An Ahhhhhning!

Hi Everybuddy -


Great news to report from our house! Mom said the home destruction has officially begun. Even though Mom didn't seem too interested in letting me be on the destruction team, we Sibes are very pleased with Mom and Dad's newest plan. They must have taken notice that this hot weather is not the beez kneez (see, I learned somethin!) for us Siberians and in their lifelong quest to cater to our every whim, they decided to buy an ahhhhning. Here's what it's gonna look like:

Isn't that the coolest?! (That's my attempt at Friday humor. Get it.....coolest?). Can you just imagine me sprawled out in all of my Siberian glory, relaxing in the shade with a dish of refreshing ice water nearby? But that's not what REALLY got my attention. Remember Adrill - the mysterious visitor that was at the AO4's house for awhile? Mom said Adrill is bringing my new ahhhhning! I can tell him that I know Dave and the rest of the gang. I'm hoping that since I obviously know imporant Sibes in important places, he'll let me help out with the new ahhhhning. I'll make sure Mom is on photographer duty that day. Ahhhhh! I can feel the breezy shade now.

Bucket of Dogs

Mom was playing this morning and discovered she can make a cool photo montage of the available MaPaw doggies. You can see it if you scroll down to the bottom of this blog. She's still editing it and will keep it updated from week to week as dogs get adopted and new ones come into rescue.

Decisions....Decisions

So much for one Sibe to think about! Mom wants help choosing a new kitchen floor. Mom and Dad had a meeting with the nice floor man and he helped them decide what type of floor to get for their "needs". Hrmmmph. What do they mean....."needs"? One would think they have a zoo running through their kitchen or something! I think I should be insulted. He also mentioned something about "high traffic". There's no cars driving through our kitchen. I just don't get it. But I am flattered that Mom asked what we thought. This is an important job and we need to take it quite seriously I think. First we need to see what it smells like:

"Hmmm....this smells somewhat like a tree"

Meeka thought we should test it out by walking on it:

Next we need to make sure our toys don't clash with the colors and pattern. And most importantly, we have to be able to see the toys in case we accidentally leave them lying around.

Whew! There's alot to this job!

Okay. I think I've made my choice. The final decision was the sitting test. It passed! I pick this one Mom!

She's pleased with my kitchen choice and said she'd put the "tree scented" floor in the powder room.

Now what's that I heard about wallpaper??

Lost and Found

Hi Everybuddy -

Whew.....we've been busy over here! Mom's been pretty stressed out - whatever that is. Maybe she means "stretched out" like when I put my hind legs straight out behind me like a frog. Anwoo.....she's a bit happier now. But yesterday she was NOT real happy! Seems that somebuddy named "the Bank" lost some of her money. She was so mad that she kept talking about the money that grows on trees. The trees that we don't seem to have in our state. I'm figuring this is what the money tree might look like. A04, do you have any $$ seeds that grow these trees in your garden?

I didn't know what was going on until Shyla told me. All I knew was that Mom was M-A-D!

"Psst.....Mom said Mr. Bank ate her money!"

I was worried. What if we don't have any money to buy treats??!! Uh oh! This could get serious. Meeka decided to beat a hasty retreat so he didn't get in Mom's way:

All is well now though. A yellow and red van came to our house and some nice but very frightened man handed Mom an envelope. Whew! I don't know why but I think I saw fear in his eyes. Mom said the man gave the envelope to somebuddy else by mistake. Lucky they didn't buy lots of treats with it! Mom is happy now. She said tomorrow we might make our directorial debut with a movie about how I love Rice Krispies! I think I might have to find myself a manager to negotiate a contract....anybuddy up for the challenge?

Friday Fun

My new friend Thrawn did this on his blog and it looks like fun. Lets see if we can keep it going!

1. Your age? I am three years old....almost 4

2. Your age when you came to live with your people? 8 weeks but Mom held me when I was 2 days old. She said the guinea pig was bigger than I was! HAROOO!

3. What color collar are you wearing right now? It's a lovely swirled pattern of green and blue. There's more about that here.

4. Who is your favorite peson other than the people you live with? The nice person that sells Mom and Dad my dog food and anyone that makes CAKE!

5. How much do you weigh? At last check it was about 70lbs. but I think Dad had his hand on the scale.

6. Most expensive thing you ever chewed up? Hmmmm. I'm a thrifty kind of guy. I stick to cheap things like TP. Besides, it takes Mom longer to clean that up.

7. Do you like other dogs? Oh yes!

8. Who is your best non-human friend? That would probly be a tie. Meeka's usually my best bud but sometimes he's grumpy. Shyla's pretty cool.

9. Squeaky toys or tennis balls? Ever since Mom freaked when she thought I ate the entire tennis ball we don't have them anymore. I love squeakies but Meeka feels it's his duty to kill all squeakies.

