Video of Siberian Husky Puppies

I finally have my computer back! So I celebrate this by editing and posting a video of the wonderful Danish Swedish Farmdog Scott and some of the puppies that have been at my friend Monica's during the last couple of years. Both Scott and the puppies have benefited of these meetings as part of their social training, and most of the time all of them seem to enjoy it (although Scott seem to think that two puppies at the same time might be one puppy too many..).

For those of you that like me, are interested in dog body language, this video is a goldmine, and for all the rest of you I hope that you will find it amusing and adorable anyway. I cannot see how anyone could resist the charm of these beautiful and playful puppies!

Hope you guys like the video!

Dogs and Allergies

Allergies are becoming more and more common in the human population in industrialized countries, and the same is sadly true for our four legged companions. Dogs can just like us develop allergies to pollen, dust mites and even certain protein sources in food, among many other things. While there are no certain answers to why there's such an increase in allergy prevalence, at least more and more effective treatments for allergies are found.

Symptoms to look for in your dog if you suspect it might be allergic. 

Picture borrowed from http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=75

Just like in humans, where antihistamines and cortisone can be used to alleviate the symptoms of allergy, it doesn't remove the allergy itself. The only way to get rid of the allergy, or at least make the individual less sensitive to a certain allergen (substance that can cause an allergic reaction) is a process called hyposensibilization. That used to imply going to the doctor, or veterinarian in the case of dogs, to get an injection of the substance you/the dog were allergic to with certain intervals (usually every 14 days). This is often both time consuming and quite often unsuccessful in treating the allergy in question. Not to mention the fact that some people and dogs (yes dogs too) are actually scared of needles. What is worse, some extra sensitive individuals can actually get a very severe allergic reaction to the injection. Thankfully a new method of hyposensibilization for dogs  have been found and was presented this summer: Oral drops. They are simply dropped under the tongue twice a day. It has show to be comparable to injections in effectiveness but without the risk of strong allergic reactions. In some cases where allergy shots haven't worked, the oral drops did, so it appears to have a different mode of action. The treatment still has to be supervised by a veterinarian, but it is a good alternative to allergy shots. The drops also apparently taste good, so the dog won't mind taking them. Which I can tell you from personal experience is a very good thing.. I've seldom been as exhausted and sweaty at work as after I've tried to medicate a dog with pills it doesn't want..

I for one hope that more research will be done in this area for the sake of allergic people and dogs alike. Hopefully some time in the future we will find a treatment for allergy that is both more effective and safe. But maybe we should start in the other end, to find out why we and our dogs get allergic in the first place.

Source: 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120724144429.htm

The dog's exceptional smelling ability helps researchers

The dogs sense of smell is ranging from one hundred thousand to one million times more sensitive than ours, this together with the ease with which they cooperate with us humans make them the perfect tool, or as I prefer to view it, coworker, for the scientists doing everything from medical research to wildlife population estimations and everything in between.

When most people hear about dogs used in science or for scientific purposes, they think of beagles in a lab that has tubes inserted in different places and get injected with different chemicals. The role of the dog in science has evolved however, and we find more and more uses for our four-legged companions, mostly in ways that doesn't harm them one bit, but rather harness the awesome capacities hidden inside the nose and central nervous system of the dog; its sens of smell.
Unlike the human brain where a large part is concerned with dealing with interpretation of visual input, the dogs brain is dominated by its olfactory cortex, that is the area of the brain concerned with the sense of smell. In a way you could say that they see the world through smells, or at least experience it through smells. The olfactory bulb (where the receptors for smell are located) of the dog is forty times bigger than that of a human.
Due to this and their will to cooperate with humans on an unprecedented level in the animal kingdom, dogs are now used in many fields of research, from detecting cancer to locating owls and even finding killer whales! (Click on the links below to read more about it.) There seems to be no limits to what dogs can detect with their noses, the limiting factor is the human imagination.

"Is that a whale I smell?" A picture from one of the walks with the Siberian huskies this summer, Vida tried to smell things under water..

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14557224

http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20120902/NEWS0107/209020364/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120815174906.htm

Presentation of my fellow residents on Håkøya

I've been living with the five dogs for a week now and decided to write a little presentation of all of them. So here it goes...

Tessa

"I sooooo happy to see you!"

Tessa is the oldest dog here. She is a Siberian husky of the show type. Heavier built with thicker and longer fur, she gets too warm when running, so she prefers walking. She is really nice to take for long walks, and she can even carry stuff in her dog pack. She is probably the most polite dog here, but isn't really strange since she is the oldest. If Tessa could have her way, she would be cuddled with and fed all day long...

