be cut up and used in something else. But the purple is going to be slumped into a little sushi dish. I'm trying to be patient, filling up the the kiln so I'm not wasting electricity. Gives me some extra time to keep my area cleaned up...

I can't wait to get back up there tomorrow.

Firing the kiln... and the laws of glass

2011-07-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Even I can't overlook the laws of glass. Glass at full fuse temperatures wants to be 6mm thick. That's something that's important to remember if you're mixing different colors...especially when they're not the same thickness.

See those sharp edges and bubbles? Well, that's what happens when you mix 2mm and 3mm glass...don't add enough to make up for the missing volume AND fire it with a piece that is all 3mm and don't add extra soak time for things to smooth out. But that's OK, those champagne bubbles are a sign of hand crafting, right? Some work with the grinder and we'll have those edges cleaned up and be ready to slump this little bugger.

Now the pink one turned out much better. It was all 3mm glass, so I didn't have the air bubble issue...and the edges are nice and smooth. It still needs a little bit of cold working, but not nearly as much as the purple.

Fusing glass is teaching me patience. I put these in the kiln with the electronic controller, so I had no excuses to be peeking in the kiln. Waiting up until the kiln is cool enough to open is not an option when you don't fire till mid to late afternoon. And now I get to fire them AGAIN!!!! I can see the need to have several kilns so you can have several projects going at once....but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I'm certainly going to be less casual about buying 2mm or 3mm glass, that's for sure! And I'll be spending a lot more time practicing cutting my glass so that it breaks in nice, clean lines. Because there are some circle projects I want to play around with....and I KNOW that the circle cutter is going to tax my knowledge of words I can say in other languages.

Stripes and scrap glass

2011-07-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

If there's something that a few hours cutting glass will give you, it's an appreciation for skills that you developed and let slide...for whatever reason. Who would have thought that retraining the hands and eyes to cut small, even strips of glass would generate so much angst (and scraps!)

After several hours in the corner, here's what I have.

What you don't...and won't...see are all of the pieces that are in the scrap drawers.

Here are some relearned lessons:
1. Scoring glass is a standing up activity.
2. Measure twice, score once.
3. Never plan on your last piece of glass for a project....see above comment about scraps.

These pieces aren't "anything" as I explained to the hubby. I needed to jump back in and do something, so I grabbed a tutorial from Bullseye, modified it with the 9" strips didn't happen (see lesson #3) and this is the result.

The Glass Corner

2011-07-18T15:07:00.001-07:00

Here's the baby kiln, set up with the fire proof sheet rock underneath and behind it...safey first, right? The drawers contain scrap glass (of which there is PLENTY) and the little caddy has some of my most reached for tools. That wire shelf is empty, I'm not sure what'll go up there, but I like the spacious feeling of the wire shelf overhead when compared to the dark, solid shelf over the other window. I'll be changing that one to a wire shelf too! Under the worktable is a bookshelf, on it's side, that is perfect for storing my smaller sheets of glass (thank you Ikea!).

You'll never see this space like this again...so look carefully!

Spare kiln pieces, molds and some ceramic fiber paper... and an empty shelf at the bottom for future mold purchases :-)

The messy stuff..the grinder, ring saw and dremel drill press are on this table. There's an acrylic shield to move behind whichever tool I'm using to contain the inevitable spray of glass and water. I'm hoping to add a wet tile saw in the not too distant future...we'll see.

And that, my friends, is where I'm hanging out when I tell you I'm in the corner...it's the glass corner, not the naughty corner!!!!

And for obvious reasons, this room is "No Dogs Allowed"

The day at the vet's

2010-07-12T17:41:00.000-07:00

Cheyenne went into the vet's today. She stopped eating and we found blood in her urine. Of course all of the worst case scenarios run through our heads at a time like that. She's our most senior girl and one of two of our original rescues left at Kaos.

It turns out she has a large stone in her bladder and a UTI. Yep, that'd make me uncomfortable too! The downside is that it has to be removed surgically, which means we have to wait for bloodwork to come back to make sure she's a good candidate for surgery.

Poor baby. She did get some good meds for the pain...she's sleeping now (which she does a lot). Bloodwork results tomorrow at 9am. Keep your paws crossed for Miss Cheyenne.

I can't go to the show that weekend...I'm going camping!

2010-06-28T15:04:00.001-07:00

Anyone who knows me might need a minute to pick themselves up off of the floor and make sure that they're in the right blog, check that their glasses and screens are clean and that they didn't mis-read that statement. Just for clarity, let me repeat that: I can't go to the dogshow that weekend, I'm going camping.

Yep, it sounds the same way the second time.

Blame it on Karen Ramstead. Because this personal growth or fit of insanity, depending on your point of view, is her fault. Completely and 100% her fault.

Let me give you a little bit of history. A few years ago my husband, Sean, started going out with a group of people who thought it was fun to go dry camping and run their dogs in the desert on weekends. Dry camping - an activity involving sleeping in tents, on the ground, in undeveloped camp sites with no facilities other than a fire ring. Get the idea? Roughing it.

I was happy to let him take the dogs and take off, usually with my Mom, to meet up with Nicole, Patti and the rest of the Red Mountain gang for the weekend while I went to a dog show, slept in a real bed and had ameneties. Then Karen came to town.

I'd "known" Karen on line for some time. The woman is amazing. She has run the Iditarod several times, lives in the wilds of Perryvale, Alberta (that's Canada, not a typo for Alabama) several miles from the closest Starbucks. She has working dogs who show, and successfully too. She's amazing, because she does all of this while making us, her internet fanclub, feel like we're part of her team. When she does well, we all celebrate. When something goes wrong, we feel like we're sharing her pain and disappointment. Yeah, we're Karen groupies. Then she came to town.

I must have been at a point in my life where I was ready to learn more. When we attended her talk, I listened with my heart as well as my head. I heard her love for the dogs and their love for her while they were out on miles of trail without another person around. I felt my growing envy as she described the teamwork and relationships she developed with each of her dogs. I mean, I love my dogs and we have a great relationship...especially the ones who sleep in the bedroom or travel to shows with me. But the relationship she described went so far beyond that and it made me wonder. What was I missing by skipping out on running the dogs?

So I announced to my husband that I was going to Red Mountain with him that winter. When he picked himself up off the ground, he grinned. Or was that a grimace?

It's been two years of winter runs in the desert now. I can't describe the joy of watching my dogs do what is in their heart...running in harness. I can't describe the joy of watching Robin develop as a leader, choosing trail and developing the confidence not to look back and ask "is this OK?" as she moves the team around a turn and headed up the trail. The utter contentment as they curled up on their picket line, resting after a good run was amazing to see...even more so knowing that it would change in an instant if I were to pick up a harness and let them know we were going out again.

I couldn't tell you exactly what Karen said. Maybe it was her words and the light in her eyes as she described a trip with her dogs. Maybe it was the moment she told us about a lessons she learned from one of her dogs. Whatever it was, I'm glad she said it at the exact moment that I heard it. Because it made me say "I want that."

So I won't be at the dog show (insert random weekend here) ...I'll be up at Big Bear camping with my dogs. Hey, at least Big Bear has amenities...in the desert the only amenities you have are miles and miles of trail and that's more than enough for me.

P.S. Karen's coming down to Southern California again. If you're not going to be at the dog show that weekend, check http://www.urbanmushing.com/ for the details and registration info.

I love time with Mom

2010-06-04T12:01:00.001-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I really do....but do all of my trips with her have to be preceeded by a bath? I mean, really, every time? When I go with Daddy I don't get baths. In fact, Daddy lets us play in the dirt.

I didn't get to go last weekend; Emmy got the bath and the trip with mom and they were gone a long time. Today it was my turn. Mom keeps muttering "2 more points" and I don't really get what she means, but I got a bath.

I'll let you know if I figure out what that "two more points" thing means.

Luv, Robin

Quality Control

2010-05-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

Mom's been sending a lot of stuff out of the house, she says it's books and stuff...but I can read, this box clearly says "PetEdge." I'm pretty sure that means it's for us! Mom explained that it was trophies for the specialty coming up (that I don't get to show at, but that's another gripe, she's taking Emmy that weekend) and it has to go down to Three Dog Bakery in San Clemente so Aunt Claire can add the dog cookies to the trophy bowls. Hello? Dog, cookies..what part of ME isn't registering with Mom?

So, since she wasn't going to let me have anything in the box, including the squeaky toys, I did my best to make sure that she carefully repacked everything so that it shipped safely.

I tell you, in my next life I want to come back as a companion breed, not one of these working breeds!!!

Artie & Mercedes went to a picnic today. Again I ask...what about ME? They said they had fun, got to run in a tunnel and got lots of cookies...but some of the dogs didn't like them. WHAT? I may pick on the little rascals, but everyone else is supposed to adore them. No one doesn't like my little brother and sister. Mom says that Jindos don't really like "in your face" dogs...and Artie and Mercedes certainly qualify as that...so maybe I can understand their point of view. Mercedes said she sang loud and long all the way there and home. Good girl!

More later,
Robin

Has anyone seen my Nylabone?

2010-05-09T00:53:00.000-07:00

Momma says some dogs don't even like nylabones or other hard plastic chew toys. She says her friends tell her that their dogs ignore them.

I don't know why she doesn't tell those people to send those unwanted, unloved and *whole* nylabones here. We're running low.

Love,
Robin

The craft room project continues...but first...

2010-05-07T20:52:00.001-07:00

I have a co-blogger. Robin has decided that the canine view point is not being adequately represented and has decided that since part of the computer chair is hers, she should be able to help me on the computer too. That or she thinks she should help me with my dinner.

Now, remember "that" room? Here's the view down the hall. Not much has changed in this view, unless you put the two pictures side by side and I'm not smart enough with Blogger's picture layouts to do that.

But look!!! There's a TABLE there! And tops of Iris carts! And those plastic boxes to the left? Those are ceramic house/village things that Mom bought that are going in the garage sale...and that's the last row of stuff before the back of the first row of Iris carts. Obviously the fabric/sewing area to the right is still a little out of control...but there's only so much you can get done at a time. The upholstery sewing machine is actually going to move over where those plastic boxes are, so we have to do things in just the right order to keep things moving in the right direction.

But here's where you can really see the progress...almost the whole first row of Iris carts is visible and you can see all the way across the room! This is major progress. We've been putting stuff away (there's a concept), throwing junk away (yes, it's real junk, don't panic) and putting stuff in the garage sale room. That pile is HUGE! It's like Clean Sweep without the therapy...or the deadlines.

I'm really getting excited that we're going to have this room functional soon.

I just vacuumed yesterday!!!

2010-05-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

I don't think there's anything else I need to add. I'll be the one with the broom over there in the living room.

What a day!!!

2010-04-27T21:49:00.001-07:00

It started at 6am, something that hasn't happened in a LONG time...well, since I was laid off a couple weeks ago. (I'm OK with the layoff for those of you who haven't heard about it, the timing actually works out well for the whole "wife of brain surgery patient" role I'm filling right now.

Started the day at the neuro-oncologist. That's the doctor with dual specialties in neurology and oncology...brain tumor guy. He's the Dept. head, so I guess we were referred right to the top. Basically, he wants another MRI/MRV to see if that pesky vein is completely occluded. If it is then it's time for Brain Surgery: The Sequel to remove the rest of the tumor. He seems to think that it is completely occluded. Let me tell you, he's going to have to convince me before I let him cut into Sean's head again; I'd prefer not to have a stroked out vegetable for a husband. But if we can get the rest of the tumor out, that'd be a good thing. Then we had a break.

Since I haven't been over on that side of town for a LONG TIME (years, really) we went down to Pacific Art Glass in Gardena. What fun that was! While I was browsing the aisles I found some fun new things to play with. The first things I picked up were some cool paper packs from Glassline. Created with different colors and textures, they go between a clear and colored sheet, and when the firing is done, the texture shows. I'm picturing an etched Siberian Husky (reverse, so the dog's silhouette is clear and the rest of the piece is etched) on a complementary colored base. I think it's going to be stunning! It is in my head anyway!

Then I found fusible decal paper. Print the decal on the laser jet and slide the decal on and fuse it. I can scan and print photos, etc. Coasters with old sled-dog postcard images...all sorts of things come to mind, some of which are going to be surprises for the recipient, so I'm not going into much detail.

Then I found the Glassline paints. These aren't new, per se, but they're new to me, so I got black...should have gotten white too, that would have given me some good variety but I'll manage with just one color (no, Kelly, I didn't buy one of each color of either the paint or the paper...see how I've changed?)

As I was checking out, I turned around and saw Dicro Slide...a dichroic coated paper that I can make pretty dicro images from and fuse them onto plain glass....more ideas are born in my head.

After talking with the guys at the counter about a few other ideas I had cooking, I decided it was time to check out before I spent more money than we had (not hard to do since I'm not working right now!) and we left to go find somewhere quiet to sit and read while we waited for our next doctor's appointment.

This doc is a surgical oncologist. He does surgical radiation therapy and stuff like that. After a brief discussion of Sean's case, he dropped a bombshell on us. He needed us to locate Sean's medical records of the treatment he had for leukemia in 1974/75 before he could even start to figure out how the radiation treatment plan for Sean was going to come together. I could picture what the records we have look like in my mind....I was just hoping I could lay my hands on them when we got home. And I DID! They were in a folder labeled "Medical Records - Sean." Phew!!! That gave us a great starting point to contact the facility where the treatment was to see if there was any chance that they have the actual records available. But we know based on what the doctor said, that the info in these copies was enough for him to make plans from...but more info is better.

Then it was a drive to the optical place to pick up my new glasses (replacements for the ones that Robin ate at a few months ago and the puppies trashed the lenses last week) and then to the pharmacy to pick up a new anti-seizure med for Sean.

It's been a long day and tomorrow.....I'm sleeping in!

A corner emerges!

2010-04-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Before I get started on today's progress, here's a photo of the west wall that I didn't take yesterday. See that computer way down at the end??? That's supposed to be usable because that's the one that the networked printer is attached to...as well as the scanner. Out of the frame on the right are the sewing machines...a regular one and an upholstery machine. Actually you can see the standard machine's table under those boxes. Both are very nice to have...when you can get to them!

Then I decided to start in my corner...the glass corner. You'd be amazed how much dust can accumulate in 10 years when you live in a community that has ongoing construction. But, as you can see (well, I guess you can't see the shelf) all of the glass tools are put away, all of the glass molds are boxed and labeled on the shelf (look over the top of the paper boxes...that's the molds) and everything that wasn't glass related was removed from the table...almost.

That stack of three boxes is stuff for the Siberian Husky Club of America Meet the Breeds booth that I help with every year in December. Obviously I need to find a better place to store that stuff! This is the last year that the booth will be in Long Beach, CA...so hopefully next year I can ship it to another vicim...errr...volunteer.

In the bottom right corner you can see my small kiln. That was my first kiln and I've kept it for test firings and small projects...because I AM going to use this area! Over by the window are a stack of AKC Stud Books. I'm going to find someone who wants them and get them out of my house. I've gotten the reference info I need out of them for my database. I hope I don't have to throw them away, because they're good info....but I refuse to let them clutter up my space.

One of the biggest challenges was keeping the progress I'd made on my worktable. Taking non-glass stuff off of the glass table meant that it had to go somewhere, so it all stacked on the worktable. I'm happy to show that I didn't slide backwards. After gettting the glass table done, I cleaned the work table back off. It's not perfect, but at least I didn't lose ground there. Although you can't see it, I also got rid of two boxes underneath the glass table. I can sit and have somewhere to put my feet! Four bags of garbage, two piles of recyclables, a pile moved to the garage sale room, a couple of Ebay listings and 4 hours later, I pronounced myself satisfied and called it a day.

There's a room in here....somewhere!

2010-04-24T17:24:00.001-07:00

When we bought this house, one of the huge selling points (other than the secure back yard for the dogs) was the fabulous 20x22' bonus room upstairs. The room has windows on 3 sides, west, north and south and was a lovely, empty room just waiting for Mom and I to move our studios into it and get back to our creative sides. Did I mention we bought this house in 2002?

Somewhere since then things have gone horribly wrong. Here, let me take you on a tour. Here's the entry way (a door has since been built at the hallway/landing area so that this room can be closed off...to keep the dogs out of course.

Looking into the hallway, you're looking at the south side of the room facing west... lovely windows and light, but you can't tell because we never open them! And the room looks a little...disorganized? Yeah, that's our word.
Here's the aisle between the two rows of very dusy iris carts...all neatly labeled and yes, their contents match the labels. And there's that beautiful south window. We've got blinds for all of the windows, which will go up when we can get to them!!!

Here's the north side of the room...the other end of the aisle you were just looking at. There in the upper corner is my glass station...or it was. It'll be back!

And here's the south side of the room...unfortunately, it's right at the entrance, so this is where stuff gets stacked before it gets moved somewhere else in the room to give us more room to stack.

Here's my worktable. As you can tell, I spend a lot of quality time here and get a lot accomplished!

After a couple hours of cleaning, we've got more stuff moved into the garage sale pile and look!!! we found a table top! This is my workspace (with the glass area behind me). I won't fib and tell you that everything on that table found a home...some of it is just boxed up to be gone through later...but it's a start!!!

I couldn't even contemplate taking pictures along the east wall, directly to the right as you go in the room. It's got Mom's upholstery and sewing machines, fabric and drawers of more fabric and my drawers of "haven't been used in 10 years" rubberstamps, as well as the desktop computer, another work table and...well, I'm not sure what else is under there. We'll save that for another day.

Wish me luck! Between my desire to get rid of everything I've not touched in 10 years and Mom's desire to keep everything...it should be entertaining watching this room evolve into a working space.

It's never to early to start training the puppy

2010-01-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

Here's Quinn and her first time out in harness at 5 1/2 weeks.

Ok, so maybe she didn't pull anything (esp that cart in the background) but she didn't try to eat the harness...she's light years ahead of Robin who has 3 smart phones and 2 harnesses on her side of the score board so far.

The puppies had another uneventful weekend out camping. Lots of people to play with, lots of new dogs to meet...it was probaby be their last camping weekend before they start heading off to their new homes.

