Old dogs

My darling Allie is starting to wander around slowly and stop and just stand there, as if she's not quite sure where she is or what she's doing there. One eye is quite cloudy, and she seems to be somewhat hard of hearing, although all Mals are when they want to be ;-).

Our walks are quite short -- she still enjoys offering to eat the neighborhood hors d'oeuvre dogs, but when she gets tired, she just lies down and refuses to budge. You know how people become more themselves as they age? Well, Allie certainly has. She is one stubborn broad. We have been know to spend up to 20 minutes, her refusing to so much as get up, me pleading, calling, offering treats, walking away, ignoring, lifting, trying to carry, pushing, pulling .... until finally SHE decides to amble nonchalantly away ...

She still touches noses with and licks the indoor cats. Wherever I am in the house, whatever I'm doing, Allie is guaranteed to be within 2 meters' range, fast asleep. I have no idea how she does it, moving from place to place while curled up peacefully -- velcro? bungee cords? -- but she doesn't let me out of her range. When I'm ready to go to bed, there's Allie, smack in the middle of the bed, taking up ALL the pillows, with an angelic smile on her face. When I wake up, there's Allie, breathing intently in my face.

Allie's been in renal failure for over 2 years now. The first time I came home and she didn't come and greet me at the door, I went into panic. I know this is something I'll have to get used to -- but not yet! As long as my good girl is still brave and strong and funny, I'll treasure this time with her. Old dogs are so special, and spoiling them rotten is about all we can do.

Oh, and my dogs also adore pumpkin! It regulates stools either way, and seems to be perfectly healthy in small amounts. Try sweet potato, too -- mine adore it, even microwaved ...

Re: the furminator debate

I also picked one up, seduced by the video of the same brush dealing with Mal and cat-fluff. So far we find that:
- the cats both HATE it and are going back to their old favorite brush; apparently, that slight pull before it cuts is pretty unpleasant
- medium-coat Allie likes it and it's pretty effective with her undercoat
- it's completely useless on longish, softish-coat Rowan - but he does great with the twirly-tined rake anyway
- it pulled about a bushel of fluff off plush, short-coat Ghost, line-brushing, this about 2 weeks after professional grooming. I can't say he enjoyed it much,and it did feel pretty destructive, but he looks splendid. ;-)
So we'll keep using it but sparingly, and since the only thing they really love is being ShopVac-ed, and a cool dip in the kiddie-pool, still do that too.

Black Ribbon: Sascha

I am sad to report the passing of my little Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, Sascha, a constant companion of my Malamute boys.

I was there at Sascha's birth, adopted her when she was a scrawny little thing, and then had to figure out what to do with that there dog -- I had only had cats all my life and was a staunch cat person. Sascha grew up amongst cats and was a bit of a cat herself. When she started to grow and get bigger and stronger, I had no idea what to do with her, but a friend told me about obedience classes. She had to suffer through my first shot at obedience training. Traumatic for us both! But we kept at it, and progressed to agility obedience.

Sascha was bitten by a pit when young and had a scar on her butt all her life. It made her somewhat skittish toward strange dogs, but she warmed up to them very quickly, and adored "her" Malamute boys. When I first adopted Allie, she and Sascha were inseparable. When Ghost came along several years later, however, the group dynamics changed, and suddenly the girls developed a mutual desire to see the color of each others' insides. Since then, the girls have been kept apart, and Sascha has enjoyed the company of each boy in turn. In the past few months, as Allie has gotten weaker, she and Sascha have come to an understanding, and they have been outside together again, companionable as a couple of old ladies.

We enjoyed our walks together, which included lots of sit-down-stands and treats. Her down-stay always included a Navy-Seals-crawl, accompanied by a wide grin and mischievous brown eyes. Her idea of "fetch" was to grab the ball and try to play keep-away with it, zooming around me in circles and trying to get me to chase her. She played the Malamutes' reindeer games just like a Mal, grabbing them by the scruff, chest-bumping, and joining in the singing when the sirens went by.

Sascha was my first dog, a sweet, gentle lion dog, who taught me that dogs are wonderful people to have around. We will all miss her.

Huggers

Allie is a champion spooner. Nothing better than waking up with a mouthful a Malafur. Wherever I'm sitting, she'll silently and inexorably ooze either onto my feet or onto my lap, whatever's available, and I find myself immobilized.

Rowan is a true Texan -- he dances the two-step. He'll rear up on his hind legs and gently put those huge front paws on my shoulders, and hop like a bunny. If I have a treat, though, he's laser-focused on that, forget about humom ...

The Magnificent Ghost is finally getting it through the concrete upstairs that he's not allowed to jump up on people, so he jumps up sideways NEXT to me, JUST not touching me, and leans in for a quick kiss and a bat of the Big Brown Eyes ... aren't I clever and cute?? He's more of a leaner than a hugger anyway.

M. writes: >Guess they forgot that our malamutes come into their own so to speak by around 2 yrs of age

Huh! Ghost is 3 and we're still waiting ... ;-)

Kohler ad: eskimo

Not that I didn't lust after a Kohler bath before .... but did they
have to make it this appealing ??
Eskimo ad

And yes, I never bathe alone, but there's usually at least one cat on
the side of the bath as well ... which wouldn't really work with the Sok tub ... anybody else's Mals find submerged
humans fascinating?

My friend Frauke's cat, Katze, thought he was in the Coast Guard and used to grab any body part he could find and try to drag her out onto dry land ...

im so mad

gorila aleksandria shode me how to yus this thing i don spel gud butt gotta tel yu mals how meen mi humom is im so mad!!!

wen she lett me owt of mi hows i wen to the dor an it was open an ther was a pray!! jus standing ther! so i grabd it an startd shayking it lik i seen gorila aleksandria do. i never kilt no pray befor but seen g.a. du it plenty times. butt pray mayde nasty scryyching noys an humom ran owt an grabt me an pray an tuk pray away!! tuk pray insyd hows then kaym owt an sed no eeting kats wats a kat i dunno kats i jus lik the teyst of the pray

neks tym il tayk the pray far awey an then eet it ... iv bin keepin an i on the dor yu bett
woooooo oooo wooo pray to yu
rowan the red

im so mad

gorila aleksandria shode me how to yus this thing i don spel gud butt gotta tel yu mals how meen mi humom is im so mad!!!

wen she lett me owt of mi hows i wen to the dor an it was open an ther was a pray!! jus standing ther! so i grabd it an startd shayking it lik i seen gorila aleksandria do. i never kilt no pray befor but seen g.a. du it plenty times. butt pray mayde nasty scryyching noys an humom ran owt an grabt me an pray an tuk pray away!! tuk pray insyd hows then kaym owt an sed no eeting kats wats a kat i dunno kats i jus lik the teyst of the pray

neks tym il tayk the pray far awey an then eet it ... iv bin keepin an i on the dor yu bett
woooooo oooo wooo pray to yu
rowan the red