Katerina's Journal

My Inspiring High School Friend - And Osteotherapy and Cranio Sacral Therpay For Animals

2013-06-06T11:45:00.000+01:00

When I used to hang out with my high school friends in Canada, one of my close friends Jackie introduced me to her family and took me horse back riding. Since then I often visited the Keams and their horses on weekends and occasionally after school.

Jackie´s younger sister Vickie was all about horses, saddlery, all the good ole country and western stuff, she did great bead work and her passion was very visible then.

I was so happy, when, throughout the years I heard of Vickie´s career of a saddle maker and then later on, opening her own business. I always love it, when people I know follow their dreams and work in alliance with their life purpose. It is so inspiring.

But Vickie inspires me in one more thing. She never stopped learning. And as a result of that, she is today a certified equine therapist, helping many horses to regain their balance, vitality, and a spark in the eye.

She is a talented and passionate horse lady and therapist. It was Vickie, who helped me over skype sessions with healing of my beloved Buckie, using cranio-sacral therapy. I was amazed at this technique and Vickie´s knowledge. Although she doesn´t specialize in dogs, we were able to relief some of Bucky´s issues and I learned a lot during those video call sessions.

Just recently, Vickie launched her business´s brand new website and I highly recommend her services.

If you have a chance to visit her with your horse or need some consulting, please make sure to stop by and visit her website, or give her a call. Her cheerful, friendly approach will brighten your day!

Great job, Vickie! Wishing you loads of happy customers and loads of healthy horses!

Keep rockin´, girl!

Around The Globe Floods Bring Out The Best In Many

2013-06-04T22:18:00.000+01:00

When I scroll through my FB news feed and other news channels I use these last weeks, they are full of tragedy, hardships and action around the huge floods that occur worldwide.

From little Alaskan town of Galena on the banks of the mighty Yukon river, that got nearly swept off the surface, to Czech Republic´s capital city of Prague.

The scenes, photographs and videos, but also heartbreaking articles of families losing everything, farm animals escaping from their pastures as rushing water sneaks in at night, to cats in flooded cabins, ZOO animals being evacuated, horses needed to be rescued by firemen from flooded stables, all this makes is hard to bare, hard to keep your mind away from it all, even when you sit thousands of miles away, in a dry place, with all your possessions intact, like me and my dogs.

But tragedy is not what I want to write about and I decided to write this post in honor of all those who help out during these hard times.

So here are a few "clips" I noticed and collected, that did not leave my eyes dry, as I am touched to see so much human spirit out there and I feel somehow euphoric, when seeing all the good stuff going on. Mostly, you will hear how terrible people are, how terribly we treat animals and nature, and while that is a sad true with many, there are also folks with heart and sense for selfless help.

This picture of a man and his kennel of sled dogs, as they evacuate from their home in Alaskan Galena has made it into all sorts of media. It evokes many feelings - the devotion of this man to his dogs, the faith these dogs have in their master.

Photo courtesy of Ed Plumb, The National Weather Service

The small town of Galena, maybe known to some of you as one of the checkpoints on the famous "Last Great Race On Earth" Iditarod, was hit by the late spring brake up of the massive Yukon River. The water and melting ice fled into the town so fast, leaving even the experienced villagers totally unprepared. They thought they had days to prepare, instead some had only minutes!!!

Many sled, hunting and pet dogs are kept in areas like this, and sled dog kennels usually count dozens of dogs. It can be very challenging to evacuate an entire kennel.

Today I got the information that evacuated sled dogs from flooded Galena had been given a temporary housing at other sled dog kennels in Two Rivers, Fairbanks, Tanana and other Alaskan locations.

It doesn´t surprise me at all to learn that champion mushers Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore, and their SP Kennel, opened their hearts and doors to 16 of Galena´s sled dogs in need. Please, take a minute to visit their website and thank them.

Way to go to all the mushers who made space in their kennels and took in dogs!

Also pet dogs effected by the floods are partially sheltered at boarding kennels.

Galena dog "Norman" after receiving help and treatment of his flood caused injury

This morning I came across this story:

"Galena "Norman" gets a fresh start thanks to Margaret Eastman and the North Pole Vetinarians. Just three days ago "Norman" was living on a Yukon River boat watching as his home flooded with icy water and ice chunks. Sometime during this water born life he ripped a hole in his leg so when he arrived here on dry ground in Two Rivers a lot of time had passed since the injury. Fortunately, North Pole Veterinarians were willing and able to patch him up so he can still pursue his life as a sleddog. Thanks also to Heather Hamblin who took the time to transport him!"

