IanJ

Ups and downs I am afraid, first this morning I received this pic of Emily where I am convinced she is smiling at us. Then shortly after I heard she has now tested positive for billary, it will be a close call as her system is so weak but the vets reckon she has a 50/50 chance so we are all praying and hoping for more miracles. She has proven to be a tough cookie so if I know Emily she will fight this fight and win. Please send positive thoughts her way.

Happy tears tonight, Emily managed to stand on her own for 3 seconds, she is definitely not giving up.

Just so you all know Joanne mentioned above is the lady that runs the Husky Haven where all the abandoned huskies are taken while looking for homes. Yesterday apart from looking after the 30+ other huskies at the Haven as well as the 8 living in her small cottage she made 3 trips to the vet to check on Emily and last night made her some special soft chicken and took it to her. Joanne is one of those angels that has dedicated her life to animal rescue and one amazing lady. Joanne tells amazing stories of driving alone into townships to grab bait dogs from dog fighting rings and being threatened. She has broken into scrapyards to rescue dogs and even broke down a precast wall one day to rescue a dog that had been left on a property when the owners moved away. Thanks for all the support again for Emily, I am going to visit her myself later this morning and will let you all know how she is doing.

Thanks Uni, she has gone down a bit this afternoon and now needs a blood transfusion, fingers crossed that she has the strength to pull through.

She was a stray found wandering in Lenasia, a local guy there had been trying to feed her for a few days but then yesterday morning she collapsed and he phoned Husky Rescue and one of our people went and fetched her and rushed her to the vet. Unfortunately we don't know how she ended up in the streets but thank goodness the guy had the sense to phone us.

Emily's latest pic taken this morning, she is sitting up and looking much better, still some issues with maggots in her wounds and her general condition but looking at those eyes she has a will to live and I think she will make it.

Thanks Tumbleweed, now you have me in tears again but cheers for the posting. Emily made it through the night and has eaten some special high calorie food so she is fighting. Today they will do various tests to see exactly what her problems are going to be. Any assistance will be hugely appreciated.

My pack enjoying the cool evening air last night.

It can be tricky on the downhills, at Irene there are some narrow technical sections with rocky steps so there is no room for all three side by side, then you have two in front and one behind getting under your feet. On the flats I just let them go, they listen to your footsteps and normally match your pace, sometimes if they see another dog ahead they will accelerate to catch up but it certainly is an adrenalin rush. I can't wait for winter so we can start dry land sledding again, I hope to run the 2 girls from my pic above together, they work well together and are strong and fast.

First time walking/running with 3 dogs, gets a bit scary on the technical downhills when they are all pulling but great fun running flat out on the tree lined flat trails. This was yesterday at Irene, on the left is Kaylee a friends dog, then Tequila and Panda Bear.

Love the pics especially the first one, that is pure doggy gratitude and happiness.

Well done, keep up the good work down there and may Husky Rescue Bloemfontein grow from strength to strength. Good luck in tracing his owners, I presume he isn't chipped, I wish all pet owners would just get chips, makes ID so much easier.

Hey Tumbleweed, love the pics, you are going to miss your extended family when they all go.

There is someone working with Husky Rescue in Bloemfontein, if you send me a msg I will get you his contact details, I think he could do with some help.

Our complete pack at a Husky walk at Rosemary Hills in Pretoria

I spent quite a bit of time at Husky Haven this holiday which is where Husky Rescue house their dogs looking for homes. This time of year is always very bad for all animal shelters but the one day I was there they were having problems with a girl that was being bullied by another female in the same run but being so full they could not move her to another run. I volunteered to foster her until a home can be found. Apparently we have already been nominated for the "Foster failure of the year" award as it looks like Tequila might well be staying with us permanently. Here is a fantastic pic of her after one of our walks. After our walk yesterday we took the dogs to Parkhurst for breakfast.

RIP Bella, thoughts are with you Kritzie.

Husky Rescue (www.huskyrescue.co.za) had their Christmas party at Husky Haven in Lanseria last Sunday. This time of year is always difficult for all rescue organisations and they battle to find space for all the animals. Tequila the lovely girl below was taking strain and getting bullied by her kennel mate but they had nowhere else to move her to. We decided to give her a foster home until a suitable forever home can be found for her. After a few problems when she decided that Cleo the siamese cat might make a tasty snack she has integrated well with the rest of our pack.

We had our Sled Dogs year end function on Saturday night and my pride and joy Panda Bear was presented with his own Panda Bear for winning the "Warm and Fuzzy" award for being the most lovable dog. Here he is at home getting acquainted with his new buddy.

I was offered a choice of still unflavoured water, sparkling flavoured water or a shooter, there were also free samples of the new Choc energy bars. No problems at all, great race and vibe.

There was a program on Animal Planet last night on Ethiopian wolves, Panda, my husky, was fascinated and sat glued to the TV and was crying and howling. I think he actually took a fancy to the female wolf that was the star of the show.

On the subject of diet, like htone I am also a huge fan of the LCHF way of life and I have been feeding our dogs more and more meat which I cook with some coconut oil. I buy a frozen food from a local butchery which is pure minced chicken, livers and kidneys, they also get regular good quality bones. They have been picking out the meat and leaving the dog food chunks behind so I am feeding them less and less of the chunks. Seems to be working and they are healthy and happy.

So I stay away for a day yesterday and come back again to catch up and you guys have me in tears again. Wil6 I agree with the others that you made the right call. His quality of life was not at a level that he would have been enjoying it and it must have been an incredibly scary experience for him when he had the fits. At least you can look back on the times that you were able to spend with him and the joy he experienced during those times. I actually feel like going home and giving my boy a big hug right now. All the best and when the time is right and although you can never replace Titan there are lots of wonderful huskies looking for homes that also deserve another chance.

And another after we finished our run on Sunday morning:

Eish Wil6, I absolutely dread the day that I have to do this I feel so sorry for you, writing this with tears in my eyes. RIP Titan and, as everyone has said, he has crossed over that Rainbow Bridge and there are fields and fields for him to run free and he will be there waiting for you one day when your turn comes. My son summed it up quite nicely last week when he commented on a picture I posted on Facebook as we were leaving for our weekend away with the Huskies and said "You can see who is loved more when the dog goes on holiday and the son gets left behind" he was only joking of course. Here is the pic he was talking about: