"PR" BrownStone Cascade Mt. Klah
Klah (Three Sisters, Ms. Purple) was whelped a 12oz stunning beauty.
For this blog, Luca's family wrote:
Specific
behaviors: Luca howls in her sleep often and we have yet to be quick enough
to capture it on video. We thought we
had a serious digger on our hands for awhile, although once her digging
companion moved out of state, the digging stopped. She can be a little shy with strangers and children, especially
if not properly introduced, and she is very sensitive to body language and tone
of voice. We call her “the kissing
bandit”, as her tongue is always at-the-ready for anyone within reach of
it. We hear that all of these behaviors
are common in the Chinook breed.
Titles: None. Luca has
participated in two UKC shows. She had
a practice run in Castle Rock, CO last November as a Novice Puppy, and again in
Longmont, CO on July 20 in the Puppy Class.
She shared the ring with Moonshadow from Laughing Mountain and three of
the Schillers’ Mountain Thunder Chinooks:
Scarlet, Terra and Bear. It
became immediately apparent that we have a lot to learn about showing. Luca did well enough, however, and more
importantly seemed to enjoy the whole experience despite her inexperienced
handler. So, next is some conformation
training to help us with our handling skills and to help her get more
comfortable. We are also entertaining
the idea of getting her into agility training as she seems to enjoy navigating
the makeshift obstacles we set up in the yard.
We’ll see.
Sweet and
Affectionate: She is such a joyful pup and she brings so
much joy to our lives. Her name means
“bringer of light” and morning is her best time of day, which is fitting. She is a cuddly, snuggly, huggable bundle of
love. We wake up every morning to find
her asleep on our bed, lying on her back, nestled against one of us. When either of us emerges from the bathroom
after showering, she celebrates by picking up one of her toys and bringing it
to us to look at, but not take.
She wiggles the entire time, her hips swinging to the left and right, and
that tail never stops wagging. We don’t
know if she is simply happy to see us again or is trying to say, “thank
goodness you made it out of there alive!”
She celebrates similarly whenever either of us returns home from being
gone for any length of time.
People- and
Dog-friendly: Luca likes people and LOVES dogs. She also likes her five chickens and one
rooster, and helps us herd them back to their coop after their daily forays
into the yard. “Barr” is her best
chicken friend (a Barred Plymouth Rock) and Mojo is NOT her best rooster
friend, although she has recently begun trying to engage him in play. He doesn’t play and he doesn’t find her
nearly as adorable as we do…
Active/Playful: During her
first few months with us, we let her spend supervised time with Otter and then
we had to put him away for safe-keeping.
As that was her first toy, we wanted to preserve it and she was on track
to love Otter to death. She now has
many favorite indoor toys, most of which are stuffed animals: Fox, Squirrel, and
Elephant. She enjoys walking on our
treadmill and often sits on it and whines until someone gets it going for
her. Her favorite outdoor toy: a
yellow, 5-foot nylon rope that is her special reward after training sessions
and off-leash walks, as well as on low-activity days when a little fun between
naps is in order. We swing the rope
around and she chases it until she catches it – then it’s a game of
tug-o-war. She loves water and as we
don’t have a natural body of water on our property, we keep a baby pool filled
for her to play in. She puts her face
all the way in to get treats off the bottom of it and sometimes just dunks her
entire face for the heck of it. In the winter, we attach a rider-less
sledding saucer to her harness so she can satisfy her need to pull. If there is no snow, she pulls it across the
grass. Whether she will ever pull a big
sled like her brother Trask and other littermates remains to be seen due to her
size. If she doesn’t get to do that,
she will still get to pull her sledding saucer and perhaps we’ll give
bikejoring a try.
Great
Traveler - Luca is a dog we can take
just about anywhere, and we do. Since
her September 2013 plane ride to Colorado from her first home in Eugene, Oregon
- during which she never made a peep and no one knew there was a puppy in the
cabin - she has been on one multi-state road trip from Colorado to Washington,
the national parks of southwestern Utah, and the Grand Canyon. Everyone she meets comments on how sweet and
well-behaved she is. She is the perfect
dog for us and we love her dearly.
Thank you for entrusting her life to us and know that we are committed
to her, for life. 