10. Do you like to be brushed? If it makes the humans happy I'll tolerate it for a few minutes. And then there's always important fur donor jobs like the recent project for my buddy Maximus.

11. Peanut Butter or Cheese? Yes, and Yes!

12. Do your people cut your toenails? They haven't had to yet but Mom says I'm a good sport and would probably let her.

13. Any formal education? Does it count when you learn not to take a toy away from Meeka??

14. Couch Potato or Energizer Bunny? Definately the bunny......with extra batteries!

15. Five nicknames people call you? Oh no.....this again. You can read all about stupid nicknames here. Bug, Bug-A-Boo, ECHO!, Little Wide Guy, and "Where's Echo??!!

16. What's your best trick? Helping Meeka shut himself in the powder room

17. Do you like kitties? Oh I'm sure I'd like em alot if Mom let me try! (insert sly Siberian grin here)

18. What did you have for breakfast? My yummy Canidae and a Rice Krispie

19. Can you hunt and have you ever killed anything? I'm a very good cake hunter and I've killed some tennis balls as well as numerous stuffies. I killed Mom's broom once.

20. When was the last time you went to the Vet? In October I had my annual checkup and they gave me a shiny new blue tag.

21. Where do you sleep at night? I sleep in my crate. Other than my food dish it's my most favorite thing.

22. Do you like to swim? I'm not very interested in the pool my girl puts out back for me. But it is great fun to give Shadow a shove when she's sniffing the water....HARROOO ROO ROO!

23. Can you make puppies? I don't think so. Is that recipe in the MaPaw Recipes for Rescue book?

24. Your favorite place to visit? The refrigerator

25. Do you give kisses? Shucks....yeah but don't tell anyone!

26. Can you potty on command? Command?? What's THAT? I don't believe that's in a Siberian's vocabulary.

WHEW! That was fun!

Website Wednesday (on Thursday again!)

Okay...we're running a bit behind these days but I just couldn't let the week slip by without sharing this amusing website with everybuddy! It has been said that "every Sibe's home is his castle".....or something like that. I for one happen to agree with that statement. I love my home. But I have to tell ya, these doggie homes caught my bi-eyes!

The people at Doggie Mansions will custom build a home any doggie would be proud to call his own. No two are alike. You can choose your interior and exterior colors, type of roof, type of flooring, and of course the climate control inside. We Sibes would need a BIG air conditioner! A pup in the Hamptons may opt for a more beachy look. If you're a conservative pup perhaps a Colonial look would be more tasteful. You can even have your own white picket fence or tidy black shutters! Here are 2 models that might interest you:

There is even a wide selection of doggie (and kitty too) furniture available should you require decorating assistance.

So grab Mom's plastic card and visit the nice people at Doggie Mansions! I'm sure they'll deliver. Be sure to let me know when the housewarming party is. I'll bring cake!!

Quest For The Giant Bunny

Hi Everybuddy -

Yesterday I mentioned that Dad came upon a giant bunny......larger than our sofa he claims! Now you have to admit, that's one hefty rabbit. I've never caught a bunny (I don't know why but Mom seems gloriously grateful for that) but I've heard that it's a pretty big deal. My friend Lucy is always very pleased with herself when she bags a bunny. I told Meeka and Shyla about Dad's giant bunny sighting and we decided to go outside and see what we could sniff. Here we are on sniff patrol:

"Do you smell anything large??"

Unfortunately we came up empty pawed. We couldn't smell anything large or bunny-like. The only thing left was to ask Dad where he found the giant bunny:

"Dad....please tell us where! Where is the giant bunny?!"

You just won't believe where he saw it! Right in the middle of town. He was even lucky enough to get a picture of it. Wanna see? Okay.....here it is:

It's a Volkswagen Rabbit. Our Dad the comedian. He got us this time!

Mmmm! Duck!

Hi Everybuddy -

I like alot of things but I really come running for DUCK! Mom discovered some great treats made from - of all things - duck. How lucky is that?! She especially likes these because they have glucosomine and chondroitin in them, and really nothing else except duck. That makes her happy. The company that makes them is called Dogswell. Here's their website :

They have a variety of all natural treats for both dogs and kitties that don't contain any substances involved in the recent recalls. Here's what my bag of ducks looks like:

So next time Mom goes out to buy you some treats, remind her to get a bag of ducks! They're yummy!
Gotta run......Dad told Mom he knows where there's a GIANT bunny......bigger than the sofa! I have to see if I can get some clues and track this bunny down. Stay tuned for details. Wish me luck!

Dad's Day Duty

It's Father's Day which means that I won't have time to say alot today. I have to work real hard at making Dad's day perfect you know. It's a tough job but some doggy's gotta do it. Here I am letting Dad give me a belly rub. Whew! This is tough work:

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads that take such good care of us!