Our First Camping Trip...by Rachel

2009-12-28T23:26:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we did something really different...Mom packed us up in the van with Momma and some of the big dogs and we went on a car ride. Now, last time we went on a car ride, it was just Mercedes and I and we went to somewhere Mom calls work....but it was fun!

This time when we stopped we got out of the van and into our room but it was in a weird place! Momma showed us how to dig in the dirt when she could move the pen without Mom catching her. Digging is FUN! Momma said there were goats and chickens too, but Mom didn't let us go play with them...maybe when we're bigger. Momma tried to bring some of the goats over to us, but Mom made her stop. I wonder if we're always going to have to listen to Mom when she bosses us?

When the sun was shining, we got to play in our room...but when it got cold, Mom put us in the van with Momma so we could keep warm. I think we kept her moving us back and forth from our room in the van to our room outside all weekend! And this mat thing? I guess we're not supposed to chew on it....but it was right there! What's a puppy to do?

That's me, Rachel. I tried this "please take me out of here" eyes on Mom, but she didn't fall for it once. I'm going to have to work on the look....I must be missing something. I'm going to keep working on it. I mean, really, how can you resist this look?

Kurt thought he could eat his way out of the room we were in. He's always trying to eat something...he's such a piglet.

Quinn found something called a Bully Stick that she chewed on when Momma stopped chewing on it. She said we'll like it better when we have bigger teeth....we're going to get bigger teeth? That's awesome!!! Imagine the things that'll fit in our mouth then!

It was an exhausting weekend. We played a lot, learned how to dig in the dirt and, of course, met new people who kept telling us how cute we were....like we've never heard that before!

On the drive home Mom kept making this noise she calls "singing." I'm not going to tell her who started yelling every time she sang....but I tell ya, it's hard for a girl to get her beauty sleep with

that noise she makes! Good thing we don't need much!

We're going camping in a new place next weekend Mom says. I can't wait to see what we learn there!

Our first escapee from the whelping box

2009-12-15T19:50:00.000-08:00

Our first escapee from the whelping box was this quiet looking young lady, Mercedes! I would have bet on Rachel.

Last night we had our first puppy nail triming sesson. Everyone handled it well, some of them even fell asleep during the process. I only quicked a couple of them and a few belly rubs later they forgot and let me continue on.

Surfaces puppies have "walked" on (walk being a relative term): vinyl, fleece (both high pile & blanket), tile and loose plastic. They've also spent quality time in the room with the vacuum cleaner...I can't wait until they're big enough to chase it! And, of course, since they're in the bedroom, they're learning to sleep through the scariest of noises, my snoring!!

In no particular order, here are the rest of the 19 day old photos of the Glees

Finn

Quinn

Kurt

Rachel

Artie

Our first photo shoot

2009-12-07T00:17:00.000-08:00

The puppies had their first individual photo shoots today. With Daddy and Grandma off doing trailer things (Grandma just bought a wonderful 2002 Chalet Aspen that she's going to let me use until sometime later) I got to be the puppy wrangler and photographer. Let me tell you, that was no easy task.

Taking a page from a friend's book, I picked up a puppy and just snuggled her until she settled down (I started with the girls, the boys are so much easier!) and then put her down for her picture, grabbed the camera and started clicking.

She just looks still and quiet. Satinka's girls are Satinka's girls! Thank goodness for the continuous setting on the camera, because there are about a million shots showing her trying to wander away from the camera... and she can't even walk much yet. Yes, that's just a hint of an opening eye there on the right.

This little girl is her Mother's Daughter! She announced her arrival at Kaos at the top of her lungs. She's the first to figure out how to stack up her brothers to use their heads to try and climb out of the whelping box (no mean feat considering she can't really walk yet nor can she see!) and she's the first to start to open her eyes. She's got trouble written ALL over her!

Yes, she looks like she's sleeping, but this little munchkin is just trying to decide which side the flash is coming from so that she can move her head away from me. I have several lovely pictures of the back of her head!!! More open faced than the first girl and lighter than the 2nd girl, it's going to be much easier to tell all three girls apart than it was with Emmy's litter.

As has become tradition with Satinka (does 2x make a tradition?) this little guy was born on my bed. Tinks was supposed to be sleeping in her whelping pen (a luxury suite that a mastiff would probably be comfortable in!). But she was restless and uncomfortable, which translates into me not sleeping either, so I let Tinks up on the bed for some belly rubs. I fell asleep...she had a puppy. At only 8 oz, this little guy has given me some concern, but I think he's going to make it. He's just so sweet and snuggly and such a little fighter! I recognize his "I'm hungry NOW" cry in my sleep. He's a little blurry because I didn't want him to start fussing. Maybe I'm babying him a little much, but we're trying not to over-stress him...so he's fuzzy...get over it :-)

The boys are just quieter (with the exception of Mr. Hungry). This little guy woke up when I picked him up, snuggled for a few seconds and went back to sleep. At least I didn't have to chase him around the bed with the camera!! I always wondered if Blaze would pass on his quiet, laid back temperament....at this point I'm guessing Yes. Again, the boys have helped me tell them apart by having different markings. Much more accommodating than Emmy's brothers. We could only tell two of them apart by the size of the white tip on his tail!

Of course, in every sweet boy, a little bit of Satinka is going to come out....even in his sleep. That or he's making a comment on my photography skills that should have been kept to himself!!

Mondays aren't all that much fun.....

2009-11-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

....under the best of circumstances. But the Monday after a holiday (I did have to work Friday) with a litter of 3 day old puppies who insist that midnight to 3am is their play time is even harder.

But they're so darn cute....more photos tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T12:52:00.001-08:00

We had a happy Thanksgiving here; Satinka whelped six darling puppies - 3 boys and 3 girls Thanksgiving morning. They're all gray again too! She had an easy time of it, with Daddy serving as her chief assistant. My job was to weigh puppies and hand them back....quickly.

The three boys came out quietly...the three girls came out screaming their heads off. If there are three "Satinka" girls in this litter, we're in BIG trouble.

Don’t mess with my pet.™

2009-09-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Protect responsible pet owners.

You love your pet. You take good care of your pet. How would you feel if the government tried to limit your ability to have pets in your life?...Angry?...Scared?...Betrayed?...Well, it’s happening.

Each year, local, state and the federal governments propose thousands of laws that would restrict your ability to own pets – to include pet as vital members of your family. While we believe that some regulations are warranted to ensure that pets are well care for, we also believe that responsible pet ownership should be applauded, supported, and encouraged, not limited! If you are a responsible pet owner, why would the government not want you to love and care for a pet? Why, if you’re doing everything right, should the government be able to limit you from having and caring for a pet?

The answer is that, unfortunately, many government officials don’t understand how their bills might affect you, the responsible pet owner. Worse yet, some legislators may not care. Radical animal rights activists often spread misinformation among lawmakers and the general public, creating an atmosphere of poor decision-making. If they had their way, many of them would completely do away with pet ownership…period.

Help us protect responsible pet ownership by defending you and your pets against poorly written legislation.

Join the “Don’t Mess with My Pet” campaign and for your contribution of $25 a year, you can help us guard responsible pet ownership on behalf of you and your non-human family members. As a thank you from us, you’ll receive a free campaign t-shirt.
http://www.dontmesswithmypet.org/

I'm almost a Recognized Breeder!

2009-08-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

And I couldn't be more relieved.

Riverside County says Recognized Breeders collect and remit sales tax to the State. I now have my Board of Equalization number so I can collect and remit sales tax to the State. You know, from all of those litters I have (looking at the 18 mo old Emmy and wondering when there may be room for a little sister) and all that income selling puppies produces (really, it's right over there, I just haven't had a chance to deposit the thousands of dollars I made on that single breeding, it's under my mattress).

Now, to complete the "Recognized Breeder of Riverside County" challenge (premiering this fall on the ICan'tBelieveIt Reality Network), I have to remember to send in my Riverside County Business Registration for my home business. Yep, apparently if you show dogs and breed them and sell a puppy, it requires business registration. I know the County is going to make TONS of money on my income (see above).

Oh, wait...it's not Responsible Breeders they're looking for...it's "Recognized Breeders"

Definitions:
a. Recognized Cat or Dog Breeder: Any business or hobbyist (i.e. every individual, firm, co-partnership, joint venture, trust, business trust, syndicate, association or corporation) whose intact, licensed (dog only) and micro-chipped dog or cat, sires or gives birth to, at lest one litter of offspring consisting of at least two(2) live births, within the preceding five (5) years and who has on file with the Department of Animal Services all of the following:

i. A letter to the effect that the breeder is a member in good standing of a Department approved breed registry club or governing organization which has a code of ethics covering pet reproduction,

ii. A State of California seller's permit,

iii. A current Riverside County business license, and
iv. Kennel and/or cattery license, if applicable. If not required, then each dog 4 months and older, maintained at the property shall be licensed. No similar requirement exists for cats.

b. Department-approved Breed Registry Club or Governing Organization: Those clubs and organizations accepted by the Department of Animal Services as being acceptable to issue a letter of good standing for a Recognized Cat or Dog Breeder. editorial note: this list does not exist, making it very difficult to comply.

Don't you like how they make that retroactive for five years? That's pretty much going to eliminate everyone except the commercial breeders who already do all those things...I mean, they do, right?

I swear, jumping through these hoops is going to somehow make me a better breeder? And, really, a hobbyist has to have a business license (which, actually in Riverside County is a business registration, Riverside County doesn't have business licenses).

But them's the rules...and since I live here I have to follow them. Did I mention that the 5-8 year plan has us leaving California for anywhere else?

Nothing...really

2009-08-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

I have it on good authority, from my learned friend Kelly who found the info on some esteemed author's site, that five things make a blog entry. I also learned that from her that whining gets you things...to which I can only reply "DUH."

So...

#1 - Surgery on the foot is scheduled Oct 9, although I'm calling weekly to see if there are cancellations. My theory is that scheduling woman will get tired of hearing from me and schedule me so that I'll stop calling her. We've figured out how to get me and the dogs taken care of for the first couple of weeks, thanks to friends and furloughs.

#2 - I hate furloughs. The State of California has instituted furloughs to assist in balancing their budget. Now I need to notify the mortgage holder, the gas companies, the electric company, etc that due to the State of California balancing their budget from my wallet that I'll be passing the furlough effects onto them. They can e-mail Arnold at http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email and let him know what they think. At least Sean's not getting paid with IOUs.

#3 - where are those great homes for Tipton and Sage? We've civilized them, they're now wonderful, sweet house dogs. I'm actually going to miss them...but can't wait to find them their new homes.

#4 - I'm pretty much done with summer. (Those of you who've known me for a while better be sitting down). I can't wait until it cools off enough to go camping with the dogs. Of course, the aforementioned foot surgery could make that less than enjoyable...but at least it won't be 100 degrees and humid!

Well, if I count the learning things from Kelly, that makes five things and a blog entry, right? I sure hope so! I'm going to go watch my DVR'd Hell's Kitchen.

Oh, I thought of #5....Philadelphia Eagles should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely ashamed. Yeah, he's done his time, been rehabilitated, blah blah blah.....paid his debt to society. And now he's back to making millions. Ain't America great.

Life before dogs

2009-06-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Before I had dogs, I had another life. I was an artist. My mediums were rubber stamps, bookmaking, beads and then glass. A dear friend and I traveled down this addictive path together and she became an amazing jewelry designer. Her website http://www.silverparrotdesigns.net/ and while I love my dogs, I'm somewhat envious that she's still actively engaged in her artistic outlet while raising an absolutely wonderful son as a single mom.

And why am I writing this? Because she's having a contest to get rid of her extra stash of beads and I want them....because, you know, someday I might return to the craft room....someday. Shameless, aren't I?

When it's quiet...worry.

2009-06-09T22:14:00.001-07:00

Those of you who are parents know that rule. Those of us with Siberian Huskies have a similar rule.

Last time it was quiet, the dogs were outside with Daddy's Blackberry (for the 2nd time). That's Dogs: 3 - Smartphones (and people) - 0 for those of you keeping score.

Remember when the Satinklette's got my new glasses? Yep, another quiet time that should have been investigated.

I got new glasses yesterday. Then, while I sit over here at the computer, I hear the sound of hard plastic....what on earth could that be? You guessed it. Robin thought my new, purple bifocals would be cool.

Luckily for her, she didn't past the "sneaking them out of the house" stage of destruction.

One of these days we're going to be smarter than the dogs.

Where H$U$ Donations Really Go

2009-05-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

This story was originally posted at http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19463509/detail.html

Where Humane Society Donations Really Go Posted: 4:03 pm EDT May 14, 2009
Updated: 6:50 pm EDT May 14, 2009 ATLANTA --

A Channel 2 investigation is looking into millions of dollars in donations given to the Humane Society of the United States. A national consumer organization says the society solicits pet-lovers for money, but little to none of that money ever goes to help local shelters.

Critics tell Channel 2 Action News reporter Amanda Rosseter that this isn't just consumers misunderstanding who they are giving to -- but an organization actively misleading donors to get money. “They do their marketing very well, that's for sure,” said Trey Burley of PAWS Atlanta.

Critics say the national organization takes advantage of people who think they are giving to local shelters. DeKalb's "PAWS" shelter says there is no regular funding help from the $100 million HSUS budget. “I think that some of the folks who donate to the national organization may be under the false pretense that that money is going to a local cause,” said Burley.

While the HSUS does work to stop puppy mills, it also gets media coverage and donations doing it. But the puppies then go to local shelters who have to pay and care for them. “They may initialize the resources for a rescue, but again the animals go to a shelter somewhere in the country,” said Richard Rice, VP of the Atlanta Humane Society.

Critics said HSUS also takes advantage of high-profile events. After hurricane Katrina, HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle promised on national TV to reunite pets with their owners -- and raised $34 million for the cause. But public disclosures of where that money went add up to less than $7 million. The Louisiana attorney general launched an 18-month-long investigation, and then ended it, when HSUS offered to build the state a new shelter.

The HSUS annual report for 2007 showed $120 million in revenue, including $5.4 million just from online donors. Then there's $112 million in expenses -- most of which appears to have gone to legislation for animal rights bills. The list includes raccoons, mice, wild horses, burros and primates.

The center for consumer freedom says all worthy causes, but HSUS shouldn't mislead to get money. So where does all the money go? “It goes to lobbying, it goes to political contributions, it goes to pay huge staff salaries and benefits," said David Martosko with Center for Consumer Freedom.

Channel 2 Action News went to a local HSUS meeting to find out. The two hour discussion was about activist plans and lobbying. The Georgia director for the HSUS agrees that's mostly what she does. “I think that in all of our literature, it is very explicit as to what our campaigns are and what we are doing,” said Cheryl McAuliffe, Georgia Director for HSUS. “We help where we can and focus on our programs, which are national and international.” McAuliffe said there are just too many local shelters to help.

“I always tell people, contribute to your local shelter first,” said McAuliffe. When asked how much her budget is for the state of Georgia, McAuliffe said she didn't have a budget and neither did other states. McAuliffe said all money is controlled from headquarters in Washington, D.C.

HSUS later contacted Channel 2 about their work during hurricane Katrina. They say all of the money they collected has been spent since the initial crisis on helping Katrina families and pets.

Making excuses...

2009-04-06T19:38:00.001-07:00

I love dog shows. It's my hobby, it's what I do on weekends. But sometimes it's frustrating.

We all know our dogs aren't perfect. At least we all know that's what we're supposed to say...there is no perfect dog. And, at the end of the day, we each love the dogs we take home, win or lose.

But when people lose, why can't they be honest? "It's all political" Ever heard that one? It's what you say when you don't win. I can't imagine any judge takes delight in putting up a dog with super visible faults for political reasons. "She/he only puts up handlers" Yeah, that's another good one. Last I checked, everyone in the ring was a handler. Do the pros do it better? Heck, they'd better if they want to eat next week! "That judge hasn't read the standard" Right...they got to where they are by faking it. I may not agree with the judge, and I may never show under them again if I really didn't like what they put up....but to think that they don't know the standard? Now "I don't like how the judge appears to interpret the standard based on their placements" that's honest enough. Or "based on what the judge put up today with these dogs here, I probably won't bring this style of dog to the judge again." That's honest and fair.

This weekend was especially fun because it was a specialty. The 2nd show's judge was someone who's been in the breed for eons...and while I won't always enter under a breeder judge for one reason or another, this time I did. And then I heard someone say "well, I'll never enter under this person again...they don't know Siberians." I about fell out of my chair on that...asked the person "Do you know who this is?" Nope, they didn't. How can you show Siberians (or any breed) and not take some time to learn about the history of the breed and the kennels that have been influential? Whether you like a breeder's style of dog or not.....they've paid their dues.

How about honesty? My dog has (insert fault here) and the judge didn't like him/her as much as someone else. Dang, almost never hear that one. No one likes to lose. But admit that the dogs who win may have virtues that you don't see or feel and that the judge found and likes them. Doesn't mean that you have to enter under that judge again...but they probably had reasons. If you get a chance, without being pushy, ask them what they liked about their Winners. Every now and then one of them is so thrilled to hear the question phrased positively that they'll forget themselves and answer!

We lost this weekend...the judge liked another dog better. There's nothing wrong with admitting that. Don't have to like it....but I can admit it!

Besides, there's always another dog show!

It's been one week since you looked at me...

2009-03-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

Cocked your head to the side and said....Ok, so maybe the BareNaked Ladied are owed an apology.

She didn't exactly "say" anything except "get me the heck out of here!" We picked Miss Screechlette, up last week at the Orange County Airport at 11pm at night. We heard her from across the baggage claim area and rushed over to get her out of the crate before somone called the authorities. Satinklette #3 (actually #1, she was the first born) is back at Kaos for a while. A sweeter, more adorable puppy from this litter I've yet to meet (knock on wood, I think the other two are staying in their current homes!). After spending some growing up time at her Mom's old stomping grounds at Apache Run in Texas, Miss Sage is a California girl again. After a few adjustment (in other words after Satinka told her exactly how life at Kaos was going to be for Miss Sage) she's settling in like she never left. Banish the thought!Emmy's not exactly thrilled to have competition for Mom's attention, and she lets Sage know at every opportunity that she's the one who really lives here and is Momma's sweet darling baby girl (as opposed to Satinka, Momma's darling girl and Robin, Momma's Sweet Sweet darling girl). But Sage shakes it off and continues on her merry way.

