Friday, September 29, 2006

I'm in Trouble

Boy did I get in trouble last night. Mom and Dad went out somewhere for a couple hours. When they got home they got ready for bed. Dad got in bed first and everything was ok but when Mom got in bed she noticed it was wet. First of all I'm not supposed to be on their bed and secondly I'm definitely not supposed to go potty in the house. I'm really not sure why I did this, maybe I was sleepwalking or something. I haven't gone potty in the house in months. For the past couple of months Mom and Dad have been leaving me out of the crate when they go out for short periods of time and I've always been good (except for a couple used tissues here and there). Just when they had decided they trusted me enough to not have to go in the crate at all.

So Mom and Dad were very made. Dad told me to go in my crate. I was so ashamed and embarrassed about what I had done that I went right into my crate and didn't even talk back to him like I usually do. As I expected Dad put me in my crate before he left for work (Lares is typing this up for me since he doesn't have to go in a crate). I guess they don't trust me anymore.

I have to go now, Dad told me to take sometime and think about what I did wrong.

Later,
Althea

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Fun Games to Play with Your Humans

One of my favoritest games to play with my parents is "Siberian Husky Rodeo". Now that I no longer have to stay in my crate while Mom & Dad are at work, they always take off our collars when they leave the house. This is because one time during Fight Club (M&M hope you don't mind me using your phrase), I got my mouth caught on Larry's collar. We couldn't get ourselves apart and the big pansy boy got all freaked out. Fortunately Mommy was home and saved us. So they never leave our collars on when their gone to prevent us from getting tangled. So when either of them gets home, they have to put our collars on to take us out to go potty. Do you honestly think that I would make this easy on them? No way, I would much rather play Siberian Husky Rodeo. This is where they attempt to laso me with my collar. The goal is to make this as difficult as possible. So I bob and weave around, put my paw through the collar, jump up, etc. And the best part I don't have a collar on so they can't grab me. Today I was going for my high score, when Dad decided to give up and put Lares collar on. So he called Lares over, and the goofy earred dork went right over to him of course. As soon as he went to put Lares' collar on, I pushed Lares away and stood right in front of Dad as if to let him put my collar on. Boy did he think he had me, he picked up my collar and went to put it over my head and off I went. What fun. Eventually I had to give in (when you gotta go, you gotta go).

Here's a pic of Lares and I during Fight Club. Dad thinks this is a picture of our second ever Fight Club meeting. See Dad wanted another husky so that Lares would have a playmate. Well for the first couple months that I was here I tried and tried to get Lares to play but he just wouldn't do it. But finally one night it happened and we were off. This picture is from the following morning, Dad got out of the shower and heard an unusual commotion. He grabbed the camera and got some pics of us going at it. Lares decided that Fight Club was so fun we do it almost every day.

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Later,
Althea

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Weekend and Ice Pops

So we had a fun weekend with my Aunt and cousin Riley. My parents asked my Aunt how everyone was over the weekend and she said everyone was good except for Riley. My Aunt stepped outside to do something and since she is not a husky parent she wasn't watching the door behind her. Now Lares and I know to stay away from open doors but apparently Riley doesn't. He ran out the door and to his surprise found a herd of deer just feet away (our neighbor feeds the stoopid, tick laden critters). So off he went after the deer and his mommy went chasing after him. Boy was she made when she finally got him back inside. Keep this in mind, Mom and Dad next time you get mad at us for doing something wrong. Well, Mom and Dad made it home safely on Sunday. They even made it home early enough to take use to the dog park. It was rainy so there were only a couple dogs there but I got some good runs in anyway.

Not much action on Monday, Dad got home too late to take us to the park. But today he got home early, got dinner started and then took us to the park. We got there and I was off, running around like a banshee. And when no other dogs would run with me, I ran by myself. I love to run. Boy it was fun. And to top the night off, Dad shared his ice pop with us. We love ice pops. Mom never lets us have any of hers but Dad says as long as we lick and don't bite we can have some of his. Here are some pics of Lares and I enjoying Dad's ice pop.

Later,
Althea

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Friday, September 22, 2006

This Weekend


Well its official my parents are leaving me again this weekend. Something about a wedding and Boston. As far as I know they are already married so it can't be that important of a wedding. They are leaving Saturday morning and will be back Sunday night.

