Whats in here then?

First roll in the snow

Waiting for the humans to get the snow shoes on

Away we go

Me and Hu'mum

And then I was free

Think I will have a look over here

And over there

Im sure there must be something over that hill

Its ok hu'parents im just investigating these rocks

Time for a pic with hu'mum

Yes I know im not to go far from you and im not to chase the skiers, just hurry up

Back on the lead again, something about boundaries and always having to push it blah blah blah

Free again for the downhill section, thats hu'dad behind me

Oh yeah im off! Snow was getting mighty soft by now, I did gambol a few times BOL

The start of a face plant! Hu'parents kept telling me to slow down, I told them im a husky and I dont do slow

Having a little siesta whilst waiting for the slower humans in the group

And now a short video for you to view

Today we are participating in the Pillars of Strength day. This blog is dedicated to K and her family and its to show our support as K gets ready for her 2nd round of chemotherapy and her continued fight against osteosarcoma. Romping and Rolling in the Rockies is a blog written by KB who lives in the Front range of Colorado and is a fascinating read. I have followed this blog for a number of years now and never tire of reading about the bears, bobcats, mountain lions etc that share their world and of course the fantastic photography that KB takes whilst she and labrduo have their adventures.

I still find it difficult writing about osteosarcomo but Power of the paw is being sent to K coming from all of us at Tails from the Pack.

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The day started out like this

We were packed into the car and ended up in the mountains.

Me and my shadow

We came across a small patch of snow.

Showing Kyra how to have fun in the snow

Kyras first touch of snow

Kyra having a little rest

I got the smell of something, check out my mud booties

Kyra went for a drink and fell over in the mud BOL

Having a quick rest at the car

Kyra listening to Pepe

Come on hu'mum lets keep going

Kyra having a snooze before home time

What time to go? Oh ok, pup squeak has had enough. Thanks for a great morning.

Here is a short video – enjoy

Kyra

We would like to introduce the newest member of the pack “Kyra”. Why Kyra? Well, her breeder, Angustias, has been calling her “Rayito del Sol”, meaning a little ray of light. Kyra has Persian and Egyptian origins for “like Ra, the sun”. We thought it was appropriate. So Kyra it is, pronounced “Keera”.

Me - Khumbu (big brother)

Im going to be a good brother to Kyra, and we are going to have lots of fun. At the moment though, day 2, she is a little scared of me, im boisterous, bouncy, noisy, woo wooing and would like her play with me. I guess in time she will get used to this husky boy.

Watching

These are a couple of pictures from day 1, she was so tired from her 5 hour car journey, leaving her mummy, brothers and sister and meeting us lot, that there is not alot to show really.

Tired Kyra

The new pack, with strange eyes

This is the morning of day 2 in pictures, we sure hope you all like Kyra as much as we all do.

The sun just reaching Kyra

Yawning

Peeping at me

Kyra fell asleep like this!

I fell asleep like this

Kyra woke up again

Then Kyra had a rest

I refused to look at the camera

Then Kyra had a drink

And so I looked at the camera. I look like I have rabbit ears!

Then Kyra picked up a twig

And I watched!

And now a short video :-

First day at work for our new Mountain Guide from Spanish Highs on Vimeo.

We got to the Ermita and hu’mum wanted to take a Christmas day photo of me and Tapa but Tapa wouldnt stay still so its just me.

Sitting at Tajos de la Cruz, the Ermita that is on our walk

On our way down look who came out to see us on Christmas day, we hadnt seen them for a few days.

Two Ibex peeping down at us

This small group of Ibex come down from the mountains every winter to live where its a little warmer. For years I used to get so excited when I saw them and was a little uncontrollable but now im better behaved. Although I did have a mishap recently where I did get a little over excited (first time of seeing them this year) hu’mum had to let me go as I was pulling her over, but I was good and stayed on the path and didnt go up or down the mountain to chase them.

Some of the small group of Ibex

There is a big male in this group and hu’mum thinks he is gorgeous, but she hasnt managed to get a photo of him yet. He just stays lying down when we come past. In the photo below you can just see his horns.

The big male Ibex, well his horns

Once we got home and had cooled off after our walkies we were given a real treat of bones! The butcher had given the hu’parents a bag of meat and bones for us. Nom nom nom, as our furpal angel Benson would say.

nom nom nom

Tapa with his

nom nom nom

So as you can see it was a pretty good day. We hope you all had a great Christmas too.

