Iz-Thata-Wolf?

Like I said, I love the dog park and one of the things I like to do -- in addition to running, chasing, biting and jumping -- is listen to the people. It's amazing what they talk about when they think the dogs aren't listening ... not just about their work and the weather and what a lousy job the president is doing but sometimes they actually talk about interesting stuff: like us dogs!

One of the things I hear ALLLLLL the time when they're talking about dogs is "Iz-thata-wolf?" I finally figured out they were talking about ME! I guess I look more like a wolf than most of the dogs at the dog park even though I'm supposed to be a Malamute ... or at least that's what the Husky Camp people said we were.

So take a look at these pictures of some of my siblings ...








My mom had an AKC Alaskan Malamute before I was born (Cody ... she went to Jesus last November and my moms still miss her) and she says I'm actually a "Mala-Mutt" because there must be something else in there. So looking at my brothers and my sisters makes me wonder if maybe there WAS a wolf somewhere in the woodpile.
We are kind of a "wolfie-looking" bunch ... but my mom also found some stuff online about a kind of dog called MacKenzie River Huskies and after looking at pictures of them I think there just might be some family resemblence there, too ... Google them and see what you think!


And maybe I'll see you at the dog park one of these days ... I'll be wolfie looking one probably on my back getting my belly scratched by someone!

Luna: Long Time, No Blog

So it isn't that there hasn't been anything to blog about ... it's just that there hasn't been anything NEW to blog about. I've just been busy getting bigger and cuter everyday ... oh yeah, and chewing up stuff I'm not supposed to. But let's not get into that (unless you've got an extra Shop Vac filter lying around your garage you could let me have and get me off the hook for the one I shredded up this week -- bad choice, that one.)

On a happier note, we've also been going to the dog park a lot. My moms say it helps me and Harvey to run and get the ants out of our pants.

I'm not sure about that -- if I had any pants I would probably just chew them up -- but it IS fun to go run all you want and meet other dogs and their people.

When we first started going to the dog park, frankly it freaked me out. I mostly hid under my moms' feet and worried about the other dogs who wanted to come and play with me. They actually called me "The Omega Dog" which was kind of humiliating but it's hard to object too much when you're flat on your back hoping someone will scratch your bellly.

So here's the other thing about the dog park: the people. They're the best. Nothing like a park full of people who care enough about their dogs to bring them to the dog park and hang out with each other while we run around and chase each other.

We love the dog park. And it does seem to be cutting down on those ants.

Where's OUR vacation?

Our moms were on vacation at the beach for a week and even though we got to go to our favorite place -- I Dig My Dog -- we hate it when they go away and leave us. And to add insult to injury, they come home and show us pictures so we see all the fun we missed.















Neither of us has actually even BEEN to the beach ... well, if Harvey has it's been so long ago that he's forgotten ... but who knew there were not only birds to chase ...


... but that there was going to be all this FOOD to eat. Who was there to eat the leftovers is what WE want to know! (That's the only thing wrong with Doggie Day Camp ... no leftovers!)

Luna: Which Twin Has The Toni?

My moms have been emailing with the families who adopted my brothers and sisters and we just got this new picture of my sister Kami the other day -- boy howdy do we look alike or WHAT??? Hard to stay crabby at a face like this (thank goodness!)








I wonder if they call Kami "destructo dog" at her house, too? Think maybe I just won't be bringing that up -- I heard them talking the other day about "letting sleeping dogs lie" and I'm thinking that's a good policy on shoes, slippers, throw rugs, pot holders and ... oh yeah ... the hummingbird feeder. (What was I thinking????)

Harvey & Luna : Sad, sad news.

It is with great sadness that, today, we learned of the passing of Susan Butcher from leukemia. She fought a good fight. Susan was a role model for our mom, Louise. She was one of those women who broke the men-only glass ceiling in her field. Our mom met Susan when she worked for ABC Wide World of Sports when they covered the Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Alaska. Like our mom, Susan adored her dogs. When my Mom's husky, Gypsy, was diagnosed with liver cancer, Susan refered them to her vet in Huntington Beach where they still have a state of the art cancer treatment facility for dogs and cats. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Dave, and her two girls, ages 10 and 5. Susan is now at rest from her greatest race.

From the ABC News website:

4-Time Iditarod Champion Susan Butcher Dies at 51 From Reoccurrence of Leukemia

By JEANNETTE J. LEE Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher, who in 1986 became the race's second female winner and brought increased national attention to its grueling competition, has died. She was 51. Butcher died Saturday in a Seattle hospital of a reoccurrence of leukemia after a recent stem-cell transplant, her doctor said.

She dominated the 1,100-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome in the late 1980s. Her other victories came in 1987, '88 and '90, and she finished in the top four through 1993. "What she did is brought this race to an audience that had never been aware of it before simply because of her personality," Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George said.

Read the rest here

Harvey: On Damage Patrol

There's no question I have the worst rep in this family when it comes to trashing things ... they're still withholding my allowance to cover the garage door, kitchen door molding and three window screens that were my fault. But I'm not the only one around here with some destruction issues and to prove the point I went on a little damage patrol mission yesterday. Exhibit A (above) is Miss "Butter Won't Melt in Her Mouth" Luna lounging under her latest masterpiece of deconstruction: they better not blame me for this one.

And then there was this crime scene: we don't even need to call in CSI on this one -- there's Walden hair all over this new hole in the front window screen. I think they should change his name from Walden to Houdini ... he seems to be able to escape from anywhere.

Some people think our moms are nuts to put up with us and some of those people are even in our own family. Before he left for Kuwait Jamie was shaking his head about some thing or the other one or the other of us had done and my mom said, "You must be wondering at this point why we put up with them." And he said, "No, actually I quit wondering that quite awhile back but I figure you must have a reason."

I'm not sure what the reason is but I'm sure glad they do!

With Sighs Too Deep For Words

Our mom had this picture of Walden up on HER blog and we asked to borrow it because it really does pretty much say it all about how sucky the news is right now and how helpless we all feel about what's going on in the world that the humans seem determined to mess up more and more every day.

Luna: Hunka' Hunka' Burning Bear

Perhaps if Barney reaches out to the bear community, he can get to the bottom of his rage.

Dog Destroys Elvis' Teddy Bear at Museum
Aug 2, 10:07 PM (ET)

LONDON (AP) - A guard dog has ripped apart a collection of rare teddy bears, including one once owned by Elvis Presley, during a rampage at a children's museum.
"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of the Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney.
Barney ripped the head off a brown stuffed bear once owned by the young Presley during the attack, leaving fluffy stuffing and bits of bears' limbs and heads on the museum floor. The bear, named Mabel, was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff.
The collection, valued at more than $900,000, included a red bear made by Farnell in 1910 and a Bobby Bruin made by Merrythought in 1936.
The bear with Elvis connections was owned by English aristocrat Benjamin Slade, who bought it at an Elvis memorabilia auction in Memphis, Tenn., and had loaned it to the museum.
"I've spoken to the bear's owner and he is not very pleased at all," Medley said.
A security guard at the museum, Greg West, said he spent several minutes chasing Barney before wrestling the dog to the ground.