Saturday, May 28, 2005
Kiche update!
Slowly with little baby steps, Kiche is progressing towards trusting me. She will take treats out of my hand and I continue to hand feed her some of her food every day before I fill her bowl. I can sit on her dog house and she will come up and sniff my legs or shoes and then bark at me a bit. But her tail is wagging and she really wants to be friendly, but with 2 years of not much socialization I don't expect her to turn around immediately. It took Misty about 2 months before I didn't have to grab the chain to pet her.
Tonight I sat at Kiche's house while I had 21 dogs running around the yard. I could put my hand down and she would come up and lick it, then back off and bark....she did this many times. She just isn't too sure about me yet! I can pet her if I hold her chain....she doesn't back off to the end of it any longer....she will sit down and I can scratch under her chin and on her chest. It will take awhile before I can go over her head and down her back.
I can't wait for the time when I can let her loose with the other dogs. They all seem to like and accept her and they often run into her circle and they all greet each other nicely.
Slowly with little baby steps, Kiche is progressing towards trusting me. She will take treats out of my hand and I continue to hand feed her some of her food every day before I fill her bowl. I can sit on her dog house and she will come up and sniff my legs or shoes and then bark at me a bit. But her tail is wagging and she really wants to be friendly, but with 2 years of not much socialization I don't expect her to turn around immediately. It took Misty about 2 months before I didn't have to grab the chain to pet her.
Tonight I sat at Kiche's house while I had 21 dogs running around the yard. I could put my hand down and she would come up and lick it, then back off and bark....she did this many times. She just isn't too sure about me yet! I can pet her if I hold her chain....she doesn't back off to the end of it any longer....she will sit down and I can scratch under her chin and on her chest. It will take awhile before I can go over her head and down her back.
I can't wait for the time when I can let her loose with the other dogs. They all seem to like and accept her and they often run into her circle and they all greet each other nicely.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Sun Dogs, Venus and Kiche
A beautiful Mother's Day and I am blessed with all my furry critters laying in the sun and enjoying the day. Don came over and we sprinkled Venus' ashes several places around my property. I also finished sprinking one of my dogs that died in 1997(!!) that I had kept some of his ashes. Elliott was also a loner like Venus and not a "dog's dog" so thought it would be appropriate to finish getting his ashes back into the cycle of life. Don pointed out a huge "sun dog" that was encircling the sun as we had spread the ashes. We tried to get my other dogs to sing, but I guess everyone was too sad at the moment. I will dedicate their next song to Venus.
Kiche (SCL) continues to make progress. She will take food out of my hand without me grabbing the chain. I moved the 3 dogs that were in the side yard, including her, back into the main dog yard. It has totally dried out. Kiche is in the middle with Millie, Misty, Crowe and Topaz surrounding her. She likes other dogs a lot. While I was in her circle this morning petting Ivy, who had come over the visit, Kiche actually came up behind me and sniffed my ankle! Good sign!!
A beautiful Mother's Day and I am blessed with all my furry critters laying in the sun and enjoying the day. Don came over and we sprinkled Venus' ashes several places around my property. I also finished sprinking one of my dogs that died in 1997(!!) that I had kept some of his ashes. Elliott was also a loner like Venus and not a "dog's dog" so thought it would be appropriate to finish getting his ashes back into the cycle of life. Don pointed out a huge "sun dog" that was encircling the sun as we had spread the ashes. We tried to get my other dogs to sing, but I guess everyone was too sad at the moment. I will dedicate their next song to Venus.
Kiche (SCL) continues to make progress. She will take food out of my hand without me grabbing the chain. I moved the 3 dogs that were in the side yard, including her, back into the main dog yard. It has totally dried out. Kiche is in the middle with Millie, Misty, Crowe and Topaz surrounding her. She likes other dogs a lot. While I was in her circle this morning petting Ivy, who had come over the visit, Kiche actually came up behind me and sniffed my ankle! Good sign!!
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Venus saves a dog.
One of the saddest days of my life was yesterday. Venus, one of only 2 dogs that I got as a puppy (7 weeks old) died. She started having severe seizures 2 years ago and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She did well on meds for the past 2 years, but I guess everything just caught up with her and she was in severe distress yesterday morning and I took her to be euthanized. In 9 years of dog mushing she is the first dog that I have lost. And whew! Does it ever hurt!! She was a total house dog as she lost her back foot to a trap 7 years ago (she wasn't even a year old then) so I miss her presence greatly.
But if you believe in irony or fate.......
For several months the SCL dog Skypup had been on my mind. Skypup had been in 2 different foster homes over the course of a year. She is terribly shy and although well taken care of, she didn't get the opportunity to be harness broken and run as a sled dog. So, I was thinking about her more and more and decided that I would be the one to take her and foster her and get her in a team.