Cake Incoming

Oh my goodness! My good buddy Dave of the AO4 sent me a piece of official Army birthday cake yesterday (D Drive Cake) and I just couldn't wait to get up into Mom's puter chair to wait for it. As everyone knows, I consider myself to be a true cake connoisseur. My good MaPaw friend Lucy the Malamute got me started. Her Mom is an expert cake baker and they have cake for just about every happy occassion that needs to be celebrated. So as you can imagine, when Dave told me he sent it through his Mom's puter drive, I just had to watch for it. I figured it was the only safe thing to do. I needed to make sure I was right there to catch it so no one else would get it first. As soon as Shadow heard the word "cake", she was a bit too interested. See:

"Cake? Where's the cake?!"

Even Meeka - who prides himself on being such a selective eater - thought that cake sounded very, very good.

Mmmm!"

So I waited.....and waited. What could possibly be taking so long?! I was wondering if that Cyber Space guy gobbled it up when he saw it. Here I am waiting not-so-patiently:

"Where do you think it is???"

Just as I was ready to give up, guess what happened? It popped right out! I couldn't believe my eyes! And it was special dog-friendly chocolate cake too! Whoa! Here I am enjoying it:

I was a very good boy and shared with everyone. Not much left as you can see:

Thanks Dave and the Army of Four for thinking of me! What good buddies I have!

Musical Notes

Some might say my family has too much time on their hands. During dinner the other night they wondered what songs would suit all of as a theme song. Needless to say, there were quite a few laughs! Interestingly, they thought of mine right away. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not. Since they couldn't decide on just one I'll tell you which ones they think are the most appropriate for me.....here we go:

"I Gotta Be Me" and "I Did It My Way". I really don't understand the entire thing but I guess I'll go with it.

Meeka ended up with "King Tut". Mom decided that Shadow's theme song should be the instrumental "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" because she's so hyper and never sits still, and Shyla got "My Fair Lady".

That was kind of fun. What would your theme song be?

Website Wednesday

It's here already! And I have another great website to share with everybuddy.

http://www.mydogiscool.com/

This great site shares the importance of not leaving your furry friend in the car when it's even slightly warm outside. Now, I know WE all know that but there's some dummies out there that do it all the time. Mom says she sees pups left in cars in store parking lots much too frequently. It's alarming how quickly the temperature rises! For instance - when it's 91 degrees outside and the car windows are up, within a few very short minutes the inside temperature of the car will rise to 115 degrees. That's HOT! Sometimes people think that if they leave the windows slighly down and park in the shade it will be okay. Not so. On a 90 degree day in a car with the windows cracked, the temperature inside the car will rapidly reach 108 degrees. In a study done at Stanford University, they discovered that even on what humans may consider a cool day with an outside temperature of 72 degrees, a car's internal temperature will rocket to 116 degrees within 60 minutes. That's even with the windows slightly lowered which interestingly they concluded really didn't make that much difference. This website offers printed information you can leave on cars that contain hot-dogs inside. We think that's great! We give this website two big Sibe paws up!

Fur Donor

Hi everybuddy -



As promised, today I helped my good buddy Maximus out. For those of you who don't know his sad story you can catch up by reading his blog here:

(Maximus's bad day)

To make a long story short, someone who intended to adopt him decided - for whatever ridiculous reason - to shave his fur off. Yep. That's right. He's safe and sound though and is back at Magnum's house for now. In the meantime I figured he needed some fur to tide him over until his grows back. What are friends for right? Here I am being a fur donor:

When we were all done, Mom got a special envelope out and addressed it to Maximus. She said the mailman will take it tomorrow and make sure it gets to Maximus's house.

I sure hope he likes it! Anything for a fellow rescue Sibe. Wear it proudly Maximus!

Cricket Weather

It's been a long weekend but we learned something very amusing today. Did you know that if you count the number of chirps that a cricket makes in a period of 15 seconds, and add 40 to it, you'll get the degrees in Farenheit that it currently is?
Yep.....it's a fact - or so it says. I think I might try that out. I have to find a cricket first. If anyone has one that's willing to play please let me know. Mom says she thinks the weather people oughta get some. Maybe they'll be more accurate this summer. Harrooooo!

