Not Fair!

Hey Everydoggy!

I found some pictures on Mom's camera that made me feel a bit neglected. As I said a couple of weeks ago on Single Sunday, I used to get to go fishing with mom and dad. Well, look who gets to go now...

I think Mom took this picture just for me...When confronted about this little excursion, Mom explained why I did not get to go along. They figured a 3-year old would have a really short attention span and they would be home in 15 minutes. Well, it turns out, the little biped has an amazing and phenomenal attention span. They were there almost an hour and she was still fishing and into it. The fish were hardly biting and they didn't catch anything for me to lick anyway. So, I guess I didn't really miss anything.

Maybe next time I will get to go along on the fishing trip!

Woo woo, Kelsey Ann

Cooking in the Kapp Kitchen

Hey Everydoggy!

Yesterday started out with a large breakfast for the bipeds. Eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns. Later in the day Mom made a double-layer chocolate cake for her Dad's birthday. There was no dinner cooked at home yesterday because they ate with Nana and Pap. But today, Mom more than made up for not having cooked dinner last night.

This morning at about 7:30, the little biped came into Mom and Dad's bedroom (ours too) and announced: "It's time to get up... it sure is." Lately, sayings like "it sure is," "I sure did," and "you sure can" have been some of her favorites. So Mom and Dad got up to start the day.

First thing, they started cooking a rump roast in the crockpot using a recipe Mom had submitted into the Mapaw cookbook. The recipe was given to Mom by the wife of their Best Man after she had cooked it for Dad on his birthday many years ago. Last night around 11, as they were making the shopping list for the grocery store, they realized that they would need a can of beer to make the au jus dip for tonight's dinner. Dad said he would have to run out to get the six-pack store because they wouldn't be able to get any beer on Sunday in Pennsylvania. Mom asked what happened to the six-pack of Mad Elf that Dad got for Christmas from their friends. It turns out that there are still two of those left; however, Dad didn't think that Mom would want to use that since she doesn't like cherries and Mad Elf has a cherry and honey flavor (it also probably wouldn't taste very good with beef). So off Dad went at 11pm to get some of the silver bullet.

Next, Mom made some scrambled eggs, then they ate and got ready to head out for the grocery store. Normally on a Sunday, it would be a trip to church, but Mom and Dad chose not to go today and to get some other things done instead. A couple hours later they returned with more groceries than they've bought in one trip for a long time. Of course there was no dog food in all of this. They haven't bought dog food for us at the grocery store since the pet food recalls; now we get gourmet dog foods like Canidae(or if you are Khyra, Khanidae) and Eagle Pack Holistic.

Before they went to the grocery store, a female duck jumped out of the bushes in front of the house and flew away. We saw it all from the window. How excited were we?!?!? Sky especially likes duck because that's what is in his Eagle Pack. We tried to get Dad to go out and shoot it so that Mom could put it in the freezer until July when the raspberries are ready. Roasted duck breast with raspberry sauce sounds so goooood! Unfortunately, despite several trips out with the camera, Dad couldn't shoot even a picture of her. Good thing since it turns out she's nesting right in front of our window.

This is what she looked like!

When they arrived home, Mom immediately began cooking. Stromboli with mushrooms, chicken cacciatore with peppers and onions, and turkey meatloaf. The plan was to prepare a few large meals at once and freeze them into several portions each. This way there would be more time during the week for family time and dog walking. While she was doing this, Dad cooked lunch for him and the little biped. He decided to get some scrapple at the grocery store. I've included a link to tell you what this is if you're not from Pennsylvania. He didn't know if the little biped would like it, but it turned out that she loved it. Dad serves it on toast with maple syrup. Finally, Mom made some blueberry bread today.

Well, time to go... Dama and Paw-paw are here for dinner. Oh, I'm sure you could tell....we didn't have a doggy transport this weekend.

Woo woo, Kelsey Ann

Today's Trip

Mom and Dad promised I would get to go somewhere to see prey today. This morning when I woke up, I was really sore. It's the worst it has ever been. I was doing a lot of crying and was really cranky with everyone! I got my Rimadyl in the morning with breakfast. This week, I was alternating between two doses and one dose each day as we try and find the lowest effective dose. Yesterday was a one dose day. It helped some, but I was still really sore.