Hu’mum managed to this pic of the big male Ibex this morning, still not his body but at least you can see his head.

Male Ibex head

And I got this for breakfast today!

This has taken me nearly 2 hours to eat!

Its been a sad year for us with Bruno leaving for the Rainbow Bridge, other furpals going to, but our pal Benson, @bensonthehusky was such a shock. We will miss his tweets, run free Benson and big hugs to his, in Bensons words, ape.

Benson

On a happy note, a new edition to our pack is arriving soon. Here is a sneak preview of her.

She is a cutie

At the meeting point I meet a husky mix named Moro

So on with the story, we all start heading steeply up hill, after around 600m of ascent, hu’mums legs didnt want to play anymore. Just as we were hitting the snowline she decides that me and her are going to head back downhill. She has to think of her expedition to Patagonia in a few weeks time. We were going to have many hours of waiting for the others to return so we had to find some fun stuff to do.

A few of the others in mist

Me looking back up to where we could hear the others

See how im laying in the only bit of snow I got to properly touch!

Me and my bloodied ear

Resting in the shade of one of the cars after we got back down

The cloud came right down to the cars when a Golden Eagle flew over head

Watching horses

The cloud came so low me and hu’mum went for a walk for a couple of hours. There we lots of exciting smells around, horses, cows, goats, ibex, dogs, foxes (rolled in some poo), lots of birds flitting around. I was having a ball. Hu’mum just wanted to pass the time taking photos and it seems I was her main subject today because of the bad weather!!

After we had walked for a few hours I found an acequia to splash about in

Having a good old sniff of those fantastic smells

Hu'mum just likes this photo, thinks I look cute!!

After lunch it was time for a little siesta

After our siesta we headed back to the cars. We had received a text from hu’dad saying he would be back around 5pm.

The good thing about where we were there was always plenty of water

We got back to the car sooner than expected, so it was time for a good ol sleep. Me and hu'mum cuddled up in the car for an hour

Getting really bored now. It was 1.25hours since they should have returned!

At 6.15pm hu’dad phones hu’mum to tell her that the “leaders” of the 25 had brought everyone down through the cloud into the wrong valley. We then had to drive along mountain tracks she does not know to pick up the 5 drivers of the other cars and the 2 dogs. She managed to locate them as the sun was setting, reverse the car along a very narrow mountain road. Everyone piled in, me, Poco and one human in the boot. Everyone else in the cab. It took us nearly 2 hours of driving about to get to the cars and then return to pick up the other 20. Hu’mum was very stressed because she was having to drive over mountains tracks, not in good condition, in the dark and not really knowing her way. Anyway we returned to Lanjaron at 9.30pm, 14 hours after we had left and I got treated for being such a good boy all day, by going to the Ambienza cafe bar to have dinner and few relaxing drinks.

I spent the next day sleeping, wow I was sooo tired. 14 hours out is enough to wear any Sibe down. You can see hu’dads photos here, he has some amazing photos from that trip.

On Wednesday 19th Bruno seemed off colour, nothing to alarm us but because we know our dog we knew something was not quite right but another lump was growing. He had his stitches removed by our local vet. That evening and into Thursday 20th he was in pain and would let out a little cry when he moved. We took him to the hospital having convinced ourselves that maybe he was a little low following his chemo session on 5th.

The results from the biopsy that were taken during the operation came as complete shock to us. The cancer had spread, the chemo had not worked and there was nothing else that could be done. The awful decision to let Bruno go and free him from his pain was made there and then. A heart breaking event that all pet owners go through.

So now the initial shock has gone we are all getting used to life without our big brave gentle Bruno. Its hard and things still have us in tears, like when Khumbu sniffed where Bruno had last laid outside and then lay down in the same place, like when Tapa got a little excited and went to check for Bruno under the table (Brunos favourite place to lay). Khumbu seems very flat today, not the bouncy husky we know, we will keep an eye on him.

The support we have received from all over the world has been incredible. From people who knew him, from people who had never met him but followed the adventures of the dogs on Tails from the Pack and from people who have had dogs with bone cancer and gone through the same agony. We would like to thank everyone of you for your kind words through this tough time.

Have you heard of 2 Million Dogs, well read on. The 2 Million Dogs Foundation is committed to discovering the common links between canine and human cancers and the causes of these cancers through comparative oncology research through education and awareness, empowerment and mobilization (such as the Puppy Up! walks) and through investment and research.

