Friday, July 27, 2012

The story of Kona and Blue, our look alikes

Frequently, we get asked if Kona and Blue are siblings. To us they are, just like all our other dogs are siblings too, but in the true sense of the word, they aren't. The two have a strange connection, though, and look very similar. In fact, the reason we have Blue is because they look so similar.


This story is from before I joined the pack. Kona was Cobey's first dog, some days when he would go to work he would take her to a doggie daycare called Dog Logic in Missoula. One day he got a call from Dog Logic claiming that they had Kona; someone dropped her by or they had seen her wandering near the daycare. Cobey hoped it wasn't Kona as he had left her home that day and she shouldn't have been wandering the streets. When he got there he found that it wasn't Kona but a dog that looked very much like her. He told them that she wasn't Kona but if they couldn't find the owners he would take her. The owners eventually stepped forward and took her home but soon Cobey received a call. "Do you still want this dog? We can't handle her she always runs away." Ahhh....huskies.


Kona and Blue have a special bond and we see it quite often in the way they sit together. Many times we catch them sitting identically or mirror image to each other. Frequently, we do not catch the moment on film because the opening of a door causes them to jump up. Most photos we do have are through the window or from a distance but I thought I'd share a couple of the mirror image photos we've snapped through the years.



Kona (left) and Blue (right)



Mirror image yet not on the same plane.



Mirror image on the porch.



Napping mirror image.



And my favorite, paw to paw in the sun.



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Not mirror image but identical.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Time for a swim!

Well there are only a few that enjoy the water.  Our two big, tall monsters; Shilah and Tank.  The rest just watch them enjoy it and get splashed in the process.  Some, like Okie, though will put their paws in when it gets really hot.



Tank likes the water a lot.  He makes it all muddy in a matter minutes, jumping in and out and splashing all around.



Shilah wouldn't get in while I had the camera, but I think it's quite obvious, by the muddy water and the low level, that she's been enjoying hte pool.



Okie deemed it hot enough and got her paws wet.


Blue doesn't touch the stuff



Kona prefers to stand in the sprinklers while hunting voles (not pictured).



Shilah enjoys the top of her house too.



Paluk is very vocal about the water (as well as everything else in life).  "I don't like it!"



Isis says "I don't mind it.  I won't willingly step in it but I won't fuss about it if I do get wet.  I prefer to join Kona by the vole sprinklers."



"Didn't you hear me?!  I don't like it!"



Our smallest (Isis) and tallest (Tank) dogs.  They like to play together.



Enjoying some shade.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

ATV

We have finally sucked it up and bought an ATV for training our team.  After last season's late season mishap with the cart we decided it was time.  Our kennel had grown in the last year and training had become difficult with a cart that could only handle 4 dogs at a time.  Now we'll be able to run the whole team at once making training more efficient and keeping the dogs in better shape.  Here in the Bitterroot Valley we get snow on the valley bottom intermittently throughout the winter.  It's never much, not enough for sledding but too much for the cart, and melts within a few days.  It would throw off my weekly training schedule trying to get all the dogs 3-4 days a week of running.  Now I'll have more flexibility for those bad (yet good because it was snow) weather days because we'll still be able to run the team by ATV and if it's too icy than we can just skip a day and we'll still be able to get the full training in.  Cobey also was reluctant to run the team by cart because he felt he wasn't agile enough to handle the turn at the beginning.  Now he can run the team too more regularly.  Excited for fall training!