Kay Lee,I am very excited to tell you about our rockclimbing adventure with Koyuk to Smith Rock. She was a perfect angel for the drive to Culver where Patrick’s house is. Patrick’s house has a lot of yard space with horses and Koyuk was so excited. She loved to watch the horses. I had her on the leash to make sure she didn’t get close, but I found she was great at jumping way out of the way anytime the horse got anywhere close to her. The first day we went rock-climbing she was a little scared because we had to walk over an area that required walking over some crevasses. She loved the rocks, but didn’t like jumping from one to another. On one spot I just carried her which worked out all right, but we decided that area was definitely not dog friendly. As we climbed she was absolutely perfect. We always had one person extra to be with the dog so she
could wander around as she pleased. One area she went ecstatic digging behind a rock. Before we went on to our last climb of the day we took her to the river and played in the water. The next day was much better. We had five people and one was pregnant so she loved having Koyuk as company. She seemed to love doing the little hikes from one climb to the next, but once we stopped she was happy to just find a piece of shade and sleep until we moved on. There were a few other dogs around as well and she got along great with all of them and their owners of course. As we left we had one more exciting adventure and swam across the river. Koyuk got a little scared swimming for a bit but once I helped her get her feet on the ground again she was happy. By the time we got home she was SO tired! She was ready for bed way before the rest of us. We only stayed one more day playing disc golf and things. Koyuk loved playing around the yard and just walking around with us. Although I think she loved the horse manure more than anything and it got hard to make her drop it fast. Also she caught a couple of mice around the yard. I knew about one of them, but then I found another one in the yard I must have missed. (The hunter and gatherer- that's the Koyuk I remember - Kay Lee) Last weekend I took Koyuk up to Foster lake for a big church activity I was going to. She was very excited to be with all the people and got to play in the water a bit. I even took her on a small boat ride which to my surprise she loved! I don't think we'll go on many boats in the future, but if so she will have to have her own life jacket. Monday I took her to the vet at Eastgate Veterinary Clinic. They were great and she definitely had a good experience there. She also got lots of treats for being a perfect angel. DVM Long there was SO excited to see a Chinook. His family used to own one that was black surprisingly. Unfortunately their dog got hit by a car after discovering how to pass the invisible fence. He hadn't seen a Chinook in about 15 years and was very excited that I brought her. I had the Chinook history booklets with me which he opened up to look at and he also brought out the encyclopedia showing the Chinooks. I took her to play with another puppy last week and I think she discovered its not fun to play non-stop. As I watched both dogs it made me so glad that Koyuk is so well behaved since this other puppy was not nearly as responsive to things. Anyway when I have more news I will let you know! ~ Shanna