About 3 weeks ago I called the current foster person and we agreed to move the dog over here. The next day before she could come here, she broke her hook and off she went. As she is soooo shy and spooky and very smart, she avoided everyone and all the dog traps that were set up.
After a couple of weeks, Don made up posters and went out to Goldstream and put them up everywhere. People were seeing her around, but she was very elusive.
Well.....yesterday, late afternoon she walked into one of the traps and was caught.
Now, I don't know about you....but I think Venus had something to do with this. Venus died at 10 am. I think she let Skypup know that she needed to be caught and brought to my house so that she could become socialized and run in a team. So Skypup walked into the trap to come to her new home.
She IS spooky and shy. Don had picked her up and she was in a kennel. I managed to get my hand in there as she was clear to the back of the crate, and hook a leash to her collar. When I stood back she BOLTED out the door and hit the end of the leash. Yep...this dog was going to be a challenge. But she reminds me a lot of Misty (who came from the same dog yard a year ago!) who was also spooky, shy and unapproachable when I first got her and now she is a cuddle dog who is quite social and accepting of pets.
At any rate....Skypup has been re-named. I am calling her Kiche, which means "sky spirit" in Cree. She looks at me quite warily and barks at me with her tail tucked between her legs. But I was able to gently grab her chain last night and have her take a piece of meat out of my hand. So this morning I took a small scoop of dog food and waited with my arm outstretched, my back to Kiche and no eye contact.....and she took a few kibbles. Then I put the rest of her food in her bowl and left her. She is VERY food motivated so that will help with her beginning to trust me.
I'm very excited to be working with her and although I'm crushed and depressed that Venus is no longer in my life, I truly believe that Venus is now up in doggie heaven doing good deeds for the dogs down here.
Thanks to Don for supporting my decision to take her, for being there in Venus' death and for caring about the animals of the world. He has my love and admiration.
One of the saddest days of my life was yesterday. Venus, one of only 2 dogs that I got as a puppy (7 weeks old) died. She started having severe seizures 2 years ago and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She did well on meds for the past 2 years, but I guess everything just caught up with her and she was in severe distress yesterday morning and I took her to be euthanized. In 9 years of dog mushing she is the first dog that I have lost. And whew! Does it ever hurt!! She was a total house dog as she lost her back foot to a trap 7 years ago (she wasn't even a year old then) so I miss her presence greatly.
But if you believe in irony or fate.......
For several months the SCL dog Skypup had been on my mind. Skypup had been in 2 different foster homes over the course of a year. She is terribly shy and although well taken care of, she didn't get the opportunity to be harness broken and run as a sled dog. So, I was thinking about her more and more and decided that I would be the one to take her and foster her and get her in a team.
About 3 weeks ago I called the current foster person and we agreed to move the dog over here. The next day before she could come here, she broke her hook and off she went. As she is soooo shy and spooky and very smart, she avoided everyone and all the dog traps that were set up.
After a couple of weeks, Don made up posters and went out to Goldstream and put them up everywhere. People were seeing her around, but she was very elusive.
Well.....yesterday, late afternoon she walked into one of the traps and was caught.
Now, I don't know about you....but I think Venus had something to do with this. Venus died at 10 am. I think she let Skypup know that she needed to be caught and brought to my house so that she could become socialized and run in a team. So Skypup walked into the trap to come to her new home.
She IS spooky and shy. Don had picked her up and she was in a kennel. I managed to get my hand in there as she was clear to the back of the crate, and hook a leash to her collar. When I stood back she BOLTED out the door and hit the end of the leash. Yep...this dog was going to be a challenge. But she reminds me a lot of Misty (who came from the same dog yard a year ago!) who was also spooky, shy and unapproachable when I first got her and now she is a cuddle dog who is quite social and accepting of pets.
At any rate....Skypup has been re-named. I am calling her Kiche, which means "sky spirit" in Cree. She looks at me quite warily and barks at me with her tail tucked between her legs. But I was able to gently grab her chain last night and have her take a piece of meat out of my hand. So this morning I took a small scoop of dog food and waited with my arm outstretched, my back to Kiche and no eye contact.....and she took a few kibbles. Then I put the rest of her food in her bowl and left her. She is VERY food motivated so that will help with her beginning to trust me.
I'm very excited to be working with her and although I'm crushed and depressed that Venus is no longer in my life, I truly believe that Venus is now up in doggie heaven doing good deeds for the dogs down here.
Thanks to Don for supporting my decision to take her, for being there in Venus' death and for caring about the animals of the world. He has my love and admiration.
