Birthday Secrets

Five years ago today Olivia and Nacho had their first litter of puppies: Kodiak, Dutch, Junior and Lydia. The four adults that they have become are phenomenal sled dogs and companions. They are often in lead of the very best SPK teams and have tremendous futures ahead. Even better than that, each dog is a superb individual with loving and happy temperament. They are the very best kind of dog to have either pulling your sled down the trail or sleeping next to your Lazy Boy recliner. Happy Birthday kids!

Thanks to the Secrets dedicated Dog Sponsors: Trish, Sue, Cliff & family and the Chaffins. As well as all their enthusiastic Dog Fans!

And then there’s Tig! Tig came to the kennel as a 7 week old pup when we had a small number of retired in-house sled dogs. We thought… “Why not shake things up around here and get a Lab?” She has been doing that for 9 years – shaking things up. Happy Birthday girl.

The differences between huskys and labs are sometimes vast – even though they have grown up in the same environment. The huskys LOVE to pull, run like the wind, work as a pack, howl enthusiastically and don’t particularly care for water. The lab doesn’t pull, trots down the trail with a hurky-jerky gait, is somewhat a loner, can’t comprehend ~ much less attempt to howl – and would love to swim and fetch sticks all day long. And oh yea… don’t forget about the squirrels.

We have to admit that the two dog breeds sometimes rub off on each other. For instance, Quito now runs into the forest wherever Tig is and immediately looks into the trees (for squirrels.) Of course Quito would immediately eat it – not fetch it – if she ever got one. And Mac, after years of watching Tig fetch sticks, has taken to the water. He even “swims for fun” now.

But, the funniest sight is to watch Tig as she is surrounded by 50 huskys howling. The sound is awesome and deafening. Tig just sits there dumbfounded. She looks like Allen and Aliy standing at a concert in Stockholm, Sweden. What the heck are these guys saying?! After 9 years, Tig still can’t howl ~ even Allen could learn some Swedish in 9 years!!!