I told them that we would be fine home alone but they insist on getting us a petsitter. Fortunately our petsitter is our Aunt. And where she goes, our cousin Riley goes. This is a picture of him. He's is a lab. I make it my life's work to annoy him as much as possible when he comes over. My favorite activity is to clamp on to his face and pull. His skin stretches nicely.

Even though I will miss Mom and Dad, it will be lots of fun to have cousin Riley around. Hopefully he will not pee on our rug this time.

I'm pretty tired right now since I was a the dog park for quite awhile. I played with a bunch of friends including my bestest dog park friend, Sabrina (she's is a husky in case you haven't read my other post). Boy did we go at it today.

Well that's it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Later,
Althea

Warning


Hey there, I was reading Macie & Malechai's blog and felt that I had to warn them. As much as your humans may annoy you, do not chew on their Birckenstocks. I can't emphsize this enough. I have experience in this matter as you can see. Fortunately Mommy stopped me before I completely ruined Daddy's left sandle. Boy I never thought I was going to hear the end of it, especially since 10 minutes later I chewed the corner of their dining room table.

So to recap, no matter how mad your humans make you, don't chew on the Birckenstocks. Take it from me, living on the streets aint as glamorous as it sounds. Find something else of theirs to destroy and so that they will let you continue to live there. Sounds like you got it pretty good.

Later,
Althea

Larry the Dog Here

Hey, I am Lares, Althea's cuter, smarter, fluffier, big brother. I thought it was about time that I said a few words on this here blog thingamajig. Dad asked me if I wanted my own blog but I'm not sure yet. I mean I've got other stuff to do like laying around, licking myself, looking for food and most importantly waiting for my Dad to come home.

I had to distract Althea in order to get on the computer. So I told her that our feline sister Delilah was calling her a hyena. Well Althea didn't take too kindly to that and immediately went off to squash Delilah. Stupid Althea always forgets that Delilah always comes out on top of these "battles". When people ask my Mommy if us dogs chase the cats, she responds with "No, the cat chases the dogs".

So now that I've got a few minutes to write, I'll tell you a little about myself. I'm about 7 years old or so (we're not real sure and I never really kept track). One day my previous owner left me at a place called a shelter. I didn't want to go but I was left there and was never really sure why. So I stayed in the shelter for some time. I stayed in a crate all the time. They fed me and stuff but it wasn't a very good life.

Then one day a nice lady came and took me away. The lady was with a rescue group called Tails of the Tundra Siberian Husky Rescue. I went to a cool foster home where they took very good care of me. Every so often I would go in the car, which I didn't like, and go meet some other huskies and some people but I always went back to my foster home. My foster mommy told me that one day I would find my furever home. Then one day we took a long drive (I drooled on my foster mom the whole way) to meet some new people. They were nice and I got to go in their house and they each took me for a walk. I was rather tired as it was a pretty eventful day so I laid down next to the nice human man and took a nap. When I woke up my foster mom was gone. I didn't know what was going on but the human man and woman were nice. They gave me food and let me lay on their couch. Then I realized it had happend, I had found my furever home.

So here I am in my furever home enjoying the good life. The cats don't really bother me and everything is good until one day in she comes, Althea the crazy dog. My life hasn't been the same since but I'll tell you more about that some other time as this post is getting rather long already.

You can see more pictures of me on my Success Story page on the Tails of the Tundra website.

Lares

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Home Alone

Well, Mom and Dad are at work and guess what, they didn't put me in my crate for the second day in a row. That's right, I don't have to stay in my crate any more (at least as long as I don't do anything bad). We've actually been building up to this. First it started with me being allowed out of my crate at night when everyone goes to sleep. Then I would get to stay out if my parents went out for short periods of time. I've tried very, very hard to be good and prove to my parents that I was responsible enough to not have to go into my crate. Aside from eating/shredding some used tissues, I have been an angel. So they decided to give it a try yesterday and I made it through the whole day without doing anything wrong.

This is very exciting for me since my brother Lares doesn't have to stay in crate while Mom and Dad are not home. In fact he doesn't even have a crate. He's a big goofy ball and never does anything wrong so he never had to stay in a crate. Lares can be such a suck up sometimes. For example I don't always (alright I almost never) sit when Dad tells me to. Lares on the hand will sit immediately and if Dad continues to tell me to sit, Lares will stand up and then sit down again just to show Dad how good he is. What a floppy eared Nimrod.

