A Hot Day, Good Read and Enterprizing Nooks

Sorry BrownStone Cascade Mt Mazama - aka Bramble, but it was again in the 90's and a good friend came by for morning coffee and loaned me the book Little Bee by Chris Cleave. The book has totally captured me.  I laid reading in the shaded hammock all day. Now it is too late to do justice to Bramble's birthday tribute but never fear, tomorrow, I promise to publish it.

My hammock is by the pond. Throughout the day the dogs and I took frequent swims to cool off. I tried to catch a picture of the skewed expression and water flying off McKenzie as she shook off but obviously needed a different camera setting - another photographic challenge to learn.

The dogs have finished off all the raspberries and strawberries and are making huge inroads on the blueberry bushes. The apples, plumbs and pears aren't ripe yet but are still considered a treat worth working for.

This is the first year the dogs have actually picked the fruit. Deer do stand on hind legs and bat fruit down to the fawns and over the years they have grazed the branches out of reach of the dogs. Last night's batting and today's strong winds caused a couple fruit laden branches to hang just low enough for the dogs to give picking a go.

Even Cedar got in on the action. Old McKenzie just waits below until one of the others drops something for her to run away with.

Last summer this was the enclosed puppy play area.  Trask and his litter mates feasted on fruit dropping from heaven into their puppy play yard.
A year later he has figured out how to harvest for himself.

The poo will be buzzing with fruit flies in the morning.

As I was just typing, the funniest, muffled wolf howl came from the dog couch. Trask had fallen asleep with a soft toy in his mouth and was howling in his sleep.My laughing and his howling got the others really excited. Their voices joined in.  Trask awoke but never did drop his toy making for a really funny sounding, prolonged chorus. The windows are open. I am sure neighbors outside sipping cocktails in the warm evening air will have tales to tell at work tomorrow of Bigfoot or coyotes in their woods.

Happy First Brithday Liaka

"PR" BrownStone Cascade Mt. Koma

Koma (Mt.Baker, Ms Yellow) is now a lucky beach girl named Liaka. She was 14oz when whelped.

By 4 weeks only brother Wy'east out-weighed 5lb 4oz Koma.

By 8 weeks Koma was stunning. Her beautiful looks and spectacular movement impressed everyone, including the AKC judges I hired to evaluate the litter.

 Koma is now Liaka and was named after the first dog in space.

Like all the puppies in this litter, Liaka has gone through several ear sets during her first year. At 9 weeks, she wore a really cute helicopter ears to puppy class.

Halloween saw a bewitching forward set.

Liaka's ears were up during one of her daily romps on the beach in November. (Actually this was Thanksgiving Day).

Christmas Liaka's head was festooned with one ear forward and one to the side.

 In March she showed her inherent Chinook love of snow (and a reversal of ear set).

"We were at Mammoth Lakes this past week.  Laika loved the snow and frolicked in it constantly.  I have skijoring equipment which we brought with us, but I am relearning cross country skiing (last done almost 35 years ago), and I was not confident that I could control Laika and ski at the same time.  We will continue treking to Mammoth in the future and I hope to master Skijoring with Laika eventually.  By the way, there were several skijorers on the trail with their dogs each day that I was in the cross country venues".

 Liaka at 9 months playing at a the dog park

At 11 months Liaka's owner wrote: "We just returned from Mammoth Lakes last evening and I wanted to send you a few of the photos of Laika that we took there.  She is still a bit apprehensive of the water - fresh water this time - but as you can see loves playing in it.  At here last weigh in she was 58.6 lbs; that was three weeks ago.

We began classes in Therapy Dog training last week.  The organization is "Love Heels"; Patricia Dibsie trains at Nazareth House, a retirement home and health center.  We shall see how Laika does.

Skijoring will have to wait until cross country ski season, but I am hoping to get her involved in that sport next winter."

Liaka greeting a new comer at her dog park birthday party.

Happy First Birthday Luca

"PR" BrownStone Cascade Mt. Klah

Klah (Three Sisters, Ms. Purple) was whelped a 12oz stunning beauty.

By 4 weeks old she weighed 4lb 8oz and...

 had won everyone's hearts.

At 8 weeks old there was no question that she was "first pick" female. She had beauty, movement and personality that really impressed the evaluating judges.

Klah, now Luca moved to Colorado and took first place in her first AKC show at 3 1/2 months. (Sorry, I did manage to import the picture but could not make any of my programs turn it upright then export it to blogspot.)

Luca at 4 months with one up ear experiencing her first snow.

Luca with up ears testing her backpack at 5 months.

 At 6 months showing off her helicopter ears and fast, agile self...

and learning to pull.

Luca's ears decided to go up at 6 1/2 months.

Luca went to her first dogsled race at 7 months.

Hanging with her normal pose at 8 months. 

Poor girl shared the indignity of her first season with her favorite Barred Plymouth Rock chick at 9 months old.

 Guarding the hen house at 10 months.

Luca an 11 month old lap dog with a Nook tongue.

Blue and Purple ribbons from her second dog show at 12 months. Her ears seem to have settled into a helicopter set.

 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.

Otter sharing a 1 year post birthday celebration with 43 lb Luca .

