Hazardous Duty

Dec 312008
 

Feeding six hungry Siberians can be a challenge.  We have a very specific routine.

1)  The dogs are each in their place – Natasha and Rusty in the dog room; Kodiak, Kiska and Qannik in the den; and Cheoah in her crate (food aggression issue that has to be contained).

2)  Each dog must sit before their bowl is placed on the ground and must wait until verbally released to eat.

3)  No dog may bother another dog until everyone is done eating.

Now despite rule #2, much vigor is applied to the Happy Dance that occurs before dinner is served.  Howling, dancing, running in circles – all allowed until I am ready to start feeding.

So, I enter the dog room and feed Natasha and Rusty – both sit and wait on their bowls.  I enter the den and Kodiak, Kiska and Qannik are racing around the room in Happy Dance mode.  I am instructing Qannik to go sit in his spot, then Kiska and finally Kodiak – all before any of the three are fed.  

Only Kodiak is doing a phenomenal Happy Dance.  As I am backing away from the now sitting Qannik and Kiska, Kodiak does a final spin on his back legs and starts to plant his front legs so he can sit.  Only I am wearing sweat pants and the string that holds them on is hanging out the front.  Yep, Kodiak’s paw perfectly hooks right through the loop.

Now I am faced with a choice.  Drop the dog bowls and save the sweat pants (and the chaos of dog food slung throughout the den), or hold onto the dog bowls.  I did what any dog owner does – I held onto the bowls.

So Kodiak goes all the way into a sit mode – with my sweat pants under his front paws and I am noticing a significant draft.

Ok, he’s sitting, right?  So I place the bowl, release him to eat, and recover the sweat pants.  And then feed Kiska and Qannik who are calmly sitting and waiting on their food.

Good thing I don’t have any neighbors.

Great Trail in Asheville

Dec 282008
 

Our pal, Simcha, said he is visiting Asheville for New Year’s and asked if there are any trails we recommend.  Since Simcha’s blog is titled Red Sibes Rule, our own red heads (from the left, Kodiak, Cheoah and Rusty) have offered to be tour guides.

Red Heads

Asheville is well known for being very dog friendly, as you can see here and here. Very common to see dogs (on leashes) walking among the crowds downtown and many of the stores welcome dogs inside – some even are known for offering treats.  Water bowls are common at store entrances.  (For the record, The Herd does not live in Asheville, but lives in Maggie Valley – about 30 minutes west of Asheville).

While you will find many trails at the web sites linked above, we highly recommend starting out at the Folk Art Center in East Asheville.  A ranger’s station is manned just inside the doors and they have lots of recommendations for great trails, and can also tell you about road closures in the area due to weather (some of the best trails are inaccessible by car in the winter – Call for recorded road closure information at 828-298-0398).  But the humans can also enjoy the displays by the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Folk Art Center

The Mountain to Sea Trail (more info can be found here too) cuts through the Folk Art Center property and one of our favorite walks start right here.  We do this walk by connecting several trails and using the MST (Mountain to Sea Trail) as the backbone.  Now we have, of course, marked all the turns very well, but sometimes humans can not figure out our pee-mail, so we have attached pictures below of all of the turns so that they will not confuse you, Simcha.  This is about a two mile, mostly flat walk, so easy on their two legs.

Just walk toward the building and you will see a MST marker (the MST marker is always a white dot) on your right.  Here is a close up:

Trail Head

About a 100 yards down this trail, the MST veers to the right.  To help you spot the turn, the MST marker is doubled on a tree and points to the right just like this:

Trail marker

Don’t worry if you miss the turn.  The trail simply circles back to the Folk Art Center and you realize you went on a very short walk.  But making the turn takes you right along the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway and across a small bridge:

Foot bridge

Now here is where we combine trails.  You can, of course, walk as far as you want on the MST and then turn around and come back, but we have turned this into a loop.  Far more interesting for us.  As you are walking down the trail with the Blue Ridge Parkway on your right, you will also notice a neighborhood road on your left.  At any point, you cross up on the road and keep walking in the same direction:

MST to Road

Road

About a quarter of a mile on this road and you will see a gate on your right. 

Gate

Walk around it and you will now be on an abandoned road.

Road 2

Walk to the top – it will take a little while so just relax and enjoy the quiet.  But don’t worry, it is not steep and you usually get to meet a few other dogs on the walk.  We have a couple of Siberian friends we get to meet on this road.  At the very top of the road, it loops around and you just go back down the road.

Cul De Sac

A little Herd trivia for you.  It was on this curve that our humans were able to make the picture that appears as the Header on our website.  That’s right – a Herd Header!  We expect a historical marker will be erected here one day.