Luke Robinson and his two Great Pyrenees, Hudson and Murphy, embarked upon a cross-country walk from Austin, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts inspired by his late dog, Malcolm, and his life and fight with the disease. The walk actually kicked-off a nationwide grassroots movement to bring awareness to the plight of canine cancer. The trio walked from town to town for 826 days, sharing Malcolm’s story and educating people about the disease. While out on the road, Luke had a vision. “If two dogs can walk 2,000 miles for cancer, then why couldn’t we get two million dogs to walk two miles for cancer awareness?” And the 2 Million Dogs foundation was born.

There are no walks in the UK / Europe, if you think you are up for being a walk coordinator / host either leave a message on here or contact the foundation. It would be great if we could get some puppy walks organised and start to make people aware of this disease.

Here is me leading the way at first light

and here is a nice close up of me waiting for the humans, mule and pupsters to catch up

The walk to the hut was a slow one because Pepito had to have regular stops for resting after carrying heavy weight all up hill. It was great for me as I had more time to look more for mountain goats.

I might be in the middle of no where but I know where im going

This is not a good look

Now you know why I had that stupid look on my face, look at all those mountain goats

So whilst we were having breakfast, a big group of Ibex ran past and the two little pupsters decided they were going after them, much to the amusement of myself and the humans. You see the pupsters had tiny little legs and were never ever ever going to get anywhere near the Ibex.

Breakfast stop

Pupster 1 seeing the mountain goats. This pupster didnt like me, kept making growly noises at me

Pupster 2 spotting the mountain goats, me, im just trying to make friends

Pepito stopped for breakfast

And so after breakfast we continued on our way up the mountain to the hut. Oh and by the way me and pupster 2 did become friends.

Checking out over the edge for mountain goats

Something caught my attention

I needed to take some time out in the shade as it was very warm up in the mountains

And then we were off again

Not to far to go now, just around that big lump

Look what was watching us. It really stared at me. Its a female Ibex!

So close now

Wow I made it to the lovely lake near the hut. Hu’mum took me straight down to the lake for a cool off. It had taken us 5 hours walking just to get to the hut and we hadnt even started work yet!

Into the lake for a nice cool paddle and drink

Whilst the humans worked, I supervised the goings on. Pepito had his goods taken off his back and was led down to the lake for a cool drink and rest before he, the muleteers and pupsters headed back down the mountain again. I sat in the shade, looked in through the window whilst hu’mum, hu’dad and Jesús set about painting and Pepe put the door to the hut on!

Me watching Pepito, the muleteers and pupsters at the lake whilst sat in the shade

Sat in the shade wondering why hu'mum keeps taking pictures of me and not working

Wondering if I could get in through the window and help with the painting

Me, hu'dad and Jesús having a rest after painting

I moved position for sleeping so I could get a different view up the valley

Whilst we were outside having finished painting we started to get flybys from Griffon Vultures. We all know how much hu’mum loves these birds and she gets very excited when they appear in the Sierra Nevada. Im afraid this was the best photo she could produce from this camera.

Griffon Vulture flying over the Caballo hut

And after the rest we had to head back down the mountain to the car. We reached the car in 2 hours. We would have been quicker but I got rather hot, as you saw from the pics there is very little shade up there, it was hotter than we had all expected. When we did reach any kind of shade I made a run for it. Hu’mum began to worry about me, she stopped with me under some trees lower down for a good 20 mins allowing me to recover before the final 10 mins back to the car. Boy was I hot. The best part about being a hot dog is that I got to ride in the back of the pickup rather than boot. Me and hu’mum shared the back seat all the way down to Lanjaron.

Hanging out the window catching some cool air whilst sharing the back seat with hu'mum

You can read hu’dads report its more informative about what we were upto and shows pictures of the hut and also read how you can help with more restoration work of other mountain huts in the Sierra Nevada.

Bruno 1 month after amputation

His first chemotherapy session has gone without a hitch. The first day after the chemo he slept the day away and since then he has been fine other than a little picky about his food. We are using a herbal tonic to help him through any side effects from the chemo which we got from a very helpful vet called Ray O’Mahony MVB MRCVS CVH and his company Phytoforce. We all think that within a month Bruno will be joining me again on walks

The sky was big and the sun was just rising

The birds were hanging out and getting ready for the sun to arrive

I was having an exploring day

Wooo can you see me?

