Notes from Here and There

"Um. Excuse us but iz... Iz that brocky you are cutting up? Because we like brocky."

Mmmmmm brockystem for Cricket!!

Thistle also like brockystemzzzz!!

And Ravy Gravy also like brockystemzzzzz!!

Miss Raven also likes to be squozen.

Cricket has always been a cuddler.

Thistle does not get squozen. She gets Respectful Petting. It is funny how cute she is though, and her personality does not match the cuteness at all. Her breeder/musher says that she may appear to be "sweet, soft and snuggly but really, she could chew nickels and spit nails." That makes me laugh! It's a perfect description. Even now, at 13, she will not slack off from her duties on the trail and around the house.

She's on Librela now. It's a new drug that's only recently been approved in the U.S. for pain management in elder arthritic dogs (NOT, it should be stressed, for young dogs), and it's been working miracles around Fairbanks, which has, as you may well imagine, a very large population of retired athletic dogs who are otherwise in great shape but have joint and muscle pain. Thistle's been on it for just over a month, and it seems to work well! It was difficult to tell at first, because her shoulder gimpiness was intermittent, but now it's been over a month and I have not seen her limp since! And--best sign of all--she now insists on accompanying Raven and me for Raven's 2nd and 3rd walks of the day! Cricket usually opts to remain on the couch, which is fine because she gets in her morning run.

It's also great not to have to stress out Miss Thistle's liver with Rimadyl, especially since she no longer has a spleen to help process it.

It's a monthly injection, but unlike Adequan, you aren't allowed to do it at home. So Thistle has a monthly vet tech appointment now. I also have them trim her nails because hey, if we are here monthly, why not outsource the struggle? She does not appear to be any less stressed, but I am less stressed. Hahahaha. Raven and Cricket but accept nail trimmings with dignity, so just think, I will not struggle to trim a dog's nails again for a very long time!

I got some skijoring video the other day. Look at my Goodest Good Girls!

Ravey Gravy's skijoring training is going great! After I unhooked Cricket, she successfully went "on by" a pair of loose dogs All By Herself! First time! They looked friendly, and bouncy too, which is exactly her type she likes to engage, so she was definitely displaying discipline! She has now successfully on-by'ed: People, meese, squirrels, loose stranger dogs. The only thing she cannot resist now is a dog who is already a Friend, but I can hardly blame her for that! I mean when I'm walking around campus and see a friend, I stop and visit for a bit, too But wouldn't it be comical if I shouted "ON BY!" and marched on past? I ought to try that on days when I'm not feeling sociable.

Snowsy Photos

I took a photo of Raven on the ridge today that reminded me of one I have of my Roo Bear.

I read somewhere that the time of your acute grief is over when the memories make you smile instead of cry. I have mostly gotten there with Autumn and Linden, and I can feel that peace coming with Roo. Raven has helped a lot. When I first lost Roo, I wanted another black dog, but stopped myself because it's not right to try to replace a Friend. You can't do that, and it would be weird! But just as Thistle carries echos of Autumn, Raven carries echoes of Roo, and it's a great comfort, and it came after the healing had mostly smoothed out (3 years in both cases), so no weirdness!

Here are some Super Important Dog Portraits. Cricket was just sitting pretty so I snapped her photo.

Getting Raven to sit nicely is no problem. She's a people-pleaser!

With Thistle it's a bit harder, but I got my triptych!

The light was pretty at the time we were at the dog park last week, so I got Raven to pose with her ball.

"We're losing daylight! Throw the ball!!"

"Thistle, would you like a bok choy stem?"

"Mmmm, Cricket likes bok choy stemzzzz!!"

"And Raven, too, likes bok choy stemzzzz!!"

A lot of people joke about doing "couch marathons", but Thistle does them for real! She even runs at full speed: both front legs, then both back legs.

Happy Winter Indeed!

A few days ago I heard something compelling on a radio program that I don't want to forget, so I'm going to jot it down here. It said that atheists often scoff at organized religion because they say that you should not require religion in order to be a good person. If you are only a good person under threat of eternal damnation, then you are not a good person. I'd heard that before, and while I kind of agree on the surface, the reality is quite different. Firstly, I think if people are forced to be nicer and to behave decently, no matter what the reason, it makes for a better society. But secondly, and more importantly, I think the actual premise is false. I have never met anyone who was a cruel person but kept it buried due to religion. I know kind religious people, kind atheists, cruel religious people, and cruel atheists, so that fills every slot on the grid. But anyway--moving away from my navel and back to my radio program--the person then went on to say, religion is not useful as a moral code to make us be kind to one another. More people seek religion to find answers to unanswerable questions, chief among them being: Why are good things and bad things meted out so unfairly in this world? Why do good people suffer, and why do we see "bad people" go unpunished? Those, I think, are very good questions for both philosophy and religion to tackle.