Tessa chilling in the kennel.

 

 

Birk

Birk with his beautiful markings.

Birk is the opposite of Tessa, well they are both Siberian Huskies, but Birk is of the working type and from Seppala lines. He has a shorter fur, and longer legs than Tessa, simply better built for working. Birk is 2 years old this coming fall and he is the only male living here. Amongst the dogs he is the boss but as soon as a human comes near he is the most submissive little darling there ever was. He is really strong, I can hardly hold him back, so the only way for me to exercise him is by putting him in front of the wagon and letting him pull for some km. After a sprint like that he is tired for maybe 30 minutes (tops) and then he is as full of energy as he was before the run. The hope is that he will be part of a sled dog team in next winter's Finnmarksløpet, which is one of the northernmost long distance dog sled races in the world.

Birk lies in the shadow of the dog houses.

 

Noor

Noor wondering what I'm doing with that thing in front of her face.

 Like Birk, Noor is a Siberian Husky of the working type. She is however one of the smallest Siberian huskies I've ever seen. She is about a year old now and will not grow any more, so it is safe to say that she will always be small. But what she lacks in size she makes up for in willpower and strength. She is a really good sled dog (even though she was too young this winter to really get to show us what she can do), but when I took her with me when I went skiing during the Easter holidays she really impressed me with her stamina and strength, I hardly had to do anything, she pulled me all the way! For those of you that have followed my blog, you know that Noor is the dog that I've had living with me some weeks this spring.

Noor is a rather... special... dog. When she truly relaxes, this is how she lies..

Vida

A smiling husky!

Vida is the daughter of Tessa and Birk and is thus a mix of show and work Siberian husky. She inherited her father's love of running and her mother's good looks. She is lighter built than some of the other puppies from the same litter, so she is fast and strong and for her young age she has good stamina. She is a very submissive and a little insecure when strangers are visiting, but with practice she will get more confident and she already gives everybody a chance.

When Vida was born she was light brown with white markings, but she has gotten lighter and lighter as she has grown older.

Sara

Sara is the odd one out, she is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She doesn't usually live with the other dogs here, she is my boss' dog. She is getting along very well with the huskies, as long as she gets a lot of attention... she tends to get a bit jealous when I cuddle with the husky girls.. She is the only dog here that gets to sleep in my bed every night and she also goes with me to work every day. In spite of all of her quirks she has actually managed to make me want a Cavalier, something I really thought was impossible. She is just so sweet and happy all the time (towards me that is, she isn't a big fan of the huskies when they want to play, she thinks they play to rough).

Like Noor, Sara has her own special way of lying down...

Happier news

It took almost 48 hours before the friendship between me and the two huskies that ran off were back on track. I still don't blame them for doing what they did, but I had to get that time to relax and trust them again. On Sunday morning I took Vida and Sara out jogging and in the evening I took Birk out for a run with the wagon. So now that we have shared some positive experiences all is well and good again. Below are some pictures from when I was out jogging with Sara and Vida.

"What have you got there?" Vida checking what Sara is doing.

Vida and the beautiful Norwegian nature.

High hopes and horror

It looked so promising last night when I started the 20 minute drive out to the house where I will spend the next three weeks. The sun was shining, I had Sara (the cavalier) with me in the car and had all the things I needed with me. I was looking forward to taking the dogs out for a run and then just enjoy the midnight sun, the scenery and a glass of wine. I arrived at the house full of anticipation and without a care in the world. I came in, unpacked and then went out to give the huskies their dinner and to clean up. Everything went well until the dogs decided that it was too boring to just eat while I cleaned and Birk and his daughter Vida started running back and forth in the kennel. Birk jumped at the door and to both of our great surprise and to my horror, the door opened! I had no chance to react before both Vida and Birk were already gone. Luckily I managed to keep Noor in the kennel, before I rushed off to catch the escapees. I am still too much in shock to write down every detail of what happened next, but in short, they ran to the beach, then to the horses, which was where I caught up with them. They bothered the horses quite a bit, I was scared they would get kicked in the head. Luckily they did listen to me when I told them to back off. Unluckily, they did not listen to me when I called them to come back to me. They thought it was hilarious to tease me and ran past me several times before I managed to get a hold of Birk while he stopped for a few seconds to pee... A very wonderful man stopped and helped me get a hold of Vida. I was too stressed to ask his name at the time, but whoever you are: Thank you a million times! I could not have done it without you! There was another man too though... he wasn't exactly helpful when he pointed out that it is illegal to let the dogs off leash (as if I didn't know that..) and that he would shoot them.. I was so scared!! I basically panicked! Luckily I didn't hear anything more from him, though I've seen him by his little house today. The dogs were kept inside for the night. I only took Noor and Sara for a 50 minute walk in the terrain behind the house before more or less collapsing in bed. I decided that Birk and Vida had had enough exercise that day.. I think I needed that walk more than the dogs did, to calm myself down.