Im sure there is something over there

Going back up hill and the sun has still not arrived

What was that? Can you see where my hair has still not grown back yet

Wooo goodie its the game of catch the pigeon

Hey pigeons come and say hello

Getting closer

I guess they didnt trust a cute looking husky!

Then it was Brunos turn.

Bruno sporting his new harness. It has a handle on the top to help the hu'parents catch him should he tumble

Ok so it had slipped a bit, well he is a tripawd after all.

Look how fast Bruno can go now, 3 weeks after amputation!

I waited at the gate for Bruno to come back from his walk

Then we had cuddle time whilst we waited for breakfast

We were the only clients at the hospital at that time and we were asked to stay and help Bruno through his premeds. The anaesthetist who was dealing with Bruno had an incredibly kind aura about him. He made Bruno calm, us calm and we were happy to leave Bruno in his hands. Wow what a day we had waiting to hear how the operation had gone.

Brunos wound 1 week after amputation

We got the phone call early in the afternoon to say the operation had gone well, Bruno had been strong throughout and we could pick him up at 7pm. I cant tell you how happy we were but also a little scared wondering how on earth we were going to deal with a newly amputated Brunoberger. To be honest we expected him to stay in hospital at least over night, but no, he was to come home with us. The anaesthetist met us and talked us through his medication and then they wheeled Bruno in on a trolley. I had to fight hard not to burst out crying at the sight of him lying on the trolley as high as kite on his medication looking completely helpless. And I admit I wondered what the hell had we done to him. How naive were we, we expected a walking dog to be handed back to us! No matter how many images, videos etc you see of animals after amputation, to see your own beloved friend in that situation was a complete and utter shock.

He was wheeled to the car and four of us lifted him in. We phoned our local vet in Lanjaron to ask for his help in getting Bruno from the car into the house. He came up with a great idea in using a sheet to carry him. So with myself, Richard, Jose and Eva we brought him into the house. Emma had stayed behind to look after Khumbu, he hates to be left without Bruno and needless to say he was very happy to see him home again.

Khumbu sticking close to his furbrother Bruno, 1 day after amputation

We assumed Bruno would sleep through the night, but no, at 2am we heard him get up, we shot out of bed to find Bruno standing in the lounge. Turns out he needed the toilet and was not going to go in the house. He shot off outside nearly at a run, we struggled to keep up with him, terrified he was would topple over and open his wound up. As it is he did his business came back inside and went to sleep which is more than can be said about us.

Bruno chilling out on the rug with Khumbu close by, 8 days after amputation

The first week was tough, more so for us due to lack of sleep, we were up every time we heard a noise, usually it was Bruno just shifting position. Each day Bruno has improved. He has taken a couple of falls and one particularly nasty one, but he has learnt from them. His cocktail of drugs has got less and now he is off all medication. We have him on something called Transfer Factor Plus to boost his immune system. He is going out for daily walks, ok so they are not far but he is getting further each day and each day he is getting stronger. He has even now learnt to balance himself and cock a leg to pee so he stands on 2 legs for a short while!! Did we make the right decision in amputation, absolutely, 3 legs are just as good as 4 and we have a happy pain free Bruno. Because he is nearly back to himself we do have to remind ourselves that he has cancer and we still have a major battle ahead.

An excellent information site is the bonecancerdogs websites bone cancer group. People on here are all going through or have been through similar situations and are incredibly kind people. Another useful information site and community is Tripawds.

A happy Bruno taking a rest on his walk

So now we wait for Tuesday to have his stitches removed and then I guess we find out about the chemotherapy. Thank you all so much for your continued support and good wishes, it means a lot to us and gives us strength during the hard times, of which there have been many.

A bit of useless information for you, the leg that was removed from Bruno weighed in at 4.5kg!!

Sleeping on the grass and trying to move in on hu'dads bivvy

We slept at 3000m and it was a lovely cool 4C at night, perfect husky weather. All the way up there were lots of mountain goats, yum yum, but I wasn’t allowed to go catch dinner for the night! Even throughout the night the mountain goats were around keeping me entertained. I slept next to hu’dad on some lovely grass, we dont get much of that down here at home. I stayed on fox duty for most of the night and did a good job as not one came to visit us camping.

