Dog Sledding Adventures.

Simon with the other sled dogs and me.

             Something new I have been getting into is dog sledding.  I was lucky enough to be introduced to some fantastic mushers a couple years ago. They are based out of Ashton, ID and run a dog sledding tour called Sliver Sage Mushing. You can follow that link to their website or click here to check out their Facebook page.  After getting a taste of dog sledding I knew I was hooked. I loved everything about it; the thrill, the fun, getting to work with the dogs and see them so happy doing what they loved. It is a blast and if you ever get the chance to give it a try I highly suggest it.

Pulling us up a hill. Simon is the second from the back on the right.

         After meeting and becoming friends with Linda and Rosie I started helping them handle their teams. Getting teams of anywhere from 6-14 dogs ready to go can be a lot of work and I enjoyed the chance to get to learn more about all of the aspects of dog sledding and caring for that many dogs. They have also known Simon since he was a little fuzz ball and watched him grow into the start of a good sled dog.

Muddy Simon face after a fun run.

        It is so much fun dog sledding is my winter passion and I can't wait to have more snow on the ground and bust out a sled.

Happy Rainy and Simon.

        So there is the update for anyone who was wondering what I have been up to. Pretty much work, studying for finals, homework and dog sledding. It's pretty sweet.

12 good dogs.

Busy Bee. Updates

I figured writing it down will help me to be a little more organised. I posted on our facebook but I haven't actually written down anything yet.

On 11/5/15 Simon turned two years old. I wasn't able to get his birthday off work but we celebrated that week by getting to drive up to Ashton Idaho and he got to run on a dog sled team.  Simon and I love getting to go up to Ashton and learn more about dog sledding.

Currently I am working full time and I am going to school as well and trying to manage with the holidays coming up so I don't think I am going to have has much time to post as I would like. Also I have to work on my application for my program.

So I will post as much as I have time for but see you more after the first of the year.

Happy Birthday Sadie!

Sadie turned 6 years old on October 10th. She (and Nik) have been in my life for almost 5 years now and I love them both very much. 

To celebrate we planned a day that we thought Sadie would enjoy the best. Everything we did that day had her in mind. First thing we went to our local pet supply store and Sadie picked out two huge raw knuckle bones for later and got treats and attention.

"Are we there yet?"

After that we picked up Simon and headed to the dog park to run around and play with all the other dogs.

"How about now?"

You can see that both dogs were super excited to go to the dog park. It had been a while since we had gone and they loved it.

Happy dog.

Now we have to be careful with Sadie at the dog park as she has been known to run so hard and fast that she has worn down the skin on her pads until they were bleeding. For looking so tough Sadie is pretty delicate and her feet especially so. We make a point to have her take breaks and do some leash walk while we check her feet.

She doesn't love this, as she would rather run and play, but she is a good sport about it. She will walk nicely with us even in the park so it can't be to terrible.

Floppy face.

And after a short break she gets to go back to running and having fun.

derp.

I mean just look at the silly happy face!

There was a little white pit bull puppy. Sadie didn't really seem to care about him but Simon and the puppy played a lot.

You have to keep an eye on the little dog section they might be getting up to or into something.

Looks like a game of football.

Simon playing with the puppy crew. There was a german shepard puppy as well as the white pit pup. And the brown and white pit mix had just turned two so about Simon's age.

After we had burned off some of their energy we headed to the farmers' market. The dogs got all dressed up; they both had backpacks and Sadie also had a tutu and necklaces. You might be thinking "How is this in line with doing things Sadie likes?" Well; other than she doesn't mind it so much, she loves people and strangers are a lot more likely to love on her when she is dressed up than normal.

"Mom the sun is in our eyes this is the best you get."

I kind of think that people find pitties less intimidating when they look kind of goofy. I also like the idea of Sadie maybe making someone have a different impression of what these dogs can be.

"Why are we stopped? Lets go go go."

Simon was still super hyper so his backpack was also to try and help take the edge off his energy.

"Treats?"

We made sure to have lots of treats with us and kept the dogs close to us and under control at all times. I love taking my dogs with me but I understand not everyone is a dog person and I respect that.

"Yes, shade."

As it was starting to get warmer we made sure to take plenty of breaks in the shade.

We also used them as a chance to get some cute pictures of the birthday girl in her birthday outfit.

Everyone mentioned how well behaved both dogs were and some even asked if they were service dogs.

More treats please.

Sadie "Hey look I'm sitting give the treats to me".

Sadie "Simon Sit or we wont get treats"

Good news!

I totally thought I had already written this, so anyone who was waiting for news on here I am so sorry.

Simon's results came back as just an overly inflamed section of skin. Totally benign. NOT CANCER!

Sorry for the delay. We are thrilled that he is totally fine.

He did manage to rip out his stitches five days after his surgery in normal husky style, so we took him to the vet and they just wrapped it and said he had been healing just fine. He is now back to normal other than having a weird naked patch.

I know not how the meme is supposed to be used but it's what I think of when I hear "Good News".

Hiking with Simon.

