As you may or may not know, Conker and I went to Alaska last October, but are now back in Southern Oregon. Long story short, we are GLADLY back in Southern Oregon, and I do not recommend working at a sleddog kennel. At least not the one I was at. If you are curious why, you can read a bit more on that right here.
So, onto the good stuff!
Before we went to Alaska I took my younger brother (who just adores Conker) with us on a hike. He liked it more than I thought he would, but won't come with us right now since he thinks it is too cold.
And before we knew it... We were in Alaska.
The only time Conker was happy was when I took him out for a short stroll, which I only had time for maybe once a day for about 15 minutes, and when I brought him up to my room.
Skipping ahead three months... We are back in Southern Oregon where it rains instead of snows and is currently in the 30's and 40's not -30's and -40's.
We got right back to hiking and rebuilding Conker's muscle mass and endurance.
There's been a blanket of ice fog over GP, but hiking in it is still a lot of fun.
Obligatory.
Today's hike was a mixture of frosty frozen stuff and sunny melting stuff.
The sun broke through the ice fog for a few hours and made for some interesting trail conditions.
I hope to be able to go on many more hikes with Conker for the remainder of this winter and this upcoming spring and summer.
Conker's right leg has regressed in the three months since we left for Alaska, I believe because of the significant loss of muscle mass due to inadequate exercise while we were there. His Luxating Patella is not really bad, it is comparable to how it was when I first found out about it, but it is enough that I am somewhat worried about it. It got significantly better after I started exercising him often and adding variable terrain way back then though. I hope that by doing the same thing it will "get better" again.
I read your story on the blog. For some reason, I've never been able to post comments on any blogger blogs, so I guess I'll say it here instead: sorry this turned out that way, but glad you're both home. I'd heard a lot of horror stories of what the kennel help went through with a lot of mushers in AK when I still lived there, so I'd kind of hoped you wouldn't run into that, but....yeah. Sounds like you're better out of there. The cold and darkness are hard enough to deal with, even in the best of situations, which this clearly wasn't.
Lol yeah, he's all Shiba, with a few un-Shiba traits. He used to HATE HATE HATE water and would scream if I tried to take him anywhere near even the smallest puddle (and subsequently brought out a horde of police officers from the station next door to see who was killing a dog, when we lived in St. Louis) but when we moved to Oregon, he learned from the two water-loving Lab mixes that water is fun! Run it it! Swim in it! Bite it! Splash it! It took him a while to like it, but now he's a water-loving dog just like they are. Rain doesn't bug him either, he'll spend all day outside rain or shine if the temperature is to his liking. He's actually a bit of a pest... We have a pool, and while the Girls know not to go in it, Conker hasn't gotten (or refuses to get) that memo. He'll go into the pool then into the house and "share" the water with everyone else.
I love the photos in the forum! Thanks, @Saya! Some of the forum members have such beautiful spots for their dogs to swim in. All the lakes in my area are swamps and full of alligators or water moccasins. Eevee likes water. I wonder how she'll do at the beach. I'm trying to teach Mochi to swim.
@Losech, is that a dog park? I'm just guessing because of the double gate. That place looks really nice.
@Zinja Yes, it is a dog park. I used to go all the time when Conker was okay with most other dogs, but now he is a lot more, selective, so I do not go as often and only when nobody else or only a few other dogs are there. It's a bit small but they have recently updated it with a second gate and two water stations.
@Zinja Do you think this is a water moccasins? I it's bit blurry, but took it when me and Saya visited my brother in Louisiana.. They have crawfish pond, duck pond and drainage ditch thing... The snake was in the drainage ditch I tried get picture of it when it was on land, but the snake got spooked and went in the water..
I think @Sangmort will be more suited to answer that question. She loves snakes! I avoid all snakes. I do know that water moccasins usually have their entire bodies above water instead of being submerged.
Here's an overload of Conker pictures. I keep forgetting to post them here every once in a while so...
View of GP from Dollar Hill.
Every once in a while we accidentally miss the sunset cue to head back to the Jeep, and get stuck hiking back in the dark. So I got lights for the dogs so i can see them.
He didn't want to take the trail I picked.
Conker's dayjob. Basking and watching the neighbors, making sure they don't do anything illegal.
He still had his superthick Alaska undercoat on this hike. It was about 65, he was dying.
I just thought this one was funny. That's a turkey neck he's chewing on.
Lucky (left) and Star(right) are two dogs that I walk/brush/feed for a friend in exchange for green printed cotton. Conker gets along with them enough to accompany me when I take care of them.
We had a yardsale recently. I put Conker on a popup table.
He was not amused.
We've been going on a lot more walks than normal. I can tell when Conker wants to go for a hike when he starts to ignore me and pull on the leash in order to sniff and piss on things.
Conker has always loved to jump and walk on logs.