Watching out for those mountain goats and foxes

I woke hu’dad up at first light with a husky kiss and had cuddles. We then set off for home following the Rio Lanjaron, it took about 3 hours to reach the car. On the way down we saw 10 Griffon Vultures circling in the skys above us, hu’mum would have loved to have seen them, but she had to stay home nursing Bruno. I got lots of praise for being such a good boy. It was my first ever camping trip and I did great.

Walking down the Lanjaron Valley following the Rio Lanjaron and passing by Cerro de Caballo

Here is a link to hu’dads post he did about our trip and below is a video of my couple of days in the mountains. The music is by a great Spanish group called Café Quijano and the song is La Duquesa, hope you like the video and the music.

And a few more pics :-

Smelling the cool mountain air mixed with goat and fox smells mmmmm

Wooo look there is a patch of snow under my nose

Trying out the puppy look to see if I could score some camp food

Strange shot, but I guess I was dreaming of chasing mountain goats

Looking up at the snow wondering if I could get there and catch a mountain goat at the same time

The hu’parents called the vet out for a home visit. After sorting my ear out, yes I got an infection, he looked at Brunos leg again. The leg moved fine until manipulation of the shoulder when Bruno would cry. He told the hu’parents they had to go to the Veterinary hospital in Granada because they had specialised equipment and would be able to see what was going on.

Bruno on the table

The appointment was made for the next day. Bruno was put onto the examining table, thats a first for Bruno, all work is normally carried out on the floor because of Brunos size. He went off for an x-ray. An hour or so later the hu’parents were back in the vets office and were told the devastating news. Bone cancer, very aggressive. Choices were amputation of the leg if not spread to the heart and lungs, followed by chemotherapy, if it had spread then just chemotherapy or euthanize. The oncologist was scheduled to phone on Monday to talk through the options. The hu’parents were sent away with a concoction of pain killers for Bruno.

On Sunday the hu’parents met up with a couple who live in the village with their Labradoodle Benji. He had been diagnosed with a different type of cancer last year and only given months to live. They started chemo straight away and although Benji is not cured he looks fantastic and is living his normal life again. They explained what the hu’parents could expect once the chemo was started. The hu’parents left feeling much more positive.

The oncologist eventually phoned on Tuesday and Bruno was booked in for Thursday. The hu’parents took Bruno in expecting him to be having amputation. The vet said he was 95% sure it was cancer but could not remove a limb without being 100% sure, so a biopsy was needed. Also an x-ray was to be done of his chest to see if it had spread and his bloods were checked. He stayed in for the day. When the hu’parents went to fetch him they were told that the cancer had not spread, chest x-ray and bloods were clear. This is great news, although the x-ray appeared clear there could still be traces of cancer there, but he stands a better chance of survival as there are not more large tumours to hit. So we now wait for the biopsy results to tell us what type of cancer he has and how to proceed, but amputation is definite.

A floppy Bruno after his biopsy

There is no cure for this cancer but with Bruno being strong and wanting to live we have decided to go with chemotherapy to prolong his life. The chemo will allow him a quality of life, without it he will be dead in less than 3 months. We are under no illusions that we are all in for a tough ride ahead and im sure there will be times when we question our decision, but if we can get through the tough times we know we will have made the right decision. What time he has left with us is anybodys guess, maybe 9 months, maybe a year maybe longer but so long as our boy is enjoying life we will do everything we can for him.

We have had incredible support from all over the world via facebook and twitter with thoughts, prayers and pawcircles and you know what its worked. It is gut wrenching to hear Bruno cry and frustrating when you feel the medical side of things are not moving fast enough. Everyone has helped us stay focused and positive and we would like to thank everyone of you for your support.

A couple of people (you know who you are) have mentioned the herb wormwood (Artemisinin) in helping fight the cancer cells and have proof that it helps. Dogs who were given just 6 months to live have managed to live a fully normal healthy life for another 3 years or more. Thank you for pointing us in this direction we are in contact with a company and waiting to hear back from them to see if they can help us. This herb can be used in conjunction with the chemotherapy. I found this website called Bone Cancer Dogs which has been a great source of information but we found this page of most interest, how can you not try wormwood after reading it.

Bruno

A word of advice, should you have a large dog who is lame, be on the safe side and ask for an x-ray straight away. Its often far to late to save the dogs life by the time its been diagnosed, usually the dog gets treated for arthritis etc for months before cancer is finally picked up. We found some shocking statistics whilst searching the internet, 50% of Leonbergers deaths are due to bone cancer! If anyone out there has any more help and advice they want to share with us, please do contact us. Also mentioned to us is the Telomerase cancer vaccine if anyone has any experience of this vaccine please let us know.