I on the other hand have been know to get into some trouble now and then. But this was mostly when I first came to live with my parents and didn't really know what was expected of me. Now I'm actually a pretty well behaved Husky. Some might say that I'm repressing my natural Husky behavior but keep in mind that I was adopted and didn't have the best life before coming to my furever home. So I try real hard to be good.

Off to go look for tissues, I'm sure they left some around here somewhere (they never seem to learn).

Later,
Althea

Monday, September 18, 2006

Tag

I was tagged by MoonShadow and asked to name five things that make a true doggie friend. So here goes:

  1. I typically spend the day in my crate while my parents are out "working" (not sure what that is but it doesn't sound good). When they come in the front door I immediately start to howl and woo to let them know how excited I am to see them.
  2. I'm give the bestest kisses in the whole world. My parents love this since my doofus brother doesn't give kisses at all.
  3. I refuse to say goodbye or good night. My parents try to get good night kisses and I hid my face. I will not give them kisses because I don't want them to go away or to bed.
  4. I like to lick my parents feet. Some might think this is disgusting but I don't mind.
  5. My Daddy loves to vacuum with the dyson creature so I oblige him by shedding as much as possible.

So those are my five things that make a true doggie friend. Now I'm tagging the following: my friends in the Army of Four , Meeshka, Macie & Malechai, Turbo, and Raisa.

Whew, Dad says that is all we can write tonight. He is tired after his first day back at work after his week long vacation and figuring out how to put the links above seems to have taxed his brain power to its limit.

Later,

Althea

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Purple


Hey, Amber of the Army of Four commented on my cool purple bandana so I thought I would post another pic of me wearing it. My Dad says that this is probably the best picture of me that they have taken in the year that I have been living with them. I have to agree.

Later,
Althea

Husky Hike

Well, thanks to the good wishes from Amber of the Army of Four and that the fact that it rained at their house, Saturday turned out to b a pretty nice day. It was a little cloudy and rainy when we got up but as we drove out to the hike it started clearing up. By the time we got there it was even sunny. So it turned out to be a good day.

Lares and I got up early on Saturday to make sure we weren't late for the hike. Mom and Dad didn't seem to pleased about this but we were just so excited that we couldn't sleep any more. Mom said we were like kids on Christmas morning. Mom and Dad finally got ready and we hit the road. Dad looked a little sleepy while driving so I talked to him during the whole one and half hour car drive to keep him awake. This seemed to annoy him a bit, especially when we got lost. You'd think that this being the third hike they've gone to that they would know how to get there.


So we finally made it there (a bit late I might add). So we were all the way at the end of the pack for the hike. Fortunatey there were a few other stragglers with us. So we hiked about 2 miles around the park. It was nice. Dad said that I was being pretty good on the leash, usually I'm very excited in situations like this and tend to pull alot. Here is a pic of me and my goofy earred brother. We got to wear special bandanas so people could identify us. Lares got blue because he is a former rescue. I got purple, which they say meant "Other" but I know it really meant "The Best".

After hiking we cooled down a bit in a small pool and Mom & Dad had some lunch. They didn't think to share any with us though. We checked out some of the people selling doggy stuff and got to meet lots of other huskies.

My brother Lares was rescued by the group holding the hike and they had their first ever Tails of the Tundra Alumni Revue. Any dog that was rescued by Tails of the Tundra got a moment in the "spot light" as their story was told to all of his/her fans. Dad walked Lares around while they told his story. They even mentioned me in this story at which point I gave a Woo from the sidelines where I was waiting with Mom.

Last but not least we got to go mushing. Yep that's right, they hooked us up to a sled on wheels along with some experienced mushing dogs and off we went. Here is a picture of me coming into the finish line. It's a bit blurry, because I was moving so fast.

Later,
Althea

Friday, September 15, 2006

No More Rain

This rain really needs to stop. I can't take be stuck inside much longer. Plus we have somewhere to go tomorrow. The rescue group that helped Lares find my parents is having their anual Tails on the Trails fund raising event. They have lots of cool stuff to raise money for homeless huskies. So if you wouldn't mind, please think sunny thoughts for tomorrow.