I'm having fantasies of living somewhere that I can keep the entire litter when I want to....someone, quick, Pinch Me.

To the tune of "Daddy sings Bass"

2009-02-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

Now that you've got that stuck in your head...here's how it goes at Kaos...

Emmy runs lead, Robin runs with her....

and I'm too tired to come up with the rest of the Kaos Lyrics, so you'll just have to live with it. This weekend we went camping with a group of friends who are also bording on the edge of sanity...or is that teetering on the edge? Camping, dogs, below 40 degrees, freezing wind and a front coming in that is going to mean rain, and lots of it .... I think teetering is probably a better call.

After our midnight arrival (courtesy of Robin, the fence jumper...but that's another story) and set up, we woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning at Red Mountain. Friends started arriving Saturday morning and after breakfast, we hooked up the dogs for our first run of the weekend. With my hand on injured reserve (yet another dog story) we hooked up Ice & Frosty in lead, Emmy & Robin, Satinka "I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it" and her son "Needs a good home of his own" Tipton, and Blaze and Ryder at wheel.

Of course, the first part of every run is a white knuckle, e-ticket adventure (we don't have that much control yet) but they soon settled down, allowing us to watch them work and move. It didn't take long before we stopped and started swapping dogs around. Ryder moved up to lead with Robin, Emmy came back to wheel with Ice and Blaze moved up with Frosty. And we were off again. Of course, that may have been our third swap around...but that's what we ended up with. The dogs ran great and we finished the five miles with Robin & Ryder in lead, starting to follow directions (always a plus).

After that run, we went back to camp and sat around complaining about the cold and I finally tucked in for nap. After waking up, feeding the dogs and having dinner, I went to bed in my toasty warm, Iditarod proven sleeping bag (Thank you Karen!)

Sunday dawned (Sean even took pictures to prove it) and once again it was time to crawl out of the toasty warm sleeping bag and face the day. We started the run with the same arrangment we ended with Saturday, but stopped to move Emmy up into lead with Robin and Ryder back to wheel with Ice.

There's just something about watching the dogs do what they love that sends shivers up your spine. And then, when you get them situated on the team to where they're working at 100% (or in Blaze's case, as close to 100% as he's willing to put out) it's just perfect. Of course, the best part is that when they need corrected, Sean's the one who jumps off the cart and runs up and down the line.

I couldn't be more proud of my Emmy. Of course, since she's out of my first litter, she's always going to have a special place in my heart, but watching her dig in and work in harness all I can think is "wow, she's amazing." And she's so calm on the line waiting to run too...

Just when you thought it was safe....

2009-01-26T19:43:00.000-08:00

We've got 6' concrete block walls around our yard. We've never thought twice about throwing the dogs outside. Even after moving 8 yards of gravel, we never thought twice. Well, that front fence section is about 4'10"....WAY too short for a Siberian to be contained in!

Last night, the dogs went racing outside...something was up! There was a dog outside our fence jumping up and down...so we tried bringing dogs in to keep them from jumping at the fence.

Imagine my surprise when Sean said that Emmy and Robin were out in the front yard racing around. Thankfully they ran in the house when he opened the door.

We'll be raising the height of the fences...but for now have moved some kennel panels into strategic locations so that the dogs can't get to the lower areas.

When it's time, you know.

2009-01-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

And it's not even Abby. Abby's doing great! With the black humor that someone with a terminal dog understands, the Crippled, Old, Dying Girl is still bouncing through her days. She's got a special ride when we go camping (I've got to get the pictures up on the picturetrail page...when I do, I'll post the link) and well, if you couldn't see the tumor on her tongue, you wouldn't know she was sick.

My heart is sad over Lacy. One of the few dogs who are still with the families who got them in NorSled's "Woodland 12" rescue effort (her sister Cheyenne is still here too), Lacy has just been a fixture here at Kaos. When the doorbell rings, it's Lacy's Big Dog WOO that answers it. You'd think we had a Rottweiler answering the door! But no, it's that petite little red girl announcing the door...just in case we've missed the sound of the bell.

Lacy's light went out late last week. I noticed she wasn't coming upstairs to sleep anymore...and figured that she's getting stiff and sore...understandable. Then Saturday, it happened. The doorbell rang and Lacy didn't. My heart froze in fear....and I'm sure that the color drained from my face. I went looking for Lacy...not sure where I'd find her or what I'd find. There she was, lying in a crate, just looking at me. "I'm done, Mom...I'm just done." That's what her eyes told me. "I'm not ready, Lacy; give me some more time" was my response. She'll give me all the time I need, I know. But it's not doing her any good....and no matter how much time I have, I won't be ready.

I rang the bell multiple times all weekend, just waiting to hear a hint of Lacy's response.....and I'm still waiting. There's no bobble-head dance on the way to the door to go potty after being inside all day. In fact, she waits for me to go over to her crate and escort her outside for a potty trip.

Selfishly, I want to delay long enough that she just goes to sleep and doesn't wake up. I want her to take that decision away from me. But that's not the promise I made to any of the dogs. When it's their time, I'll let them go with dignity, love and tears. The tears are already here....

The dogs know. They walk quietly past her, sometimes sticking a nose in the crate to say hi other times just walking by without looking. I think, for them, she's already gone. Her spirit certainly is. And later this week, I'll help her body follow...I still won't be ready though.

How?

2008-11-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

How do you get ready to say goodbye? I mean, you can't spend every day thinking that it could be one of the last, but in reality, it could be.

Abby had an off day last week...every time she slows down I can't help but wonder if this is it.

But you know...sometimes an off day is just an off day. Abby lives every moment...not as if it were her last, but just because it is.

We could learn a lot from an old dog's tricks!

P.S. For those who are keeping track, her lump grew pretty quickly and now the growing and spreading has slowed down. We started her on the cottage cheese and flax "cancer" supplement...whether or not it's doing the trick I don't know...but she likes it.

But I don't want another puppy!!!!

2008-11-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

Who'd have thought I'd ever say that!

Peyton, fka Tipton, is coming back to Kaos for a while. His family got in touch with me the other day and a pending move puts them in a position of not being able to keep the little bugger. My heart breaks for them...giving up a puppy is probably one of the hardest things ever.

Like many responsible breeders, our contract states that puppies are to be returned to Kaos if for any reason an owner can't keep them. Good reason not to breed as often as I'd like! Imagine if all of the rest of the Satinklettes came back! I shudder just contemplating the...well...kaos!

The adult dogs here are going to be thrilled to have another puppy around, if for no other reason than Emmy will have someone her own age (and energy level?) to amuse her.

A Month of Lumps and Bumps

2008-09-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough couple of months here at Kaos. Abby, Grandma's rescue and one of the sweetest darn dogs we have, had a lump biopsied off of her shoulder....benign. Phew! Then Ryder had a lump come up suddenly on his wrist...again, benign. Waiting for the histo reports is a game of preparing for the worst and hoping against hope for the best. In both cases, all of the preparing paid off and we were rewarded with the good news.

Then, last week Grandma said something along the lines of "Abby's got another lump...on her tongue." Well, it didn't take a lot of research to learn that 9 times out of 10, lumps in the mouth are cancer. There, I said it. Abby's probably got cancer. What can we do? Well, they could cut through and remove a huge chunk of the tongue. Would they get it all? Probably not...the lump goes under and into the muscle in the mouth. Radiation? Yeah, that'd kill some cancer cells, that's for sure.

But what's best for Abby? Does this rescue dog, of indeterminate age, who already has kidney issues need more surgery and radiation? Is allopathic medicine where we're going to turn for treatment? She may live longer...but is her quality of life going to be the better for it? I know these are questions that every dog owner has to wrestle with when they find out their much loved pet has cancer...and it happens so much more often than it should. It's been years since we had our Nikki, Sasha and Tasha lessons. But, we learned them.

Abby's going to be kept comfortable and we're turning to our homeopath for treatment. Whether the cancer can be cured or not, we don't know...she's done it before with other peoples' animals.

What we do know is that Abby came to us for a reason, she needed something from us. She must have found it. Somewhere between snarling at every dog in the house and learning to accept petting, grooming and scratches and giving out the sweetest dang kisses ever, Abby found what she needed here at Kaos. Running and jumping at the doors, insisting on her walk anytime a leash appears and jumping into the car as if a ride in the car is the best darn thing in the world Abby is one of the pack. She adores Blaze, her red boy, and plays with him like he was her best buddy...and he is. Maybe it was just time for us to take a refresher course in Unconditional Love 101...although I think we're actually moving into graduate work this time.

So, we have to go down that road again...hopefully not for a while, as she's happy, not in pain or discomfort and just Abby. But when we start to lose the essence of Abby, it'll be time again to wish one of our dogs an easy journey to their spot North of the Rainbow Bridge. I don't even like Abby...she's not my dog. She's Grandma's. I'm not getting attached to anymore stinkin' rescues...I'm not I tell you...at least not after this one!

That was then....

2008-06-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Cleaning out the camera card, I found this adorable picture of The Emmy, taken on March 31. It made me laugh, looking at her perched on her little rock... ...especially since this June 12 picture was on the card too!

Emmy's been to her first match now. We realize a couple of things.
1. Puppies are not born knowing how to walk on a leash.
2. Puppies are not born liking a collar.

We expected Emmy, being an exceptional puppy, to be above those petty little details. She happily showed us that she isn't! So it's off to a few handling classes for Miss Emmy before she makes her debut in the show ring.

In non-Emmy news, Katie and her boy Zach have been working so hard in Junior Showmanship. They only need few more wins and they'll get an invitation to Eukanuba. And Zach has taken over handling Katie in the ring too. She shows better for him than she ever did for me! They've take some reserves, including a major reserve at the Mission Circuit shows. I expect them to take their first point any weekend now.

And Mr. Blaze is well on his way to being Mr. Ch. Blaze. With a 2nd major at Mission Circuit, he just needs two pesky little points to be done in the show ring for a while. Neither of us can wait! Robin, on the other hand, is stubbornly refusing to grow hair so that she doesn't have to go to shows...leaving me with either showing the untrained Emmy or just going to watch Zach. I haven't decided which way that is going to go yet.

The Bath

2008-03-29T21:23:00.001-07:00

You guys won't believe this. Momma yells at us for getting all muddy and her solution is to spray us with water! Not only that...she then turns a loud machine that sounds like the vacuum monster toward us and blows at us! It's HORRIBLE! We screamed really loud, expecting someone to come save us, but Momma just laughed at us. At least she didn't have a camera out there. We don't look good in wet.

Our sisters, Pixley and Sage, have gone off to their new homes. Pixley lives just a few miles away and has a new big brother, Prince. Pixley learned how to scream like she was upset and now she gets to run all over the house all day long. We knew she was smart.

Sage flew on a big bird to Texas to live with her Grandma Cha'tima and Grandpa Tucker and all of our relatives there.

It's pretty quiet with those two gone; they were obviously the noisy puppies and we're all angels. So we're working hard to make sure Momma and Daddy don't miss the other girls.

Here are some pictures of us after our horrible baths today. Aren't we adorable?

Delano
Denver
Tipton
Emmy

Let sleeping dogs lie...

2008-03-01T19:13:00.001-08:00

I've probably used this blog entry title before, but it bears repeating...at least around here.

"Awwww, isn't that adorable?" I can hear you all thinking it. And believe me, no one loves the sight of a sleeping puppy more than I do. Let me tell you how my Saturday started.

First, the dream. I was trying to get ready for a dog show (shocker, I know) but I kept tripping over puppies, lots and lots of puppies. And then they started screaming because I was tripping on them. What was happening in reality about 4am this morning was that a particular group of puppies was hungry and they were expressing that hunger at the top of their freakin' lungs! Now, they may be 7 week old puppies...but they've got adult sized volume on 'em. There is no sleeping through the "I'm HUNGRY NOW" chorus. Some morning I'll wake up enough to record it for those who think I might be exaggerating.

So at 4am I stumble carefully down the stairs, grab a bag of whatever's at the top of the doggie food drawer in the fridge, go upstairs and dump it in the puppy pen....ahhhhhh blissful silence. About 2 hours later it started again...I dumped the contents of the next bag in the doggie drawer in the puppy pen and went back to sleep. Around 7:30....Yep. Again. But this time Daddy was awake and did the honors for me. AND he let me go back to sleep!

I was going to be the best puppy mom. I was going to document every bit of their growth and development in pictures. Heck, now I know a little more how a new mom feels. I'm lucky I have time to brush my teeth between feeding the puppies, playing with the puppies, cleaning up after the puppies...and starting it all over again 2 hours later!

I wouldn't trade it for the world. But next time I'll think twice before I leave the puppy pen in my bedroom past 3 weeks!

We have names!!!!!

2008-02-04T22:29:00.001-08:00

Girl 1, Star, Girl 3, Buff Boy, Whitey and Gray boy.....boring names, no question about it. Now we're the 99'ers. Named for small towns along Hwy 99, the drive from Denali's to Satinka's, Mom & Dad have finally decided to give us names. We're so excited...and pretty certain that we can get away with murder 'cause a) we're cute and b) they won't remember who is who!

Girl #1 is now Madera, or Maddie. Star (aka Girl#2) is now Manteca, or Teca. And Girl #3 is now Pixley. Buff Boy (aka Boy#1) is Delano, or Del. Whitey (Boy #2) is now Modesto, or Des. And Gray Boy (Boy #3) is now Tipton.

The Rule of Sevens

2008-02-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Yep, there are rules for everything! By the time a puppy is seven weeks old, a well socialized puppy will have:

1. Walked/played on seven different surfaces - we've already covered tile, carpet, vinyl and fleece...three to go, we're thinking that grass, gravel and concrete will round out the seven.

2. Eat off of seven different types of bowls - well, tonight's first food was out of an aluminum pan...we're going to have to do some work to cover seven surfaces...I wonder if eating the spillage off of vinyl flooring counts...I'm gonna count it!

3. Experience seven different kinds of toys....right, like THAT'S going to be a problem?

4. Experience seven significantly different sounds - well, they've heard an alarm clock, tonight they got to hear a drill and a vacuum cleaner...I'm sure I can come up with four other sounds...oh, wait, they've heard me snoring! That's another!

5. Been in seven different locations. We're going to have to work on this one. So far they've only been in my bedroom. But hey, they're just three weeks old. We've got time for this.

6. Met and played with seven different people. Well, now that their eyes are open, we should probably start this count over :-)

7. Been exposed to seven challenges - well, this will be fun. Some of the examples I read include: climb on a box, climb off a box, go through a tunnel, climb steps, go down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide and seek, in and out of a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence

8. Eaten in seven different locations - this one may be tougher. Do you know how messy puppies are? My general rule is that they can only eat in easy to clean places.

Sheesh. And this is after we did the Day 3 to Day 16 "Super Puppy" exercises! And some people think this breeding thing is easy. I've got a word for them...but I don't think I can publish it on Blogger!

Something new every day

2008-01-31T19:45:00.000-08:00

One of the joys of puppies is watching, almost hourly, their development. From finding their feet to being able to navigate the bedroom on the tile floor (under supervision of course, otherwise I'd have to go fish puppies out from under the bed!) to finding their voices (not so thrilled about this one at 3am!) they seem to change on a daily basis.

They've finally figured out that there's a big world outside of their whelping box. How they made the connection, I'm not sure. We take them out of the box to play a couple times a day, but they're always pretty content to hang out in their bar and have the mobile catering unit come by when called. It seems that little bit of nirvana (mine). All too soon it'll be time to set up the downstairs puppy pen and let them explore a little more of the world. I know it'll be a lot quieter at night when their world encompasses more than just my bedroom!!!

Today we discovered our feet!

2008-01-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

Six little toddlers running around the whelping box. That's what's happening in my bedroom these days.

Just a couple of days ago, Girl #2, aka Star, started opening her eyes. Little, tiny, squinty eyes...but I saw eyeballs! Slowly her brothers and sisters followed and this morning, when I went up to torment...errr...play with the puppies, they all had their eyes open a little bit. Some of them don't seem to be as inclined to open their eyes and face the world as quickly as the others. Here's Sunday's group picture. That's Star there on top (see how creative we got with her name?) and that yawning puppy on the right? That's one of the boys. Don't ask me which one, can't you see how similar they all look?

And watching them try to walk is SO adorable. They'd get up on their feet, so darn proud...but a yawn or a too-fast turn of the head would send them tumbling like defective Weebles. (If you don't know what a Weeble is, I don't want to hear about it!) I went upstairs about 10 minutes ago, in response to a cacophony of noise on the baby monitor (yes, we got a baby monitor so I could listen to Satinka and the puppies...next up? KaosKam!). They're WALKING! The whelping box is a hive of activity with the little dudes and dudettes toddling across the blanket. Satinka doesn't look as excited over this development as I am. She really has to rush to get into the box and into feeding position because now they move really fast...well, compared to before when they were simply dragging their little bodies across the blanket.

Today we toddle, tomorrow the Iditarod!

And, yes, if you haven't checked lately, there are new pictures from last weekend's photo shoot on the website. And we'll take more this weekend, but it may take me a few days to get them up because...drum roll please...I have a new job! Of course, it happens just as the puppies are getting interactive...but hey, it'll pay the bills!

The Satinklettes have arrived

2008-01-12T12:10:00.001-08:00

From the first squeak at about 4:30 this morning to the surprise #6 puppy at about 10:30, the Satinklettes made their way into the world. The first one out was a gray girl (gray, not so surprising, girl, very exciting). Then, after about 30 minutes, gray girl #2 showed up. She's the one with the diamond on her back. Then, after another 30 minutes or so, gray girl #3 showed up! I can't tell you how excited I was at this point, because I wanted a girl. Now I have three girls to choose from.