   Simon and I have been relaxing recently by going on hikes when we get the time to sneak away. With work and I just started up school it feels like we don't have as much free time as we used to. Unfortunately it's also just starting to get cool enough that Simon can enjoy the outdoors for a while without having to worry to much about it being to hot for him.

Although Simon is less than two years old he is actually very reliable off leash. We will always be working to improve our relationship and his training but I am really proud of where he is at considering he is still just a teenager.  I also like to make sure we get to have fun one on one time together. 

Simon goes to work with me almost everyday so he gets to hangout in daycare with other dogs and my coworkers. At home there is Sadie and Nik with us all of the time. And most of the time I train with them together so I don't get a ton of individual time with Simon unless I plan it. So I try to take time and plan some one on one time with both Sadie and Simon to work on our relationship.

It's also nice to see him loving life. He races around leaps sage brush chases the birds he flushes. There is something wonderful about seeing a dog so happy just getting to be a dog.  

We got to enjoy the beatuiful wild flowers that grown in our desert climate. There aren't a lot but the ones we found were beatuiful and it was fun to hunt for them.

It's also a chance for me to get to practice my photography some. I enjoy taking pictures and learning how to do differnt things with my camera.

                               

Such a wonderful way to spend time with my dog. 

Simon's Surgery.

Simon went in for surgery this last Friday. I had noticed a growth on his leg at the end of August and it wasn't going away if anything it was getting bigger. We went into the vet to have them check it out and they were a little concerned about it so they suggested we have it removed and sent in for testing.

Pre-surgery with the drugs kicking in.

That was Thursday and we had the surgery the next day. We woke up early in the morning so Simon and I could get a walk in before his appointment and try to get him to go potty. I took him in and they gave him his pre-surgery meds that made him sleepy before the surgery. I was able to take him home shortly after one he was still feeling the drugs a little but he was mostly back to normal. The rest of Friday he acted a little hungover and was a little out of it and very sleepy.

The growth.

Stitches. 

From Saturday on Simon was basically back to his normal self. It was a little difficult to keep him calm to try and protect his stitches. Today he managed to loosen his stitches and they looked a little strange so I brought him in to get it checked. The vet said it was healing well but that the stitches were no longer helping so she removed them and wrapped his leg.

Stoned Simon.

We sent the growth off to be tested so that we will know what it is and if we need to do anything further. We should get the results back either at the end of this week or the beginning of next and we will let you know what we find out.

Sleep Simon on Friday.

Barn Hunt.

So we had our first barn hunt experience.

For anyone who doesn't know barn hunt is a new sport that is becoming very  popular. They put rats in tubes that are hidden in bails of straw for the dogs to find. The dogs are also required to go through a tunnel made of straw bales and to climb on the bails.

Also the dogs can not go the bathroom  or they are disqualified. Sadie and Simon I'm looking at you here.

One of my dog club friends had tried it with her dogs and liked it so much she bought rats to be able to practice. It's amazing how the rats figure out that the dogs can't get to them and they don't seem to care much. But just to make sure it's not to stressful after a searches the rat get switched out for a new one so they get a break.

Both of the dogs seamed to enjoy looking for the rat and they were excited when they found it. Unfortunately they both thought that they should be allowed to pee on the straw so that is something we would have to fix if we were ever to really get into it.

I think it's a fun idea and good enrichment for the dogs.

My main issue with it is the same problem I have with tracking it's more the dog doing there own thing with the handler watching. I really enjoy rally, obedience, and agility more because they really give you a sense of team work. It's not just the dog doing something its the human and dog working together and I love that.

 We still might try this again a few more times. The dogs had fun so it was worth doing but I think we will more go to practices rather than try to compete in it.

Meet the new puppy.

Are you ready for some supper adorable puppy pictures?

Well here you go!

Puppy in a cup.

It's Puppy time!

Puppy attack!

Not my puppy not exactly but he is part of the extended family. By that I mean he is  my mom's  new puppy and I figured it was about time I introduced him. She has had him for a little over a month but as you can tell because I just finished writing about the dog show in June I am a little behind in updates.

Puppy pose.

This is Napoleon, called Poe for short. He is a Yorkshire Terrier puppy. My mom requested they not dock his tail she really likes it when Yorkies have there natural long tail.

Puppy racing.

He is an adorable little guy really brave and friendly. He has the wonderful classic puppy personality that has never met a stranger he loves everyone and just wants to go go go. He loves Sadie and Simon and does not really seem intimidated by the large size difference. He will chase them around it takes a lot of effort to try to keep up with such larger legs.

Puppy Kisses.

For some reason he has decided that Simon is the best thing ever, Simon doesn't like it but he puts up with the attention. Po will climb on Simon  when he lays down and I even caught  him snuggled up next to Simon but they moved before I could get a picture. I make sure to give Simon a break if he seams to have had to much of the attention.

Puppy and his hero.

Sadie on the other hand likes him just like she has with every puppy she has ever meet. She plays with him and will even lay down to be more on his level. I have seen her crawl on the ground army man style so she is as close to on his level as she can get.

Puppy jumping for joy.