Anyway, moving on... We have had several lovely snow dumps, and there is now enough to ski! Raven has proven to be an ace skijorer, and nailed it from the get-go. Her first time, she was pulling like a champ and solid on "gee" and "haw". Her second time she had grasped "on by", declining even to chase a SQUIRREL!! when I shouted "on by" at her. She is so smart that she realized after several times stopping to sniff things and me almost crashing into her, that that was just not gonna work. So now she lines out and keeps constant tension in her line like a champ!

I had been a little apprehensive about taking her skijoring the first time because she's my first dog who'd never been a sled dog. In theory, being hooked to two experienced, seasoned veterans is a perfect way to train an untrained dog, but Thistle and Cricket are so much older that I was leery of doing that because I didn't want her yanking them around and stressing out their old joints. So I started her completely alone. Under such circumstances, it's rare to get a dog who gets the hang of it immediately without learning from another attached dog, but Raven is a total pro!

In retrospect, I think all of our walking and running on the roads since June, when she was attached to my pros, was really excellent training for her: She learned her commands, figured out how to manage tuglines, how to untangle herself if she got tangled, etc. So the switch from me being on foot to me being on skis only added one new element: The issue of momentum. But she learned that in an hour! But this, apparently, is great training!

My goodest good girl! So smart!

Last weekend I finally deployed the schema I had envisioned when I first started thinking about bringing her home back in June. It worked beautifully. Now that I know that Raven is a wonderful skijor dog, hooking her with Cricket was no problem either. They good are good friends and work well together.

I had planned for Thistle to be a loose leader but she wanted to hang in back and is more like a loose caboose. She started a new drug called Librela that supposedly has done wonders for other elder arthritic dogs, but I just don't want her pulling any more. I hope it doesn't hurt her feelings. I tell her she is still our leader no matter what, and I always feed her first.

Another skier with a loose dog was approaching. All did great! He also had an elder statesdog.

Raven is also bonding with DL, although I am still her favorite.

Mmmmm CARTZ! Cricket loves CARTZ!

And Raven loves CARTZ!

And Thistle loves CARTZ!

Notes from here and there

Guess who came for a visit at Sirius! Raven's niece Diamond, whose name is now... DAISY! Isn't that a great name? Anyway, this litter was brought in at 10 days old, from the same village as Raven was from. Due to similarities between these pups and Raven's, I suspected they were related. Well one of them had an embark test done, and sure enough, they are Raven's nieces and nephews. Do you see the resemblance in the soft black fur, brown eyes, and squishy-squishiness?

Those eyes can see into your soul!

For those of you who like my food photos, don't worry. I haven't focaccia!

Here are huevos rancheros with the addition of a refrito layer:

And my favorite weekend breakfast--omelettes!

I have quite some skillet this.

Breakfast of champions!

Sweet Raven girl has learned patience. Instead of howling at the door, she just sits there awaiting her morning walks.

Although sometimes she gets so impatient she grabs me in her mouf!

And sometimes I wonder whether I have three dogs, or two dogs and a hole in the fabric of space-time!

Raven has decided that this is the optimal place from which to guard the driveway. I don't believe my $10 Walmart plastic drawers were meant to support the weight of a Sheppy, but it's okay for now...

And I've also come to realize that she keeps watch over the outhouse while I am in there!

So I carved her into a pumpkin! Hahahahahahaha.

A pretty good match, if I do say so myself!

Do you think they are comfy? I sure hope they are comfy.

Pretty Halloween sunrise!

Yay! Our playground is open!

Look! Three boneless dogs!

Last Tues (10th Oct), I wondered whether the creek had frozen sufficiently to open the trails to us. There isn't enough snow to ski yet, but I figured it'd be nice to be able to walk the trails. I took Raven down to investigate.

Ahhh goosh! Not good!

And the creek is thin ice with a hole in the middle. No good! We could hear liquid water upstream, too.

However, just two days later, it was frozen! Yay! But Raven and I didn't proceed past here. It didn't seem right to have First Trail Walk of the Season without Queen Thistle and Princess Cricket.

Last weekend, we walked our familiar loops! Yay! It was fun to show them to Raven!

I took Raven to campus the other day. She is Very Serious!

And look! Raven has picked up this Schnozz Rest Position.

Just like Cricket

And Thistle!

Thistle is doing so great! She is so happy it's winter. She wasn't even tired after our long walks. After we got home, she binkied around the yard like a bunny. It is obvious now that we made the right decision when her health collapsed last month in asking her to fight and hang on, and putting her through an exploratory surgery. It's possible she could have never recovered from that, and that pain would have been for nothing. How would we have known? I have no idea. Maybe the best we can do is to act the best we know to do, with love, be grateful when things work out, and forgive ourselves when it does not.