Then the boys started arriving...boys as in PLURAL! We were hoping for one more, and the arrival of the bonus boy, #5, produced cries of joy (after all, we didn't have to do anything but watch).

Then a little bit later Sean hollered "there's another puppy!" Number SIX! WOOHOO!

Six darling gray and white puppies, three boys, three girls. A little later today, after Mom and the kids have had some time to bond and eat and rest we'll take their Birthday pictures. For now, we're just going to enjoy them!

This is Satinka....

2008-01-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Here's Satinka...isn't she a lovely, elegant looking young lady?

And here she is, a week before she's due.

She looks thrilled, eh?

We're almost there!

2008-01-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. From just a month ago when we first saw the puppies on the ultrasound screen to today, one week from The Due Date.

Satinka is due next Wed/Thurs. Her milk is coming in...from the feel of it, these puppies are going to be WELL fed :-) She's decided that she needs to be next to me at all times and woe to the dog who tries to get between us. She spends a fair amount of time demanding that I rub her belly. Last night I felt a puppy move for the first time! Holy cow was that exciting or what! Then, of course, I kept her up for a couple hours hoping to feel it again...but they must have been stretching before going back to sleep. I did hear puppy heartbeat with the stethescope too. That's way cool.

The whelping box is clean and tonight the husband is re-caulking the corners. I scrubbed most of the caulk off. Tomorrow I'll be setting up the Whelping Palace (no mere box or pen for La Diva!). She's heading into the vet for an x-ray on Thursday or Friday...Monday at the latest, but if she surprises me and goes into labor sooner than expected, I'd rather not be on the road.

I've got batteries for the baby monitor, a radiant ceramic heater, puppy pads to provide Satinka with somewhere to pee if I'm not around to let her out, blankets and towels, everything I could possibly need for the Event, including the phone numbers of some good breeder friends who I'm sure won't mind me calling at 3am in a panic (uh, right?) and a sleeping bag because I'm certain that if she can't be on the bed, I'm not going to be allowed on it either! Tomorrow I'll start taking her temp AM & PM and charting it in my very first Whelping & Puppy Notebook...not that I'm obsessive or anything.

She does think it's pretty cool getting two meals a day, I'm sure I'm going to hear it in a couple of months when she goes back to pre-puppy amounts.

The Official First Picture

2007-12-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time...we finally have a picture of the first Kaos puppy. See that little + sign at the left? That's near the head. And the one on the right? That's near the opposite end :-) The little bugger is 2.85 cm long and about 32 days old. Due date for the trio (there are at least two more in there) is Jan 11. I can't wait! There's so much to do to get ready.

Kaos' Kamping WeeKend

2007-11-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Grandma took 7 of the crew (Katie, Aleska and Abby went with Grandma; Ice, Frosty, Arwen and Blaze went with Daddy) off to the SCWSD camping weekend somewhere where there's no running water or electricity (hence the reason you don't see MY name on the list of attendees!).

Grandma got a few shots of Kamp Kaos, where Katie, Aleska, Abby and Grandma reside when they camp as well as a shot of Nichole's team and a couple of Sean's Krew. In Sean's team, that's Frosty and her Grandpa Ice up in lead and Arwen (the loaner aka Satinka's stunt double) and Blaze at wheel. Arwen ran lead the other two short runs of the weekend and did great.

Sean said it was great fun having four dogs who actually work the whole time (not to mention any Ryder or Satinka names). It was Blaze's first real run and I'm proud to say that Daddy's not cutting him from the team yet (unlike Ryder who will be out to create symmetry in the team hookup, not do any actual work).

http://www.picturetrail.com/kaossiberians

Did somebody say Dog Show?

2007-10-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Knowing he's got a big week coming up, Blaze spends a little extra time on facials and pedicure. And I suppose this also answers the age old question...what do they do while we're at work all day?

Someone's going to pay for this!

2007-10-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Says Robin...aka The Red Headed Demon Child who was forced to wear Katie's hand-me-down, puppy sized costume.

Where's my shoe?

2007-10-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Puppies chew shoes and anything else they can find, right? I mean, it's a known fact. We've never had much of a problem with shoes and puppies...well, other than the time that puppy Katie took off with my shoe and dunked it in the water outside.

But Robin? She adores shoes. LOVES them. CRAVES them. And she's sneaky good!

Grandma had (note the past tense) a pair of Crocs. You know, those ugly, clog like rubber sandal things? She took them away from Robin once and put them on the sofa table. End of story, right? Nope. Robin got up on the sofa, took the shoe and settled down for a good chew. She was a fair way through the shoe before I heard a funny noise (funny noises and quiet are two things that we worry about) and found her curled up with the remains of the Croc.

Sean was laying on the sofa one night, having removed his shoes and put them under the coffee table right in front of him. Enter Robin, exit shoe.

And it doesn't stop there. I took off my loafers and put them under the coffee table and was playing with the dogs and reading (it is possible to do both). Next thing I knew, I looked down and there was only one shoe. ROBIN!!!! Sure enough, she's outside, curled up working her way through the leather loafer. You'd think, by now, we'd know to keep our shoes safe, right?

Last weekend Katie's boy, Zach, and his mom spent the night. I think we forgot to warn them about the Shoe Monster. You see Robin streaking out the door and say "everyone check your shoes" as you follow to see what she's stolen. Not only had she stolen one of Zach's shoes, but taking a page out of Katie's book, dunked it in the water bowl. So I put it in the dryer on that special rack that's not supposed to rotate..THUMP THUMP THUMP. I grabbed the door open and pulled the rack out before it killed my dryer and the shoe fell to the floor. I put the rack away and turned to pick up the shoe...it was GONE! GONE! ROBIN!!!!! The shoe was retrieved, unharmed.

This morning, as I was talking to Grandma, reviewing our plans for the day I felt something on my foot. I looked down. Now she's not even waiting for me to take them OFF! ROBIN, that's my SHOE! She looks up at me with that gleam in her golden eyes.....Yeah, Mom, I know. But you're not paying attention to it.

Passing the Torch

2007-08-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

It happens, when you have new dogs move in. Inevitably one habit, one you were happy to see extinguished in a current dog, will raise its head in a new dog. Or, sometimes a characteristic behavior in a dog you've loved and lost will echo in the behavior of a new dog. We've got both going on at Kaos right now.

Remember Blaze, the Demolition Man who felt it was his sworn duty to help Daddy remove drywall, even the new drywall? Blaze, after some serious drywall removal, gave up that habit. Whether it was the gallons of Bitter Apple we sprayed around the edges of the exposed drywall (and, by the way, in a 2800 sq ft house, with NO baseboards reinstalled after the Great Re-Tiling Caper of 2006 there are a LOT of exposed drywall edges) or the hours of "Blaze, QUIT" that did the trick, we'll never know...but he stopped.

Yesterday Grandma reported that Robin found a tasty piece of drywall. The odd noise got Grandma's attention immediately and little damage was done. This morning, as I stepped out of the shower, I heard a noise I'd hoped never to hear again...sort of a scraping sound...like the front teeth of a dog scraping at drywall. I glanced in the bedroom to see Satinka, Frosty, Max and Lacy lazing, innocently, on the bed. Another step into the room and I saw Robin, over in the corner, busying herself. "That'd better be a nylabone" I said in my most impressive Mean Mom voice. I should have saved it. She didn't care. She looked up from her demolition project as if she didn't have a care in the world. I found a nylabone, handed it to her, showed her the inside of the crate and shut the door to continue my morning. Great, another Demolition Dog. This time Sean says if she destroys drywall, I'm going to learn to repair it myself. Might be easier to train the puppy.

And then there are the echos of dogs loved and lost. Tasha, whom some of you may remember, was a Grumbly Guss. At first we thought she was simply aggressive and were, quite rightly, cautious. As we got to know her, we realized she was simply a talker...a street-wise trash talker to be more specific. Walk by my crate? Grumble, grumble..oh, you're not impressed, fine. Get in my face? Grumble, grumble. Ok, let's go play. She was all noise. I can't recall that she ever even snapped at another dog or person. Of course, time may have dulled those memories, leaving only the good ones...but that's time's job, right?

Enter Abby. A couple of months ago she was a "save this dog" rescue post. Neglected by her owners, she had maggot infested open wounds. Knowing that Kaos wasn't a good place for her at that time, I forwarded the e-mails to some other folks who might be able to help her and put her out of my mind. Thinking about all the dogs you can't help will make you crazy. But Grandma's don't forget. Then she found out that she was with Chris, a local rescuer who got her out of the shelter, got her the needed vet care and was fostering her, looking for the right home. The right home wasn't a "we have one dog and it needs company" home, because Abby (well, she was Sheena then) wasn't super fond of having another dog roughhousing with her. She'd been separated from Chris' dogs for a few weeks, becoming accustomed to them by the separation and safe space of her own run. But she never, really, left Grandma's mind I don't think. I didn't think Kaos would be her place. We have a lot of dogs...a lot of active dogs who I knew wouldn't leave her alone. But Grandma wanted to try.

Enter Abby. Oh, I said that already, didn't I. But, no, really...Abby entered. She met Katie and didn't hate her on sight. Then she came to visit at Kaos. It's temporary, we'll see how she works out. She was a grumbly girl, not really timid, but not accustomed to the rough and tumble of Kaos. She'd perch up on the couch and growl at every dog who walked by, letting them know they were invading her space. I had my doubts she'd settle in, that we were going to be a happy home for her. Grandma had her doubts. Sean had his. We must have talked to Chris a million times the first few days "Abby's doing this, is this normal?" We expected a lot from Abby, too soon, was the consensus. We gave her space, she got the double run to herself while we were gone, getting used to the rest of the dogs in a safe space, where Blaze couldn't chase her into the dog house to play, where Katie couldn't play bow and leap at her to instigate a game of chase...where Robin couldn't simply pester her in an attempt to wear down her defenses.

But there was something, so we kept watching .... and then Satinka walked by and somehow her face ended up in Abby's mouth. That was Abby's last free pass from me. She didn't bite, she just held and released, much to my relief (and probably Satinka's too). She was sweet, engaging and made me smile, but my first responsibility is to the dogs who live with me...tough talk, eh? In the 10 days she's been her, Abby has won my heart..my carefully guarded, I don't want any more rescues 'cause they break my heart when they get sick so soon, heart.

She's got issues, she's not fond of having her space invaded. She guards the couch a little too much, so she's not allowed up there. You try to tell one dog why they can't be on the couch and everyone else can...it's TOUGH. Blaze drove her crazy, with his insistance that she play with him...he wore her down. Abby learned it was easier to play with Blaze for a couple of minutes than to tell him to go away. She has her snarky moments, but so do the rest of us at Kaos, two and four legged. She's learning that our hands on her body won't cause pain. Whether its remembered pain from the open sores or some other pain that hands caused her in her past, she's slowly forgetting that and welcoming the scratches and belly rubs.

She's got cataracts, so her field of vision is a little fuzzy. I guess that means we won't rearrange the furniture often, so that when her vision goes, she knows where things are.

Every time she grumbles I think of Tasha, my summer girl, her big blue eyes and mangled foot. Every time she cocks her head, looks up at me with those laughing eyes, I melt a little bit more.

Passing the Torch or Echos of the Past? I see a little bit of the dogs who've been through Kaos in each of the dogs who are here. Sometimes it makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry. Sometimes it makes me wonder how to hide the drywall damage from the husband. But each time it makes me realize how vulnerable I am to those furry faces, those smiles, those sweet doggie kisses and hugs.

Blaze The Magnificent

2007-07-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Last night we took Robin (aka the Red Headed Screaming Demon Child) to PetSmart, to work on some issues (namely screaming when told to do something she doesn't want to do) and we put all the dogs outside.

Sean pulled up as we were getting in the car, he opened the door and came back out quickly "Why is Blaze loose in the house?" Oh no, not again...so soon after having accidentally left Robin inside, I couldn't believe I'd done it again...and this time with a boy who a) marks and b) CAN reach the counter tops. But wait, I distinctly remember walking him to the door and closing it, because he wanted his own, special invitation from Mom. I decided to think about it later, then it hit me. The windows were open in the living room, and one of 'em doesn't have a screen. Blaze considers that his own, personal, doggie door.

Sure enough, as I went back in the house to tell Sean I hadn't completely lost my mind, Blaze excited the same way he came in...through the window. Good thing we don't wash the windows! I'd hate to see him plastered against one like a bird!

Robin's Great Adventure

2007-07-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the husband called me while I was driving home "What is the puppy doing in the house?" Um...hello? Puppy in the house all day long...several horrible disasters loomed in my mind. "What did she destroy?" I asked carefully, not really wanting to know the answer. "Well, I haven't found anything yet, other than a lot of toys strewn all over." I breathed a thankful sigh of relief.

"So, how many times did she go potty in the house?" I then asked, wondering if the clean up would be left for me when I got home, she is, after all, my puppy, even if she's a suck-up to Daddy girl. "I can't find anything, but I'm not going in your craft room, I wouldn't know if anything was out of place there." Ok...I can live with that.

So, it appears, at about 4 1/2 months old, Robin is potty trained. We didn't find any puppy messes and she was darn eager to get outside.

But there's still the mystery of how she got INTO the house...everyone else was outside and the doors and windows were all locked and closed. I'm trying hard not to think too much about that.

Fireworks and security

2007-06-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that I LOVE fireworks. The huge, orchestrated displays that you can go watch (or see from your backyard) that many municipalities put on are fantastic. I despise the noisy, bang bang fireworks that you can light off in the street putting life, limb and property at risk. It's fireworks season and given that July 4 is mid-week this year, I expect we'll have them both the weekend before and the weekend after in no small quantity, despite that fact that they're illegal in Riverside County. We'll stock up on the Rescue Remedy for Lacy and Cheyenne, who are scared senseless of the noise and put them in a bedroom to hide.

Satinka loves watching things in the air, whether it's a fly that she's going to catch or an airplane overhead; things flying around fascinate her. Last summer Satinka and Humvee sat on the picnic table and watched airplanes for hours, their pointy little noses aimed skyward and moving back and forth, as if watching some sort of aerial tennis match.

When the fireworks start, Satinka runs outside and scans the sky, looking for that tale tail stream of light heading skyward. Once she spots it she freezes, like a well-trained pointer when game is present. The delight in her face when she sees the explosion of light is priceless.

Satinka, a veteran of fireworks displays, went running outside after the first bang, watching for the explosion of color (she doesn't get the physics of the speed of light v. the speed of sound, but what she does know is there's always more coming if she's patient). While the older dogs (and Blaze, who couldn't be bothered) just settled in for another evening of noise, Robin had to go investigate the new noise. I followed, not certain how the puppy was going to handle the noise, wondering if I was going to be needed to provide comfort. Well, Robin's a pretty confident little miss and not much worries her. The first bang startled her, and she looked to Satinka to see how she should react. Then, I had two girls watching the sky. When the first explosion of light came Robin jumped for it, to catch that bit of brightness for herself. After missing the catch, she watched Satinka carefully again tracking the flare of the rising pyrotechnic device (Satinka uses those big words, she may not understand physics, but she's smart). Robin followed her gaze, not wanting to miss anything. Since the day she moved in she hasn't wanted to miss anything...and she doesn't. The explosion in the sky fascinated her...she didn't jump for it this time, she'd already figured out that it was out of reach, she just stood, like her big sister, steady and solid, enjoying the nighttime display.

It's what I want for my puppy, the fearlessness that lets her face life head on when confronted with new and potentially scary events; the confidence that lets her jump into new experiences knowing that I will never let anything harm her.

It's what I want for Lacy and Cheyenne too but, having missed the formative years of their life, I may just have to be content with knowing that when they're scared they know that I'll provide them a safe hiding place.

Puppytopia...new and improved

2007-06-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

You know it's going to be "A Weekend" when you come downstairs on Saturday morning and find Frosty, who was safely tucked into her "escape proof" crate on the sofa. A quick inspection revealed that she's managed to break the cable/zipties holding the crate together, allowing her to push the door open about 4", more than enough room to squeeze out of. Ok, fixed that, went on with the day.

On Sunday, I came downstairs to find that Frosty wasn't feeling well. For those of you without dogs just trust me, you know. Frosty, in the Sky Kennel (with ventilation holes in the back of the crate) managed to deposit all of the evidence of her upset stomach (the final remains of yesterday's escape and counter surfing episode) outside of her crate, leaving her crate and herself clean. Not bad, a little vinegar, a little hydrogen peroxide, a couple of towels and every thing's good. Did I mention that she managed to break two more cable ties...almost lifting the top off of the crate? In case you didn't know, dogs have a den instinct and no dogs wants to soil its den. Frosty is no exception. Anyway...it's going to be one of *those* weekends.

Now, on to Robin.

Every time we create The Puppy Palace, we make a few changes. This time, I dubbed the area "Puppytopia." When Robin's brothers and sister were here visiting, it was where we put the four little monsters when we needed to contain them. Now that it's just Robin, it's her daytime hang out place...as she's not quite old enough to go out in the yard with the big dogs all day. We've created a pretty good (if we do say so ourselves) containment area.

I have this little ritual when I come home - I unlock and open the door and say "oh, no Robin" and look over in the puppy pen and say "there she is!" Ok, it's silly, but it's what I do. Today, I unlocked the door, said "no Robin!" and then said "Oh #$%&*"- she just didn't have time to get down the stairs when she heard the door. Puppytopia looked like this:

You'll notice a few small changes from the Puppytopia pictured on our website, namely that the puppy pen doesn't seem to be centered on that lovely piece of vinyl. It seems Robin was tired of that flooring and wanted to use some tile. I could have lived with that...if there'd been a Robin still IN Puppytopia.

So, now we have Puppytopia, PCS v2.0 (that's Puppy Containment System, vers. 2). It looks like this:

You'll notice there appears to be a lid on Puppytopia, hopefully ending any more escapes by the clever little puppy.

I'm sure Robin will come up with something new to entertain, amuse and surprise me. But if she learns to undo the clips keeping Puppytopia together, I'm going to seriously consider sending her back to her breeder!!! Ok, maybe not. But I'm going to unseriously consider it!

