Why I'm the Princess

Hi Puppers,

You may have noticed that Mom listed me as Princess Sunshine Meadow in the caption on my official Kapp Pack photo. This is the reason I have earned that title.

Here I am sitting on my throne

I fell asleep in my throne - notice it has a picture of Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora. They're Princesses just like me.

Mom would try to tell you I stole this throne from the Little Biped, but what does that matter. She was in bed asleep, so the chair was mine to take. I'm the Princess!!

TTFN

Meadow

7 Weird Things About Us

We were tagged by Quincy and Summer and Prince of Team Husky to play this tag game. We have to tell you seven weird things about us.

1) Canyon sleeps on Mom's feet. Dad doesn't like a dog on his side of the bed. Sky and I spread out and take up too much room, so we aren't allowed on the bed. The only place left for Canyon is on Mom's feet. Me, I think it's because he's a spoiled brat and Mom let's him get away with it.

2) Sky likes horses. We live in Amish country. Everytime he sees a horse and buggy go by (we usually see about 15 per day), he gets excited. He used to scream like a chainsaw and try to break loose from his leash or jump over the six-foot fence, but then he got a "come or else" collar and that taught him not to get so excited about it.

3) Most toys are immortal in this household. We have some stuffies which were bought when I first came to live with Mom and Dad after they adopted me from MaPaw seven years ago. They just don't get destroyed (Sky did go through a short phase of doing this, but only with dollar-store toys). Sky and Canyon will fight over toys and bones, but they don't play tug-of-war. They lay on the floor and bark at each other with the object of desire on the floor between them. Whomever barks loudest wins, but even when Sky wins, he lets Canyon have it.

4) I yell at Canyon every time he comes near me. My arthritis makes stairs hard enough; I don't need the Annoying One jumping on me while climbing them.

5) I'd make a good boxing referee. I let the play-fights between Canyon and Sky go on for a little while and then I break it up. Whenever their playing gets too loud and out of control, I step in between them and push them apart.

6) Canyon is scared of most people. There are a few people he sees often enough that he is OK with them. Most of the time, he just backs away slowly with his ears down and his tail between his legs when he meets someone new.

7) Shhh... This is a secret, I'll only share with my blogging friends. Mom and Dad think I can't hear anymore. I just pretend because I'm the queen and I can do whatever I want.

One final runner-up for this list. Canyon is stupid. He doesn't know how to act innocent after destroying something. This week, Mom found one of her sweaters, which had been neatly folded in the closet, laying on Sky's bed (see he tried to get Sky falsely accused) with a large hole in it. When Mom asked Sky what happened, he wagged his tail. When she asked Canyon, he cowered, put his ears back and tail between his legs, and hid under the kitchen table.

Woo woo, Kelsey Ann

I can't believe it!

Hey Everydoggy,

This weekend is very special to me. 7 years ago this weekend, I came to live with my mom and dad. Mom had always wanted a husky but couldn't get one until she moved out on her own. As soon as mom and dad knew they were getting a place to live they started browsing the internet to look for huskies. The first website they came to was MaPaw Siberian Husky Rescue. Mom was a husky novice and thought the color of the husky was important (in my opinion it still is....hehehehe) and she always wanted a red and white husky. Well, what they saw was my picture and story.
The next thing they did was to fill out the adoption application. MaPaw was very thorough and careful and checked their references well since mom had never owned a dog before. Once their applicationwas approved it was time for them to come and visit MaPaw. I was in rescue when MaPaw was still so small that they didn't even have foster homes yet and all the foster doggies were at Ma and Pa's house.

Mom and Dad scheduled a visit to see they doggies, and as soon as they came into the house and sat on the floor to greet us doggies, I walked up behind mom and put my paws on her back. SHE WAS MINE! Mom and Dad started visiting me almost every weekend since they would not move into their place until the beginning of January. I had to wait about 6 weeks until Ma and Pa could take me to my furever home.

Adoption Day 2001

Through the years I have experienced many changes in our family. Mom and Dad originally rented a townhouse and about 4 years ago bought their own house, at which time Sky came to live with us. A little over a year after that our little biped arrived. Our family has been through many happy and sad times over the years. I am so glad Ihave the chance to experience all these things in a home where I am taken care of!

