Creatures of Winter

I still don't know the answer which is my favorite season. Of course, summer is the absolute dislike. During the summer I just wish I could dig a foxhole in the permafrost and wait there safe from bugs and bears for the weather to cool of. Battle for the first place will be between autumn and winter. Autumn is so beautiful. Especially the last weeks before winter when there is frost on the ground early in the morning and the landscape begins to look all black and white. Velvety dark waters are waiting to freeze over and I can walk in the forest without all kinds of vegetation all over me. And of course the sent and wait of the oncoming winter in the air! 

With all those outdoors activities there are dark nights by the candlelight. Not to mention layered clothing and woolen socks! My friends know that I walk all summer wearing my boots and I just won't wear sandals or other similar things. And my neighbors know that I might take my dogs outside wearing only boots, shorts and a t-shirt even when it's -30C outside. And just for you to know I'm not talking about my home in Joensuu. My apartment is truly in center of Joensuu city and my door opens to the central square, so even I will wear something more appropriate. So it's fair to say that I'm definitely a fall/winter person and if I'd do a genealogy study I would find relatives living in the arctic!

We continue our autumn trainings until we have enough snow for a sled. I also took two dogs for a walk at the same time and my genius idea was to harness the other one - but when they get harnessed they just want to pull! Thought of two harnessed Siebrian Huskies in front of me while walking them made the breeder of my dogs laugh and declare the whole idea suicidal. My next great idea was to teach my dogs to stay put in front of my ATV. Valo already knows how to stay put when I yell WHOA but he does this only when he's already ran for a while. But my dogs pulled me and the ATV easily so I had to brake that dogs wouldn't drag the ATV with them. Of course they didn't run very fast but I think it's better they really have to pull than just run in front of an ATV with motor running. And it's fair to say that there are only two veterans in my team (10 and 8 years old) + Odessa (not that I'm underrating her strength)! But it's good to know that this team could pull a Chukchi sled on tundra, even if I pack something else on the sled besides myself.

Besides ATV training I bike with my dogs every week. It is especially important for our "veterans" to keep fit and running free or laying on a couch just isn't enough. Especially 10 years old Sero is really inspired with biking! I broke one of my digital cameras so I could safely duct tape it on my bike and take a video of my dogs pulling. I have seen funny sledding videos that are fast forwarded, cut in every few minutes because the dogs stop running or the musher have to yell commands all the time and in those videos the dogs don't run even for a one kilometer. Well, it's always good that people are interested in sledding, even if their dogs don't actually do so well :D !

We had first snow earlier this week so I hope winter comes early this year. In the meanwhile we just continue our trainings and hope good autumn trails for all sleddog enthusiasts! Oh, and the puppy in the main picture is Odessa's daughter Hilla.

Ulmo - Lord of Waters

We have started our autumn trainings and every time we go out Valo want's to go for a swim. And he just loooove to swim! He likes to fetch things from the water so I bought him an aqua toy. And of course he just looked at me and didn't even touch the toy. Instead he fetched a candle that was floating upside down and would have played with it for hours. So I ended up trying to reach out his new toy while Valo enjoyed his new treasure.

Valo thinks he's the Lord of Waters and don't want to come back on dry land. So he just stands in the water looking so noble. Sometimes you can only see his head between the waves when he is watching over his watery kingdom. Sometimes I think he might be half-walrus or a polar bear because his coat is so thick that his skin never gets wet and water just flows of his floating back and tail.

Photos: "Valo and his new Pet Aqua Toy" and " People stop littering my kingdom!"

Dog people

I have 3 dogs so I'm automatically categorized as a dog person. My own vision of dog people are the people who wear some sort of breed logo or club banner, smoke and loudly cursing report of the texture of their dogs feces and from where they found it this time. If a dog person can't be found beside a show ring or training field they spend their time gossiping on phone or on some other medium and judging on other dog people. They are also well-known on some dog-related Internet forum.

Their closest friends are also dog people and they drag their dogs everywhere where they can attain attention, even if it's 30°C degrees heat outside. Dog people also own the whole world and with their dogs they may do anything they want, where and when they want. I've also noticed that dog people can be very crafty and deceitful – the type of people who want everything right now no matter the consequences. Dog people seem to live through their dogs and a dog person would get furious of this description.

Anyhow, our dogs live in our home with us. They can go wherever they want and we don't use crates indoors. We also have a room for our dogs and that's easy to recognize – almost all Siberian Husky related stuff is placed in that room. That infection has also spread around the house, there are couple paintings of our dogs and few Siberian Husky related items have found their way into kitchen. We go to dog events couple of times a year and I don't talk about my dogs more than about other members of our family. However, my dogs are members of our family and I can't think life without them (13 years of my life without them was enough).

But I don't feel like a dog person. I have more friends that aren't dog people and they don't even have a dog. People assume that I'm interested in every dog walking by but it isn't so. I don't watch what's happening on other dog breeds (good if I even watch Huskies). I've had Siberian Huskies for 10 years and I'm not going to move on to any other breed soon. Maybe I'm a Siberian Husky person! Only a very small amount of world's Siberian Husky population interests me when thinking about breeding Siberians. However I found "exotic" (by every mean of the word) huskies always very interesting!

Please don't take this text too seriously ;) and I also try to update my blog more often.

Mystery pic ;) They're everywhere!

Generation 3

First there was Sero, then his daughter Odessa and now our newborn baby husky! Last Saturday Odessa whelped a little baby girl - or actually she wasn't so little as her weight was 500 grams... This puppy may just be the cutest thing ever! She already looks like a real Siberian Husky and she is very agile for her age. I wouldn't be surprised to see her walking and running tomorrow!

We were expecting 1-2 puppies because an ultrasound we took weeks before a due date showed two puppies. Odessa made it all very easy even though a puppy was the only one and so big. Few hours after whelping we took Odessa and her baby to another ultrasound just to make sure there isn't more puppies coming! Luckily our vet had given her home number so it was easy to contact her and after Odessa's examination Odessa nursed her puppy at vet's home. Nature is amazing and this puppy seems very vital and Odessa has been a very good mother. At the age of 4 days she still has many obstacles ahead and we really hope she is going to be a healthy and lively puppy as she's been this far!

Kuuhaukun Suden Monologi

Saga of the Wolf

After some serious surfing on the web I somehow ended up reading some blogs and thought it would be nice to make a layout for a blog. And here we are. I already have a web page siperianhusky.net that I try to update weekly and I also use Facebook daily. So my plan is to write about my Siberians and put up some photos when I have time to do that! I made this layout using MacBook Pro with 1280 x 800 resolution and tested it with Safari - hope it works with others too! The name of this blog "Suden Saaga" comes from Odessa's kennel name Kuuhaukun Suden Saaga which means "Saga of the Wolf"!

Now I have to become familiar with the world of blogging and think up something to write about!