Travels Afield

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time in my car of late. First, I made an 11 hour round trip drive down to Eugene, OR to visit with Hope, the Akbash listed in my earlier post. Upon arrival on a beautiful but cold, sunny day, I found the foster mom's farm dotted with sheep all wearing multicolored coats! Alas, I forgot my camera which will figure frequently in this post. Who knew that sheep needed coats!

Hope was a lovely little Akbash, very sweet but very submissive and timid. She was only about 60 pounds and unlikely to grow much more. I realized fairly quickly that although I would love to give her a home, she wasn't really the dog I was looking for and I only have room for one more right now. In fact, I think Hope, unlike the Polar Bear, would be happiest in a home with a family and a lot of people around.

I was dismayed to find that the trainer who has been working with Hope follows the Caesar Milan, "Dog Whisperer" approach which is completely anathema to me. There are a million and one reasons NOT to use his techniques, first and foremost because they tend to make dogs more aggressive and fearful dogs even more fearful. I will spare you all my soapbox which is very high on this issue and recommend reading this which contains useful links if you want to read further.

I was horrified at the "demonstration" given to me by the trainer and her suggestion in regard to the Polar Bear that when he freezes in the street because he is frightened of something, I should use a slip leash around the upper part of his trachea to lift him off both his front feet and yank him forward to teach him who is in charge. I will leave it to you to picture my reaction!

She said WHAT?!!!

So a long drive home from Eugene but I could at least rest easy knowing that I had seen Hope and wouldn't have to wonder if I missed "the one" for me.

A few days later, I headed over to the lovely town of Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula, sans Polar Bear, to visit the lovely couple who adopted Blanco, formerly Dias, last summer. It was fantastic to see what this poor dog left and where he ended up. He and his gal pal, CoCo, who is full Anatolian Shepherd, have 5 beautiful acres of fenced land to roam, 3 huge beds, an indoor "bedroom", an outdoor run when they aren't roaming the property and every luxury a dog could imagine. It is LGD heaven! Blanco is still wary of strangers and probably always will be, just like PB. His owners adore him and have devoted endless hours and patience to working with him and helping him to feel more secure. He is a beautiful dog and he's come a long way from being chained to a tree 24/7 to this:

Welcome to my domain. Step back please!

Blanco's medical issues have resolved, he has put on weight, his coat his healthy and full and he looks like a different dog now. Alas, his brother and father still languish in the Kent animal shelter while the powers that be decide what to do with them. It is my fervent hope that I will someday have photos of them like this to share with everyone.

On my way home from Sequim, I drove past a farm which had two working Maremmas guarding the livestock. I could only see one but here she was, doing what they do best....looking wary and barking menacingly at me!

There's nothing to see here! Move on.

After the trip to Sequim, I embarked on a day trip to the back country of Crystal Mountain for some snowshoeing and avalanche training. The field trip follows an 8 hour class day which was tedious for all of us who love to be outside instead of watching power point! However, the class was immensely useful and far more practical than I thought it would be given my low level of outdoor pursuits relatively speaking.

During the field trip, we examined snow crystals, evaluated terrain, practiced locating a "buried victim" with our avalanche transceivers and dug snow pits to evaluate snow stability. I would highly recommend this class for anyone who does ANYTHING in the outdoors in winter. As with any class, it tends to make you realize how much you don't know and how much more you have to learn but it's a start. This is the organization I took the class through and they offer various levels of training. I would highly recommend them. And of course, even though I actually DID remember to bring my camera to Crystal, I did not remember to get it out and snap some photos. Story of my life...

My plans this week to spend two days up at Mt. Baker skiing and staying in a rental cabin were thwarted but I am pleased to announce that La Nina showed up here yesterday and today and provided us with a little snow...finally. The skiing conditions were fabulous yesterday and gave me a chance to try out my new powder skis.




Volkl Kiku's. I was in heaven all day. In the past, I always avoided anything looking like powder, anything not groomed or packed because my skis are carving skis and sunk like a rock in powder. With these, I look for the deepest powder I can find and point straight downhill! Yes, ability should allow me to ski anything on any skis but I am more than willing to allow my equipment to make up for my lack of ability! With my old Beta Carvs, I can only ski blue runs and an occasional black diamond if conditions are good. With my Kiku's I head straight for the black diamond and double black diamond with no problems. I will buy ability any day!

The snow continues to fall outside as Dexter can attest to:

Make it stop.

The Polar Bear has been suffering from a boil or hotspot of some sort on one of the pads of his front right foot. It began bleeding last week prompting me to take him in to the vet. She gave us antibiotics and recommended booties due to the fact that he seems to have extremely thin, delicate pads according to her. I find this somewhat ironic that my hardy, outdoor, livestock guardian dog has such prissy little feet. I find it rather horrific that when I googled dog booties, I found the only decent ones to be $60. Yes people, sixty dollars. And I am doubtful that they will even fit over his extra dew claw. A friend suggested I get kids' high top shoes and try that...which might actually happen! My white, walking money pit also has an appointment next week with an eye specialist as he continues to rub and fuss at both his eyes. Given how long this has been going on, it clearly isn't transient and something seems to be amiss. Although this is probably not helping:

I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. My ears are full of snow.

The Polar Bear isn't call the Polar Bear for nothing. He will throw himself down in the snow, roll around, bury his head in it, eat it, rub his face in it and in general, immerse himself in it. He will probably need ski goggles to go with his booties.

On that note, time for PB to go for his evening walk. More adventures to come!