Anyway, this is the only back tracking you do, but it is fairly short – maybe 1/4 mile.  On your left on the way back down, you will see a dirt road heading off.  The day we took these pictures, you will notice that the sign was exposed warning of a Firing Range.  Normally that sign is closed up, but we have never, never, never seen anyone using this firing range, so don’t worry.  Besides, you walk up behind where shooters would be (i.e., they would fire the other way) and you could hear them well before you got to it.

Road 3

As you approach the range’s gate, you have to look carefully to the right for the trail.

 

Right Fork 1

Right Fork 2

After a few yards on this spur trail, you come back to the MST trail, turn right and you are headed back to the Folk Art Center.  And, if your humans are tired, there is even a bench to sit and enjoy the serenity (notice Natasha winking at us):

Bench

So, that is one of our favorite walks.  Long enough for us to achieve A Tired Sibe is a Good Sibe, and still not a killer trail.

If you want something steeper, ask the rangers if the road is opened to Mt Pisgah just south of Asheville.  We shared one of our panoramic views from the peak and showed some fall color from there.  The trail does make a dog work a little more, but fun listening to our humans huffing and puffing on the trail too.  And boy do we sleep after that one.

Enjoy your stay in Asheville and tell us where all you go.  And if you see a Herd of Siberians, come say hello to us!

Merry Christmas!

Dec 252008
 

To all of our friends out there in Siber- (er, cyber-) space, we wish you the Merriest of Christmases.  May you get your fair share of turkey and ham, and the best chew toys as presents.

We take you back to Queen Natasha the Evil’s first Christmas to show you that, even as a puppy, she was always in that Christmas spirit:

Natasha chewing on a Santa hat

Santa who?

 

Tree branch

Seriously, it fell off the tree.

Winter Solstice

Dec 212008
 

Today is the Winter Solstice where we remember the dogs who have gone before the current Herd.  More information can be found on the Siberian Husky Memorial Web-page and the list of Siberian Huskies in that memorial can be found here.  On that page a little more than halfway down, you can find a reference to our own sweet Nikita, the one who got us hooked on that Siberian Husky mischievousness.

Nikita taught me how strong of a fence I needed to build, how doors could be opened with paws, how anything could be chewed, how far you really had to walk a Sibe to achieve a Tired Sibe is a Good Sibe, and how much trouble a Siberian could really be.  She also taught me about the Siberian laugh, the absolute joy that a Siberian takes from every moment from every day, and how much they can brighten your lives.  She is also the one that, for better or worse, taught Natasha how to be the queen.  As you can see from the last three pictures, Nikita earned her nickname Mama Bear.

 

Nikita smiling

 

Nikita sleeping

 

Nikita and Natasha sleeping

Standing Guard

Playing in Snow

We also remember the Non-Siberians in our lives and celebrate them today as well.  Our first two dogs, Cocoa, a corgi, and Ginger, a mixture of many breeds, paved the way for Nikita by teaching us how much fun dogs are to have in your life.

 

Cocoa and Ginger

Cocoa

Ginger

So today we light a candle, smile at the memories, and hug the Herd.  If you would like to join in the celebration, please light a candle at 8 p.m. and think of those who have gone before.  And please share with me the stories of those you think of so we can share those thoughts as we light our candles tonight.

A Rare Sight

Dec 192008
 

At night, our humans swear that Cheoah has an on / off switch, because when she goes to sleep, you can’t wake her up – to move, to go outside, whatever.  She sleeps really soundly.  But during the day, she runs, she bounces, and she is a constant blur of movement.  So, this picture is a very rare sight.  Cheoah, during the day, worn out from hiking.

Cheoah panting

And, Rusty?  He paces himself really well, so he may not bounce as much as Cheoah, but he can outwalk all of us.

Proof of Abuse

Dec 182008
 

Quick – call the ASPCA or, better, Meeshka, Attorney at Claw. We have video proof of the abuse our humans heap upon us everyday. Witness poor Kodiak:

Rusty's Delicate Feet

Dec 172008
 

While the rest of The Herd is comfortable walking on the pavement of the closed Blue Ridge Parkway, Rusty must always keep his delicate feet on the soft comfort of grass. For the fans of Rusty’s “uniqueness”, we share this week’s Rusty video:

Where's our snow?

Dec 162008
 

Remember our Destination last week?  And all of the snow we got to play in?  Well, we went back and the road was still closed (so we could walk down the middle), but notice that the snow is all gone and the road is wet:

Walking up the parkway

And when we looked out over our view, the clear sky was gone and clouds were everywhere:

Cloudy View

So while much of North America is freezing cold, we are warm and wet.  Where’s our snow?

P.S. to Ozzie – Glad you enjoyed Kodiak’s picture yesterday, but look closely and you will notice he is wearing a seatbelt, so he can’t jump out the window.  And thanks for the award – more on that later this week.

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