Last year Lares and I got to pull a sled on wheels. Here we are. The people with the sled said that I am a natural. Hopefully I'll have a chance to try again tomorrow.

Later,
Althea

Color Change

I thought I would give you a side by side comparison of what I looked like when I first came to my furever home and how I look now. The picture on the left is me when I was first adopted. The picture on the right is from a couple days ago (just over a year after I was adopted). See how much more red I was.

Later,
Althea



All About Me

Well it is another rainy day here in New Jersey and it doesn't look like it is going to let up any time soon. So another boring day trapped in the house with little hope of hitting the dog park. This means I have two options: sleep or beat-up my brother Lares. I'm not really in the mood for his whining today so I'll have to go with the nap. But first I thought I would tell everyone a little more about myself. I mean lets be honest, that's is why you come here, to learn about me.

So the details are a little cloudy but I do my best to recount my story. My Mommy likes to say that I started off my life "Living on the Streets". This isn't exactly accurate. I actually had a home (sort of), where my previous owners were breeding me and the rest of my pack and don't think it was a very reputable organization. Apparently the man and woman decided to get divorced and didn't really care about us anymore. So we were left tied up outside without food or water. Fortunately a good samaritain heard about us in a round about way and came to resucue us. This good samaritain conviced our owners to give us up and we were taken to the Northampton County SPCA in Easton, PA. There were two liters of puppies, three girls (me included) and two boys. Unfortunately the third boy didn't make. We were all really skinny and dirty. I only weighed about 25 pounds (now I'm 50 pounds).

Fortunately for me I didn't have to stay in the shelter for long. One of the shelter workers called a friend who happened to volunteer for a Siberian Husky rescue group called Tails of the Tundra Siberian Husky Rescue (http://www.siberescue.com/). Now this volunteer, happened to be my big brother Lares' foster mom before he came to live in his furever home. She got me into a foster home with a family that was also involved in the rescue group. I was a bit scared at first cause there were lots of dogs but I quickly learned the ropes.

I guess I wasn't destine to stay in my foster home for long. As it turns out my future Mom and Dad were looking for a sibling for Lares, who they adopted about a year before. So heard about me and how I was the cutest dog in the whole world (well maybe she didn't say that but I am the cutest dog in the whole world). They wanted to meet me, so I got to go for a ride in the car with my foster family to visit my future Mom and Dad. They seemed pretty nice and Lares seemed like he would be a good older brother, so I decided that I would adopt them. But I had to go home with my foster family so that I could have some sort of operation, then I would be able to go to my furever home. So a few weeks passed and the big day came, my new Mom and Dad came to pick me up. I was a bit scared but they fed me cheese during the car ride home so I figured they were ok.

Now a year later I'm still here and I love it here. I love my Mommy and Daddy and my brother Lares. Even my feline siblings, Spencer and Delilah are ok. So I'll end my story there for now. Here is a picture of me and Lares about a week after I came to live here. I've had a bath so I don't look too bad but you can tell that I had blown most of my coat. Unftortunately my coat has never come back as fluffy as it was. Mom and Dad think it is because I was so skinny from not being fed. I hope it comes back because I used to be much more red then I am now. Oh well, either way I'm very pretty.

Wow, that's a lot of blogging. I'm off for a nap.

Later,
Althea

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Rainy Day

Well much to my disappointment it was raining when I woke up and continues to do so. This does not look good for our usual afternoon visit to the dog park. So we're pretty much stuck inside. Dad decided to start his Thursday evening cleaning a little early since he is home from work. You know what that means, out comes the dyson. Yes that's right my parents have one too, seems every human owned by a husky has one of these dyson creatures. No one in the house likes the dyson except Dad and my feline brother Spencer (nothing really bothers him, I'll explain some other time).

So I thought I would take this time to tell you about when I first came to live with my new parents and siblings. I had only been here a couple weeks and had put up with the dyson creature a few times. I decided it was either me or it, so I planned my attack. I waited until the dyson creature was resting and Dad had left the room and that's when I went into action. I went for the tail, which is my typical move when I don't know exactly what I'm up against. Going for the tail lets you test your opponent and still have some hope of getting away if they turn out to be more than you can handle (speaking of handle, the tail works very well as a handle for pulling your opponent out from under a table or bench). So the dyson creature has a pretty long tail and I was sufficiently away from its mouth so I went for it. I took the first bite expecting it to roar into life but there was no response, so I took another bite and another and another. Before I knew I had chewed the tail in half. Feeling pretty proud of myself, I continued to chew on one end of the tail when Dad came back into the room. He said "Althea what are you chewing?" So I showed him and you would think I bite his tail off. He freaked. I didn't see what the problem was. When he finally got done yelling at me, he told me "You're lucky it wasn't plugged in you Knucklehead." I'm not sure what this meant but I decided not to ever chew on the dyson creature's tail again.