All About Robin

2007-06-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Kaos has a new face...I know I've talked about her, but she's finally here. Maskarade's What Dreams May Come, aka Robin, Rotten Robin, Robin Bo Bobbin... the nicknames are endless.

Last weekend we went to another puppy match. Now, I'll admit to being somewhat remiss in our training, but I thought she did pretty well. Before we started, we had a LONG heart to heart talk about how things were going to go.

It went went like this:Me: Robin, we're going to trot around this ring when I say "let's go."

Robin: We are? Why?

Me: Because I say so.

Robin: Hey, Mom, there's something on your nose, let me get it!

Me: Robin, you're cute, and I love you...but we're going to work now.

Robin: Mom, work this...

They just don't appreciate me.

2007-05-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

Take, for instance, Lacy. I bought her a $60 dog bed (yes, I know...but it matches my bedroom so nicely). What happens? She stays on the ratty, lumpy rectangular bed that we got years ago, probably at Big Lots (when the dogs eat things, you learn to train 'em not to eat things with the cheap versions) and Max takes the new bed. OK, fine. So I buy TWO more round beds, they don't match the $60 bed, but hey, they coordinate :-) I move the "good" bed over to Lacy's spot where the ratty, old bed usually ends up, put the two new beds at the foot of the bed where Max sleeps and I move the ratty old bed over to a spot near my bed where no one usually sleeps.

Oh, did I mention that at some point, I added an older pillow to Lacy's new bed to make it more comfortable? Max thought the pillow was a great addition.

The other night I woke up...Max was in one of the new beds, Ry was on a pile of pillows (all the decorative pillows that end up in a pile in the corner, covered by a sheet in case a dog decides to sleep on them), Frosty was on the bed with me and Satinka was in Lacy's "good" bed. Where was Lacy? Not in the 2nd new bed...not even on the ratty old bed...she was sprawled on the tile floor, happy as could be.

Does she not understand what I went through to find her a bed? And to make sure there were enough beds that there would always be a bed for her? I suppose that doesn't really require an answer, does it.

The Baby becomes The Boy

2007-05-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who calls her young male dogs "The Boy" in conversation. I laugh about it, because it doesn't matter which boy she's talking about, he's "The Boy."

As many of you know, Blaze has been "The Baby." Yesterday The Baby became The Boy. How did this happen? How did my darling little puppy grow up without me noticing?

Katie is in season. The boys are all far too interested in her and we've instituted the Separation of the Sexes for playtime. That mean's that Grandma's Girls (which includes Katie) spend a lot more time in Grandma's suite of rooms. The gate on the stairs remains closed at all times (unless I forget!) and no one gets let inside, outside, upstairs or downstairs without checking "where are the boys?" or "where's Katie?"

All month I've been pleased that The Baby didn't seem to be overly interested in her or really quite "get it." But the signs have been there. He's constantly annoying the other girls, you know, in an irritating pull on her hair to show her you like her, elementary school kind of way. But yesterday he took another step in moving away from being The Baby and becoming The Boy. I came home to find Ryder had some scratches on his nose. The scratches are remarkably similar to the scratches that Max and Ice sported when Ryder reached that stage in his development. Head wrestling will do that to you...when one of the parties gets a little out of control. The Boy is more assertive, standing over the other males to say "I'm a BOY" now.

Yep, he's The Boy. He's figured out what girls are...and he's figured out that he can throw his weight around with the boys.

I think The Baby is growing up.

Mushing Boot Camp 2007 - Pictures!!!

2007-05-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

When I realized that Sean had forgotten the camera, I was both distressed and, I'll admit, somewhat relieved. I knew that he was going to be focused on the dogs, working with the dogs and learning...I was kind of afraid the camera would suffer. But, on the flip side, it meant I wasn't going to get any pictures...and that was distressing. I love watching the dogs work.

Happily Twila and her husband, from Quinalt Siberians, came to the rescue and took some great pictures. I've snagged the pictures that have shots of Sean and the team in them and uploaded them to our picturetrail album.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I especially like that I got to enjoy Boot Camp without having to get up at 5:30 am to water the dogs and grab breakfast!

Laura, the Lazy

We survived Mushing Boot Camp 2007

2007-05-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we're finally on our way home. We learned a lot this week and worked hard for Daddy.

Some of the things we learned?

1. Don't stop to go potty when working. Daddy will let the other dogs run you over.
2. Don't throw temper tantrums if you don't want to work. Daddy doesn't care and will make you do it anyway.
3. Daddy can be just as mean as Momma and we have to listen to him too when he tells us to do something.
4. Daddy IS the boss of us.

I had SO much fun. Daddy put me in back for a little while, but then moved me back up front with Grandpa Ice. I swear, if those two lazy butts behind us (Ryder and Satinka) had done some of the work, Grandpa and I wouldn't have gotten so tired!

After I tried to get out of the funny box thing the first night, Daddy put us in our crates to sleep. That's OK, I guess. I'd rather have been on the bed with him, but at least I'm used to my crate and it has a crate pad, not that funny straw stuff.

Oh, one more thing I learned - pulling a cart and Daddy through mud is HARD WORK. And when I get tired and sit down, Daddy makes me go again. I love running, but really...

We practiced "on by" a lot. I mean a LOT. Apparently it's very important for us to know "on by" and we do. Momma taught us that already. Apparently she didn't tell Daddy we already knew that.

And Satinka and I think that the really neat cart that Daddy tried looks MUCH better behind us than the black one. It's sleek and pretty...just like us. We'll have to talk to Momma about getting one of those. I know Daddy will help us.

We'll be home tonight...I hope Momma's planning on us sleeping on the big bed with her. We're ready for a soft bed!

Frosty, the Littlest Lead Dog

Mushing Boot Camp, 2nd Report

2007-05-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom!

Ry figured out how to work this cell phone, so while Daddy's inside talking with all those people, we thought we'd call you and tell you what's really going on up here.

I'm running lead, with Tinks. It's pretty cool; she doesn't work quite as hard as I do but she's pretty good. Daddy's teaching us to line out...he said we were really good, especially Tinks and I when we stayed while he took Ry & Frosty off to their tie outs. Tinks was the last one off and she stood there like a real sled dog, waiting her turn. The folks here said since I'm the best worker, I should run up front and man is it cool! There's so much more to see up here. I like it up front. Ryder keeps trying to catch up with me, but he can't.

We were trying to help Daddy, by coming back to the cart to get our water, but he wanted us to stay in our spots. So, I guess we'll just let him wait on us. We were just trying to help.

We've been practicing on by. It's like you make us do when we can't stop to check stuff out, so it's no big deal but some of these dogs are BIG! Now I have to figure out how to mark without stopping, 'cause Daddy's decided I don't need to stop and mark every little thing. Doesn't he know that's one of my main jobs?

And, Momma, Daddy feeds us TWICE a day. The meals are a little smaller, but we get fed TWICE. We need to talk when we get home.

This afternoon Daddy says we're doing a "wet" run...that means we get to go play in the MUD! I can't wait. We've been teaching Daddy to get off the cart and run beside it, so we'll have more energy for playing in the mud.

Ry, Tinks and Frosty are already asleep, so I'd better figure out how to put this phone back where Ry found it and catch some shut eye myself. We've got MUD to play in this afternoon.

Ice, Lead Dog

Ch. Apache Run's Satinka of Kaos and AB1634

2007-05-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

Man, that looks cool, seeing that CH in front of Satinka's name. Don't you agree?

I keep thinking it was a long time coming, but really it wasn't. In August she took her first reserve to a major. In October was that FANTASTIC reserve at a huge specialty in Chicago. In November was her third reserve to a major (never mind that there were 9 other RWB awards...they were when she was younger and still not mature). In January she took her first major, in April her second to finish. Nope, that doesn't seem like such a long time at all.

Looking back, I can't believe the cute little puppy that I brought home from Texas finished her championship with me, her novice owner/handler on the other end of the leash. I can't believe that a breeder who didn't really no me from Adam agreed to let me take this pick of the litter girl and bring her out to California.

You know what's worse? I can't believe that under the proposed AB1634, California's mandatory sterilization bill Satinka wouldn't be finished now because she wouldn't have qualified for an intact permit under the proposed law.

(2) The owner sufficiently demonstrates, as determined in the discretion of the local jurisdiction or its authorized animal control agency, all of the following:
(A) His or her cat or dog is used to show or compete and has competed in at least one legitimate show or sporting competition, hosted by, or under the approval of, a recognized purebred registry or association in existence since at least October 1, 2007, within the last two years, or by whatever proof is requested by the authorized local animal control agency that the cat or dog is being trained to show or compete and is too young to have yet competed.
(B) His or her cat or dog is a valid breed that is recognized by an approved purebred registry or association in existence since at least October 1, 2007.
(C) The cat or dog has earned, or if under two years old, is in the process of earning, a conformation, obedience, agility, carting,herding, protection, rally, sporting, working, or other title from an approved purebred registry or association.

Yep, I'd have to have met ALL of those qualifiers. And, guess what? She finished 1 day after her THIRD birthday.

Kinda takes the shine off of her Championship, knowing that if this bill passes, it'll be my last one if they don't finish before they're two.

Is this any way to treat a Princess? or...I WANT my Lawyer!!!

2007-05-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I finished my championship, mom made a big deal about it, kept picking me up and spinning me around (OK, she finally got over that, I didn't have to barf on her) and in general, treated me with the attention and adoration which is my due. After all, I'm the only champion at Kaos. I'm special.

Then, Wednesday morning Daddy woke me up at THREE AM. That's MORNING...before Momma has hit her buzzer two or three times even. The sunshine isn't even up at THREE AM...and here's Daddy, waking me up. Then he took me out to the van. Oh, goodie...a ride. I love my crate in the van, it's got all sorts of toys in it and I can watch out the back window and make faces at people. Uh...hold on here...this isn't MY van or MY crate...Daddy? What's going on? Hey, Mister, why am I in a 300 sized crate on the FLOOR. I can't see down here. Hello? Daddy? Oh for crying out loud, Mom's not coming...we're in Daddy's van. This can't be good...or can it? Daddy doesn't know all of Momma's travel rules....this could be fun.

So, I'm stuck in a 300 sized crate, the size Momma puts babies in for heaven's sake and down where I can't see. That's the first complaint for my attorney...accommodations unfitting to my station in life.

Then Daddy drove all day and took us to some place called OrEgon. It's WET up here and there's MUD everywhere! Um, hello, this better not mean an extra bath Mister. Ok, so we can play in the mud, that's cool. Daddy put us on these chains to keep us from running in the woods...kinda weird...Momma uses crates. But I can live with that.

Then came bedtime. Daddy didn't put us back in our crates, we can work with this! Frosty and I did our darnedest to eat these boxes apart...I got the wire off the door...Frosty almost got hers open. I tell ya, another hour and we'd have been busted outta these boxes. Daddy calls them "dog boxes" and we are on a trailer thing...but sheesh, any self-respecting Siberian Husky should be able to get out of these. I can't believe those lazy boys didn't do a single thing to help. Lazy bums.

And then...Daddy put us on our tie outs...and it's wet and muddy again. There's grass and stuff, it didn't take me long to show him that wasn't a suitable bedding material for a Siberian of my stature. And then? Oh, we got to go run with the scooter...now that's fun. I let Frosty do most of the work, 'cause she really likes it, but I sure look pretty running like that.

He must have called Mom at that point, because I'm stuck in my crate now. How come when Momma talks about wireless it's a good thing, but when Frosty and I try to go wireless it's not? HUH? That's not FAIR. Now I'm stuck in this dinky little crate, and I can't see out the window and I don't have my toys.

I want my lawyer. And my union rep. I have a union rep, right? I didn't ask to go camping...Momma says girls don't have to camp, that's what hotels are for.

Miss. Ch. Satinka

A Crisis of Procrastination

2007-03-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

So, about 18 mos ago, I started tiling the downstairs of our house...having lived on bare concrete for 4-8 months, I figured it was time. Mom's room was 1/2 done after all, it was time to start another project.

About 800 sq feet into the project I realized...I HATED THE TILE. Hated, as in "would pay someone to tear it up" hated it. So we did, pay someone to tear it up that is. Then, having learned that lesson, we paid someone else to lay down the tile we selected as replacement. This tile covers almost all of the downstairs; the library will, at some point, be re-carpeted, along with the stairs and upstairs hall and the spare/Sean's/den room. And we have no molding, either at floor level or around the doors, because that all came down to repaint everything AND to switch it to something nicer than "builder's bulk purchase" molding. (Please, don't ask about dogs chewing on exposed drywall edges...it may send Sean, well, over the edge. He's getting REALLY good at drywall repair.)

The soft, butter creme color of the walls had to go, between the new lighting fixtures with their energy saving fluorescent bulbs and the new floor color...it was HIDEOUS. So now we have Mesa Tumbleweed (aka chocolate milk brown) walls and a couple of walls that are Japanese Maple - one downstairs and one in the master bedroom. (Actually, I think it might be Plum Raisin, but doesn't Japanese Maple sound prettier?...anyway, it's a deep, dark, burgundy color that I shall call Japanese Maple...except when I have the paint chip in hand and need to match it to something...but I digress.

The Japanese Maple was picked upstairs because it was perfect with the wallpaper border that Sean and I had agreed on for our bedroom on our FIRST trip to look at wallpaper books (what are the odds of that?). So, we have the border ordered (sometime early last year) the painting done (sometime early THIS year) and a couple weekends ago we put up the wall paper border.

But some bimbo can't measure correctly and she was 3 rolls short (that's 15 yards). No problem, right? Go back to the website, order 3 more rolls, don't think about the lot numbers, it won't be THAT obvious...well, no, it won't, because the ding dang pattern has been DISCONTINUED. As in not available. As in..can't get it anymore.

After a couple hours of frantic googling, I *think* I found some in stock. I ordered it and now I'm waiting to hear back. If it's not in stock, I HOPE I can find another pattern from the same company, in the same shades so I don't have to repaint that Japanese Maple wall upstairs.

Of course, if I'd done the painting and wall paper border a year ago when I ordered the stuff I could have ordered more border before it was discontinued...but where's the fun in that?

Oh, did I mention that we didn't care for how the grout color came out? And "staining/sealing grout" is still on my list of things to finish. But I've got the stain! I ordered that last year.

The pitterpatter of little feet...

2007-03-14T15:58:00.000-07:00

...won't be heard at Kaos for a while yet, but our first co-bred litter is safely on the ground and healthy. Elvira, one of the "not really mine, but...." girls at Maskarade Siberians presented us with five healthy puppies a few weeks ago. 2 girls, 3 boys (although which was which seemed to be a little bit of a mystery to Tony, who's only been doing this for 25 years or so).

You can wander over there to see the puppies. I'm not sure who Tony & Adele are going to keep and I'm kinda bummed that I'm only getting to watch them grow up in pictures, but what can you do? I mean...who wants to live in Yakima for heaven's sake? The puppies will probably be down her for a visit later this spring, I can't wait! As I told friends, this is the EASY way to breed a litter...find someone else to do all the work.

In other news: Blaze was Reserve Winners Dog on Sunday, March 11th at the Apple Valley Kennel Club. His very first RWD...and hopefully not the first of many . We'd much rather go straight for the points! But we did take a picture so look for that on his web page in a week or so. Our little boy is growing up and I think we're going to be very, very happy with him.

Sean's heading up to the Klamath Falls, Oregon area for Mushing Boot Camp in early May. He's taking Frosty, Ryder, Satinka and Ice and I'm looking forward to lots of good stories and getting back some trained sled dogs! Since MBC mornings start at 5 am or some ridiculous hour, his mom is going along with him...not me!

While he's gone, I'll be taking Blaze to his first United Kennel Club show, if all goes as planned. I've heard lots of good things about UKC shows, including fun, relaxed attitude and well, fun. I can't wait to see how it goes.

We took some of the gang up to Truckee, CA (near the Nevada border in the Sierra Mountains) for a fun weekend of sledding with the Northern California Siberian Husky Club. Little did we know that it was going to be the start of a HUGE snowstorm! While we were making our 1.5 hour drive down the mountain in 10 hours, we had fun reliving Sean's runs with the dogs...a longer run on Saturday and a short run on Sunday. If we'd known we were going to be on the freeway until 10pm or so just getting to Sacramento, we'd probably have stayed longer on Sunday!

Blaze wasn't old enough to run with the team, although he did get a chance to go 100 yards or so with them, so we let him play in the snow and have fun. And he did!

Isn't he the CUTEST?

While we were up playing in the snow that weekend, Ice was with Grandma at the Southern California Malamute Club's weight pull event, where he earned his 3rd leg toward his weight pull title. Little does he know he's going to have to do it all over again for his UKC weight pull title. Somehow, I don't think he's going to mind. How cool does he look?

I think that's it for new news at Kaos. We're doing some yard work this weekend, and then a couple weekends of shows, with some specialties and Mission Circuit coming up. I keep whispering "grow your new coat" in Satinka's ear while she's sleeping....I hope it works! In the meantime, I'm taking extreme measures to keep Frosty OFF of the kitchen counter. I've caught her up there three times in the last three days...bring on the scat mat!

PETA shows its true colors

2007-02-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

It's not all fun and games at Kaos. One of our passions is fighting against the animal rights movement as it encroaches on our ability to own our animals and make our own decisions about their lives. Here's one of our more serious moments:

http://www.wilsondaily.com/Opinion/Editorials/300718245342361.php

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Last week's trial of PETA employees ended in at least a partial vindication of the defendants, who were convicted only of littering, not animal cruelty. But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was revealed as a dishonest and misleading organization, which raises millions of dollars for its campaign to place all animals on the same plane as humans. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk's infamous comparison, "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy," establishes the group's radical philosophy.

PETA has campaigned against "factory farms," against eating meat, against wearing fur and against "exploiting" animals as beasts of burden or household pets. The term "pet" is forbidden, by the way; the preferred term is "companion animal."

In 2005, PETA raised more than $25 million in tax-deductible contributions.

Testimony at last week's trial in Winton, however, painted a different picture of the organization. Two PETA employees had been caught dumping the carcasses of dogs and cats into a supermarket Dumpster. The animals had been "rescued" from animal shelters in Hertford and Bertie counties.

