Post Covid Fun

One of the things that hit us most personally with regards to Covid was the shutdown of dog events.  Dog shows, lure coursing, Fast Cat trials, classes for barn hunt and scentwork.  All of these things that keep their little brains busy and tired...especially the Phoenix dog! 

Yesterday Luratics has some fun runs.  Well, every run with Luratics is fun because Pat is such an amazing lure operator that the girls are completely engaged from the first time they hear the machine resetting the lure line for another dog. 

The girls had a blast.  Where is Smokey, you ask?  He's home, enjoying the AC and some peace and quiet. 

Here's the link to Luratics if you want to keep an eye on their schedule: https://luratics.com/

Elisabeth smiles for the camera while she runs with her usual focus. 

Phoenix leaps into it with unbridled glee

I can catch it mom, I can! 

Part kangaroo? 

Mom did a thing....

Yeah, I got this one Elisabeth. .
So today it was raining.  And not just a sprinkle, but a real So Cal rainstorm complete with lightning and thunder.

When I woke up this morning, the dog run had standing water.  And, well, I just couldn't do it.  So I did what any experienced Siberian Husky owner would do under the circumstances.  I quickly secured as much of the house as possible and left Smokey, the well behaved Gr. Pyr with house privileges and Elisabeth, are you kidding me, 18 mo old puppy loose in the house with dog door access to the back yard.

I thought about them often during the day, wondering what destruction I would come home to.   Did I really close the bedroom and bathroom doors?  Did I get all of the dishes off of the counters and out of the sinks?  Did I... the list went on. 

I had a thing after work, so it wasn't like I could rush home.  So, driving home I just reminded myself that I'd done what I could in the early hours of the morning to keep them safe (short of chewing through electrical cords I suppose) and left them where they had great shelter from the weather and if they pulled all the books off the shelves, the important stuff was way up high anyway. 

So it was with no small amount of trepidation that I opened the front door and peered past the two dogs who were so happy to see me. 

And I looked again.  That box...well, I left it out intentionally knowing that it would be something they could amuse themselves with.  Pieces of a dog bed cover.  Oh well,  that's no big deal.  I carefully walked into the kitchen.  Nope, no open cabinets.  Nothing pulled down off the counters.

We did it!  We survived our first day of house privileges for Smokey and Elisabeth.   Now, that's not to say this is an every day thing.  But it's nice to know if for some reason they need to not be locked in their run (like it's underwater) I have options.  But I think it'll be a while before it's an every day thing.   I think Ryder and Frosty were in double digits when it happened for them.  Maybe it's the whole being raised by a non-Siberian that Elisabeth is different.  Who knows...I'll take it!

Colorado

We stopped in a place called Colorado today to go potty and stretch our legs.  There were these to things on the ground Momma said were leaves.  Not leave its, but leaves.  And the wind blew them up and I chased them.  Now we're getting some fun!

One Million Miles

So we drove a million miles to get here.  Seriously like a million. I had to sleep in my crate with the other dogs.  I told Mom what I thought of that by piddling on my crate pad one night.  That didn't work out so well for me because she took it away, cleaned up my crate and didn't give me another one! 

After we got to this place called National, we went to sleep.  The next day I went out in a big run and played with my cousins, Jaycee, Schyler, and Via.  I was the oldest and I got to be the boss.  I tattled a lot to Mom when they ganged up on me cause that just wasn't fair.

And then it happened, Momma and Aunt Adele got in the van again and we started driving again.  If Adventure is just driving, it's boring! 

We must have driven 200,000 miles and then we went into the fun store.  But Momma tricked me....Aunt Lori gave me a bath!  A bath!  How is that an adventure?  I had to drive a million miles for a bath? 

More walking, more hanging out in the van, more sleep.....this adventure is not at all what I expected. 

Day Three - A Little Excitement!

So, we had another night in the big van sleeping in our rooms.  I don't particularly like the sleeping arrangements on this adventure.  Tonight I showed Momma, I used my crate pad to go potty and shoved it up against the crate door so she had to clean it.  I showed her!

Once we got "on the road"  (again, is that all we're going to do because I'm kinda over it except for all of the bully sticks Momma gives me) we drove for a million miles (mom note:  it was 30 miles) and then we pulled over because Momma was going to take away the towel I was shredding in my crate.  Hey, she put it in there and it was already torn, how was I to know?   And then we stopped for a long time.