So that is where we are at the moment awaiting the biopsy results, awaiting amputation, awaiting chemotherapy and awaiting the big fight and by god its going to get one hell of a fight from us.

Here is me pulling hard trying to hurry everyone up to get to the snow

After walking up the road for a while we eventually got to the snow. The humans put on their skis and started to ski up the old piestes. I get a bit confused usually at the start if im attached to hu’dad, I always want to wait for hu’mum but soon get the hang of it again.

Waiting for the humans to get their skis on. Look how big the sky looks.

I was attached to hu’dad so he was lucky to have the extra help from me on the up-hill part. Unfortunately ive outgrown my x-back harness so I had to have my normal walkies one on which is not ideal for what we were doing. Note to hu’mum “order my new x-back harness ready for next winter please”

Me and hu'dad

The others were slower than us because they didn’t have me to help them up hill and also they kept stopping to take photos.

Me and hu'dad waiting for the others. I had spied something else though!

Pepe. I like Pepe I always wooo woo when I see him

Auntie Emma. She is a good skier and looks after us sometimes.

Hu'mum. See what I mean about them stopping to take pictures!

Hu’dad and Pepe went on a bit further. Hu’mum decided whilst they went higher, she would let me off and practice the recall for when the fun downhill part started. She had treats in her pocket so I was very good. Im always good when im on my own, I like to stay close to everyone.

Me after one of my recalls

Hu’dad had a headcam on and got some great footage of him skiing with me running by the side of him. Unfortunately he has not had enough practice with it and had it turned off when he thought it was on and visa versa. He ended up with a lot of video of everyone stood around and nothing of the skiing. Sorry about that, more training needed. So you only have the video that hu’mum took of me having zoomies in the snow. She is not a good enough skier to film whilst skiing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I took a rest whilst everyone took their skis off and had a quick bite to eat. Its hard work running around after skiers at altitude.

Resting, but those pesky birds kept coming close to tease me

We walked back to the car. I ride in the boot of pickup, so I curled up next to the skis and slept the whole way home.

Using the skis as a pillow

That was such a fun day. We were going to go do it again so hu’dad could get the footage of me running along side him whilst skiing, but then I had an accident, and thats a whole other story.

So to start with, a very short video of me and Bruno in the swimming pool having a cool down after walkies at the beginning of April! I love to play with my tennis ball in the pool, keeps me entertained and I always carry it out with me before running around the garden to get the drips off.

Taz

This is a sad post but we have to tell it. Taz, the 4th member of the pack, died on 27th March 2011. Unfortunately here in rural Spain poison is used without consideration to the concequences and more often than not it is used to kill “vermin” and that includes foxes. We dont know if Taz had eaten the poison direct or if she ate something that had already died from poisoning. Often poisoned meat is put out so the foxes will eat it, do they understand what an horrific way to die this is, or do they just not care. We have even heard they poison eggs, so we have never been allowed to eat raw eggs just in case we find one. The hu’parents have always worried about us dogs when we escape, they always say “there is so much danger out there you must stay home”. They never believed anything like this would happen to Taz but there is no way they could contain her in the grounds either.

Taz was found as a tiny kitten next to her dead mother on a road. She was brought up with dogs and we think she believed she was a dog. She would sometimes come on walks with us until she got bored, she would greet the hu’parents like we do when they came home, if she was about, she would find the funniest places to sleep and she would wind us dogs up to chase her. She would torment Tapa, she liked to sleep in boxes, she would fling anything around so she could chase it and catch it. For such a little cat she was a tough cookie with bundles of character.

Hanging out

Once Taz had been found and we all knew she was very poorly we dogs gathered around her and kept checking on her, giving her gentle nudges and licks to let her know we were there with her. Once the vet had opened, the hu’mum took her straight there with Auntie Emma to help translate. The vet did a great job, he knew she was beyond help (she had gone way way past the critical 2hour point as she had disappeared through out the day) but he fought as best as he could for her. He could not even get a temperature reading of her she was so cold. She seemed to responded to the treatment. She had a very dangerous drug given to her, which meant she had to be treated like a china doll, any knock would mean she would hemorrhage. Hu’dad went to pick them up but sadly it was all too much for Taz and she passed away in hu’mums arms on their way home. As she died hu’mum looked out the car window and saw an eagle flying away across the valley.