The bipeds left around 11:30 this morning. The little biped went to Dama's and Paw-paw's while Mom and Dad went to the toy store to buy some birthday presents for the little biped (her birthday will be in May). When they came back, I made sure they noticed I was still really sore. They took pity on me and gave me another dose of medicine. They weren't sure if I should go on the trip, but decided some exercise might be good to help stretch out some of the soreness.

Around 4 today, we got in the Sibe Vibe and took a ride to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. The picture to the left is of me once we got there and we were unloaded out of the car.

As we started down the trail, it appeared that there was a lot of snow on the fields. There were a lot of people standing and looking at this snow. As we got closer, I realized that the snow was moving around some and even seemed to be flying away! Then I noticed some sounds coming from the snow! Wait... this must not be snow. This must be the prey that Mom and Dad were talking about! It was snow geese and tundra swans. Here's some pictures of what we saw.

Me and the little biped - see the geese flying in the background

The tundra swans

Thousands of geese

Unfortunately, Mom and Dad kept me on a leash the whole time, so I couldn't go chasing them. (In reality, I didn't feel up to it). Dad tried to help me get into the car after the short walk and I was so sore I didn't want to be touched. I ended up biting his hand because I was scared it would hurt. The walk helped me feel better, I just was having a very bad day. Tomorrow, Dad's going to call Dr. Horst to see about getting some other kind of medicine for really bad days. He had suggested that opiates may be available for severe pain. But, even though I was very sore - I had a great time looking at the birds and spending time with the bipeds without Sky and the Annoying One.

Woo woo, Kelsey Ann

(I'll share more pics later, blogger was being tempermental like me tonight!)

Arch Nemesis Returns

Hey Everydoggy,

I would like to share some bad and good news with you all. I'll start with the tragic news.

A few weeks ago, Mom noticed that the hoses on the vacuum cleaner were torn. She and Dad had to take it to the service center at the retailer for repairs. Four years ago when they got the vacuum, they also got the service plan. This means this repair was covered. When Dad dropped it off, he even talked the man at the store into replacing the electrical cord Canyon had chewed when he was a dumb puppy(Dad repaired it so it was safe, but it was held together with wire nuts and electrical tape).

We were really enjoying the house as it started to fill up with husky hair over the last two weeks, but today the Dyson returned. So, tonight we all had to run away when Mom started it up to clean up the floors. What a downer...

The good news is that I got a Royal Red Carpet since I'm the Queen! Dr. Horst had suggested carpet runners may be helpful to me on the hardwood floors. Mom thought she would test this theory and bought a runner for the hallway and one to put at my food dish so that I won't slip when I'm eating. The one at the food dish is my Royal Red Carpet. Here's a picture.

You can see I am not totally convinced of this theory yet. Mom says in time I will get used to my carpet and put all my feety feet on it.

More good news! I overheard mom and dad talking about taking the little biped somewhere special tomorrow. They are taking her to see something that only happens during this time of year. They also talked about taking me along because they said "Kelsey is the least prey-driven of all of them and the other two got to go to the playdate two weeks ago". Woo Hoo! Car ride! Hmmm...I wonder what we are going to see that mom and dad would have to worry about us hunting prey????? Any ideas????

Until tomorrow, Woo woo, Kelsey Ann

(dreaming tonight of bunnies, opossums and other little furry things. Yum!)

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Hey Everydoggy,

I told you I found some bizarre pictures on Mom's new camera.

It appears my people were transported to the Land of Oz this weekend.

No, Seriously, it was a really cool event at the Philadelphia Zoo. Every year they have an Open House event for members of the zoo, which my people are. They got to see lots of things behind-the-scenes. They saw the commisary (where they prepare the food for all the animals), the animal hospital, a tortoise that uses a skateboard to get around, the naked mole rat room, and the behind the scened of Big Cat Falls. I personally don't think I would want to meet up with any of those cats in a dark alley.

This is our little biped learning how to do a lion examination...

These are 3 of the 4 real lions at the zoo...

This is the zoo's male tiger, Dmitri. He is the father of the three Amur tigers cubs born in May of 2007.

This picture kind of scares me. Mom tells me this Puma was really eyeing up our little biped. I'm certainly glad that fence was in between them. Not sure I would like this behind-the-scenes big cat thing!

Last, but not least, a "cuddly" polar bear photo op!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the interesting pictures I found. I know they are not of bewootiful me, but sometimes too much of a good thing is too much!

Woo woo, Kelsey Ann

The "Mouse" Hunter

Steve Irwin once said: "born a wildlife warrior, die a wildlife warrior." That pretty much describes me last night. I am so proud of myself! Mom and Dad were pretty proud too. They gave me a whole can of wet food (Wellness 95% salmon) all for myself while all the other doggies sat and vultured.

Yesterday, the whole family was hanging out together in the basement family room. Mom, Dad, the Little Biped, Queen Kelsey, Sky, Hennessy and myself were all together. I was snuggled up with the Little Biped watching Open Season. It's a movie about hunting (but the animals win and the hunters lose). Dad had used the DVR to tape it since we had free movie channels on the TV for the weekend. I was watching very carefully to learn about hunting. Being that I am half husky and half lab, my hunting skills are usually all confused. I don't know if I should chase live animals like a husky or bring back dead ones like a lab... I thought if I watched this movie with the Little Biped, I might be able to hone my hunting skills.

After we watched for a little while, we were sent outside for our normal business. When we came back in, I smelled something funny and heard an odd noise. I figured it was time to try out the hunting skills I had learned in the movie, and see if I could catch the animal making the noise. I went behind the couch and started sniffing around at the baseboard heater. Then the animal squeaked. Mom yelled: "A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE!!!" She grabbed the Little Biped and instructed Dad that he needed to catch it. I stayed with him to work on it. We spent several hours trying to get it. When it would come out from under the heater, it would quickly run to another heater and hide under there. A few times, it found its way into the walls. Dad had all the tools that he needed: a few mouse traps, a screwdriver to try to chase it out from under the heater, a plastic bag to catch it in, and a hammer... Several times, we would go upstairs and leave it alone in the hopes it would come out.

Dad and I had gone downstairs to try and catch it again - well, that's what I thought anyway. Dad was taking laundry out of the dryer, but I was looking. I found it and got it cornered. I started to bark to get Dad's attention and he said "Good boy, Canyon!" I had the mouse trapped. It was hiding between a wall and an open door, but I wasn't going to let it get away again. Dad closed the door with me in the office and him in the laundry room. He told me it wasn't a mouse, it was a shrew. We have problems with these things. They fall down the stairs from our yard when it rains heavily. They must be trying to escape drowning in the yard. The shrew hid under the door, but I chased it out and then Dad got the little mole-like animal. He finished it off in a fashion similar to the old carnival game (you know the one), if not.....here's a BIG hint

We went upstairs and Mom told me what a good boy I was. That's when she got the can of food out and gave the whole thing to me! It doesn't get much better than that! Victorious in my hunting and a special treat!

Puppy slurps, Canyon

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.

Popularity Increases

We had another visitor!!! This is the second one this week. Late last night, Dad took us out for our final run in the yard before bed. He let us out and turned his back to put on his sandals since he was planning to come out and enjoy the evening air with us too. When he started out behind us, he noticed that Sky was trotting around the yard and looking very proud. Dad later said that he was thinking: that's not like Sky. When Sky turned towards Dad, he realized that Sky had caught an opossum!!!
Dad got Sky to let go of it. Then Canyon grabbed hold of it and he started to trot around. Well, I had to get in on the fun too. So, when Dad got Canyon to drop it, I got my turn. We were having a grand old time, but Dad was pretty upset about the situation. Finally, Dad was able to get a hold of two sticks. One to keep us pushed away, and the other to pick up the opossum with and throw it over the fence. By the time this had happened, we had already been carrying it around enough in our mouths to have killed it. Dad had to go out with a plastic bag to put it in. Sky sure was mad at Dad. He spent the rest of the evening giving Dad the Evil Eye. What would you have done if someone grabbed food out of your mouth that you had just caught. before you even got a chance to play with it? Mom said it was a good thing we had been to the V-E-T earlier and gotten our rabies shots.