Interview by Lola

Recently, we told Ferndoggle we would like to be interviewed. Lola chose to interview Sky because she thinks he is very handsome. Here's her questions and his responses.1. You are just like Frank Sinatra with those big blue eyes. Do you have a hard time fighting off the ladies? What is your favorite Frank Sinatra song?

The ladies I have the most contact with are Kelsey, Mom and the little biped. Kelsey mostly stays to herself on her throne so I really don't have an issue there. The only time I try to fight off attention from Mom is when she comes after me with the evil torture device, the Furminator. As for the little biped, she likes to sit on me, pull my tail, pull my ears and provide other general torture; Mom and Dad have been making her sit in a lot of timeouts lately so that she learns that it is a bad choice to pick on us doggies. She's been getting better at it and life is getting easier. When I do get to go out to meet and greets with MaPaw, I'm happy to get attention from everyone, so I don't fight off attention then either.
My favorite Frank Sinatra song is Mama Will Bark.

2. I noticed you have a habit of licking metal stuff. Does the metal at your house taste like chicken?

No, it tastes like metal. Don't tell the humans, but I do it just to keep them guessing.

3. We know Kelsey thinks Canyon is the "Annoying One", but how do you like your little brother?

I don't have a problem with him; Kelsey finds him to be annoying because he jumps all over her when we are coming up the steps, going down the steps, going out, coming in, waking up, going to bed, and pretty much all the time. He just wants to play. So, when he comes after me, I "play." Canyon gets knocked down and I grab him by the scruff of the neck. Most evenings we do this over and over again. I actually find it to be fun. She thinks that she's above playing; so she comes out and thinks she's the referee and that's the end of our play. She gets annoyed when he tries to play without first asking properly. She expects him to approach her like a loyal subject would to a "queen" (i.e. in a play bow) and grovel for permission to play. I suppose that Canyon and I are more of the pack mentality than Kelsey is. We know that puppies learn to hunt by playing with the alpha. Don't get me wrong - Kelsey doesn't disagree with the pack mentality; she disagrees with Canyon acting like a puppy when he's grown larger than her.

4. Living in Central PA, do you find a conflict choosing the Steelers over the Eagles? I personally don't see a real conflict because the Eagles are stinky and the Steelers are PAWSOME, but which team do you prefer? There's a second football team in Pennsylvania? I've never heard of these Eagles that you speak of. Who are they? Maybe they're one of those pretend football teams (the ones that play on the little field that's indoors) like the one that the 80's hair band rock star owns (if you don't know who I'm talking about here's a few clues - his band is named for him, he's from New Jersey, one of his albums was named after a street sign, and now he thinks he's a country singer)... If they are a real football team, I only have one other question about them. Figure out the answer to this question and you'll know who the better team is. The Steelers have won 5 Super Bowls. How many have the Eagles won?

5. I don't really know any Huskies, pawsonally. Could you tell me a little bit about your breed? What kind of challenges does a new Husky owner face?

I'm glad that you asked about this, Lola. Our breed characteristics can be challenges in and of themselves.

Challenge #1 - training: Huskies are very independent. We don't like to follow instructions, but we can be trained. Kelsey was trained with a choke collar; I was trained with a shock collar; Canyon was simpler to train because he's part lab. Even after we've been trained we still tend to ignore commands that we don't want to follow at that moment.

Challenge #2 - containment: We were bred by the ancients to run and pull sleds. Because of this, we don't know what a territory is and will run if we are left out without some kind of containment system. For some huskies, even sub-terrain radio fences won't even do the job. We must be taken out on leashes, placed in a secure dog run, or fenced in a secure area at all times.

Challenge #3 - pack-oriented: Many huskies have a separation anxiety due to our strong sense of pack orientation. Huskies with this problem can be very destructive to human property when left alone. This a lot of times can be easily solved by having more than one of us.

Challenge #4 - energy: This relates to our breeding just like the containment issue. We were bred to run as I stated above. Due to this we have a lot of energy that we need to use. One of the foster dogs, Dobbs, that we took care of (pre-Canyon) used to do laps around the top of the sectional couch after being in his crate all day.

Challenge #5 - medical issues: Many huskies are prone to eye issues and allergies. The good news is that its all easily treatable when diagnosed early.

Challenge #6 - prey drive: Huskies are very closely related to wolves. We are very good at killing small animals which find their way into our fences or homes. This includes rabbits, possums, birds and cats.

Challenge #7 - fur: We have two coats. We shed. A LOT. 'Nuf said.

Although this seems like a lot to be concerned about, we are excellent dogs to have as companions to humans if the humans understand our energy level and the need to protect ourselves from our instinct to run. We love to be near our humans; we love little biped humans and are very tolerant of them; we love to keep our humans healthy by taking them for walks; if you're hungry, we'll bring you some freshly killed rabbit; we've got beautiful eyes and coats; with proper training and lots of patience, we'll listen pretty well; for a large breed, we live long lives; and best of all, we're don't make a lot of noise dogs(well, at least some of us don't, Kelsey can woo woo with the best of them!).

Now it's my turn to interview somedoggy! Here are the rules if you want me to interview you:

1. If you are interested in being interviewed, leave me a comment saying, 'interview me.'
2. I will respond by posting five questions for you. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Kisses, Sky.