First things first! This is my husbands fault, all of it, period. This husky thing... his fault. There we were, enjoying ourselves at his nephew and wife's baby shower. Bryan and Katie (nephew and wife) were both talking about their upcoming newborn and their current resident one-year-old pup who had been constantly wandering for two hours, from guest to guest. Katie had barely expressed how both she and Bryan thought/knew they could not manage the pup and a new baby and that the pup had to go, when my husband exclaimed, "we'll take her!" 

That was in June and I can still feel the look of horror that enveloped my countenance. We had just lost both of our dear family dog friends all in three weeks. Bart, who was 14, arrived at the morning he could no longer stand by himself. In an earlier time, we both agreed when this day it would be the time to let him go. I took him to his vet, who came out to the back of my little car and helped Bart into his final sleep. I brought him back home and Bob and I laid him down under the shade of the Bay trees he knew so well.

Katie, (a girl dog, not the niece) who was then 9 had been with Bart her entire life. She was allowed and encouraged to be with him when we laid him down and indeed, saw him for a few minutes, sniffing and snuffling with a lick or two here and there, before we covered him over. After that, she gave no other notice or interest his way. Dog wisdom, yes?

Within a few days, she began acting differently. She walked more slowly, wouldn't jump up on the bed without coaxing, seemed listless, and followed me every single place I went. I thought she was grieving as she had adored Bart to the point good old Bart couldn't even poopoo peepee without Katie being right there by his side. But when she stopped eating... stopped jumping for joy, stopped laughing, stopped being Katie, I took her to the vet also. X-rays showed a rather massive abdominal mass that was pushing her other organs all over. She was suffering and I could not abide that. The vet and I took her out to my car and helped her go to her final sleep as well. I took her home after that and my husband and I laid her next to Bart under the shade of the trees where I could stop now and then just to notice...

I cried four days after that and swore off anything canine until I gave further notice. We have a small home and it took me only a little time to collect anything that even smacked of dogness. I put it all in a plastic container and put it in the shed. I thought that would be that, at least for awhile. We have always shared our lives with two, three, or four dogs and cats and all of them, having been homeless looking for a place of their own, had naturally fit right in with our rather ragged household. So imagine what went through my pretty head when I heard my husband claim this unruly, ill-mannered, unaltered, non-vaccinated, confused, dazed, unkempt with fleas, amazingly beautiful, purebred one-year-old Siberian Husky girl named, Maci! I was horrified!

That was then, this is now. Bob and I start our training next week. Maci says it's for the best if we are to be good Husky humans. Once we get that underway, who knows what wonders lay ahead? Only the Husky knows... and I am hopelessly in love once again.

Jenni (I hope you don't mind, we already have a Jen and a Jenn) That was such a sweet and sad way to honor your loved pets. It's warmly heartbreaking and for your losses you have my sympathy.

You tell Maci for me that she has a lot to live up to and that it's going to be hard for her to train you as well as Bart and Katie did, but I think she's going to be up to the job.

Welcome to the forum and I don't think I've ever seen a better introduction.

Welcome to the forum! Im very sorry for your losses. A lot of what you described, I can unfortunately totally relate to, like the doggy wisdom thing. Is that Maci in your avatar? She is beautiful !

welcome to the forums, is she your avatar if so she is very lovely. very nice intro best iv read so far as well, and sorry for your loss.

welcome to the forum! My condolences to you on your loss. So glad you have a new, bouncy furbaby to love and that you gave Maci a home. Sounds like she found the right place.

Welcome to the forum, like the others have said I am sorry to hear of you losing both of your pups. That was such a sweet tribute, and a wonderful way to introduce yourself.....I can't wait to see pics of your new girl. Huskies sure do have a way of mashing into your heart, and are good for a laugh. I am glad to hear she found you and you two found her.....Enjoy!

So here I am. It's barely 9 o'clock and I'm balling my eyes out at my desk... I can't even imagine the pain of losing them both so close together, but That tribute was a wonderful way to commemorate them. I'm sorry for your loss.

Maci is gorgeous! Ahh, Majestic is a better word.  

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the good cry!

I'm sorry for your loss. That is such a sweet story. It seems like they always find us when we need them the most.

Welcome to the forum. I look forward to getting to know you and your lovely new friend.

Glad to have you here! Sorry for your losses. If you ever need an understanding ear, I'll be here to listen. This is a great place for advice if you ever need it with your new pack member. I'm sure you'll be back around, huskies require a lot of question asking lol.

How cool is this? So many lovely welcomes and responses from all of you! Okay, so this is my first ever forum, really... and I thank you again and again. Who knew? I will post again from time to time, once I get the hang of it. Believe it or not I do not own a smartphone but once I pull out the old camera I can probably hang some more pictures as well. I welcome all of the advice anyone cares to share. I am finding out just how unusual a Siberian Husky can be. While I read some of the posts about this or that I can already say, 'Hey, I recognize that trait!'

Speaking of being new, where best to post questions about Husky running? I have queries for opinions regarding electronic fences, collars, hog tying... Oh yes, and GPS for dogs in all of its forms. Anything else?

Again, so lovely to be connected with so many Husky huggers.

I was 62 when I joined the forum, too.  It was also my first forum and I love the people here.

As for info on invisible fence, you can use the search box...I use an invisible fence for my 1.5 huskies (Ami and my son's Archer who is here about half of the time.) there are several threads here, the one I've posted in is something like "training to an invisible fence" I think.  I love my fence.

Jen(wpskier) has written about ecollar training (stupid auto complete ) and has been successful at training Dizzy for off leash walking... in NYC, no less!  I use an ecollar with Ami but nowhere near as diligent as Jen.

Hog tying works with Ami for grooming

This forum prompted me to learn how to use our digital camera for both stills and short video, how to upload them, open a you tube account to host the videos... and a grand way of avoiding housework

So... have fun!

Edit: stupid, stupid auto complete...now the above should make sense

so much to learn.... and only the Husky knows for sure... talk with you soon. Off to first class of me training. Maci stays home tonight with hubby Bob. Next class she brings me to meet the other people while she sniffs and greets.