Summer days....

In the "off season", it is important to keep our 4-legged friends activated....

Our little boy Nexus is easy....give him his food, a nice pillow or blanket to sleep on....let him chase the red dot of the laser pointer(!) and he is happy as can be :-)

Phoebe needs more variety and challenge if she is not to get bored and start chewing up parts of the house.... This week when I was away in Germany for a conference, she destroyed my sunglasses!! So - some of the "games" we can do in the summer heat - interval training on the lawn pulling a toboggan (akebrett) loaded with some weights! A really good way to build muscles without risking overheating when running longer distances.. Se the video here:

http://andersf.multiply.com/video/item/86/Phoebe_pulling_weights_-_part_2

Priscila and I are going on our annual summer holiday next weekend - 2 weeks in Spain driving around and enjoying everything from good food, wine, to old castles, beaches...

We had to go downtown to buy a guidebook today (Saturday) - Phoebe came along with her "backpack" on and helped us carry some small things - to cool off we let her jump into one of the fountains on the harbour front - she enjoys water! Dips her head under, snaps her jaws at the spurting water, jumping around....and cools down in the process!

I hope you all have a nice few summer weeks!

Phoebe at the Norwegian Siberian Husky Club exhibition

Last weekend we went to the Norwegian Siberian Husky Club exhibition to show Phoebe in front of a judge - entering the "junior class" since our girl is just one year old :-) Ahead of time, we had practiced a bit of trotting around in a circuit, but this seems to be a something that we need to work on *a lot* more...... She tends to jump around, turn to look at the dog behind, or start to gallop - her favourite "full speed ahead mode"! However, on the day she behaved reasonably, and after the judgement was awarded a 2nd prize blue ribbon - this means she is a "good example of the breed", but that she has some "imperfections"..... Generally, she was deemed to lack maturity in build and musculation, and that she was still very "puppy-like" - Yup! That's our little girl! All in a all, we really enjoyed the weekend - weather was a balmy 24 deg C.... Luckily she enjoys swimming as an activity and was able to cool down in the local lake - see the video of her being lead into the water by one of the attending "junior mushers": http://andersf.multiply.com/video/item/83/Phoebe_swimming

For those whom are interested, here is a loose translation of Phoebe's "judgement":
"54 cm. Good type, feminine head. Good nose and bite. Good neck and back. Still somewhat undeveloped chest. Should be better angled cross(?), hip and knee as well as upper arm. Moves with a short front reach - adequate posterior movement. Good fur quality. Good temperament. Still very puppyish."