"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart." ~ Celia Thaxter I just love this photograph of my boy Gibson enjoying himself in the sprinkler one summer some eight years past, when he was just a young wooly Husky. How I loved his beauty, his playfulness, his zest for life, and oh, that magnificent waterfall tail! Gibson's enjoying moment of cooling off in the shooting rays of water is just pure joy, and such a wonderful moment tucked away forever in my grateful-for-having-him heart. J oin Us!!! Do you have a photo from your pet's past that you'd like to share? Come stroll down Memory Lane with us here at FiveSibes and join in our Flashback Friday blog hop (we are open all week)! Just post your pic on your blog, grab our badge from below (yes, that's Gibson & little bro, pupster Wolfie!) & link to our blog, then join the blog hop below so others can come visit and see your flashback photos, too! A fun way to relive ...

While we may be toasty warm in the scorching summer heat...it won't be long before we are trying to stay toasty warm in the snowy cold! I thought since Christmas is just about five months from now, we'd flash back to Christmas 2014, when all the FiveSibes were nestled in their beds, visions of treats dancing in their heads as they waited so peacefully for Santa under the tree! This was the typical scene here each year on Christmas Eve and, while unbeknownst to me at the time, it would be Gibson's last Christmas Day with us for the following year, right before Christmas, he earned his furangel wings. While his absence still stings my heart, I can look at these photos and I'm right back in time, feeling all the love and peace of the holiday season shared with my beloved FiveSibes. I can remember feeling so blessed that these beautiful dogs were sharing life with me and my family. While looking for today's photos, I came across some video footage of this exact night...

95℉ and humidity rising...

We hope you enjoyed some yummy treats today! Or...at least a stuffie ice cream cone!  

 "Chance" Lead Dog, Ojibwa Kennel  9/28/04- 7/10/17    Today, my FiveSibes and I are dedicating our blog post to the loss of a great sled dog - the beautiful "Chance," Karen and Dave Hill's amazing lead dog of the Ojibwa Kennel team from Minnesota. You can follow them and their beautiful sled dogs on their Facebook page here. I'm sharing Karen's heartfelt words here in her ode to her special sled dog and about how much this boy meant to her: "In my early years of mushing I wanted so very much to have a Seppala Siberian in my kennel. Back then, we didn't have social media, so finding a breeder of Sepps wasn't as simple as pushing a button. Around 2002 or 2003, a friend of mine said she planned to breed one of her dogs and asked if I would take a puppy because she wanted to be sure they would go to good homes. I was elated to hear that she would be breeding to a Seppala. Of course I said yes. When the pups were a few wee...

In the words of my FiveSibes, "Wooooo!"  I have been a long-time member of the Dog Writers of America Association (DWAA), and was thrilled to have some of my work recognized! Last year's nominations included my FiveSibes "The Sibe Vibe" Dog Works Radio show on Canine Epilepsy, featuring Dr. Karen Munana and Julie Nettifee of North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine; for a photograph of Gibson, and for my humorous  "Vote Gibson!" blog post.  This year, I was once again so proud to have my work receive nominations for a  photo of Wolf  and for my blog article on my two shelter dogs I adopted from our local SPCA. But, to have received the news that I won the prestigious Maxwell Medallion medal for my blog article, out of 8 other finalists who are all talented writers, I am honored! As a career photojournalist, at the end of the day, it has always been my sincere hope that my stories touch people in a special and unique way....

Today's Flashback Friday memory dates 12 years to 2005 when our alpha queen Harley joined our family at seven weeks old! She was a gorgeous blue-eyed beauty with a fierce mask that just stole our hearts! Harley was my daughter's dream dog - a Siberian Husky. Little did we know when we drove home from the city with our new family member, who slept the whole way home in a torrential rain storm, that she would grow up to rule the future family of FiveSibes! Harley would become the instant love of our second Husky, my beautiful fluffy wooly boy, Gibson; and the amazing surrogate momma to our Pupsters Wolf, Chloe, and Bandit. Today, at 12.5 years young - she still is the boss and every bit active as she can be. While she has a slight stiffness in her hind leg from arthritis that occassionaly betrays her youth, plus she is now deaf, she is as bright, and smart, and playful as ever! She is our amazing alpha queen, our Sibe family's first Husky, and the one responsible for my...