This blog is no longer active (obviously) but I have chosen to leave it up since a few of the posts get a lot of traffic.
Have fun reading!

Flint Pictures

Rah Rah Rah Rah RAH!

Also...

I got a new-used truck! (The other one died.) It's a 1999 Ford Ranger XLT Stepside, 3.0L 5 speed manual, 95K miles on it. Came with a campershell, 4 studded snow tires on rims, and a towing package. So far it's been great. I hope it stays that way.

West Siberian Laika

Look what I picked up last night.

His name is Flint, and he is a West Siberian Laika. He is out of Vladimir Beregovoy's Pavlik and Dinah.

Recent Hike Pictures

Sasha

Satan, er, Katana

Juneau

Conker

Boydogs. Lookit Katana's face, it's mischievously evil. Eeevil.

Dogs on the trail

Boobtree

Happenings

Katana is still a demon. He likes fireworks, gunshots, and thunder. He continues to destroy my things. Yesterday I caught him chewing on the edge of the cot I have outside on the deck and use as a couch.

Conker turned 4 on July 2nd. He's still an asshole. He's been particularly pissed at me for most of this month since it's been very hot (and sometimes very humid) so I haven't done diddly squat with the dogs. Haven't even taken Conker with me to town, which he likes to do even if he just sits in the truck the whole time.
Really, he's been very pissed at me.

Juneau has some sort of boogie bump on her left eyelid. Tried some ointment (if it was a cyst) but that didn't do anything. Gonna take it off and have it tested if it gets any bigger than it currently is. I think it's cancer, but that's because I'm not an optimist.

Sasha has begun to steal food from the other dogs. This is not cool at all.

Saw the first elk of the year the other day!

My Bronco was out of commission for two weeks. The fuel pump went bad, and the mechanic couldn't figure out how to put my truck back together. When he showed me the "parts that gave them so much trouble" it looked like something I could put together with my eyes closed. With my hands tied behind my back. While riding a donkey.

Learned my lesson: I'm never taking my truck to a mechanic again.

Mischievous handsome devildog.

A Bath in the Creek

Juneau had recently gone on an 18 hour excursion into the woods and came home covered with dirt, burrs, seeds, mud, and shit. I decided that, since Juneau was filthy, and it had been a while since any of the other dogs had had a good scrubbing, that we'd all go down to the creek. Armed with organic goatmilk soap and an industrial scrubbrush, we set off in Big Red down the road to a pullout with creek access.

 The dogs were thoroughly excited at the sight of the creek and took off into it's chilly waters. They had a brief moment of exhilaration when they spotted a deer that instantly bounded off into the brush, but luckily for the deer, they easily lost it in the thickets. (I was not happy they chased the deer.) After scaring away any other possible wildlife, they set about causing a ruckus in the creek. Swimming, barking, running, and falling off rocks.

Then the bath began.
I started with Miss Filthy and scrubbed Juneau good with the goatsoap until she was nearly white with bubbles. She tolerated it, knowing that she'd be set free to swim once I was done. Then it was Sasha's turn, who had developed a, fragrance, of some sort. Katana was next, and it was his first bath that I had ever given him. He did good and stood still while I soaped him over, but wasn't too happy when I hucked him into the creek when I was done. Conker was last and grumped through his entire scrubbing and was glad when I was done so he could get back to being an asshole to everybody else who was having fun without him.

We stayed at the creek for a good bit, exploring and meandering about, until I'd had enough and headed back to the truck. The dogs didn't want to leave but didn't want to get left behind, so they followed me back to Big Red.

Once home, they immediately set to work coating their still-wet fur with dirt.

Obligatory - Katana Edition

Obligatory Big Red

Namaste

Some goings on.

Life has been relatively normal here. There is the usual goings on at work, the normally boring after work slouchfest, and the occasional moment of panic and stress.
I've had a few problems with the DMV, but they should be all sorted out now. For some reason they thought there were two r in my middle name, which there is not, but they quickly and easily fixed it for me when I went in to get a replacement license. Oh, yeah, which Katana thought would be an excellent item to chew on. he somehow got a hold of my wallet and completely shredded that and my license, but didn't touch any of the other items in the wallet. Figures he destroys the one item that costs money ($26.50) to replace.

I've gone on a lot of hikes recently since i have been in town so damn often due to stupid shit. I don't have a lot of good pictures, but here are a few of the guys:

Attempted Obligatory

38lbs Hokkaido Ken on the left, 23lbs Shiba Inu on the right. (Yeah Conker is a bit skinny at the moment.)

I have introduced Katana to the backpack. Unfortunately, I did not think to video his first few steps with the pack, it was hilarious. I put it on him then headed out. He started to walk then stood stock still and watched me leave. Slowly, he began to scream... He did not realize that he was still able to walk, even with the slight weight of the pack pressing down on his shoulders (It had two small water bottles in it.) I stopped and called Katana in a cheerful you-are-an-idiot-get-your-ass-over-here voice, and he slowly began to pad over to me. It took him about 1/4 of a mile to figure out that the pack was fine and he could still move normally, and now he loves to wear it.

Yes, Katana is wearing The Badass. (Conker's collar.) That is due to me strongly suspecting Conker of having a partially collapsed trachea. He cannot wear a collar without hacking, and walking him on one is a complete hackfest. So Conker only wears his ID chain (cause he is an idiot and gets out of the fence somewhat regularly) and a harness, no more collars. The Badass is officially Katana's collar now.

I gave my bronco a summer haircut.

It looks tacky from certain angles, totally awesome from others, and is amazing to drive without the top on. I love it.


And lastly...
Tyto has gone back to the breeder. His fear problems were too much for me, I could not easily handle it. He absolutely hated my truck so I could not take him to a quiet park to do distance work since riding in the truck would get him so wound up he wouldn't settle down until long after we got home. He flipped his shit when I had people over to butcher and barbecue the demons, er, goats. He threw himself against the fence and shit and pissed all over himself, and when I put him in his crate inside, he shit and pissed all over that and my RV as well. Nobody said a word to him. The second time was a repeat of the first, but nobody even went inside. I couldn't walk him anywhere either since I live on one of those sketchy rural roads with no shoulder, passing cars would send him fleeing if he could, and he'd met my landlady once in the driveway and would lock up if we went anywhere near it after that.
I felt a change of environment is what he needed, so I sent him back.