Tails from the Pack

Skiing, ice and then soft snow

Khumbu — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:32:04 +0000

We went with the humans again, we have to look after them, we are working breeds after all! Basically, we dogs bailed out because of ice, we sat with hu'mum whilst the others went on uphill. Turns out they didn't go much further either because of the ice, should have listened to us. Oh and I got to be off lead all day, yep I was a good husky. Lots of pictures to tell the story. We had lunch and the snow softened up, so the skiers went back a short way again to ski down. We stayed put, well apart from Meg, boy that Border Collie has some energy, she will learn one day like I did, rest when you can. We apologise about the video, there is a lack of us skiing with the humans, the helmetcams etc were not pointing in the right direction!! Oh and the music...... By the way in case you don't know the hu'parents are going on a big expedition to Kamchatka so we will be offline until they return at the end of April. Sigh such a long time without them. Hu'mums blog on the Kamchatka trip Hu'dads more professional blog

A boys day out ski touring

Khumbu — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:05:01 +0000

Wooo I got to have a boys day out. Whilst hu'mum was stuck at home working and with a beautiful day on us Hu'dad decided me and him and Pepe would go ski touring. It was such a boys day that I even got to ride in the back of the pick up rather than the boot compartment. Please note my lovely x back harness. We do call this skijoring but it's not quite in the conventional way as I get to run free on the downhill sections. Hu'dad has tried on a number of occasions to capture this on video, but for one reason or another it's never quite worked out as it's supposed to. I had the most wonderful day as I think the few photos and 4 minute video will show. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Hu'mum says please do watch all the video she thinks it's one of the best yet. And now for the video.

Skijoring in the Sierra Nevada, Spain from Spanish Highs on Vimeo.

A slip sliding crazy morning

Khumbu — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:56:13 +0000

We have been having some pretty wild weather these last few weeks, wind, rain and snow. Wind speeds in the mountains of over 140 km/h and at home we had a max wind gust of 69.2 km/h. As you can imagine we have not been getting out into the mountains to much. But with a break in the weather for the morning the hu'parents announced "let's go snowshoeing for the morning"! Our friends came along too, Ian, the human, and Border Collie Meg who is a little younger than Kyra. We couldn't reach our destination because the snow was banked up on the track, it was icy and the humans were worried about slipping off the mountain. Good choice, they stopped and we started our walk in. The wind really picked up, we were struggling with the icy slope, humans were ok because they had crampons on. So we changed our plan, instead of going up, we would go across and head back to the car. And the stars of the show :- And last but not least a short video, the humans did find this rather funny. Dogs on ice!

Something is watching us

Khumbu — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:22:30 +0000

Wooo what a walk we had today. Full of fun. We could hear barking dogs, hu'mum was trying to take my photo as she says I was looking good whilst listening to them. She put my lead between her legs to take a photo, then a dog appeared behind us, that was it, challenge was laid on. Me and Kyra ran off after the dog because hu'mum didnt have hold of me bol. We regrouped and started heading towards home but hu'mum got the feeling something was watching us. She spotted what it was and stopped to take a photo. We were very good, waited for hu'mum to get her photo but when we moved off the Ibex sent its alarm call out. This then told us there were others around, we stopped and looked and then we found them. And look how cheeky the big boy is!! He stuck his tongue out at us! The horror! And here is a nice pic of 3 of them (5 in total) We moved on home and left them to do what they were doing. See what a fun walk we had.

Playtime

Khumbu — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:43:20 +0000

Me and Kyra have a new game we play, she is learning to play husky style. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Cloudy wet walkies

Khumbu — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:22:38 +0000

We have had a lot of rain recently, which was needed but seriously enough is enough. If it was falling as snow it wouldnt have been so bad but all its done is wash the snow that had fallen away! Not the most exciting walk for you humans but we enjoyed it, the rain makes the smells much better.

Kyra’s 1st birthday

Khumbu — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:29:36 +0000

It was Kyras birthday last Wednesday (31st October) as usual we are late posting. So what did Kyra do, pretty much the same as she does most other days, just with the odd treat thrown in. Here are some pictures from our walk on her birthday. Well we hope you enjoyed Kyras birthday walk.

