Spring springs

Look! Official Leafout!

Not only that; my perennials in my Lazy Person's Garden have all begun to appear, starting with these lilacs.

And of course the rhubarb.

And the columbines, which I love so much.

I only put in these strawberries last fall! It looks like they set.

Not all dogs like hugs, although many of them tolerate them for our benefit. But Cricket loves hugs.

My snuggly girl.

Raven is also cuddly, but in a different way. She also flops in these silliest of positions!

Although she looks Very Dignified while watching me fold laundry. Important Supervisory Duties!

The snow has been gone for a few weeks now, so we figured that our favorite trails around Ester Dome would be mostly mud-free, and we were correct in that supposition.

A lovely walk indeed!

I have the nicest fuzzy companions!

Shepherd Mix fetching vs. Racing Dog fetching

Some Elderly Dog Care Notes, and Life goes On...

In her last days, Queen Thistle was not in pain. Our vet assured us of this, so we could take our time deciding when her quality of life was too poor to go on. We would not let her suffer. She was very comfy.

A friend of ours who also had had an elderly dog with failing mobility gave us her old harness. It's from this company called "Help em up", and it may look complicated, but once you get it all adjusted and you practice a few times, it's pretty quick to put on and take off, and it's quite ergonomic to use. There is a handle on the front (if the dog's shoulders are weak) and one on the back (if it's the back end that's failing, like in Thistle's case). If you go to that website, there are videos that show how nice it is. There's also a strap thingy that you can loop through both handles to support both the front and and the back end at once. I only tried this once, so here is a photo, but it turns out Thistle's front end remained strong the whole time, so I never used it again. I ended up just holding the butt handle.

Here is a better view. They can pee and poop while wearing it, too. However, I was warned against leaving it on 24/7 as some parts do rub. In Thistle's case, we never got to that point. But I guess the late Kaia dog used it for a whole year. I think anyone who has a dog ought to save that link! You never know what the failure mode of your dog will be, and if it's mobility, this is a great thing to have.

We decided to let her go on the day that I realized that I was holding all of the weight of her back end. Her poor legs could contribute nothing at all. So I splurged and got her an out-of-season honeydew. She effin' loves melons! She is all "Holy crap! A melon!!!"

MELON!!!

Princess Cricket likes melon, too!

And so does Duchess Raven!

Our vet does casts of their paws. Here is hers.

I sure loved her little jellybean tootsies.

I'm sure glad Cricket and Raven are friends. It'd sure be hard to be an "only dog" mourning alone.

And we still take walks together, of course. Life goes on, and mourning can and should include that going-on. No point moping about the house. The trails are melting out, and we can no longer ski, of course. But the roads are also clear of snow and ice, so we might as well be in summer mode.

I did recently have the most touchingly apt targeted ad appear to me, and I had to go for it. A beautiful Thistle pendant of enamel set in sterling silver. I did some googling, and it seems her name fit her very well. "In Celtic regions, the thistle represents devotion, bravery, determination, and strength." It's from Skye Silver, if you'd like to have one yourself, or any pretty silver bauble.

The last skiing we did before the snow went away was... I entered Raven into our first skijor race! We entered the 4-mile, 1-dog class, although had I realized that they had a 2-dog class I'd have registered with Cricket, too. But it's okay. It was good training for Raven to learn some leadership skills by running solo. We placed 6 out of 7, which is about what I expected. Neither Raven nor I am competitive. Cricket and/or Thistle probably would have pushed to win. After the race was this crazy "Le Mans" loop where all competitors do a last sprint race of a 1-mile lap. Mass start and no poles! I thought that madness would ensue, but it did not! And Raven and I placed 8th out of 11, which is like wow! Yay, us! Not dead last!

That same day, Raven graduated Basic Obedience, which is doggy charm school. Raven is my first dog who is NOT a prior sled dog. My first who is young, and my first who did not arrive pre-trained. She's a Very Good Girl and a people-pleaser. In fact, the instructors at doggy charm school thought she must have had some obedience work before, which I'm pretty sure she has not. She was a street dog! But she's very loving and very smart. That was a long day! We had to get up at 6:30 to make sure that Thistle got her Queen walk and Cricket got her Princess run before we rushed off to the race. Then Raven and I killed time throwing and chasing her ball at the dog park before it was time for doggy charm school. A long day!

As for Cricket, she's still going strong, cuddly as ever, and the best Communicator. Here she is doing her impression of a Vermeer.