When I arrived at MaPaw, they had gotten me from a human society. I was found wandering along the side of the road in Pennsylvania Dutch country. They were pretty sure I was "dumped" from a puppy mill or ran away from one. I was estimated to be just under a year old and it appeared I may have had a litter of puppies. My fate was very uncertain in the shelter because they found out I was heartworm positive and had it not been for MaPaw, I strongly believe I would not be here today telling my story. MaPaw not only nursed me back to health but taught me how to socialize with other dogs and most importantly people.


After I got to my furever home, mom and dad had to work a lot with me on my submissive peeing issues. I would get very anxious and worried if I did something wrong or if there were loud noises or voices. But mom and dad didn't give up on me and now I don't have any of those issues. Although, I think Canyon would say I'm anti-social.


In the past 7 years our family has remained involved with MaPaw. Along they way we have gone to countless meet and greets to brag about our breed and to find furever homes for foster dogs, we've fostered 3 huskies, transported many huskies, being involved in the planning of the inaugural year of the Hike N' Howl, and last but not least, we try to help MaPaw by being part of the blogosphere.

Sky came next...

Then the little biped...

Then finally, the annoying one (aka. Canyon)

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. I couldn't have asked for a better furever home.

Woo woo, Kelsey Ann
(Do I get cake today???)

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.

Temporary Housemate

My old friend, Hennessy, was adopted by his Mom and Dad in 1998 from a shelter in Alabama. He's a mutt if there ever was a mutt. He's has very short legs, long ears and a long body like a dachshund, but he's got the coloring of a German Shepherd. Hennesy and his sister were feral puppies found wondering along the side of the road. He lived in an apartment in Alabama with his Mom and Dad until 1999. They got married and moved to Pennsylvania. Hennessy and his parents lived with his Mom's family for about a year after that. Eventually, they bought a house of their own in 2000. Meanwhile, I came into rescue at Mapaw and met my Mom and Dad. I met Hennessy when I moved into my fur-ever home in 2001. He only lived three blocks away from me. A couple times a week, I would get to see him. We'd play for hours since we were both young then and full of energy. In 2003, we moved to a new house. It was several miles away from Hennessy, so I didn't get to see him very often, but I did get to see his Mom on a regular basis (by the time we had moved, his Dad had left him and his Mom to move somewhere else). It had been a really long time since I had seen my friend. Last night I got to see him!!! Here's a picture of him at our house last night with me trying to get in on the picture.





Hennessy's Mom and soon-to-be-new Dad came over for dinner last night and they brought my buddy along to play. He sure has gotten old and grey (I'm sure glad that I've aged better than he has). We didn't play as much as we used to, but Hennessy didn't forget how much he loved my Dad. His Mom says that my Dad has always been his favorite person in the world. While they were visiting, I overheard the humans talking about plans for Hennessy's Mom and soon-to-be-new Dad's wedding and honeymoon. When we heard them talking, Hennessy and I got so excited because we heard them say Hennessy will be spending almost two weeks at our house while his parents go to Europe!!! It's going to be sooooo coooool!!! Hennessy's fur-siblings will be staying with other friends and family members. He lives with two other dogs and two cats: Bourbon, a German Shepherd/Lab mix; Drambuie, a pomapoo; and the cats, Chivas and Kahlua (Chivas doesn't like me very much, she always used to hiss at me, I think she was afraid I might eat her).

I'm really looking forward to having such a good friend come stay with my for a short time.

Woo-woo, Kelsey Ann

So our mom finally let us join in this thing the other doggies are calling blogging. So let me introduce my pack. I am Kelsey Ann and I was adopted from MaPaw Siberian Husky Rescue 6 1/2 years ago by my mom and dad. I even picked them out myself. Three years ago they decided to adopt my brother Sky from the Lebanon Humane Society. They made sure he got my approval before bringing him home. Then last year they brought home this puppy they seem to jokingly call a huskador. He instantly became best friends with Mom and Dad's little girl so he got to stay despite my protests. He was supposed to be at our house temporarily before being transported to another foster home. The puppy came with the name Beans, but Mom and Dad changed it to Canyon.