March 18, 2011 Mika investigates badger holes

On our walk in the warehouse/railroad area where there is quite a large undisturbed sagebrush patch, there are lots of badger holes and we have also seen foxes in this area that may also use these larger holes.  Today a couple of these holes looked like it had been freshly disturbed and Mika stuck her head in to investigate.

March 8, 2011 Mika catches and kills a squirrel

All the dogs are interested in the squirrels that come into our yard and climb on the fence, into the trees or scamper along the ground.  Given a chance to get close enough they will chase them, but are hardly ever successful.   Several years ago when we first adopted Shasta she caught a young one and ate it immediately.  She was also good at digging for mice and moles and would sometimes catch one.  With Shasta, it was almost impossible to get something of her mouth if she wanted to keep it.  Mika seems to be the same.

Today I noticed Mika starting to dig into a pile of leaves pretty aggressively and she came out with a struggling full grown squirrel that was still alive.  However, she crunched down on it a few times and it died.  Later we noticed that Mika had a bloody 1/4 inch slice on her chin that must have been caused by the squirrel biting her.

Katy believes these squirrels might have some diseases harmful to the dogs and immediately wanted me to get the squirrel away from Mika.  She trotted around the yard with it and would not let me come close for awhile.   She started to chew on it pretty aggressively but I was finally able to hold her collar up tight and get it out of her mouth.

Several times on dog walks Mika has discovered a road killed squirrel and wants to eat it even if it is pretty old.  It is always a struggle to get these out of her mouth.  Luckily she does not growl or try to bite.  Shasta did growl and show her teeth in similar circumstances, but she never tried to bite either.  We called her "Nasty Shasta" because of her penchant for surprising and scary growling when people touched her with their feet or tried to take something away.  Mika does not have this same behavior.  She just grabs on and holds tight and pulls if I try to take something away and she is very strong.

March 6, 2011 Mika has unusual fur?

Mika has a somewhat different coat of fur than most malamutes.  She has these long slender hairs that stick out on her sides and under her belly.  From a distance they are not very noticeable, but on a walk when the wind blows they blow out like slender feathers.    Below are 2 photo examples of these hairs.

I will also add a couple of updated photos here showing the fur that is regrowing on her right rear surgery leg.

March 6, 2011 Mika would chase balls if we let her

Before her recent surgery Mika would run after balls and rope toys and generally bring them back.  However, she is not very good at giving them up.  She was getting somewhat better at letting us have the ball and she loved to run and chase them down again.   Most malamutes in my experience are not that interested in fetching things, but Mika and Tasha are really good at it.

Since the surgery, now approaching 8 weeks, we have not encouraged this behavior to keep Mika from injuring her leg.  However, once in a while she will find a ball and play with it.  Some of these balls are getting pretty chewed up.

In the photos below, I held a ball above Mika's head and tried to capture her expression looking at it.

March 1, 2011 Mika Digs for squirrels and moles

In the open walking area near the warehouse development and railroad track there are lots of places where moles and ground squirrels leave mounds of dirt.  Mika loves to dig at these places hoping to find something.

February 13, 2011 Walking Mika in a field near a Railroad.

Today I decided to take Mika to an area nearby that has some gentle hills for her to walk up and down.  This is close to a railroad track and a developing warehouse district we often walk the dogs.  There are fairly big areas of native sagebrush and grass on one side of the Railroad.  On the other side of the warehouses is a big irrigation canal that also has sagebrush along the bank.  A complete circle around this area might be about 2 miles, a good dog walk.

In the past we have used an "Easy Walk Harness" on Mika for walks in the neighborhood.  She immediately goes into a pulling mode with this on and sniffs and smells everything she can get to.  She definitely gives my hands and arms a good workout.

Because she was walking so well with the web harness and retractable leash in the backyard, I decided to try this system on the longer walk in an area she was unfamiliar with.  In general she seemed to be easier to control, maybe because she could range out a little more to the limit of 16 feet.   I also tried to use the easy walk harness with a much shorter range that she could explore and she seemed to pull more.   I felt that the combination of a new place to walk and the retractable leash made it more enjoyable to walk Mika today.

February 12, 2011 Walking Mika in the back yard on leash

We have been walking Mika in the Back yard on an retractable leash attached to her red  RoughWear web harness several times a day for exercise.  She is not supposed to chase squirrels, which she would do if she was free to run.  We also have not been taking her out for longer walks in the neighborhood yet as she tries to pull hard to get to different smells and puts pressure on the recovering leg.  In the back yard she is quite easy to control with this harness/leash system.

In the photos below you can see that the fur on her recovering leg is starting to grow in again.  It looks like sheep wool up close.