Thistle, 8 Aug 2010 - 14 April 2024

The future queen was born on Aug 8th, 2010 to Mama Gypsy and Daddy Guetknecht and grew up to be Jodi Bailey's star leader. She ran the Iditarod for the first time in 2013 and then ran the subsequent three years (2014, 2015, 2016) in lead. She had a gradual retirement. She was not interested in a couch-based lifestyle. Victoria tried to move her into her handler's cabin to sleep on the bed, but she was not interested (Cricket sure was though!). She ran loose with the team for a while, helping to train puppies and yearlings. In 2020, she came to live with us. She was not sure about it at all, and it took a while to convince her that it was okay to relax inside, and that we would never force her to relax against her will. True to her determined character, she never did fully embrace retirement. I just now did a rough estimate and we covered around 6000 miles together in just the four years we've been together, between running, hiking, skiing, and skijoring. Her line never slacked; she "lined out" like a boss, even when I was squatting to pee off the trail.

She was not lovey or cuddly, and it drove. Me. Batty. Because she looked like a teddybear and had the sooooofftest fur and the biggest fuzzy mittens and the cutest black tootsies. But she was mortified by her cuteness and did Not. Want. To be regarded as a teddybear. (Quote Jodi: She may appear to be "sweet, soft and snuggly but really, she could chew nickels and spit nails.") For the most part, I tried to respect her wishes although I snuck the occasional hug (especially while putting on or taking off her harness!).

But we knew that she loved us, and I knew that she loved me, despite our mismatched love languages. Her recall was not great (she had a classic husky "pretend deaf") but it didn't matter because she was never far. Even running loose on the trails, she was right there, and if she was ahead of me, she'd look back over her shoulder constantly, checking in. If I fell down, she was immediately at my side. And as her mobility began to fail, I worried for her pride, which was fierce. How could I support a dog who does not want to be held? I needn't have worried. The greatest gift she ever gave me was her trust. She let me lift her onto the porch when she could no longer do so. She let me take her for walks with her butt in a sling, and she was not ashamed. She was still a proud lead dog, and her limited mobility did not impact that after all. But as the days passed, I could feel her getting heavier and heavier in that sling, and when she could no longer bear any weight at all on her back end, we knew it was time. Boy, it was a hell of a ride though.

Leading with Chase-Um in 20014 Iditarod:

Testing out a new sled. Victoria took this photo. She was behind Dan, whom you can see in the photo. She fell off and they kept going without her. :D She snapped this photo on their way home.

Leading with Quill:

2015 start with Sparrow:

With Cricket's sister Bedbug:

With Maven and human Victoria:

In lead with Spitzer:

We had a blast! Thanks for the miles, my friend.

Thank you for four wonderful years, Miss Thistle. Four years of your beauty and your big doe eyes that gazed into my soul and greeted my heart with courage and wisdom. Please continue to check in. I will see you in my dreams.

Another spring approaches

We have just finished spring break and holy cow it was the least of a break I'd ever had! It's crunch time for graduate students defending theses planning to graduate in spring, and I had drafts to review and defenses to attend. In between, the dogs' daily run has taken more time as Queen Thistle has begun to slow down, and her shoulder has started to bother her quite a bit. On her better days, she walks the full 3-mile loop with her seesters and me, and they are super patient with her pace, which is especially impressive from Raven, the young'un.

However, sometimes Thistle's shoulder bugs her too much for her to do our longer walks with her seesters, so I drop her off at home after a short jaunt and we continue without her. It's hard. Without her, I feel rudderless, and some mornings I am so upset that I can't even run. We just walk our loop.

Although when we get home we generally find her waiting with perfect equanimity.

Sometimes I struggle with watching her age. For example, when she declines to eat her breakfast, it ruins my day. When she gobbles down her breakfast AND does our whole walk, I am so happy I am giddy! But then I get all upset again if she doesn't finish her supper. I know this isn't "healthy" at all, and I'm trying to apply to myself the wisdom that I already know: That is, she *will* leave us one day, but in the meantime, there is no point in pre-suffering when the pain has not come yet! It's something I tell my friends all the time, but struggle to apply to myself. She still surveys her yard at least once daily, and that always lightens my heart.

And sometimes she trots around so quickly I can't even catch her in a photo!

The other bit of wisdom that I am forever reminding others but struggle to embrace myself, is to let her be my guide. My Queen Thistle, she is not full of anxiety every day. She loves her life, even though now it's gentler and slower. And she will love her life as long as she can. So, too, should I just be gentle with all of us and love her as long as I can.

Raven is doing great in her skijor training! She's far more disciplined when hooked up with Cricket, but sometimes Cricket runs loose so she can have more fun.

Mmmmmm BELLPEPPERZZZ!!!

We love BELLPEPPERZZZ!!!

Yay! BELLPEPPERZZZ!!!

Pi day was last week! I made a rhubarb pi!

It came out good!

I wish all 12 of my loyal readers a happy spring!!