Shelter workers and other witnesses said that the PETA employees promised to find good homes for the animals. The defendants denied that charge, insisting that everyone knew the animals would be euthanized.

The judge in the case dropped the animal cruelty charges because the prosecution could present no evidence that the defendants had been intentionally cruel. What they had done was execute the collected animals in the back of a PETA van. When the stench of decaying flesh became too much, the defendants pulled over the van and dumped the carcasses into a trash bin. They were found guilty of littering.

Although PETA officials insisted they had done nothing wrong, what they had done was to reveal PETA's true nature. If "a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy," as the organization's theology claims, these workers had committed murder.

This glimpse of PETA's true colors should serve as a warning to the many Wilson County residents who are frustrated by the county's Animal Control problems. Some have been heard hreatening to get PETA involved. Spare us. Wilson County Animal Control has many shortcomings, which we hope are being solved. But PETA, the two-faced, puppy-killing organization, will not help Wilson County's Animal Control procedures or "rescue" its abandoned animals."

Why I'll never have "trained" Siberians.

2007-02-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

I don't doubt that someone who knows what they're doing (both with a clicker and a Siberian ) could probably get wonderful results from my dogs... I also don't doubt that I'm NOT that person. I use a marker "good" with my "happy mom" voice when they've done something I've told them to do or they're doing something good (I'm not the only person that tells them what good dogs they are for lounging around, doing nothing, right?). And I've got my ACK or UH UH and NO with the appropriate voices too.

Last night Ryder and I had an entire conversational exchange...it went like this:

Ry: Hey, Mom, you're not going to eat all that pizza are you?
Me: Ryder, you should get OFF of me
Ry: OK, I got off, what do I get?
Me: "Good boy"
Ry: That's IT? How about some pizza?
Me: How about you get OFF? good
Ry: You suck.
Me. I don't care.
Ry: Are you sure I can't have some pizza? Maybe just some crust?
Me: Good sit!
Ry: Well, crap, if you'd wanted a sit, why didn't you just say so?

How come it wasn't a holiday?

2007-01-31T15:31:00.000-08:00

Monday should have been a holiday. We all should have had the day off.

I woke up to the realization that one of the more important events in my dog-show life was passing without the world stopping to acknowledge it. Satinka won her first major!!! (For you non-dog show people, this is a Big Deal.)

I've been whining for months that Satinka was becoming my Reserve Queen. She's won 12 RWB awards...12! If I bought 12 cups of coffee, I'd be working on my second punch card! But, then I looked a little deeper...

She finished winning minor points in July, and went Best of Breed at the Burbank Kennel Club show. In August, she got her first RWB to a major. Since then, she had that big one at the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Chicago, another at Sacramento Valley Kennel Club, and the fourth at the Golden Valley Kennel Club. Not too shabby. She's been in the ribbons more than she's been out...and here I am complaining? Sheesh!

But, anyway, she hit the jackpot last Sunday, at the Orange Empire Dog Club show. Winning the Open class is no guarantee that Winners Bitch is yours (see above results from the Sacramento Valley show )...but it's a good omen. Walking out, to the applause from friends who've been watching me since I first started showing 4 1/2 years ago, who've watched and advised as Satinka and I grew as a team...I tell ya, there's NOTHING like that feeling. Well, at least not yet. I'll let you know how it feels when the picture placard reads "New Champion." 'Cause, baby, we're almost there!

These Dogs were made for Workin'

2007-01-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Sean had the chance to take some of the crew up to Lancaster to go carting out in the desert with our friend Nicole.

Here's a photo of the four that went up to Nicole's last weekend while Blaze, Satinka, Grandma and I did the show thing. There are 4 dogs in front of them (Nicole's Siberian and her 3mals...dogs who are acually trained...seems a good idea to put them infront, doesn't it?) and three foster Jindo's behind them.

Nicole's never run an 11 dog team before (nor has Sean ever driven one!). They're going out again next Monday (I have to work) and Ryder the Lazy will probably be left home and Satinka and Katie will join the outing. And it looks like they'll be going out most every Sunday until it's too warm to run. I know Sean can't wait for snow to take the sled out....and I'm thinking Ryder and I will make a great ski-jouring team...I don't like to go too fast and he doesn't like to pull too hard.

Since not everyone knows each of our dogs by sight , the little gray girl is Frosty (aka The Littlest Sled Dog and Sean's lead dog in training). The red boy beside her is Max, our Los Angeles Pound Puppy who also runs lead with Frosty, or wheel with Ry or Ice and, happily, has 1/2 a clue about what he's doing in harness. The black boy behind him is Ice, aka Born to Pull who runs wheel (when the run kicks in, the ears stop working). Beside Ice is Ryder "I'd rather be Resting" The Lazy, who despite having no "drive in his head" (thank you Karen for that very accurate description of what Ryder doesn't have) won't let Ice or Max out run him - out pull him, maybe, but not out run him.

Momma brought home more dogs.....

2007-01-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

.....and we couldn't find them!

Last night, Momma and Daddy settled down on the sofa and turned on the funny window thing. Imagine how happy we were to find out that Momma and Daddy brought home a whole bunch of new dogs for us to play with!

We couldn't find them though. I checked the boxes beside the window where the noise comes in, up and down the boxes and behind them and couldn't find those dogs. I know better than to paw at that window, 'cause Daddy would get REALLY REALLY mad...so I settled down to watch
the dogs play out the window. But then they started calling us to come play. And there were a LOT of them.

We all started looking for those dogs. Katie was the first to think they might be outside, behind the window and ran out, but she came back inside and said she couldn't see them anywhere in the yard...but we could still hear them. Ice stayed on the love seat to watch them out the window, to make sure they didn't leave before we found them.

Aleska stayed near the sound box by the window, to make sure she could still hear them.

The rest of us kept watch in the back yard, coming in to see if they'd come in the house yet...we could SEE them in the window and HEAR them in the boxes next to the window but we couldn't find those dogs. And they were having FUN.

Ice got pretty excited when he saw them being harnessed up to go for a run and we tried to get in line with them when we saw them running...but we couldn't find them. I finally settled down next to Momma to make sure that when they came in the house, they'd know she was MY Momma. And those dogs got to run a LOT.

Finally the dogs went home, Momma and Daddy closed the window and went to bed....we'll have to be alert for the next visit by these new dogs. I know they want to play with us...but where are they?

Ryder

Mom's translation helper:
Funny window thing = TV
Boxes where noise comes in = speakers
New dogs = Pretty Sled Dogs DVD from www.huskyproductions.net

Pedicure time at Kaos

2007-01-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

When you've got 10 dogs, someone always needs their nails done, especially when about 1/2 of them have dewclaws (which may be where the retractable thumbs hide, except that Ry doesn't even have dewclaws and if any of 'em have thumbs, it's him :-)

Anyway...over the years, the dogs have caused me to develop different techniques.

Max, Lacy, Ryder, Aleska and Cheyenne will just lay on the floor and let me trim. They're the ones who most often get their nails trimmed, because it's easy.

Frosty requires that I position her so that she can't see the clippers. Unfortunately for her, she jerks her foot, so she's been quicked more than anyone else...resulting in a reluctance to have her nails done. Also, unfortunately for her, her nails grow freakishly fast, needing trimmed at least once a week.

Satinka requires that I work as quickly as possible, only do her dewclaws (she keeps the rest pretty short) or dremel her on the grooming table with someone else holding food. Very rarely does she need more than an evening up of some edges, and her dew claws.

Ice is my nightmare. The pads of his feet are SO ticklish that if I brush against them, nail time is over. It's HARD to do nails without actually holding the foot, but holding the pastern. Last night, however, he let me roll him on his back in my lap and trim his rear nails (fronts were short enough).

Katie hasn't needed her nails trimmed more than once or twice in 2 1/2years...actually most of them don't, given that their yard is gravel and concrete, but when I do dewclaws on the showing dogs, I'm reminded that I need to do them on the stay at homes too, which results in a pedicure session for everyone.

But the most fun is The Baby. He was sleeping on the kitchen floor and I figured since he was getting a bath on Friday I'd do his dews last night. I clipped the first one while he was lying there and he opened an eye, looked at me and said "can you hurry up, I'm trying to sleep here." I quickly trimmed the 2nd one and let him resume his nap. Yep, I can tell he's going to be a handful.

Lure Coursing....all it takes is a little prey drive, right?

2006-12-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Lynn, found this great lure coursing club in San Diego (http://www.luratics.com/) that is an all breed lure coursing club and we arranged to head down this weekend for some fun after a little bit of reading/researching of course. The course is fenced...that was the research...and we were ready to go. I signed us up for four runs and plugged the park's address into the GPS. We loaded up the chosen four in the van: Ice (Mr. Prey Drive), Frosty (Granddaughter of Mr. Prey Drive), Satinka (the Airhead), and Katie (if Grandma's going, I'm going). We headed down to the park where the lure coursing was held to watch the tail end of the morning session to see what the whole thing was about. We got there, found parking and ran into the first "you've GOT to be kidding" moment. Yes, the park is fenced...on three sides (and I think there may have been an unsecured opening up at the far end, I tried not to think about it much)...and along the fourth was that orange, plastic field fencing stuff, about 4' high. GULP

At this point, Grandma has decided that Katie will just watch but I had other ideas. We watched the rest of the morning session with great delight. I tell you, watching those sightounds (and terriers and even a Newfie) run the course, chasing the lure...it was amazing.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about this very, very special lure. It's a plastic grocery sack. So, here I am, about to take my Siberian off leash, with a 4' fence along one side of the course, and expect them to chase a stupid little plastic bag...yards away from me...I mean, so far that they're a little speck in the grass. Have I lost my flippin mind? (No need to answer that!)

So, up went Frosty. First off, I'd forgotten NO FLEXIES...and I didn't have any other leashes with me. Ok, we were forgiven that faux pas after I swore NEVER to do it again. Sean took Frosty over to the start and I watched him get ready to release her...FROM HER COLLAR! ACK. No leash, no collar...Siberian? Again, I wondered, had I lost my flippin mind? (Again, no response required). Pat, managing the lure controls, scooted it back and forth to get Frosty's attention..and boy did she. Frosty danced in place in anticipation of capturing that amazing lure. Then, she was off! My heart in my throat, Grandma standing by with a noisy bag of treats...I watched my little girl race around the course...chasing a plastic bag! Her focus was amazing...and she followed the entire course and came back to the start point, got to jump on the bag and was re-leashed by Daddy and given a treat by Grandma.

Now I'm feeling more confident. My first off leash, off collar lure coursing run and I have my dog back, safe and sound in her crate. Of course, we had to buy one of the spiffy, quick release, lure coursing collars so we had the right equipment .

So, after the success with Frosty, we're feeling pretty confident. So, Ice is up next. I cautioned the gal with the Italian Greyhound to hang onto her dog, Ice has a pretty good prey drive and I wanted to be able to come back. She assured me she'd hang on to her dog and as the other small dogs along the course were gone for the day, we were feeling pretty darn good. So, I watch, again with baited breath, as Sean let Ice loose for his run. Now, crated along the course, Ice had been watching, avidly, all morning as dogs were turned loose to chase...something. His bright blue eyes gleamed with anticipation. He wanted to do...whatever it was those other dogs were doing. So, off he went. And he ran...and ran...and chased. At the end of his run, he was collared and treated and went back in his crate to rest. Two down, two to go.

Next it was Satinka's turn. My biggest concern was that she'd get bored 1/2 way around (at the absolute farthest point from me) and go exploring the park. Holy COW. Talk about focused. Satinka ran this course like she was born to it, cornering like a pro, turning and following that lure every foot of the way. I couldn't believe her aptitude for this game. And, quite a game it was for her. When she got to the end, she pounced on the lure (good thing they're cheap) and managed to get a piece of it before Daddy got ready to catch her and crate her up. Oh boy, now for Tink's favorite game...chase me! But the rattle of treats in Grandma's hand proved to be too much to resist and Satinka was safely collared and re-crated.

Now it's Katie's turn. Grandma wasn't sure about turning Katie loose, but after seeing Satinka the Brat, I was feeling pretty confident that Katie'd do just fine. Sean took her collar off and the lure took off....but, hey, over here...some loose dirt by the starting spot... We all laughed as Katie let the lure take off while she explored the loose dirt...hey, after all, a pile of dirt v. having to chase a plastic bag? No contest, right? The lure started on it's merry way, unthreatened by a chasing dog. Pat brought it back, ran it back and forth to get Katie's attention again and then they were off! Katie didn't run with the drive of the other three...but she chased that darn lure until she caught it...and then went back to the safety of her crate (I could see Grandma's relief).

So, all four dogs ran and we decided to give Tinks and Ice another go. Tinks was first. Quivering with anticipation...dancing from foot to foot..begging Daddy to let go of her, she waited impatiently. Then it was her turn again. The lure took off...and the black and white blur that was Satinka took off with it...all the way around, although this time she let the lure take some corners and she shortcutted to try and cut it off (no one said she was stupid ). She "caught" the lure at the end and then, again, thought it was time for Tink's favorite game..Chase Me. Pat tried running the lure back and forth to bring her in...no good, she's smart. Finally, she got close enough to me that a flying tackled got her. Lynn said it was a good one . And she went back in her crate, done for the day. I know when to call it good.

Ice was our final run of the day. He'd been watching all afternoon and he WANTED that lure. So, off he went, my 7 1/2 yr old, harness banging, wheel dog. He had a good run...but, somewhere toward the end, the lure got far enough ahead of him that he got distracted...uh oh. No problem...Pat reversed the lure to get it back in front of him...but he's running backwards on the course...after a little feather or something tied on the line...to heck with that plastic bag, he found something smaller to chase... After much laughter (although I'll admit mine was nervous laughter) eventually he targeted the lure again and came on in, happy as could be.

There wasn't a peep out of them on the way home...they slept like logs. We had a great time and I can't wait to take some of the dogs out again. If you'd told me on Friday that I'd be turning one of my Siberians loose, with no collar in a park that I hadn't walked the fence line, that had a temporary 4 foot plastic fence along one side...I'd have told you that you were crazy...but, maybe I'm the crazy one?

Ooops, I did it again....

2006-12-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

We took the Kaos eKpress out with the cart again last weekend. Sean had done some work to improve the steering (YIPPEE) and we gave it another go.

With Hummee and Ice at wheel, Frosty and Max in lead and Aleska and Katie trotting along in the middle (swing), we were ready to go.

Ok, so, the steering on the cart is fixed...but in order for it to work, one has to actually TURN the handlebar.

Picture this: 6 dogs, running and having a ball. Daddy yelling FROSTY - HAW, MAX - HAW and darling little 36 lb Frosty trying her best to make everyone HAW (that's a left turn, by the way). So, Momma leans to add her weight to the turning cart...except...the cart isn't turning! It's following the dogs!

I had plenty of time, as I flew off the cart, to remember to tuck in my arms, roll my shoulders and tuck my head before I hit the ground...and remind myself to wait until I stopped moving before I tried to get up.

So, we learned a few things:

1 - One lead dog isn't necessarily enough to turn the team, especially the 19 1/2", 36 lb Frosty.
2 - Turn the cart and the wheel dogs respond to the change in direction and help move the whole team.
3 - slow the dogs down before a turn, they can't do a 90 degree turn!
4 - Mom steers and controls the dogs, Dad is Brakeman.

Although maybe #1 should be - train the dogs .

Here are photos taken that day: www.picturetrail.com/kaossiberians They do NOT include any pictures of Laura flying off the cart. These were taken AFTER the "big run" with the dogs going out on the scooter with Daddy so I could take some pictures .

Frosty, bless her 36 lb little self, was pissed every time the scooter took off without her. So we sent her out with Aleska, "I'd rather be resting" and Frosty had to pull both the scooter AND Aleska. And yet she still wanted more. I'm betting that while I'm here at work, she's home leading the snow dance so we can take the sled up to Big Bear for some real fun!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2006-11-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

Well, some of the neighbors have their Christmas lights up, decorations in the yard and the wind is a blowing. Here's my contribution to the Christmas spirit.

Weekend Warriors...

2006-11-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Sean and I like to pretend that we're actually going to work the dogs in harness...you know, with a cart or the sled we have in the garage. Last weekend was one of those times...we met up with the Southern California Snow Dogs group down at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.

Oh, let me back up a minute...first, on Friday night, I went to pick up a new cart, a Black Ice Wheeled Training Cart. The advantage of this cart is that the passenger area is large enough that we can both ride along, with Sean doing the steering and braking and me just going along for the ride...or so I imagined.

So, Saturday morning we get down there (on time, by the way) and we were the first ones there. (Yes, Kelly, Sparkle time is almost officially dead, the AKC doesn't wait for anyone, even me when ring times are posted.) We unloaded a couple of crates to give everyone their own space and started unloading carts. There's the new Black Ice cart, very nice, with lines to hook up all seven dogs...yep, we took seven untrained dogs out on a new cart, on new trails. Genius, I tell you, simply genius. Then we unloaded the Trail Pup Plus for Maggie to try and the Dirt Dawg scooter for someone else to use. Got everyone harnessed up and proceeded to decide who was going to go where.

Ice and Ryder at wheel, that's an easy one. Mr. Let me RUN (Ice) and Mr. He's Not Going Anywhere without Me (Ryder) at wheel insures that we'll get moving. Humvee and Blaze went at team (in the middle) because, well, wheel and lead were taken and that's what's left. We didn't want Blaze working overly hard, since he's just a baby and really wanted to keep it easy and fun for him. Hummee, although he's only been out once, is just a year old and, again, I wanted him to have fun, but I knew he'd take most of the load off of Blaze. Up front we had "I know what you want, I just don't feel like paying attention right now, Leader Frosty" and "I know what you want me to do, I don't want to do it right now, Leader Max" and "They had to put me somewhere, Miss Satinka".

We got everyone lined out, Max does know line out so that helps. And then the plan was that Sean would start them off easy while I swung myself up on the cart to ride along. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and dog drivers. Sean got them slowed down and I was able to run up to catch them and hop on....then we realized that we were on a trail with a 90ÃÂ° turn to a bridge. Luckily "easy" and "whoa" seemed to work.