Happy First Birthday Alaka'i

"PR" BrownStone Cascade Mt. Karuk

Karuk (Mt. Shasta, Mr. Green) is now Alaka'i - which means something fitting in Hawaiian - was whelped quite dramatically between the front and back seat of the van on the way home from the vet. Fortunately Karmin was in the back seat and able to catch him when he came flying out as Koyuk jumped to be with me in the front seat. Unfortunately we were not prepared for a whelping and there was no place to pull over, so slippery Karuk and his placenta were placed in the warming box with his sister and brothers to ride the last mile.
(If I haven't said how wonderful Karmin is, I do need to.  She is a teen girl. This was her first whelping and thus far she had caught fraternal twins while I was across the room with Wy'east and with nothing more than an: "oh, Kay Lee we have another puppy", dealt with a birth in a moving car. She stayed for all the births and came over to help with all the weigh-ins and milestone pictures. I could not have whelped this litter without her. And past about week two, would not have had the pictures).
Alaka'i (nickname Ka'i) weighed 11 oz when we got him back to the whelping box.

 By week 4 he was 4 lb 14 oz. Maybe Alaka'i means "stout and determined" in Hawaiian.

Or maybe Alaka'i means "super adorable or inquisitive" in Hawaiian. The vet was enamored.

By 8 weeks he was inquisitive, stout, adorable, and determined all wrapped up in one boy. (Can't say that for his porcupine.)

Alaka'i went to live with the most creative and fun forever family (who send me great pictures with fun captions).  His beach beach play ground wore him out daily at three months.

Alaka'i had already spent weeks camping up and down the west coast by 3 1/2 months old.

With high 5's he passed his AKC STARS test at 4 months.

 Alaka'i and porcupine at 4 months.

 At 4 1/2 months he was in his first dog show and won Best of Breed.

 At Christmas "Ka'i had heard that reindeer could fly and thought he would give it a try".

In February I received this picture with: "Beginning "Human Wrangling" A.K.A. "Obedience Class" is in the bag and got a pretty ribbon to prove it! Onwards to learning intermediate level treat appropriation methods and more cookies!"

In March Nari wrote: "I am amazed and grateful on a daily basis for how happy-go-lucky Alaka'i is. He is now wearing an e-collar to stop him from licking his skin rash (vet guesses from an environmental allergen) and though I know he is itchy, irritated, afraid, and disoriented by the cone, he seems to be making the best of it. After circling with the cone on for a few minutes, he realized people were ooh-ing and aw-ing even more. As if realizing the cone gave him extra cuteness power he started giving everyone kisses and tail wags until we walked out the door. Love this guy".

 Ka'i at 8 months.

Alaka'i at 9 months. Celebratin' 9 months of lickin', chewin', and tail waggin' with my trusty porcupine pal and lots of fresh-outta-the-oven turkey jerky! Sending love to the BrownStone Cascade family!"

In April Nari wrote: "EARmotional" I was describing the many ways Ka'i carries his ears depending on his mood. To this Justin replied "he's just ear-motional." Love it. I think this is my new favorite Chinook word".

In May Nari captioned this picture with: "Trying to feign enthusiasm for "Sit-Stay" when all he wants to do is keep running. Love his goofy, pre-drool, treat-begging grins".

This picture came titled with:  "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope." - Maya Angelou

June found Alaka'i out socializing. "Why won't she play with me-eee-eee?!" Despite the attempted licking, play-bowing, and whining, Ka'i just can't get this cat to budge. Disappointed Doggie".

 Yup, Nari and Alaka'i have a great time.

 "Happy Tongue Out Tuesday!"

For a year summation Nari wrote: "We are still working towards earning a CGC. I'm trying to convince him that "sit-stay" is more fun that "jump-play." It's a hard sell but we're getting there. Our trainers reassure me that they see a difference with each passing class. Even after the CGC we'll continue on with obedience training. I've decided to wait on re-entering conformation workshops and shows until he is calm enough around other dogs to safely walk the ring.  He has a great personality and is a social butterfly, but that doesn't seem to translate well to conformation practice. We haven't given up though!  Should Alaka'i ever lose interest in every bug, rock, or leaf on the ground, I think he would be great at rally competition! He is smart and responds very quickly. We'd like to try a rally competition within the next year (or so). We love hiking with Alaka'i so we'll start working towards a pack dog certification as well. Other than that Best of Breed we won at the AKC 4-6 month puppy show, we have not tried entering any other shows. He has earned many titles and nicknames around our house, some of which are: Sir Sniffs-a-Lot, Crazy Ka'i, Whiny McWhinerson, Marky Mark, Hungry Hungry Hippo, and Dirty Dawg. I'm certain he thinks that "Leave It" is his name as well.

Admittedly I have become one of those people who thinks that every story about my dog is the greatest thing EVER.. If I could summarize the past year with Alaka'i in a word, it would be "compromise." One of the funnier compromises is that we no longer shut the bathroom door, but he must patiently wait at a polite distance. Haha. Instead of poking his nose into our shower while we bathe, we have him bring us a pile of his toys and we will play fetch as soon as we're done.  Alaka'i would wake us up with frantic cries at the crack of dawn and run crazy circles trying to give us a morning tongue bath.  If he is willing to wait quietly until the alarm goes off, the absolute first thing we do is give him 5 minutes of morning cuddle and belly rub time before leaving the bedroom. No exceptions. Who can complain about starting their day with puppy snuggle time!?! I can't remember what life was like before Ka'i cuddles, but it has replaced coffee (gasp!) as my morning pick-me-up. I have never had/met a dog like Alaka'i who responds to things in such a clever and sensitive way. It seems as if the more freedom we give him, the more positively he responds.  Alaka'i reminds us to be more attentive, present in the here and now, and to follow our instincts rather than trying to follow a rule book. He, like us, is just a happy goofball, often going against the tide, and we love him all the more because of it!"

 Happy Birthday you handsome, 66.7 lb, boy!