A nice walk in beautiful nature, with one of the best dogs in the world. Exactly what I needed after all the drama!

Beautiful little Sara.

Noor and Sara, not best friends yet, but they tolerate each other. There isn't much of a difference in size either, so hopefully they will be able to play together in a couple of days.

I'm still shaken by the experience so so far today I have only taken Noor and Sara out jogging for 5 km. I know it is unfair to stay mad at the dogs, they only did what was natural to them, but after yesterday I just feel a bit insecure around them. I know I can get Noor and Sara to come back to me if they would get loose, but I obviously can't count on Birk or Vida to come when called, and therefor I am hesitant to take them out. I know I have to take them for walks, and I will, I just have to get myself calm and assertive first. Maybe I should do some yoga..

Monica (who owns the huskies) often calls me her "super-handler".. I must say I didn't feel much like a super-handler yesterday... Hopefully the self confidence will return. I'm looking forward to sharing happier stories with you guys soon! Hope you have a nice weekend :)

10 Mountaintops

In Norway there is this thing called "Ti på Topp", which basically translates to "On Ten Mountain-tops", and it means that during the summer you will walk/hike/climb (depending on difficulty-level) to the tops of ten mountains. I'm planning on doing that this summer, and so far I've been on one of the easy mountains twice. Both times I've had Scott (the Danish Swedish Farmdog) with me, and below are some pictures.

Picture taken on the way up to the top.

Scott is always happy to go for walks, he is a bit hyper and I don't think I could ever get him tired. He seems to have endless energy!

I hope to at least get three more mountain tops on the list while I'm living with the huskies the coming three weeks. They sure like going on hikes just as much as Scott does. And even though Sara is a laid back Cavalier, she would also appreciate a little mountain walk. So unless the weather gets too bad, hopefully I will share more mountain-top-stories here with you guys :)

Starting my three week multi-dog period

Today I got the first of the five dogs I'll be taking care of for the coming three weeks, the two year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Sara. She is so adorable!

Sara, the first time she visited us.

Sara is a really happy, friendly and laid back dog, simply a typical Cavalier. When we came home from work (she is my boss' dog, so she is with me at work) we took Mads with us and went for a walk.

Sara during the walk this afternoon.

It is quite remarkable how much Mads likes Sara. He has grown up with Cavaliers, so that is the breed closest to his heart. So when Sara came here, he fell in love with her on the spot. Of all the dogs I've had come over and more or less forced on Mads, Sara is the only one he has volunteered to walk and take care of. He does stuff for her that he'd never dream of doing for any of the other dogs. It is quite amazing to see..

Sara and Mads cuddling :)

I'm looking forward to tomorrow when me and Sara are moving out to the Huskies on Håkøya. Mads is coming out on Monday, so this weekend it's just going to be me and five dogs. It's gonna be awesome!

Finally Summer in Northern Norway!

Today was the first real summers day (according to my definition at least), so Mads and I decided to go and borrow Mads' parents' dog Scott and take a hike on one of the islands outside of Tromsø. We had to borrow Scott, since in my book of reference, going for a walk or hike without a dog is sort of worthless.. Mads' parents decided to join us too so the five of us first went on a small road trip to see Sommarøy (Summer island) and then for the planned hike out on a small island called Brensholmen.

Danish Swedish Farmdog in Norwegian nature.

It started getting cloudy on our way there, but it was still rather warm (well by northern Norwegian standards..) so the hike was still nice. The birds have started nesting so Scott had to be on leash all the time, which he doesn't exactly like.. But he seemed to enjoy the trip anyway :)

Mediterranean sea? No, these sandy beaches are actually in northern Norway..

Norwegian nature never cease to surprise and captivate me. I have seen sandy beaches here before, but I get equally surprised every time I come across a beach with perfect white sand up here in. Today I saw about a dozen of them. But it wasn't hard to resist bathing in the sea, how ever inviting the beach looks, I know the water in the northern Atlantic is far from warm...

Beautiful Scott, posing for pictures.

It really was an awesome day out by the sea and to top it off we went to a small Italian restaurant for dinner when we came back to Tromsø. I hope you guys have had a nice Sunday, I surely have!

The Universe works in myserious ways...

The little guy was really tired and after drinking some water and eating some food, he fell asleep on the floor.