Thelazia = eyeworms

Khumbu — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:11:58 +0000

Thelazia is a type of roundworm, this particular type parasitise the eye. They come from a non biting fly which feeds on tears. In Europe it has been narrowed down to the fruit fly and this one in-particular the Drosophilidae. The first case of canine Thelazia in Spain was recorded in June 2010 in Central Western area, and I live in the South!! Besides dogs, cats and humans, on the research ive done, it appears in can infect anything that produces tears. Theres a lot of information out there on the internet. Now you know a bit of the back ground of Thelazia, on with my story. I was having a few health issues one after the other, eye infection, cold and very painful lameness. The eye infection would come and go, the cold went and after frightening the humans so much with my yelping, where ever I was hurting in my body went to. After fiesta and a weekend (when our vets are closed), the hu'parents decided on Monday I was going to the vets for a check up regardless of how I was feeling. I had my legs and everything checked. All ok, I showed no signs of pain anywhere. Phew, hu'parents are paranoid after Bruno having Osteosarcoma. The vet put some dye into my eye, shone a light into it and jumped back about a foot. He then started to get really excited, saying "mirar mirar, gusano" (look look a worm). Hu'mum saw the now fluorescent worm wriggling across my eye. Another appointment was needed after the medicine had been ordered. We turned up on Tuesday for what we thought was going to be an injection. It was big injection, they were told I may cry, I didnt utter a word (brave boy). I had an injection in my leg to make me relax, we went back into the waiting room to wait for it to take effect. At this point the hu'dad popped next door to the bar to pick up a couple of drinks. Huh get them!! I went to sleep, was put on a stretcher and carried in and put on a table. The vet then started to remove the worms from my eye. He removed 9 in total, 9 can you believe I had 9 of those things wriggling around in my eye. Even though I was asleep I didnt like it and kept trying to hit them with my foot. It was decided there were no more, back on the stretcher and into the car. We got home and the hu'parents carried me into the house. Can you believe hu'mum took advantage of me being asleep and brushed me, she got rid of a lot of hair but didnt turn me over to do the other side. I eventually woke up at 11pm and was rather drunk. With the help of hu'mum holding my harness I staggered outside for a long long pee. Collapsed again outside for another sleep. From 1.30am, after I had woken again, I would wake hu'mum every half hour or so by walking in the room and crying. Next day I was as good as new. Im having antibiotic drops in my eye twice a day for a week. Friday was my next appointment for more treatment. So I went down and had my next appointment. Having got all worked up and stressed it turns out I was just getting a spot on, hopefully should help rid the worms. I will have this again in 15 days and 15 days after that. Check up in around 15 days. I was so pleased and bouncy when I left I met a scared Doberman in the waiting room and went to say hello and tell him it was ok, but he was muzzled and couldn't talk back. Keep your paws crossed thats the end of the worms. We would like to thank Jose and Eva from Clinica Veterinaria Lanjaron for their help and paitence.

Is Kyra the devil dog?

Khumbu — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 08:43:49 +0000

So what are your thoughts on this? Here is an old picture of me, Bruno and Tapa doing our best robot impressions. And here is Kyra, yikes is there something she is not telling us, it would explain alot of goings on around the place. Does anyone else have this problem??

Snowshoeing with the hu’parents in the Sierra Nevada

Khumbu — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:11:16 +0000

wooo what a great day I had yesterday. Hu'parents took me along with them whilst they went snowshoeing. Kyra had to stay home as it was going to be too much of a hard day on her growing bones. We havnt had much snow this year which to be honest is just not good enough. We had to travel about an hour to the ski resort area and got to play along side the ski pistes. I had such fun free running, zoomie here, zoomie there and zoomie everywhere. Today im shattered and enjoying resting in different locations. And now a short video for you to view

