Sasha is an mellow Malamute (unless we are "going" anywhere). We got her at 8 weeks  and she secured her place in our hearts (and family) right away.

She is an outside dog, with inside manners. And since my hubby and I are the only family she knew, she thinks she is a human :) At the age of 6 months we had the opportunity to bring another litter-sister into our family--Cubby. She was very nervous and un-trusting for a very long time. But after a lot of work with her, she knew she was very loved. Sasha loved playing with her new pet. Since Cubby only knew dogs the first 6 months of her life--she looked to Sasha for all the answers.

She LOVES to go to the "park", "store" (Petsmart) and on "walks". If you say any of the words in quotes she starts whining and running around wondering what on earth is taking us so long to go?????

Thanks to an excellent trainer, Tania at Petsmart and lots of practice at home, she knows the following tricks and will gladly do sixteen of them in a row hoping one of them will win her the coveted piece of cheese in your hand.

Sit, Stay, Wait, Come, Down, Get Around, Loose Leash Walk, Leave it, Time Out (go to a specified spot), Lick Your Lips, Stick 'em Up & Bang, Spin--both directions, Back Up, Crawl, Take a Bow, You Lookin at Me?, Say Your Prayers, Be Shy, Shake (both paws), Touch daddy--mommy--leash--and her bear. She also just started racing us up the stairs. I say "ready, (and her ears perk up), set (she anticipates go and gets ready to start running), go (she takes off up the stairs). Its so cute cuz we never worked with her on that. 

She also learning to use her "inside voice". She still has some work to go on this one but she is using a softer bark instead of a loud one.

She knows some sign language and also will show me if the item she wants (or wants to do) wasn't mentioned as I run down the list of eating, potty, go outside....etc.

She is our "birth control" you see anytime my hubby and I kiss, she interupts us with force and "chews us out" for even thinking of leaving her out of it. She thinks she is the only one who should get all the loves. :)

We are planning on getting her CGC by the end of the Summer. Then our furbaby will be able to go with us into many stores and public places. **UPDATE** She got her CGC!! I am so pleased with her!

Cubby was so loved! On April 8th, 2008 our sweet Cubby crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to run in grass without fences. Both my furbabies got out and were running (which they LOVED to do) when Cubby was hit by a car and killed. I didn't know they were out, and by the time I got to her, I only had about 2 minutes before she passed away. They said she wasn't in much pain, and that the car who hit her didn't stop. She was such a gentle dog and was trying so hard to please us with the tricks. She loved cheese, chewies, going to the store & park, spooning with mom and dad, her bobo squeaky, and playing with Sasha. She was only 2.5 when she died and she had so much life still to live.

When we first got her, she had been in a kennal with her mom, dad and a litter of 10 puppies. She had never been inside the house, in a car/truck, and had some dominance & trust issues.

She was shedding and smelly when we got her. The first thing we did was brush her and give her a bath. She was so scared the whole time. For the first 2 weeks we had her she hid under the spare bed.

She never used her ears or tail. They were constantly up in alert mode. We did everything we could think of to get her to respond to basic commands. Finally we tried crab meat--apparently THAT was worth working for :)

She graduated from both her puppy class, and her click-a-trick class. We had a wonderful paitient trainer (Tania) at Petsmart who knew how to handle Cubby. Eventually, the ears were flat against her head when she saw Tania.

It took a lot of work, but she eventually grew to trust and love us. She was deffinately supposed to be a part of our family. She even loved to jump into the truck to "go". It didn't matter where (as long as Sasha was there too) she loved to go. She did the cutest little motor-boat sound while her head was out the window. She will be missed dearly--and I can't wait to see my Cubbers again.

Just that afternoon (before she died) she was watching quietly as a pheasant crossed our yard. Didn't move a bit. And when I brought her inside for training, she did each of the tricks with such enthusiam, it just made me so happy. She was so gentle when she took the treat from my hand--I didn't even know it was gone.