It was then that I realized Sean had planned for me to do more than ride along. Someone (read ME) had to go out to the front of the team, walk them around in a WIDE circle and get them facing back the direction we wanted them to go. Gee and Haw didn't seem to be on Frosty's or Max's agenda that day..and Satinka, well, she's never been trained to do anything but "stand, pretty" (which, by the way, she does very well). So, we got them and the cart turned around, Sean hollered "HIKE" and they took off a little slower this time. I was able to swing on and didn't fall ootherwise embarrasssss myself. A couple of runs back and forth in the grass (high rolling resistance = slower dogs) and we were ready for the trails. We took off behind everyone (because, of course 7 dogs are slower than 2? and we didn't know the trails) and followed along. At the first decent downhill we discovered that taking 7 untrained dogs down hill, on a new cart where you're unsure of the braking is, well, an adventure. I ended up walking the dogs down the hill with Sean riding the brake.

We made it, without incident, down the easier hill than everyone else took (stories of Bodie and Arrow dragging Maggie's scooter told us we didn't want to take the "big hill") and met up at the turn around/water spot. The dogs took their break, with most of them deciding to lay down on the cool grass while the people talked and chatted. Then it was time to turn them around again and head back to the car. We accomplished this with a minimum of mounting/dismounting on my part and all arrived back at the car, tired, happy and ready to rest.

Next weekend we're going again, but we're going to try it with a few less dogs...anything to shorten the distance from the back of the cart to the front of the line! I didn't realize being a passenger was going to be so much exercise!

Dear Lord, I hope someone has trained them by the time we have snow to sled in!!!

Things we learned:

one gallon of water for the dogs is not enough
3 dogs in lead means much switching of necklines as they decide who's going to be next to whom
being a passenger doesn't mean just riding along
passengers should wear good running shoes
running dogs in harness is exhilarating, addicting and tiring (I napped until 8pm when we got home).

Happy Birthday, Dear Ryder

2006-11-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby boy is four today. Where does the time go? Is this what it's like to be a parent and look over and realize the young life you've been nurturing is grown up and ready to spread their wings? Well, lucky for me dogs don't have wings, eh?

Many of you will remember that just a few short days ago (at least it seems to me like it was just yesterday) I brought home this fluffy little bundle of Ryderness, who was quickly dubbed the MonsterWonderPuppyFromHeck. When he discovered girls, his name was changed slightly, and he became the MonsterWonderPuppyFromHeckwithHormones.

Ryder got into everything - the dishwasher, the fridge, he even managed to open doors and turn on the stove. His first night in a hotel room at a show he opened the door to let himself out to go potty. Unfortunately for his plans to explore, I'd fastened the security bar, giving him a scant 3" of opening...enough to panic me, not enough to set him loose.

Ryder's a Momma's Boy, through and through and I love his fuzzy little self to pieces. As my first show puppy, I always thought Ryder was perfect. I still do. :-)

Tonight, it's carrot cake for everyone and Ryder gets the corner piece with all the frosting!!

P.S. for those who wonder...somewhere around four, they start growing a brain! I'm seeing signs of it in Ryder.

Carting in the Vinyard

2006-11-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Sean and I loaded up the van with a few dogs (Max, Ice, Ryder, Hummee, Tinks, Frosty and Blaze) and their harnesses and went up to join the Northern California Siberian Husky Club for their annual fall event "Carting in the Vinyard." It's been a while since we had the dogs out to run...months probably. So, with hotel reservations, a plan to visit a girl friend in Concord and a full tank of gas, we headed out on Saturday morning.

A brief detour past the Santa Fe dam, where the Antelope Valley and San Gabriel Kennel clubs were holding their shows netted us a hitch hiker, an 11 week old Staffordshire named Ridley who needed a ride up north to his new home. (Yes, that now makes eight dogs in the van.)

So we headed north, without incident, and made it up to Barbara's. I finally got to meet Teddy, her Toy Fox Terrier. I tell you, I was afraid I was going to step on the little guy. He's cute, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't last long at Kaos. We ran and fed the dogs, talked and went out to dinner and then strolled over to Half Price Books, a store Sean had never been to, but found much to his liking. After dinner we loaded all the dogs back up, making sure we had all eight of them and hit the road to Santa Rosa, with a brief detour to hand Ridley over to his new folks. We got in at a reasonable hour, checked into the hotel, walked all the dogs and went to bed, counting on Blaze's "wake up call" feature to wake us up (he did, at 4 am and at 6am). Before going to bed, I even remembered to plug in the crockpot with the Lil Smokies and sauce for the next day's potluck (you'll see why this detail is important later).

Saturday morning dawned bright, clear and cool as we walked the dogs and got ready to find the closest Starbucks and hit the road. As we made the turn onto Hwy 12, I felt a warmth on my foot...oh CRAP...a crockpot full of Lil Smokies and sauce was now 1/3 full. The other 2/3d's ended up on my foot, the passenger side of the car and, happily, in the map pocket on the door. We pulled over and cleaned up as much as we could (guess who forgot to replace the empty roll of paper towels in her van?). As Sean reached into the map pocket to clean out the little wieners, I managed to blurt out "they're hot" just as he yanked his hand out of the sauce. Finding a convenient grocery store, we stopped and got paper towels, wet wipes and ingredients to refill the crock pot, did some more clean up and continued on our way. At this point, we're running about 40 minutes late. No big deal, it's a casual thing and we'll get there in about 20 minutes.

Waiting at an intersection, we saw a truck with a great dog box go by, pulling a training rig. I figured we'd probably follow them to the carting fun and we made the turn....as my brain processed the fact that no one who was attending had a rig like that. As I glanced down at my directions, to confirm we were going the right way it occured to me that we were supposed to be going to Calistoga...yet the directions to Glen Elen, where we were picking up our new sled later that weekend, were on top. Yep, sure enough, not only did I spill our potluck offering on the way to the potluck, but we weren't even going the right way to the potluck! Traveling with me is such an adventure :-)

So, we got ourselves turned around, called to let the carting group know not to worry, we were running way late and headed back out...this time to Calistoga. We had a great time once we got there.

We had a great time with our Nor Cal friends. In addition to running the dogs, there were great games like "bobbing for hot dogs" (the dogs bobbed, not the people), musical paws and doggie limbo. While we didn't win any prizes, the Kaos Krew sure had fun...especially on that bobbing for hot dog game.

Sean took out our foursome with Max and Frosty at lead and Ryder and Ice at wheel. Now, let me just say that Ryder's not the most motivated of working dogs...unless he's following Max or running with Ice. But with those two in the team with him, he's a pulling machine. Frosty's going to make a great lead dog with some training, she's actually responding to commands already even if she can't make everyone turn with her (she's our Littlest Sled Dog). But she's determined. Ice and Ryder, and later Ice and Hummee ran at wheel.

It was Hummee's first time out in harness. The previous trip down to go scootering he'd been a little too young for me to be entirely comfortable running him. I tell ya, this boy has leg and knows how to use it. He threw himself into his harness and pulled like he'd been doing it his entire life.

It was Satinka's first time out as well, other than a brief foray up in the snow a couple years ago. Unfortunately, we'd put her next to Ryder (see the aforementioned description of Ryder's work ethic) so she didn't really get what was going on...but she ran. I don't know how much pulling she did, but she had fun.

The best fun was taking Blaze out with his brother and sister on the puppy run. He put his shoulder into the harness and he pulled. I tell you, there's nothing cuter than a bunch of puppies in harness. Of course they didn't work hard and they didn't go far, but they sure had fun!

I managed not to run the cart into any of the buildings (but it was close) on my trip out; no one fell or otherwise hurt themselsves and we all made it home in one piece. I've never heard my dogs so quiet (is that possible?). They slept, ate and went right back to sleep.

We made it down to Glen Elen to pick up our sled (from the driver of the truck we saw that clued me into the fact that we were going the wrong way earlier in the weekend) and spent some time with Van and his wife, talking about dogs, racing, equipment and other things dear to Sean's heart :-) and drove home with a sled on the van.

Now, I guess, all we need is snow. And maybe a GPS for better navigational success?

Unpacking National Memories

2006-10-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

As we unpack my suitcases from the 2006 Siberian Husky Club of America National Specialty, I find that some of the items have memories associated with them.

The red Siberian Husky bag - a much contested item at the Rescue booth raffle, I spent much of my discretionary $$ at the booth buying tickets to stuff the cup for this bag and scare off other interested parties. Well, I didn't scare them off, but the last batch of tickets I bought, that Gerry wasn't going to let me have in case she'd feel some guilt if I didn't win the bag, were lucky! That bag is sitting happily on my dresser now.

Half-eaten bully sticks - in an effort to assuage my guilt at having to crate the dogs in the hotel room so long, I was constantly stuffing bully sticks in their crates. (If you don't really know what a bully stick is, don't worry, you probably don't want to know.) When I cleaned out the crates for the trip home, I found that both Satinka and Hummee had a supply of half-eaten bully sticks tucked away in the backs of their crates.

Everyone needs a new grooming bag, right? I won a new one in the aforementioned Rescue raffle. No, I didn't need a new one and, had I been thinking, I'd have saved it to donate to another raffle...but it's packed and in the van ready for its first outing this weekend.

Black velvet bag containing gold Siberian Husky head silhouette earrings - Satinka wanted me to have these on Sunday when she won Reserve Winners Bitch. I swear, that's what she told me :-) Wonder what she would have wanted me to have if she'd won Winners Bitch? It boggles the mind to consider.

That's the first suitcase down. I can't wait to unpack the memories in the second one, but that'll have to wait until next week. Tonight we're off to Dixon, CA for another shot at a major for Tinks (ok, and Katie and Hummee).

See ya!

Where did it go???

2006-10-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe we're back already. Hummee and Tinks had big plans to take over the computer and share the whole trip with you, but they must have been tired.

Satinka was tired because on Sunday she won Reserve Winners Bitch (that's like Runner Up to Miss America for you non-dog show people). While we could have been happier, we were thrilled with the win.

Hummee was tired because he had to spend so much time laying around, sleeping. The weather was COLD and it rained off an on. Sunday morning we woke up to mixed rain and snow for our drive back to the airport.

All in all, it was a great week, we met some new friends, connected with some old friends, saw some great (and not-so-great) dogs and had a good time.

We're off to see the wizard....

2006-10-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

Oh, wait, that was LAST year's National Specialty...in Topeka, Kansas. This year we (Satinka, the Diva, Hummee, the Doofus or Dummee if you're in a rhyming type mood and their erstwhile handler and provider of yummy treats...aka Momma) are headed to Rockford, Illinois for the Siberian Husky Club of America national specialty (think all Siberians, all the time). As an added bonus, the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Chicago is having their annual specialty the Saturday and Sunday before the SHCA specialty begins.

Your intrepid travelers will begin their journey on Friday, October 13th (could we be any less happy to read the date?) from Los Angeles International airport and fly out to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Avoiding the bustle of Chicago's O'Hare, MKE is about the same distance from Rockford and the ticket was cheap. Did you know on Midwest Airlines the dogs accumulate frequent flyer benefits? How cool is that?

Tinks and Hummee have insisted that I bring the laptop so that they can keep you up to date with the happenings in Rockford. So, check in from time to time next week and see how much fun we're having. Did I mention there are SNOW FLURRIES in the forecast? Let me tell you that 1/3 of the traveling team isn't nearly as excited as the other 2/3ds of the team.

Our schedule looks something like this:

Friday night: arrive very very late
Saturday: get up very, very early...show at the Chicago Specialty, Day 1, both Hummee & Tinks
Sunday: get up very, very early...show at the Chicago Specialty, Day 2, both Hummee & Tinks
Monday: sleep in and attend afternoon educational seminars
Tuesday: Hummee shows in 9-12 puppy dog sweepstakes, go visit a friend in the area
Wednesday: Hummee shows in American Bred dog class, order pizza and a movie and relax
Thursday: Satinka shows in Open bitch class
Friday: Hummee shows, with his sister, Roxie, and Dad, Cody, in the Stud Dog class
Saturday: Woohoo!!! No reason to be clean today (unless the amazing happens and Tinks or Hummee takes Winners...but let's be real) so we'll watch the Best of Breed judging (Hummee and I will be sitting ringside, cheering on Big Sister Roxie).
Sunday: get up very, very early and fly home.
Monday: back to work...what a vacation.

So, stay tuned and we'll try and share the fun with you...from the snow to the shortage of grooming space, from sharing a room with two friends and four other dogs, with a mix of puppies, in-season girls and intact boys...it'll be a week we won't forget *unless, of course, we find the bar first*

More Purple and Gold!!!

2006-10-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

And, no I'm not talking about the colors flying when the University of Washington Huskies beat the UCLA Bruins....that was just bonus purple & gold.

Sunday, at the Burbank Kennel Club, Satinka was Winners Bitch, both days, Best of Opposite on Saturday and on Sunday...her first Best of Breed! I was a little surprised (ok, a LOT surprised) and thrilled to receive that award for Tinks. Not so thrilled to stay for groups with rain showers off an on but we stayed and showed (and didn't do anything in group).

So, all three of my current show dogs are pointed...Hummee has 2 points (and 1 BOB), Katie has 2 points (and 2 BOBs) and Tinks has 8 points and now her first BOB!

To make the weekend more exciting, when I called Tink's breeder to let her know how Tinks did, I found out that Cha'tima, Satinka's dam finished her championship this weekend; her sister, Abey, was WB the other two days of the 4 day show and her 1/2 brother, Frosty, was WD. What a great weekend for Apache Run Siberians...and Kaos!

Not to be left out, Hummee won RWD on Sunday...he's got some maturing to do, but he'll get there .

Blaze spent an uneventful weekend at home with Daddy and the other dogs....no new cute puppy stories for now.

This weekend is our last big California show before the National Specialty in Rockford, Illinois. I'm excited to go. I don't know that Tinks and Hummee share my excitement...or much care :-) I'm not sure where September went...

Why we're Kaos Siberians

2006-09-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

There's a reason we chose our kennel name. It'll become very clear in the next minute or two of reading.

I received a call on my way home last night from the husband, and he didn't sound particularly happy. "Who left the house last this morning?" "Um, I did, why? What did I do?" "It's not so much what you did, as what you didn't do....you didn't close the dog door."

At that point, oh SH*T was the only thing I had to say. Luckily, there wasn't too much of that!

They had gone through the garbage can in the cabinet under the sink, making sure there was nothing edible being thrown out. They had gone upstairs and gotten MUD all over my bed (someone marked on my pillow too...nice), visited the stamp room and pulled stuff down (like you can really tell!) and marked on some of the iris carts, gone into the blocked off library and pulled a lot of treats out of the dog cabinet to eat...is it any wonder that everyone had the runs?, marked all of the plastic sheeting draped on the furniture in there but...the best of all...somehow Blaze got behind the couch (it's not in its usual place, but in front of the empty TV alcove) and got stuck. We suspect the went over the back of the couch or dogs jumping on the couch pushed it back, blocking him in. Other than a little potty spot, no damage there....thankfully he did NOT get bored and chew on Daddy's newly run speaker wires!

Sean says coming home to find 11 Siberians greeting him at the front door was a little disconcerting. I'm just happy he got home first and did all the clean up! Oddly enough, they were all pretty tired and when I decided it was bed time at about 9pm, they were already sacked out all over the floor.

This morning? I double checked all the doors! And all day long I've been fighting a compulsion to drive home and check on them.

Purple and Gold!!!

2006-09-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

No, not the University of Washington Huskies....but the Kaos Siberians!

Last weekend we drove about 7 1/2 hours up to beautiful Prescott, Arizona. I tell you, if I won the lottery, and had a private plane, I'd consider moving up there. The drive up the side of the mountain is torture for someone with vertigo, a fear of heights...but this year I took the trusty Mom who did all the long driving (thank you, Mom!).

We checked into our hotel around 2am and I decided that Tinks and Hummee were quite happy tucked in their crates in the car for the 5 hours I was going to nap before getting ready to show. Note: 10 mo old puppies should NOT be denied their usual activity for a day prior to showing if one expects them to behave as if they're trained show dogs.

Ok, fast forward past all the boring chit chat about setting up, getting ready, greeting friends....Results dang it, give me results!

Saturday was a bust. Hummee had a good time (see note above) and Tinks went Reserve Winners Bitch (her 8th or 9th) to a lovely bitch. I guess if you have to lose, its not as bad when you lose to a dog you like, right?

Sunday, however, was Kaos' day! Hummee was Winners Dog, for his 2nd point. Satinka was WB for her 4th point. Then, come Best of Breed, Hummee got it! WOOHOO!!! My baby boy has his first BOB win...over a special mind you. That just makes it a little more special, beating a dog who already has his/her championship. And Satinka...she was Best of Opposite...again, over that special :-)

Reality crashed down on us in the group ring (translation: we didn't do anything) but I've still got that purple and gold ribbon for Hummee!

The Diary of Blaze

2006-09-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Momma is leaving me home with Daddy this weekend to go to a show...I can't wait till I'm old enough to go to shows. But I think Daddy is going to let me play outside all day long with the big dogs because Hummee won't be home. Sometimes Hummee and I play a little rough and Momma is worried that I'll get hurt 'cause I'm smaller than he is. I think travelling with Momma is going to be fun. She gives me a box up where I can watch out the windows and there's SO much going on. I get tired just thinking about it. Next weekend I get to go to somewhere called Santa Ana...and then Momma said I get to go somewhere called Donner Trail and see my doggie-daddy. That'll be FUN.

I went to my first puppy match last weekend and it was FUN. You wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of treats and toys and oh...the belly rubs and attention from people. And then there are all the other dogs to play with...it was GREAT fun! I can see why Satinka and Hummee like going to shows so much. The only downside was that I had to have a bath I work so hard getting dirty and them Momma and Gramma take it all off. Momma says I have more matches coming up; I'll bet she's got lots of good toys for me there too...and I always get to meet so many fun dogs to play with. Sometimes some of the dogs don't want to play with me, because I'm a puppy....but the ones that do are really fun.