I guess Dad decided that he had to fix the dyson creature's tail so he got out some tools and tape and put it back together. Here is a picture of it now.


Well I'm off to beg some lunch from Dad.

Althea

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Good Night

Well it turns out that Dad and I were busier than expected this afternoon. First, the rain held out and we got to go to the dog park. This is my favoritest of places. I can run around and play. My brother Lares just kind of wanders around, he doesn't really like to run and typically starts wooing if others are having what he considers too much fun. Of course for him too much fun is anything more than just laying around and moping.

So the park was a bit boring at first but the action picked up quickly as some of my friends showed up. Fortunately my good buddy Sabrina came to the park today. She is a black and white bi-eyed husky. Boy do we have fun together. No one else knows how to play like her, lots of neck biting, hip checks and body slams. The fun could have gone on for much longer but Dad said we had to go home and cook dinner, which I figured would be good as I would get to taste everything as we went along. However Dad said something about onions and that I couldn't have any. Instead I got my usual boring dinner. Although when Mom and Dad had dinner, Lares and I got cows ears for a snack.

It has been quite a day: started my blog, fun at the dog park and delicious cows ear for snack. So I think I'm off to bed, here is a picture of me sleeping, what an angel. Dad says this is a good picture of me since my eyes are closed and therefore don't come out red. He says that I look like a devil dog in most pictures because my eyes come out red. One day I'll post my most evilest picture. It's very scary.


That's it for me. See you tomorrow.
Althea

Part of the Pack



Well it's official, Raisa has already added my blog to the Husky Bloggers Ring and made the first comment on my blog welcoming me to the ring. Congratulations Raisa, I'd give you prize but I gutted my last stuffed toy months ago and Mom and Dad refuse to buy me any more until someone makes one that is indestructible. Thanks for the warm welcome Raisa. Here is a picture of me howling in excitement (that's my brother Lares' butt in the picture).

So far so good, my first post is up. Dad even figured out how to add my picture to my profile.

I'm very excited about my new blog so I'm sure this will not be my last post of the day, so check back later. Dad is home on vacation this week so he has plenty of time to help me with my blog. You would think we could have gotten started on Monday but he said he was too busy doing stuff around the house. I'm not sure what his excuse was yesterday, seemed to me all he did was sit around and do nothing. I'll have to whip him into shape the rest of the week.

I have to go so that Dad can send an e-mail to my Mommy about my blog. She will be so proud of me. My Mom is at school teaching little kids how to read and stuff. Hopefully I haven't spelled any words wrong. Dad is afraid to use the spell check because last time he did he deleted the whole post and had to re-type everything.

Later,
Althea

Hello



Hi everyone, my Dad has been showing me these blog things for a couple weeks now and I decided that it is time for me to have my own blog. I mean who wouldn't want to hear what I have to say. So here is my first post. Dad and I are trying to figure this thing out so bear with us, okay.

I thought I would start by introducing myself briefly. I'll fill in more details in further posts. My name is Althea. I am a 2 year old Siberian Husky living in New Jersey (you can all keep your NJ jokes to yourselves). I live in a house with my Mommy and Daddy, my big brother Lares, and two cats named Spencer and Delilah. I was adopted about 1 year ago, after which Mom and Dad said I was the last addition to the family for awhile. I guess they finally found the best "kid" and knew they couldn't do any better after adopting me.

Here is a picture of me. Dad says I'm not very photogenic. I really only like to have pictures taken when I look my very best. This picture is outside our house, I didn't realize they were taking it until it was too late. I mean the nerve of them, here I am protecting them from stray cats, squirrels, deer and assorted other critters and they go and take my picture. Fortunately it is one of my better shots so I have posted it here.

So that's all I have for now, want to get this posted so I can see how it looks.

I hope you enjoy my blog.

Althea