Siberian Huskies

As I have mentioned, I work in dog rescue. I happen to work with Golden Retriever and German Shepherd rescues, but my favorite dog breed is Siberian Husky. I have a Siberian who is, hands down, the smartest dog who ever lived. She has logic and reason beyond anything I've ever seen another dog do. When I tell people the things she does, they don't believe me. For example, if another dog has a toy that my Siberian wants, she doesn't try to take it from them because she knows the alpha (me) does not allow that. So she will go get another toy and make it seem like the most interesting, best toy in the world. When the other dog comes to investigate this new, interesting toy, my Siberian goes and takes the toy the other dog has now left. See the reasoning? She also recognizes that a phone call often means someone is about to arrive. When I was in school, my mom would keep her in the evenings. I would call when I was on my way to get her. When the phone rang, she would go sit by the door because she knew that meant I would be there soon. Is that conditioning? Yes and no. Yes, the phone would often ring before my arrival, but not every time the phone rang did someone arrive. She only went to the door when it was me on my way to get her. Somehow she figured out the difference.
Anyway, I began this rant to say that Siberian Huskies, true breed Siberian Huskies, are wonderful, smart, beautiful, playful, happy dogs. They are not mean or attack dogs or any of the other crap stupid people would have you believe. People call anything fluffy a "husky mix". NO, it is NOT. There are numerous fluffy dogs, like Chow Chows or Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, that could be involved in that mix. People also mistakenly think blue eyes means the dog is part husky, also NOT true. Other dog breeds, such as Great Danes and Australian Shepherds, can have blue eyes. The dog could be just as well mixed with those breeds. I just looked on Petfinder, a great place to find a new pet, and found the first page of Huskies only had two actual Huskies on it. The others were about 20% actual Husky mixes and the rest were absolutely not but people listed them that way. This is what makes me so angry about breed legislation and breed banning and the idiotic breed bite list. People will say they got bit by a Husky when it could have been a Chow or any other mix. (Don't get me started on people getting bit by dogs and blaming the dog when it is 90% of the time the people's fault) My mantra is "Any dog raised wrong can be dangerous. Ban bad owners." Small dogs are actually more likely to bite you because their owners don't train them. My Siberian Husky would run away from you and hide, never bite, but people are afraid of her anyway and ask stupid questions like "will she bite". No, but I might.
So, to end this rant, in general I find that people are stupid. They don't think and just go with whatever some other stupid person said. They don't investigate for themselves and make assumptions based on very limited knowledge. In the age of computers, that is inexcusable.

reliving your childhood

There is something amazing about those early crushes that can be completely revived no matter how old you are. My particular formative years crush was New Kids on the Block. They are now back together and making a new album. I've sat here watching their video, thinking "holy cow, what am I, 14 again?" I can't help myself, I have to watch it over and over. It's ridiculous. What is it about the influence in those crucial years that sticks with you well into your 30's (and older I am sure if my mom's everlasting crush on Herman's Hermits is any indication). The New Kids are obviously no longer kids and have other careers now. Being a grown-up myself, I find myself critiquing the video rather than silently longing as I did in my teens. It's amazing that the two of them with actual acting experience, Donnie in the movies and Joe on Broadway, are so much more believable in the video. Jordan, who may be gorgeous and have a beautiful falsetto voice, can't act his way out of a paper bag and it's obvious in the video. http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1588642&vid=238677 Watch and see what I mean.

Anyway, this time around, I don't feel the need to stand in line all night to get concert tickets, but I will enjoy the new album to the point of wearing out my iPod (remember how tapes used to actually wear out!) and watch the videos with a grown-up eye. However, there will always be that small longing, that childhood-remembering.....that first, all-powerful crush.