My New Husky Blog Report Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005
Hello JoAnna and all the Wild Things, and lots of love from the Americas. Happy New Year! I have not written to all of you since the Holidays. Things here have been very exciting and busy.

I have been in my new home for over a year now. Boy, how the time has flown past. You will all be very proud of me as I graduated “Husky Cum Laud” from Husky Bootcamp. It was quite the year in school. I mastered all the commands and have officially taken my place in the Oregon Pack (that means that Lady Dog has quit saying that she is going to send be back to Canada). When I graduated I was bestowed the title of “Purveyor Of Happiness”. It is now my official duty to bring contentment, pleasure, and of course happiness to the Pack. I am continuing my studies with post-graduate work majoring in Happiness, with minor studies in Obedience and Packing (Photo 01, check out the great packs).

I have enclosed photos for your pleasure. Photos 02 and 03 are my one-year graduation photos. The rest are just casual pics from all that has gone on since I last wrote to all of you.
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After getting through the “Christmas Season”, all the outside things were taken back outside and we settled in for the winter. Winter, I ask? Where is all the cold and snow? This winter was very mild. It seemed more like spring to me. Temperatures were very warm and there was lots of sunshine. This brought about lots of schooling opportunities. We practiced all kinds of obedience and familiarization with commands. We also got to play a lot. One of my favorite activities what Big Dog calls “Biting and Kicking”, although I just call it having fun (Big Dog always has to have these fancy terms for things). I feel very fortunate with my playtime activities. I am allowed to bite and chew within reason while we wrestle and tumble. I know when we go to class every Saturday the instructor there is always telling all the two-leggers that they should never allow any biting, or as she puts it “mouthing”, of any kind. Big Dog feels that in order to understand and improve sensitivity toward others, you must learn your limitations, and limitations can never be fully understood until they are practiced. He has been very kind, gentle, and firm about letting me do what is natural for me. In turn I have learned to play and associate with out causing any suffering to others. Big Dog says I am very intuitive and a quick learner. I feel Lady Dog needs almost as much practice with this activity as I do. We both rely on Big Dog and all his past experience with large wild animals. He sure makes it fun. With all that said, there is one game that I have yet to figure out.  It is called “On A Stick” (Photo 04). 

The picture shows the final position for the “On A Stick” maneuver. It starts after we get into playing and rousting about.  All of a sudden, I find myself pinned to the ground. My front paws are grabbed with one hand, my back paws are grabbed with the other hand and the command “you are on a stick” is given. At first, my thought was, “you have got to be kidding”. No, not Big Dog. He is always persistent. I soon figured out that this maneuver meant that I needed to lay still and be perfectly quiet, which I admit was not my first choice. But after practicing for a while I found that as soon as I relaxed, for just a short time, the command, “that’s it” is given and we return to the tussle activity that we were originally engaged in. Any attempt to struggle brings the comment, “you are on a stick, there’s nothing you can do when you are on a stick”. Big Dog jokingly says it has something to do with his kind on Safari and bringing back their captives. I don’t know, it seems at times that Big Dog looses it, and it seems a bit silly to me but I submit and we go on. There are some strange things I feel that I will never understand about these two-leggers’ behavior.

Now we are into the spring which seems to have taken on some shades of mild winter - lots of rain, cloudy skies, and lowered temperatures. The weather here seems a bit strange but then I understand it is that way all over this year. I am still going to school every Saturday with Lady Dog. Then her and I go to the dog park that I wrote to you about. The park is more fun than the school, but both places are ok and there are lots of kind and compassionate two-leggers and a multitude of four-leggers to be friends with. At school we work on obedience and agility (Photo 05).

At the park we just relax, run, fetch, and have a great time with friends and cool off (Photos 06 07) I sure love Lady Dog. She always gives up her Saturdays to be with me and see that I do have a great day.
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Lady Dog, she has been clearing the hillside behind the house which means she has been cutting out the “scotch broom” plants and berry bushes. She finally got all of the bushes cut out and the last couple days she has been hauling them up the hill to the trailer at the front of house so they can go to the dump. While she has been working, I’ve been playing to my heart’s content on the hillside and down by the river. Well, I was playing until today. Sometime between yesterday and today Lady Dog remembered that I was a husky - a working dog that was born to pull. Needless to say, I earned by “kibbles” today. Big Dog fixed up a tarp with grommets and a ring to hook-up to a harness (Photos 08

It would seem that my predecessor, Aero, had a “x-back” pulling harness that Lady Dog put to use today. She piled bushes on the tarp, hooked me up to it, and we pulled the bushes up and out to the trailer. On my first trip up the hill, I tried laying down and not moving, that didn’t last long. After the first load, I got gave in and it wasn’t too bad all. We got all of bushes up to the trailer and, boy, was Lady Dog happy. She said that without my help she would have had at least another two evenings worth of work before it was done.

As a treat, she took me down to the river to play and I actually jumped in and swam around (Photo 10, that’s me swimming). Even though the work wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, now that she’s put the harness away, I hope that she forgets it exists.

My “leash free” activities seem to be getting more and more all the time. Why just here the other day Big Dog took me out along the runway for a call-of-nature outing without any means of apprehending me should I decide that now would be a good time to run for Canada. Well, I’m not sure why but I decided to just behave and not do anything rash just yet. After all, they do love me and I seem to get what ever I want and then some. All went well and we came back into our pack area. Big Dog seemed very pleased and I felt real good. We are bonding, and they are finally starting to learn.
When I am on leash it is usually in a public place with lots of two-leggers. Big Dog always says that it is for their comfort and not because I need to have it. Big Dog says there is something called “leash laws” that require that I be physically connected to my escorting companion so we have to do it. However, my pack always sees to it that I am free as often as possible. In return, I always listen and do what I am told.

Finally, I am happy to report that my first album is in the final stages of mastering. It has taken many months to edit and mix. Big Dog has added some wonderful music to the project which has filled it out and enhanced my performances. It has had several preliminary mix reviews and they have all been wonderful. Everyone that hears it says it is wonderful, alluring, and calming. There have been suggestions for sequels as well. It should be fully mastered very soon and I know that all of you will be the first to receive an official studio master disc for your review.

I do hope that you and all “The Wild Things” are well and enjoying life. I continue to be well cared for and loved where I am. Although, sometimes on those brilliant and clear nights, I look up to the stars like dad does and I still remember where I was born. Love to all of you and I will write again soon.