About 2 weeks before she passed we took them to the groomers. They said the second she was separated from Sasha, she started crying. Eventually they came out clean & white with bows in their hair. When Sasha got the bows in her hair, she somehow knew she looked pretty and pranced around like a little princess. Cubby on the other hand looked like a tomboy who was forced to wear a dress :)

She didn't like going to the vet or the groomers. Entering either of these would turn me into Gumbi--being pull forward by Sasha and backward by Cubby. We called her our brute-force, pancake-puppy. When she enter the room, you knew she was there--usually by the "full body" wag. But If she got scared, she would drop to the floor and scoot herself backwards.

I know that Cubby was happy before she passed on, as running free was one of her favorite things to do. I will see her again someday, till then she lives on in our hearts.

Buttercup loves chasing bees & flies, tackling Autumn (her 7 year old human), boucing golf balls off the cement, playing "gotcha last", eating plastic bottles, and playing with Sasha when she comes to visit.

She is training to be a soccer star. She practices all day with the soccer ball. She can dribble and block, but has yet to score.

She loves going to the lake, but mostly stays in the boat or on the shore (unless something drifting needs rescuing, read below) Her MO really comes out when there is fishing to be done. She sees the pole come out and instantly instigates a game of "tackle the kid".

She loves to get dad to rescue logs, twigs or anything floating in the river. She stands on the edge and barks and paws at the water till it comes to her and then barks until dad finishes the rescue. If it's moving in the river, she will put a stop to that.

Buttercup does NOT enjoy sledding or hiking, especially long hikes and about 3 steps into the return trip, will lay down, refusing to go any further and has to be carried back down the mountain by dad, all 65 pounds of her :)

She is waaaay to playful to snuggle. She'll let you think she is going to snuggle with you, then she tackles you. Her best talent is the victory dance she does just after tackling you.

One of her favorite games is "guess which hand is holding the ball?" Without training, she put her paw on Autumns hand where the ball was being held captive. According to Autumn, Buttercup used to cheat and sniff to determine which hand held the ball. Once Autumn declared she was done playing cuz "Buttercup cheats", Buttercup became less obvious in her sniffing detective work. After loosing twice, she really becan to focus, and is now the undisputed champion with a perfect record.

Kenia is a beautiful AKC registered Malamute. She is 18 months old and has very little training.

Before welcoming her into our family, we had her at our house for a few days, mostly to see how well Sasha would get a long with her.

At first we didn't know if Kenia would fit into Sasha's pack. We could see that she needed someone special who understood that it would be hard work to re-teach her acceptable behaviors. We saw the potential in her and knew that with the right training, she will be a wonderful pet. One thing was certain, that where ever she ended up, the owners NEEDED to be patient and work with her. We went back and forth on whether or not we could give her the time and attention it would take, without neglecting our Sasha. In the end we knew that she needed us. We worked with Cubby and changed her life, we knew we could handle her behaviors and love Kenia.

I was afraid that if she wasn't in our home, her new owners wouldn't realize her full potential and just see her as a dog who pounced when you approached her. I could see that they would eventually leave her outside all the time and she would be neglected. Not getting the attention and training that she deserves.

Call me a softy, but I couldn't let her end up with a life like that. She was so loving, and instantly showed that she WANTED to work and learn. You can almost see in her eyes, "what do I have to do to get that treat?". 

She is full of energy and jumping (almost over the 4 foot high xpens) is one of her favorite things to do. When we walk outside to let them out of their kennal (xpens) she litterally jumps for joy.

Right now we are working on teaching her not to jump up, but that will take some time. She is also learning to take the treat and leave the fingers.

She has a deep voice and is very vocal. There is a lot of "woo woo woo's" going on.

She gets so excited when we let her in the house and trots around very proudly. She loves chewies and the pink Bo-Bo. She will run across the room and snatch it up in her mouth, prancing around the room with it.

We have a lot of training to do with her, so I will keep you posted on her progress.