March 14, 2010 the BrownStone Iditarod Litter was whelped to MoonSong Cedar River (Cedar). Since it was during the Iditarod, of course the litter had to carry the theme. The puppies were named after checkpoints along the race: Willow, Nikolai, Tokotna, Galena, Kaltag, Koyuk, Elim and Nome. Sadly, in-spite of all our efforts, including setting up an incubator with oxygen and tube feedings, Galena and Nikolai did not make it. They were too premature. All of the other BrownStone pups are now 8 years old and active members of their forever families.
Life has been a bit crazy this month. We saw snow, freezing rain, 70 degree weather, rain, more snow and all the while I was frantically trying to get the drive completed so Dave would have a way to exit the house. I almost forgot Koyuk's birthday but did catch a picture of her mom Cedar and son Trask with her as they helped me level the gravel before the cement pour.
Cedar was the first of his litter to earn his CGC.
Exciting news!!! Today Cedar passed his Canine Good Citizen
Test!!!!!!! The greeting a person with another dog was his biggest challenge as
he wants to befriend everyone right now especially his fellow dogs; and the
instructor had a good chuckle since for a decent chunk of the time during the
test when I left the area, he was whining softly under his breath in a
"why did mom leave me here" way but stayed just laying at the
instructors feet despite being "sooooo sad" that I had left. Needless
to say Jordan and I are just so extremely proud of him, and everyone was so
shocked to learn he was only 8 months old and had such good manners and
self-restraint!!!
Cedar has had many opportunities this month to go play in
the snow both in Bend and here in in Philomath and has loved every second of
it. He has turned into a bit of a digger here around the house but thankfully
most of it is down the hill in the woods. Oh and he has become a "fair
weathered" retriever of sorts although not nearly as prompt or reliable as
our yellow lab, haha. In any case though he is doing just fantastic down here
and we will need to find a time to come down and let Koyuk see what a handsome
young man he has turned into!
Hope all is well with you, Dave, and the dogs, and hopefully
we can find a day here in April to come out to the house. ~ Anna
"PR" BrownStone Chinook Century Kate MT (Tika)
She looks so much like her mother Koyuk...
Hope that this finds everyone in good spirits.
Spring is trying to sneak into Alaska about a month
early! Our snow is melting far too quickly.
Toolik is doing great. The little devil decided to
try to excavate the septic tank yesterday - He managed to dig quite the hole
. When I got home to view his handy-work he was SO proud!
I've backed off on the Search & Rescue training - it
requires two people for almost every bit of training and I simply couldn't find
enough crazy people willing to be search victims. It requires an everyday
commitment that I just couldn't sustain. My fault, not Toolik's. He
has an incredible nose, by the way.
All is well, Toolik keeps on growing, but his paws still
look enormous. Maybe he'll just have big feet and never grow into them.
He's a ton of fun. He's curious and friendly with everyone and seems to
be developing the ability to discern between people and dogs that do or don't
want to play with him. That can mean the difference between a bouncing,
crazed Chinook pup and a quiet, reserved sniff. Usually, but not always.
Take care, all the best to you, Dave and the crew! ~ Dave
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