Momma says I'm too little to go to the National this year, but next year I'll get to go. She's taking Satinka and Hummee, so I'll have to play with Katie and Aleska a lot while Hummee's gone. I'll surprise him and GROW while he's gone until I'm as big as he is.

Blaze, The Stepford Puppy (I thought I was a Siberian puppy, but Gramma and Momma say I'm a Stepford puppy)

She flies through the air.....

2006-09-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

And the flying part didn't hurt, but dang, I gotta work on those landings.

Last weekend was another dog show (shocker, eh?) up in Grass Valley, California. After getting mostly ready to go, I took off from work early on Friday to start the drive. About Stockton I realized I was using WAY too many lanes and pulled over to a safe parking lot to nap. So, I arrived about 3 hours later than planned at my destination. The plan was to toss Blaze into an xpen in Lori's kitchen...he lives in a xpen at my house, no problem, right? WRONG. Blaze didn't like Lori's kitchen. So I took him out to the van to sleep with Tinks and Hummee. Apparently he didn't much care for that plan either....but the guest room is at the back of the house...Blaze, the open window and my hostess' bedroom were at the front. I slept well anyway.

Saturday morning rolls around, way too soon and we head off to the show. I hand Hummee off to his co-owner, Uncle Tony (yes, everyone my dogs come in contact with get cute "relative" names) and settle in to watch until it's time to get Tinks ready. Then our turn comes. We excecute our down and back without any major goofs and then get ready to take our turn around the ring. About halfway around someone moved the ground! I put my foot down and the ground isn't there....then, all of a sudden it is, and I'm on it! Ringside spectators said it was a beautiful, graceful slide. How embarassing. And, not only did I fall, but I didn't even get the sympathy "make the cut" from the judge...which in hindsight doesn't matter much, because it means I didn't have to run around the ring again.

Sunday morning came around, again WAY too soon and we headed back to the show grounds. This time, I didn't show. I handed off Tinks and Hummee because Saturday's "graceful fall" left me feeling quite sore. Hummee took a 4th in a large open class...but the big excitment of the day was that his sister, Roxie, took Best of Breed and a Group 4 placement (that's a Big Deal).

Monday morning, long drive home...sucky traffic over the Grapevine, 3 hour nap at Lake Hughes to get out of traffic...and the long weekend is over.

Boy, I've got one heck of an exciting life. Don't I?

What I think of this - By Blaze

2006-08-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Momma Lori,

Tonight Momma put me up on the big counter in the kitchen, which I thought was REALLY, REALLY cool, 'cause Satinka told me there was always good stuff up there to eat that Momma, Daddy and Grandma hide from us. I was very, very excited. Once I got up there, I realized that Satinka doesn't know everything...Hummee had warned me that sometimes the people like to do things they call "practice" and "training" on the counter. This was one of those times. There was nothing on the counter except a towel, and Momma wouldn't even let me eat that!

Then she tried to make me stand still. Lady, I'm a puppy. Still happens when I sleep. So I made this special face to let Momma, Daddy and everyone else know what I thought of this "training" stuff.

Momma did have a good treat up there for me, and when she wouldn't let go, I tried to eat her fingers too. She called me "sharktooth" but I got the treat, so I didn't mind.

See you soon,

Luv, Blazie

I wish I had thumbs

2006-08-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the pictures that Satinka's breeder, Kathy, sent me from Satinka's puppyhood...a period of time that I think I'm glad I missed based on her current ability to control me with her big, brown eyes.

The scene: a night earlier this week.

It seems, after investigation, that Satinka woke me up to go potty and I stumbled to the door to let her out and then waited upstairs for her to come back in and upstairs and went back to sleep. When I woke up later the light was on, the door was closed and I was confused. I went downstairs, got something to drink, let Satinka out of the crate to come upstairs to sleep and....HUH?

Mom (that's Grandma to the dogs) said she heard something downstairs, my bedroom door was open and the light on, but Satinka was downstairs, eating 3 cups of kibble that a weekend visiting dog had left, as well as over 1lb of cherry tomatoes a co-worker had sent home with me.

Now, either I woke up and let her out...or she turned on the light, opened the door and let herself out. Even money on either option but I'm going with Option A; Option B is too frightening to contemplate.

System overload!!!

2006-08-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Having a puppy is so fun. You relearn so many things that faded from memory as they grow up and become well-behaved, mature dogs (I'll let you know when any of mine get there :-)

One of the really, REALLY, important thing one learns when feeding raw is that too much food can provide explosive results. When it's in a puppy who's inside all day, that's not a good thing.

And, just for the record, 2+ pounds of chicken meat for a 12 week old puppy qualifies as "too much food." Nuff said?

Hummee's fast becoming Blaze's best friend, they have similar energy levels (endless) and right now the only major problem is that Hummee is a wee bit bigger (OK, Blaze can walk under Hummee while only crouching down a little bit). But Hummee is learning some self control and we can let them play together under supervision. When Hummee's in a crate and Blaze is out, Blaze will paw at Hummee's crate, roll over or play bow and bark "come out and play with me." And when Blaze is in the Puppy Palace, Hummee will do the same. All together now "awwwww, how cute."

Puppy - Day 12

2006-08-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Blaze has only been here 12 days...it seems like he's been here forever! The dogs' reactions to him range from tolerance, to amused tolerance to thinking he's the best thing in interactive squeaky toys (although I do discourage that behavior). Blaze, on the other hand, thinks that the other Kaos residents exist simply to entertain him....his world view is just a smidge Blaze-centric.

Thankfully, that 5:30 am "Momma, I'm hungry" chorus hasn't been repeated. Because I'm not sure that I was so happy with that. We'll see, on Sunday when I get to sleep in, how much I'm going to love the puppy :-)

Speaking of the other dogs, Satinka and Hummee had a show last weekend. Neither of them did anything, but they both showed nicely for me and I'm always a fan of that!

We've got a couple of weeks off before the next show, so we're going to be painting the house and finishing up as much of the remodeling/redecorating project as we can. I can't WAIT to have sinks in the bathroom again! Any sink....in any bathroom! Blaze likes to help with demolition (notice it always comes back to the dogs?) and wants to tear drywall down in all of the places where, eventually, we'll have molding back up. It's a constant challenge to get bitter apple on those favorite places before he remembers them.

A couple of weeks ago a terrible tragedy took the lives of some show dogs in Missouri. They were left in the handler's vehicle, with the A/C running and something happened and the A/C died. So did the dogs. I frequently leave my dogs in the van, either with the Ventlock (www.ventlock.com) if it's cool enough or with the A/C running if it's too warm for the ventlock. I'd done some research on temperature sensors that had a paging feature and found one that was designed for dog show vans (www.dogshowvans.com) and put off ordering it. I ordered it yesterday. My theory is that'll it'll work for both situations, letting me know when it's too warm to rely on the ventlock alone and letting me know if something happens with the A/C and the van starts heating up. The temperature sensor will get it's first test over Labor Day, as I travel up to Grass Valley for the Gold Country Kennel Club shows with Hummee, Tinks and Blaze (Blaze is going up to visit his family at Couloir Siberians (www.couloirsiberians.com) so that Grandma doesn't have to clean up after the little fart while I'm gone...we all know Grandma "doesn't do puppies" and the house will be considerably calmer with the Terrible Twosome gone.

Blaze the Brilliant

2006-08-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

There are just so many moments to capture with a new puppy, I think it's impossible to capture them all...especially when I'm at work full-time. I keep trying to tell Blaze to save anything cute for the evenings when I get home.

Yesterday I got a call from Grandma. It started out "your puppy" Now what has he done? Any call that starts "your puppy" as I'm certain I've said before, isn't generally a good thing.

Today Mr. Blaze was fussing and bored so Grandma gave up and went down and got him, and took him upstairs to play with Katie and Aleska. Not only did he manage to climb up on Grandma's bed but he was playing with the girls, and making himself cute by laying on Katie's pink beds (I told him that redheads do NOT get pink things, especially boy redheads) and otherwise being cute and engaging. The topper was that when he had to go potty he ran downstairs to use his potty pad downstairs. Passed the one upstairs that Grandma brought up for him to the one downstairs....in the middle of play time.

My baby boy is BRILLIANT, simply BRILLIANT I tell you.

Of course, this morning, all of my opinions were reversed when he started the 5:30 AM "It's breakfast time, Mom" chorus and everyone else joined in. But he did get his breakfast...which of us is in charge?

The Puppy Journals

2006-08-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

I swear I'm going to do this everytime a puppy moves in, but then I get busy and the moment is lost. I guess until I get it right, I have to keep getting puppies?

The Puppy Report - Day 1.

Blaze came home on Sunday, Aug 6. He had gotten into Allez food that morning, so I wasn't looking forward to an exciting time of it as his system reacted to eating 1 c of a kibble he hadn't been eating. I wasn't let down. He started early in the day and by the time we got home and went to bed about 2am, his system was completely cleared of the food. UGH Luckily, I was smart and he travelled in a wire crate with a pan that slides out easily for rinsing!

We set up a temporary puppy pen Sunday night and Blazie (yes, even Blaze can be made into a cutsie puppy name ) finally settled down to go to sleep. Monday morning dawned early with the "hey, lady, I'm in a strange place and I'm HUNGRY" cry. Having been well trained by Hummee, I went down to rustle up breakfast for him. A pile of chicken and a turkey neck later, the beast was soothed...yep, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, especially at 11 weeks old! He munched on that turkey neck all day long. When I got home, it was a little 3" nub. Since he decided to play "guard the food" with Lacy, he had his first lesson about who owns what in my house...ME and I gave the leftovers to Lacy. I figure it'll take him a little while to get a handle on that concept.

During evening, he spent some time running around the house being cute with his buddy, Rio, who is down here visiting. It's not hard work for either of them to be cute. Then some "waiting for meal service" time in his crate with all the grown ups. I don't really "crate train" puppies....they spend some time in their crates every day, usually around meal times and by the time they've graduated from the puppy pen, they're crate trained. Dinner for Blaze was a big bowl of green tripe...he gave it four paws up and as soon as he finished eating, went to sleep. We took advantage of the quite to eat dinner ourselves AND set up the real puppy palace.

The puppy palace has evolved...it's a sheet of 6 mil plastic (to protect the new tile which hasn't been sealed yet!) with a sheet of 6' x 9' linoleum over it. Two x-pens are supported, at the bottom, by a PVC frame and voila! it's home. Puppy pads at one end keep the mess to a minimum and you hear "good potty on the paper" anytime we catch the puppy using the paper. I'm proud to say that by this morning, Blaze had already mastered "potty on the paper" and there were no messes anywhere else in his palace. What a smart boy!

After some play time with Momma, Blaze went back in his palace and Mom escaped to work. It's so hard to leave the little cuties, knowing that they grow up so fast.

Kaos' newest Hotshot

2006-07-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Dixie...her name is now Belle, or Bella...and she's in a wonderful pet home. Hmmm, I'm sensing a theme...girls from these lines do NOT come to live at Kaos. Remember Latte, now Denali living in a wonderful pet home? Now Dixie, aka Bella? What gives?

What gives is that now I'm getting a wonderful little red boy, Artika-Couloir's Into the Fire aka Blaze. I wanted to call him Hotshot, for the elite wild fire fighting crews, but well...Hotshot just seemed so presumptious..and it was already far too easy to change that last vowel out for another...ya know what I'm saying? So, Blaze is moving into Kaos. Ryder and I have had long, long talks about how he's always going to be Momma's baby and her favorite red boy, so I think we'll be OK there. (By the way, Ry's tumor on his testicle was malignant, but with it removed during neutering, there's very little chance anything else will come of it.) Ry's promised to take Blaze under his paw and teach him the ropes at Kaos. "Be afraid, be very afraid" is what comes to mind. And I am. But I'm also very excited. A puppy is so full of potential and watching them grow up and mature is such a learning process and just plain fun!

Speaking of Blaze, here's a picture of the little rascal at about 6 weeks old ...isn't he adorable?

Here he is just last weekend...they grow SO fast!

So, now that we're approaching the end of the flooring project (the tiles are installed, and just waiting for us to seal the grout - of course staining it in the process because we don't like the color we chose) I've got to bump it up a notch so I have somewhere to set up the puppy palace!

Satinka, Hummee and I are on the road next weekend to go pick up their new baby brother and I can't wait.

Humvee, the Travelin' Man

2006-06-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

It was a fun weekend for the Humvee. Thursday evening saw him being bundled up into a 500 crate (a virtual palace of a crate!) and loaded onto an Alaska Airlines jet for a quick hop up to Portland for the Lower Columbia Siberian Husky Club Specialty and the two days of shows following it.

While Humvee didn't do anything outstanding at the show, his sister, Roxie did get her Championship on Friday. That was pretty exciting since I got to take her into the Winners Bitch class and be handed the purple ribbon!

Humvee got to hang out with his sister and baby brother, Tazo, as well as get 100% of Mom's attention. It's not often that I only travel with one dog. He amazed everyone with his behavior in a soft crate (good) and was Mr. Mellow the entire weekend. We did discover that he does have protective tendencies; anyone knocking on my hotel room got a good growl from Humvee. And he's got a big boy growl!

Upon arrival at LAX and release from his crate, he informed me that he was DONE riding in the crate for a while and rode home on the floor of the van, where I could reach down and pet him. I rarely ever let the dogs ride loose, but he'd been such a good boy all weekend and didn't fuss about the whole flying thing that I bent the rules, just this once.

Now Tinks and Humvee have both successfully flown (Tinks moved to California from Texas, via American Airlines) and I'm ready to take them both to Rockford, IL for the SHCA National Specialty.

Speaking of adorable, here's the next little darling who may come live at Kaos. Dixie, as she's being called, was born 5/17/06 and we're eagerly waiting a few more weeks of growing to learn if she's going to be the newest Kaos resident.

We've got a long weekend at home, a weekend at the shows in Ventura and then I get to fly up to Sacramento to visit Dixie and her brothers, Toby & Trace. I can hardly wait!!!

Best Brace in Show

2006-06-20T14:16:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend! In the sweltering, humid heat of Chula Vista, Satinka and Katie played at being a trained brace and...pulled it off! Beating a brace of Golden Retrievers and a brace of Mini Schnauzers, the girls were awared Best Brace in Show on Saturday. What a rush!!! It made staying outside all day and the resultant sunburn more than worth it. And then, on Sunday, Satinka won Winners Bitch for her third point.

What a great weekend!!! This weekend it's off to Canby, Oregon with Humvee for the Lower Columbia Siberian Husky Club specialty. It's also Humvee's first plane flight. Should be entertaining!

Welcoming the newest member of the Kaos pack!!!

2006-06-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

We all know and love him.....Humvee! Humvee is staying at Kaos. He'll be loved and shown by me, his Momma instead of heading out into the big bad world with his other Mom.

I'm so excited to have him and hope that we make both Tony & Adele and his breeders proud of us in the ring.

And I feel like a huge dark cloud has been lifted. My baby boy is staying home :-)

Welcome home, Dorkboy Jr.

Love, Momma

The Case of the Missing Pork Roast

2006-06-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

It began like any other evening, getting home from work with a "to do" list longer than the remaining awake hours of the day allowed. But there was a difference; from the kitchen counter the smells of the pork roast in the crock pot wafted through the house, encouraging the residents to get some of the "to do" list deeds accomplished to sit down and eat.

One by one, the residents of the home grabbed some dinner and headed off for bed. The house guest, the first one to go, pronounced the roast "splended" and "perfect for my lunch sandwich tomorrow." Dad, heading to bed early, grabbed his dinner and went upstairs to watch some TV in peace (somehow he doesn't consider 17 Siberians conducive to "peace").
Mom and Grandma continued to toil, one by one crossing off the items on their lists and looking forward, with great delight, to consuming some of the roast that had been tantalizing their senses for hours.

Finally, the time had come. Mom and Grandma pronounced themselves "done for the day." Mom went upstairs to kiss Dad goodnight and Grandma let the canine crew in for some evening quality time.

The peace of the evening was shattered with Grandma's shriek of "RYYYYDDEERRR" echoing through the house. As Mom jumped up to run downstairs she analzyed the vocal qualities of the shreiking. After concluding that it wasn't a dog fight kind of yell, she slowed enough to take the stairs one at a time. By the time she arrived downstairs, all was quiet. There were no tell tail yellow stains indicating Ryder had lifted his leg inappropriately; there were no destroyed pieces of clothing or furniture....what was that shriek for?

Grandma recounted Ryder's offense: He ATE the remaining pork roast! Ryder, the Master Counter Surfer, waited until Grandma was distracted by the 12 other dogs in the house (including the three very accomplished distracting puppies) and snagged three pounds of pork roast off the counter with out making a single sound. His mad dash for the crates gave him away as the primary suspect in the case of the missing dinner.

Grandma and Mom settled down for their dinner of brussel sprouts, the scent of pork roast tantalizing them with their loss. Then Mom uttered those fateful words: "I hope that gives you the sh*ts, Ryder."

P.S. It didn't.

Saying Goodbye....

2006-06-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

How do you say goodbye to a puppy who's stolen a piece of your heart? Humvee, who I knew from the beginning wasn't a permanent Kaos resident, is going home next week. This little puppy has wrapped my heart around his little paw. We've done a LOT in our 6 months together. Humvee went to his first puppy match with me (he won Best of Opposite Sex!). Humvee won Winners Dog the first time with me (he beat Ryder). Humvee won his first Major Reserve Winners Dog with me handling him. And, last weekend, Humvee won Winners Dog for his very first point with me on the end of the leash. And, the milestone of all puppy boys, Humvee started lifting his leg and peeing like a big dog with me (not on my...at my house!) I've leash trained him, crate trained him, house trained him and given him, I hope, the best possible foundation for his career in the show ring I could. He's confident and happy, well socialized and yet, fairly well behaved. I know that I couldn't have loved him more if he'd been my own dog for more than just the last six months.

In my heart, he'll always be my baby boy. But now it's time for him to leave the nest, move in with his new parents and make his mark in the world. And, I expect, it'll be quite a big mark!

Take good care of my baby.