His right knee seems to be getting a bit better. He doesn't skip or hold it up for a few steps anymore. He does sometimes hold it up when he stands and doesn't always put a lot of weight on it, but it doesn't appear to be bugging him as much as it did when we came back from Alaska.
Conker is a good looking guy! I'm always so jealous of your pics because they come out so nice and Conker isn't on a leash! I wish my Mya could be trusted like that, but if I unhooked her leash I would never see her again
Great pictures! The one with all the red flowers is awesome You have such great landscape for hiking out there! I need to hurry up and finish my degree so I can move out to Washington near my sister. Did you get any offers for Conker during the yard sale? lol.
Comments
So, onto the good stuff!
Before we went to Alaska I took my younger brother (who just adores Conker) with us on a hike. He liked it more than I thought he would, but won't come with us right now since he thinks it is too cold.
And before we knew it...
We were in Alaska.
The only time Conker was happy was when I took him out for a short stroll, which I only had time for maybe once a day for about 15 minutes, and when I brought him up to my room.
Skipping ahead three months...
We are back in Southern Oregon where it rains instead of snows and is currently in the 30's and 40's not -30's and -40's.
We got right back to hiking and rebuilding Conker's muscle mass and endurance.
There's been a blanket of ice fog over GP, but hiking in it is still a lot of fun.
Obligatory.
Today's hike was a mixture of frosty frozen stuff and sunny melting stuff.
The sun broke through the ice fog for a few hours and made for some interesting trail conditions.
I hope to be able to go on many more hikes with Conker for the remainder of this winter and this upcoming spring and summer.
Conker's right leg has regressed in the three months since we left for Alaska, I believe because of the significant loss of muscle mass due to inadequate exercise while we were there. His Luxating Patella is not really bad, it is comparable to how it was when I first found out about it, but it is enough that I am somewhat worried about it. It got significantly better after I started exercising him often and adding variable terrain way back then though. I hope that by doing the same thing it will "get better" again.
So, glad you're both back home, safely.
He used to HATE HATE HATE water and would scream if I tried to take him anywhere near even the smallest puddle (and subsequently brought out a horde of police officers from the station next door to see who was killing a dog, when we lived in St. Louis) but when we moved to Oregon, he learned from the two water-loving Lab mixes that water is fun! Run it it! Swim in it! Bite it! Splash it! It took him a while to like it, but now he's a water-loving dog just like they are. Rain doesn't bug him either, he'll spend all day outside rain or shine if the temperature is to his liking.
He's actually a bit of a pest... We have a pool, and while the Girls know not to go in it, Conker hasn't gotten (or refuses to get) that memo. He'll go into the pool then into the house and "share" the water with everyone else.
I have some pictures of Saya and few other members posted it here.
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/5914#Item_50
@Zinja.
@Losech, is that a dog park? I'm just guessing because of the double gate. That place looks really nice.
Cotton mouth is not a fun snake to deal with too.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii318/bluedogt/louisiana/023.jpg
View of GP from Dollar Hill.
Every once in a while we accidentally miss the sunset cue to head back to the Jeep, and get stuck hiking back in the dark. So I got lights for the dogs so i can see them.
He didn't want to take the trail I picked.
Conker's dayjob. Basking and watching the neighbors, making sure they don't do anything illegal.
He still had his superthick Alaska undercoat on this hike. It was about 65, he was dying.
I just thought this one was funny. That's a turkey neck he's chewing on.
Lucky (left) and Star(right) are two dogs that I walk/brush/feed for a friend in exchange for green printed cotton. Conker gets along with them enough to accompany me when I take care of them.
We had a yardsale recently. I put Conker on a popup table.
He was not amused.
We've been going on a lot more walks than normal. I can tell when Conker wants to go for a hike when he starts to ignore me and pull on the leash in order to sniff and piss on things.
Conker has always loved to jump and walk on logs.
His right knee seems to be getting a bit better. He doesn't skip or hold it up for a few steps anymore. He does sometimes hold it up when he stands and doesn't always put a lot of weight on it, but it doesn't appear to be bugging him as much as it did when we came back from Alaska.
On the porch.
Chasing his tail in the park.
Sniffing some shrubbery.
Playing tug during a thunderstorm.
Tugging and running with younger sister in above thunderstorm.
Compare this to the third picture.
On his log, demanding his picture be taken.
Being handsome.
To see more bright spring hike pictures (flowers), go here:
http://losech.blogspot.com/2013/04/bright-spring-hike.html
He tried to follow many old ladies back to their cars though. He likes older people.
Yesterday he enjoyed a turkey neck.
And today, we received some leather gear I commissioned from @Sangmort!
Conker's collar is 1.5 inches wide.
There are 5 O rings woven onto the base layer with silver studs in the center of the rings.
The collar is a D-end type that is often used with working dogs. Except it's got an O instead of a D.
I also got a leash with two snaps (no handle) since I usually clip Conker's leash to a ring on my belt.