After a stressful few days of meeting deadlines, I went out to hang with “the kids” last night. When I’m stressed or in a bad mood, aside from hanging with my daughter, spending time with our fur babies always makes me feel better. They are funny, charming, cute, and silly. How can you help but smile when you see their big inquisitive blue eyes gazing up at you? And their silly shenanigans just make me laugh. Even if they are sound asleep, the slightest sound of the door creaking, and they are up and ready to love. So, there I am after an intense 11-hour shift of writing and editing, looking for a little relief…when our Harley girl drops a dog toy in my lap. What’s this? Tug-o-war, you ask? Why certainly, I could use some aggression-release at this point. So we are having a good go at it…me pulling, her tugging, me pulling harder, her tugging harder…oh, wait, Bandit has now joined in…it’s a three-way game now…oh, curious Chloe trotted over to check out all the excitement…and Gibson mea...

Speaking of wolf songs - today, I'd like to take a  moment to reflect on the Sibes' distant cousin - the Wolf - and pay tribute to "Apache," an arctic wolf and the alpha of the New York's Wolf Conservation Center's pack, who passed away on March 10. A beautiful wolf has now crossed the Rainbow Bridge and his spirit is now running free and wild across the great skies. Our sincerest condolences to the Apache's hu-family at the Center, as well as his pack. Please visit the Dog Files and view the video tribute (keep watching after the last photo for a beautiful live segment of Apache howling at the end - and have some tissues on hand), as well as a great episode of The Dog Files highlighting Apache and his pack at the Center. Both are worth watching. Rest in peace, Apache. Follow The Dog Files link at http://www.thedogfiles.com/2010/03/12/a-tribute-to-apache/

As any Sibe owner can attest, Huskies can sometimes have a lot to say and they  L-O-V-E to howl, sing, or “woo.” My furry kids break out in song at least several times a day. My neighbors love it. Seriously, they do. When they don’t hear them sing, they actually inquire to be sure all is OK with the pack. Like I said, I have really great neighbors! So at the break of dawn (or before, depending on when who wakes up), they begin the day with the early morning song; then the late morning song, followed by the early afternoon song, and then the early evening, and finally the late evening song. Usually one Sibe is the bandleader (they must draw twigs or something because the pups each take turns in this role). He or she will talk, bark, or woo to start the others singing. They each do a little warm up (simultaneously) until they fall into a group chorus and howl and woo to their hearts’ content. Now, when you hear them, it really is a beautiful thing even though our alpha girl really c...

Today is our alpha queen, Nanuk "Harley" Mari's fifth birthday! I can't believe how fast five years have gone by! It seems like just yesterday she was a mere pup. Harley is our first Sibe. She was a gift for our daughter who had wanted one since she was a little girl. Harley came from a breeder in Mahopac, New York, and along with her beauty, she has a very upper-class, typical Husky attitude and we love her for it! She is our alpha and a queen. We had her for a solid year before getting her a partner, Gibson, who is her faithful always-in-love-with-her soul mate. Then, after being a couple for two years, we suddenly one day bombarded them with the three puppy littermates! Harley once again adjusted her role and became a surrogate mom to the pups. Now, they are all one big happy Husky family! Now I have to say, birthdays here at our Husky Haven are big events and we go all out for our "kids"...party hats, toys, pizza crust, and a bone-shaped ice cream cake ...

So earlier this evening, we are outside playing with our Sibes and my daughter notices a funky, sticky, blood-spotted yellow area on the deck carpet where the "kids" lay. We do a complete body check on all five Sibes, nada. We take a sample of the strange substance for the vet, then notice our youngest boy goes down into yard and stops digging his body-sized hole and is foaming at the mouth...I mean really foaming. He is acting spacey, his body language is strange, and earlier he had no appetite for dinner, nor breakfast this morning. Now sometimes when the weather gets warmer, my Sibes don't eat as much, but compounded by the mystery blood-spotted substance, we high-tail it over to the emergency vet hospital (it's after-hours for our regular vet) to have him checked out. All is OK. The foaming stopped and the vet suspects he chewed on something disagreeable in that hole. No blood in his specimen, so that was a giant relief. However, that now leaves four others who t...

We are in the process of redecorating our living room. Where heavy drapes previously covered our front bay window, now is just a blind giving a wide view to our street and neighborhood. It let's tons of light in and is now the focal point of our room...and of our Huskies! They now have a new favorite spot! They love to come in and perch themselves right in front of the window and people watch...or squirrel watch...or cat watch...or bird watch...or watch whatever it is that might move "out there." Thank goodness there is order among pack members as they seem to agree on who gets to sit where. While they can sit for long periods of time gazing out the windows, we can sit for long periods of time just watching them watch!

Now that the snow has mostly melted, and the mud puddles finally dried up (at least until the spring rains come), my five Sibes have taken to their second favorite hobby, digging. Now anyone who has a wonderful Siberian Husky knows that aside from their ultimate favorite sport—running—digging comes in a very close second. So, in their backyard (yes, they actually have their own backyard to do whatever they want in!) we have this humongous maple tree that gives them awesome shade in the summer, and is a thing of beauty in the autumn. That is, unless a family of five Sibes comes along and digs holes large enough to bury a small building in, thereby exposing all the roots of said maple tree. In the Sibe world, that means one thing— Jackpot! The roots are the equivalent to a ton of sugar in the human world. So, here are all my babies, in their absolute glory digging and chewing and sucking the maple sweetness out of the tree’s lower extremities. And exactly what do those spiking sugar lev...