Always on the edge

We all miss her very much. The hu’parents said we boys were very quiet yesterday. We do look for her but we know she is not coming home this time, she is at the rainbow bridge and we are sure she is livening things up there, being the naughty playful character she is.

Below are a few pictures of her and of course dont forget her staring roll in Paranormal Activity 2

She always loved to sleep in plant pots

We sunbathed together

Taz playing with Bruno

Coming out of a cement bag, she changed colour!

Her favourite water bowl - The swimming pool

What else would a book be used for!

In a box, her favourite place to sleep

I even allowed her to cuddle up sometimes

The 4 of us crashed out in the summer heat

Sunning herself on the edge

Covered in cobwebs after one of her many adventures

Siberian Husky kennel in Mallorca

The Spanish news reporting Siberian Huskys kept in awful conditions

The email address’s are as follows :-
Kristari@aol.com,
tatianabotterill@hotmail.com,
administracion@rsce.es,
exposiciones@rsce.es,
declercq.y@fci.be,
marketing@fci.be,
centrocanino@centrocaninointernacional.org

And this is all you need to say :- I am writing to say that I support the people who are trying to help these Siberian Huskys.

It is also requested to please email your letters to Juan who is helping us to present our case.  He is our saviour and has risked his career to do this for the dogs.  His email address is: juangil@centrocaninointernacional.org

For those of you with facebook these 2 pages have more up to date information

http://www.facebook.com/notes/sharon-osharow-kristari-siberians/the-past-and-the-present-of-ciukci-kennels/10150398381120411

http://www.facebook.com/notes/tatiana-botterill/worldwide-siberian-husky-wave-confront-spanish-authorities-in-mallorca/203716559646959

Please inform all your friends get them to email, facebook, twitter etc. If you can offer one of these dogs a home please contact Sharon on Kristari@aol.com

All photos and information has been taken from the page of Sharon Osharow Kristari Siberians.

Our view of snowy Cerro de Caballo

After reaching a big drop and virtually impassable shrub, we turned around to head back towards Flat Top.

Flat Top does not look so flat top when close to it

We walked down a track and got to see the Mediterranean Sea. Its a bit hard to see it on the photo below as the sea and sky were the same colour!

The Mediterranean Sea behind the tree

Our walks have been a bit limited these past few months because of the Pine Processionary Caterpillar which are leaving their nests to find somewhere to pupate. They are very dangerous to us dogs., they also irritate the humans skin and kill the pine tree eventually. Hu’mum wrote a piece on them a couple of years ago. Anyway we saw lots of the nests here but we were not allowed anywhere near them and didn’t see any on the floor.

Horrible Pine processionary caterpillars getting back into their nest

So after a couple of hours of walking in the cold wind, we found a sheltered spot and had a rest in the sun.

Resting in the sun

We carried on for a few more hours and occasionally we could hear hu’dad who was taking people scrambling up Flat Top. We didn’t bother going to the summit today because it would have been real cold up there with no shelter from the wind.

Me hearing hu'dads voice

Oh you may wonder why im wearing 2 leads in the above photo, well you see I got a little bored and chewed my flexi lead (well whats a husky supposed to do). When hu’mum picked up my lead she found that I was not attached to it, but she always carries a spare.

Hu'mum reckons Bruno looks like one of the many lion statues you see in different countries

We waited in our sheltered spot we had found earlier in the day for the rest of the group. Bruno and I had to entertain ourselves, ive no idea what is going on in the photo below but it seems we were having fun.

What are me and Bruno doing?

After we had messed around we got in close for a cuddle and game of bitey face until the whole group was reunited and we all went home.

Cuddles and bitey face time

Other humans were rock climbing too and they had some little dogs with them. I went to chase one, pulled the lead out of hu’mums hand and was off, she called out “WAIT” and guess what ……… I stopped in my tracks and waited for her!! Think im getting the hang of that command

Look how hot I am

Slobber time. Bruno flinging his slobber about.

A hot slobbery Bruno

A hot Khumbu

The humans doing the rock climbing

The view we would have had if we had reached the top. Just imagine this view with snow covering all the mountains

Cooling off in the water! Dont tell anyone but I did fall in. I tried to test the depth with 1 paw but lost my balance and toppled in!

Bruno cooling off in the water

The two of us cooling off in the water. Mum thinks I need sunglasses!!