Manners

Today I'd like to talk about manners. Manners are stupid. Manners for Siberians are REAL stupid, bordering on insanity. By now, one would think that Mom and Dad should know that. We've been around for several years now and one would think they know we don't do anything we're "supposed" to. It's just the way we are and I'm guessing it's really why they love us. They're just in denial. In spite of our mannerless nature, I'd like to think that I'm not too bad. Take this incident for instance. Here comes Dad with a bowl of ice cream. Most Siberians - myself included - LOVE ice cream! In fact, we love just about anything that goes into a human's bowl. This particular evening I was really wanting some of that ice cream. Now, Dad knows he's not supposed to be eating in this room. He was trying to sneak it and was being real quiet so Mom didn't catch him. I'm a smart guy. I'm an opportunist. So I decided to take advantage of the fact he wanted to keep it quiet. I started out being real subtle and mannerly-like. See:


Now wouldn't you think that he'd give it up at this point? Nope. He wasn't budging. All I heard was "Echo! Where are your manners??!" Manners, schmanners. Did that discourage me? Not even remotely. I sat for awhile figuring if I stared at him long enough and let out a few "WOOOs", he wouldn't want me to blow his cover and let me have a couple spoonfuls. But no. It just wasn't gonna happen. So, it was time to bump it up a notch. See:


Guess what? I got some!

Echo The Mighty Trapper

Hi everybuddy -

I may have mentioned that Dad is fighting a battle at work. Some mice ate his snacks! Not just one snack, but a bite out of each one he had in his desk. BIG mistake! So he has declared war and bought some mousetraps. He didn't catch anything all week. Since Sibes are such great hunters with strong prey drives I figured he could benefit from my wisdom. I gave him some tips and sure enough! Look what he caught:

It's a good thing he's got me! Happy Friday everybuddy.

A Royal Birthday!

I am most honored to announce that it's Meeka's birthday today! Our resident princely Siberian is six years old. We've decided that in honor of his big day we will allow him to hog all of the toys all day long.

"It's my royal birthday! Treats for all!"


Happy Birthday big guy! We all love you!

Website Wednesday

It's that time again! Time for me to share one of my favorite websites. http://www.siberianhuskyclub.com/huskydamage
This happens to be one of Dad's favorites. It's a website that has a page of "husky damage" photos. Dad says it also has alot of other interesting information about Sibes but the pictures are the best. Here's an example of what someone's sofa looked like after their Sibe went digging for a toy that was underneath it:

There's many other photos just like this one. If nothing else, Mom and Dad will feel fortunate that we're all so well behaved! I reminded Mom of this site since they found the potting soil on my chin last night. What's a little potting soil compared to this?!

Busted!

Note to self: Wipe potting soil off chin before greeting Dad.

We Change

Did you ever hear the expression "Change is Good"? I like that. Change is defined as to transform or convert. I am a perfect example of that. I have transformed! Mom and Dad got me when I was just a little shrimp. Mom held me when I was only two days old. My fur-Mom, Sissy, needed to take care of me then and she did a great job. My sisters and I eventually drove her nuts which is when she decided it was time for us to go to our furever homes. Anywoo......getting back to the original subject - change. Here's a perfect example. Here's me when I was just a few weeks old. That's Dad holding me. I was doing my "I'm shy" impersonation. Anyone that knows me knows that I am most certainly NOT shy! Take a look:


This was my first attempt at manipulating humans. Since then I've become a pro. That's part of "change". Another example of change is changing size. When one gets bigger, things get easier. For instance we can reach the counter top easier. And we can block the television much more effectively. We can also body slam our other canine siblings. Now that you've seen the BEFORE picture, it's time for the AFTER. Here I am now, trying to portray the same "I'm shy" look. Note the color of Dad's face. He was talking kinda funny as this picture was being taken. I can't imagine why. I've gained a few ounces but I'm still the same me:

So there you have it. Never be intimidated by change. Change is good!

Shadow Update

Many have asked how our Shadow is doing. I am pleased to report that she's feeling much better now! This is her rolling around in the sunshine. I think she was auditioning for a tummy tag:

As you can see, she's back to her old silly self. We're easing her back on to Canidae and off the rice and she's thankful for that! She will be on her meds for awhile yet but we're not as concerned anymore.

On Being Patient

Hi Everybuddy -

It's that time again. Time to uncover grill! This is one of our favorite times of the year. One time I found that little silver cup that hangs underneath and catches all of that slimy, gooey, black stuff. OHHHHH was that good! Mom says it was a Kodak moment when she saw my face and paws. Let's just say Dad wasn't thrilled. Anyhoo......Grill watching requires some strategy and more than a little patience. When Dad takes the cover off, we know good things are about to happen. It's time to take our places! See how I make it look like I'm napping in the shade?

This position takes some practice to make it believable. How clever am I? I'll pretend I'm asleep and before you know it, something yummy might drop down right in front of me! The trick is for Dad to not want to bother me by asking (okay...telling) me to move. It never takes long before Meeka sees what I'm doing. He's not as sneaky as I am so he has to take cues from me.

See:

Dad has gotten pretty good lately and nothing hardly ever drops. But it's worth the wait. Just in case.