The wind in this windy Wyoming place took the door away from Momma and broke it!  We had to wait for the nice man to come fix it.  And then we had to wait for him to have his friend come give us a ride!

We had to hang around for an hour or so for the door to be fixed before we could...yep... "get on the road" again.  Momma found a fun place for us to play on the grass for a few minutes and I got to zoom around a little bit and then we drove until we found a sleeping place.  I don't know how Momma and Aunt Adele decide where the sleeping place is going to be and why it matters.  It looks like my same room in the same box every night.  

Momma says tomorrow we're going to get to where we're going.  I'm kinda tired of this "on the road" thing, so I hope that means something new to do!!! 

Day Two - a lot like Day One

Momma is way behind on posting these things for me, she said something about it not working from the phone and being tired at night.  Seriously, we're sitting in a big box all day, how tired can she be?

You know what I've learned about road trips?  A girl gets NO privacy!  I have to do all my business on a leash.  This is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

I don't know what kind of adventure this is, but I found this on the ground.  I started to play in it but it was cold and wet, like a bath.

 So I hopped back into my room in the van (Momma said they're not boxes but tells me to get in my house.  This is NOT my house and I miss Smokey.)  so we could "get on the road again."  Getting on the road isn't all that fun, I don't know why Momma says we need to keep doing it.

This was on Thursday.  Since Mom's behind on putting these up for me, I figured I'd better tell you that.

And we are off!

Aunt Adele brought my mom, brother, cousins down to visit with me.. and we had fun playing in the water and chasing.  But then it was bedtime and I tried to tell Momma all night that I wanted to go a sleepover in the run with them.  Then when Aunt Adele loaded everyone up in the van they put me in too!  Momma says I'm off for a great adventure. 

I'm in the 2nd crate from the back underneath that little one that's empty because no one likes getting up and down out of it!  That means no upstairs neighbor!

The chasing thing

A couple of weekends ago Momma and I took off on a trip.  Smokey didn't come with us, so I wasn't sure where we were going because I didn't have to have a bath.  But I am totally up for any adventure that doesn't include a bath!

After a stop at the treat store where Momma got me some new chewies (freeze dried beef tail if y'all are curious...they last a lot longer than bully sticks!) we hit the road.  After a couple of hours we got out and Momma was so excited.

When I was my turn we went out into this big field and they had some plastic bags laying on the ground.  They moved around a little and I was bored, so I went and found a smelly place in the grass to roll around... that was awesome!  Then I heard that sound, a squeaky toy!  Now they had my attention! They wanted me to chase it!  Well, OK!

Then the squeaky toy started moving...so I chased it!  I wasn't on a leash, so I kept running after it!  Eventually it got away from me so I started looking for another good place in the grass to roll around but it came back!  Well, that's never happened before, so I chased it again!

OMG this is FUN!

I ran and I ran and I ran... dang that squeaky toy was FAST!  

But I got so close to it!!! and then, success!!!! 

They didn't let me keep it, but they did let me chase it again.  Then we got in the car and I napped all the way home.  Smokey didn't seem all that excited when I told him about the chasing fun.  He's a poopyhead sometimes.  

Bath Time!

So, Momma's been telling me all week that I'm getting a bath today.  And bath time came and went and there was no bath so I figured I was off the hook.

And then she changed her clothes and grabbed some treats and tricked me into jumping up on the bath table.  She TRICKED me!!! 

The water was warmish, because it's still 100 degrees outside but in case Momma's never mentioned it... I. Do. Not. Like. Baths. 

And the drying!  She grabs the vacuum cleaner noise thing and just blows it at me...for ever until I'm dry.  Tonight was kinda fun because she popped a circuit breaker and stood there trying to decide if I was dry enough or if she had to go reset it.  Because if she had to reset it she had to let me down off the table. 

Ah hah!  And I'm down.  Momma reset the thing ... hey, that box on the wall, I didn't know it was there... and then went inside and got me more cookies... and TRICKED ME AGAIN! 

After she finished drying me off I went outside to show Smokey how beautiful I was. 

And here I am, fresh from my bath.  Momma's crying.  I think baths make her sad and I shouldn't have anymore.