Today at work I mentioned to one of my co-workers that I wanted to borrow a dog for the weekend, to have a companion to take for walks. And what happened? A lost dog came to the clinic and we couldn't get a hold of the owner, so I ended up taking the dog with me home! It feels very "ask and you shall receive"... I know that I most likely will not get to have the dog for more than a couple of hours, but that is long enough to go for one walk at least...  So happy day, my wish got answered!

Nice little fellow.

Update:
The owners were located and they came and took him home. So I didn't get to take him for a walk.. Good for him and his family, who were very happy to see him again, but bad for me..

Tromsø Dog Show 9-10 June 2012

Here we see the judge deciding who will win Best in Group of the puppies in the spitz and primitive breeds group. The winner was the Basenji, second dog from the left.

I helped Monica to show her Siberian husky Noor at the dog show here in Tromø this weekend. She had two more Siberian huskies to show, young Vida and Birk and thus had to have some help, since she couldn't show them all herself. The results were really great, a lot better than we dared to hope for; Birk got his first CK, cert and Best in opposite sex, Vida got Best of Breed (in puppy class) and Noor got Very Good, and second place among the female dogs of the breed. Noor had just shed all of her beautiful winter fur, so she looked a bit like a mix between a husky and a scabies infected fox... But she did very well in the show ring! Vida had a worse time, she was very insecure and stressed, so before the next dog show she will have to practice being in town, meeting dogs and doing things away from the pack, to gain more self confidence. Basically what Noor got when I borrowed her this spring. She did do well under the circumstances though. And we are all proud of her!

Vida and Noor before entering the show ring.

Vida in the show ring, mostly looking for a way out.

The beautiful and wonderful Birk.

Monica encouraging Vida in the show ring.

Noor and me in the show ring. Photo: Monica A. Sundset.

 There was a really disturbing episode at the dog show. One of those hunter people that think beating the dog is a good idea. This man had a pointer (I think, I was too upset to think about the breed of the dog at the time) and when he thought it didn't behave like he thought it should, he hit it in the face and on the head with his clenched fist! The dog just tried to be as small as possible after this, cowering, wagging the tail and licking its nose, all in an attempt to calm down the owner. People were outraged! Many went up to him and told him he couldn't hit his dog or treat it like that. According to the rules, he should have been forced to leave the show, you are not allowed to abuse the dogs at the dog show, but when this was brought to the secretariat's attention, they only replied that they hadn't seen anything and hence they did nothing about it. I was so shocked! I really thought that beating the dogs into submission was a thing of the past! I am not against using physical touch with a dog, as long as you really know what you are doing and are good at reading dog language, and hence understand what physical touch on different parts of the body means to the dog. But hitting the dog with a clenched fist is not part of dog language and should NEVER be done!

A totally unrelated dog from the one that got hit, but she is obviously a bit stressed since she is trying to calm down herself and her owner. Licking the nose is a common calming signal used by dog to calm others and themselves.



Back to the positive experiences from the dog show. I met a lot of nice people there and there were so many beautiful dogs! I'd like to have one of every breed, but that's impossible.. So I will just have to keep working at the Veterinary center and going to dog shows, so that I get to spend some time with dogs of the breeds I don't have myself :) Below are some of the pictures I took at the dog show.

An adorable Alaskan Malamute puppy.

A Flatcoated Retriever (and an Australian Shepherd in the cage behind it).

A German Pointer in the show ring.

I almost wanted to steal this little heart breaker, German Shepherd puppy.

A husky (maybe Siberian) whose owners were at the show to see the Siberian Huskies but not to participate.

Norwegian Lundehund (Puffin dog) before entering the show ring.

A Pyrenean mountain dog stretching while waiting for its turn.

A beautiful Shiba.

Practicing for the Show Ring

Today was the first real day of summer in Tromsø (Northern Norway), so I decided to go and visit my good friend Monica and her Siberian Huskies. We practiced for the show ring with the young dogs (Noor and Vida) in preparation for the dog show next weekend, where I will handle Noor. It went well, even though it took a few minutes for them to calm down enough to walk nicely by the side of the handler. I think it will go well on the dog show, since then they will have had to stand by the side of the show ring to wait for their turn and thus they will be relatively calm when we enter the show ring. We'll see..

Me and Noor, and Monica and Vida, practicing the "show ring pose".

Vida practicing the show ring walk.

Noor practicing the show ring walk.

After the practice session, Monica and I took the two dogs for a walk down by the sea and Monica took some beautiful pictures of me and the dogs (and an Eider duck on a nest).

It's not easy getting two dogs and a handler to pose for pictures...

No, I'm not blinking, I'm just looking at Vida and focusing on making the dogs stand still... ;)