Pillars of Strength

Khumbu — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:42:50 +0000

Regular readers of our blog know we have been unfortunate enough to encounter osteosarcoma with big beautiful Bruno and we have felt the support you get via your blogging friends. Being in the pet blogging community is an incredible experience, you share everyones experiences, adventures and when a pet passes to the rainbow bridge you share the pain like it was your own pet. 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. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

A trip to the Sierra Nevada and a little patch of snow

Khumbu — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:17:14 +0000

Today was Kyras first trip to the Sierra Nevada, unfortunately like many other places in the world, we are lacking in snow for this time of year. But there were a few patches for Kyra to investigate, I think im going to have to teach her how to have fun in the snow. We were packed into the car and ended up in the mountains. We came across a small patch of snow. Here is a short video - enjoy

Its my birthday & introducing Kyra

Khumbu — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:55:48 +0000

Wooo its my birthday today and boy did I get a treat. So yesterday the hu'parents left for Madrid at 4am and returned back home at 4pm with this bundle of fun. 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". 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. 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. This is the morning of day 2 in pictures, we sure hope you all like Kyra as much as we all do. And now a short video :-

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

My Christmas day

Khumbu — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:16:34 +0000

Starts with waking the hu'parents, having snuggles and going for walkies. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we didnt see another human. The acequia was running today so I went for a paddle. 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. On our way down look who came out to see us on Christmas day, we hadnt seen them for a few days. 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. 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. 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. 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. And I got this for breakfast today! 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. On a happy note, a new edition to our pack is arriving soon. Here is a sneak preview of her.

Spending the day in and around Fuente Fria

Khumbu — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:50:24 +0000

At 6am the hu'parents wake me up and tell me we are having a day out. Turns out we were going to meet other people and try and get the new door on the Caballo refuge (remember my very important job post a while back). 25 people turned up to help carry the new door and all the equipment needed to get the door on. Even 2 doggies turned up which I thought would be great to have some furfriends along. One was a girl called Poco and a boy husky mix called Moro. Things started ok with me and Morro but he then tried to dominate me, we ended in a fight. What sort of a start to the day is that! I was so upset over the fight that I went and sat with my back to everyone. I ended up with a bloodied ear. Personally I think he has issues because he is not full on husky, BOL. 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. 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 our siesta we headed back to the cars. We had received a text from hu'dad saying he would be back around 5pm. 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.

Brunos battle with cancer is over

Khumbu — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:13:05 +0000

On Friday October 7th Bruno underwent a 2nd operation to remove a lump that had appeared on the site of his amputation. It had grown very quick and was the size of a tennis ball by the time he had his op. The vet seemed unconcerned about it and said it would only be a 20min operation. He recovered quickly and was up and about as normal by Monday 10th. 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.

A very important job

Khumbu — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:46:48 +0000

At the beginning of the month I got to help out on the 2nd day of a very important job. I got to go and help the hu'parents & others restore the Caballo refuge. We left Lanjaron at 5am after having met Pepe and Jesús, drove for an hour up to the trailhead where we met Toni, Jonni, Pepito (the mule) and two pupsters. They had spent the night there ready to bring more supplys up to the hut. 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. 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. 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. And then we were off again 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! 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! 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. 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. 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.

Brunos 1 month ampuversary

Khumbu — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:47:19 +0000

Today is one month since Bruno had his amputation. Everyday he becomes stronger and he is walking further and further on his walks. He is having more challenging walks. He joined me and hu'mum on the first part of our walk before we went our separate ways. There are no flat easy roads where we live so he has had to deal with walking up and down hill on difficult terrain from the outset. The photo below shows how great he is looking and the video shows the type of terrain he has to deal with. He has the occasional accident but he learns from each trip. 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 :)

Walkies in shifts

Khumbu — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:37:37 +0000

Since Bruno had his amputation we do our walkies in shifts. Todays post shows you what I got upto on my walk and what Bruno got upto on his walk. Then it was Brunos turn. Look how fast Bruno can go now, 3 weeks after amputation!

3 weeks after amputation

Khumbu — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:28:58 +0000

A short video of Bruno 3 weeks after his amputation. As you will see he is back to himself. You can hear Khumbu yapping in the background!