Siberian Huskies

If you haven't noticed by now, the link to my blog is "huskies and harleys"... they both take priority in our lives. I thought I should post some pics of the Huskies. It's Friday and my day off. I was planning to get flowers in all my planters today but, once again, it's raining and I'm sitting inside, procrastinating on some work projects that I brought home to complete over the weekend, and my dogs are taking over the living room rug with their mild, rainy day playing. "Mild" is Mojo yelping because Karma bit his foot pads too hard and after I chastised them, they've settled down a bit.

Here's a picture of the dogs Gil had when I met him. This was taken our first winter together just east of where my parents live in the canyon heading up toward the lakes. Sassy is in front, Hiawatha (Alaskan Malamute) is the 2-yr old brute directly behind Sassy, and Arrow is on the right.

Here's a picture of Arrow, the old man. Sassy's death (a year ago this month) hit him pretty hard. They were a year apart in age and very close; Sassy was actually his aunt but they were lifelong companions. He started looking his old age of 10 and became very cranky, lashing out at Mojo who would only want to play. Since Karma arrived (li'l miss has evened out his temper), he's looking younger again, and is much more tolerant of both her's and Mojo's crazy antics.
Whereas Arrow is more like my step-child because he was already 6 when Gil and I met (this doesn't mean I love him any less), Mojo is definitely my first, very own puppy that I've raised as an adult... my "baby boy". He definitely is a mama's boy though he loves his daddy just as much. He's glued to my side like a shadow, always needing to be near. Here's a picture of Karma on the day we brought her home just over two months ago. Mojo is the main reason we got Karma... after seeing how much Sassy meant to Arrow, we didn't want Mojo to be alone when it's Arrow's turn to go. There's an 8 year age difference and that's too much time for a pack dog to be without a companion. Mojo and Karma get along great... there's a LOT of playing right now but Mojo's still essentially a puppy, too. She stayed away from Arrow the first week or so but then Arrow's attitude started changing and now all three play together like they're the best of friends. It's so nice to see.

We laugh so much watching them. I never thought that dogs could bring me such great joy. I suppose you could say we spoil them but at the same time, we have them on a pretty tight leash. We do not allow them off their leash outside of our 6 foot high fenced yard at all. They have their outdoor kennel where they go "gussy" (potty) and stay when we want them outside while we're home. They do not run in the yard without us out there with them. At night, Arrow sleeps in our room and Mojo and Karma sleep in their crates inside the shop; all three stay in their crates when we're not at home. We have a heater for winter months and an air conditioner when it gets too warm in the summer. Most times while we're home, they're in the house with us. Gil does occasionally hook the boys up to a 2-wheel scooter he made from an old mountain bike of mine, a 4-wheel cart that he made when he lived in Germany, or to a sled those too few times that we have snow. We're talking about getting me started on using the cart with Mojo and Karma next year when she's old enough for the harness. Until then, I'd much rather not put myself at risk for being dragged through the trees hooked up to two crazy dogs when they happen to spot a rabbit!