Norman´s injury

After surgery

Saved, treated and fed

Pictures of "Norman" are courtesy of and are used with the permission of Judy Currier.

Here is one of the several ways how you can help folks and their animals, many of whom lost everything, including homes: Yukon Flood Relief Fundraiser.

While people in Alaska help the residents of Galena and their animals by donating food, housing, money and also transport, thousands of miles across the ocean, another dramatic battle is fought.

The race to save the Prague ZOO in the capital city of Czech Republic. This little country lays literally in the heart of Europe and together with it´s neighbors - Germany and Austria, witnesses heartbreaking floods of basically all it´s rivers and creeks. Nearly the entire small Czech Republic is under water due to heavy rains and very late spring break.

Staff and volunteers of the Prague ZOO evacuating penguins and sea lions

The entire lower part of the Prague ZOO is destroyed and under water. In 2002, when the so called "thousand year water" rushed through the city, the ZOO was severely damaged and it took long time to get it back in order. Due to bad decision from the city magistrate, the ZOO was not included into flood protection plan that was assembled for the city. The Prague ZOO was left on their own. And today, all their reconstructing efforts vanished together with corrals, enclosures, pavilions and feed. But the staff and volunteers did an incredible job and managed to evacuate all the animals, residing in the lower part, to safer, higher grounds. Some animals were accepted at smaller ZOOs in the country for a temporary time. No animal lives were lost, unlike during the tragic 2002. AWESOME JOB, guys!

This is their official poster for flood relief, that includes the "flood bank account" number. This is the international code for international donations: IBAN CZ3301000000000003070207
You can check and confirm the accuracy of the numbers and the information on the Prague ZOO official Facebook page.

For more pictures of the 2013 flood evacuations in Prague ZOO, view this album.

One of the biggest dramas of the 2013 Czech floods seems to be happening in the horse world.

Many, not only racing stables are located in river valleys, including the famous Praha - Velka Chuchle race course and stables. As of today, it is entirely under water.

Many horses from the race stables have been evacuated to other race stables on higher and drier grounds, but many private horses, small stables and riding schools were left to finding means of help elsewhere.

These folks show the love for their, from heavy rains totally soakan wet horses and offer them shelter and dry ground on the porch of their home.

These photographs are some of the many touching images.

But an amazing "project" was born. On Sunday, a new page appeared on Facebook. It is titled "2013 Flood Relief For Horses". Today is Tuesday and the page has already close to 5000 likes and growing rapidly.

People offer accommodation, pastures, corrals, hey, straw, transport. It is an incredible network of folks sharing and passing on information, giving phone numbers, organizing "pick up" places where people can leave towels, blankets, dry bread, hey, straw and other things the effected horses and stables may need.

This time of the year is a foaling time and many newborn foals are effected by the floods as well, soaken wet, they need to be dried out and given warm and dry shelters.

Most stables and horse owners lost their hey stocks as well, while others struggle to get their horses transported to safer grounds, as many roads are closed or washed out.

Among the many daily messages on this Horse Relief page, I found an inspiring story:

One high school´s board decided to stop classes during this time and instead, with the volunteering students, they go out and help taking care of effected horses. Isn´t that amazing? What a teaching for all those kids! Way to go!

Please check this great page out, and give them your thumbs up, or maybe some of you could actually help:

https://www.facebook.com/PomocKonimPovodne2013

Famous Czech dog behaviorist Rudolf Desensky offered in a humble message to provide two thirds of his sheep and goat pastures, some hey and full housing for horse care takers, too.

Organization specializing in foster care for dogs that wait for their new, forever homes, offers it´s services to dogs that need a roof, food and a warm, loving hand while their evacuated owners struggle.

You can check them out at: https://www.facebook.com/Docaskycz

In times like these, there are so many folks out there, volunteering and offering a helping hand, and most of them will never be mentioned by name. Let´s think for a moment and send gratitude and love out to them. They are all heroes, and they are all deeply appreciated. But most of all, they all show us that the human kind deserves to wear the prefix "human" after all. That there is a lot of good around the world.

Thank you to everyone helping out and one big WAY TO GO to you all!

Seven Great Meals For A Healthy Canine Week

2013-05-31T15:40:00.000+01:00

Howdy all!
Wow, it´s Friday already, how has your week been so far? I was crazy busy, as I decided to remodel our kitchen and because I seem to never be able to do only one thing at a time, I also did a number of gardening projects, washed pretty much everything in this house that is made of textile and with Jachym´s great help started steadily working on the bathroom makeover.

But this post isn´t about that. I also managed (I have no idea how, actually) to stay sane and despite almost all my appliances are all over the house, but the kitchen, prepare some pretty good meals for the dogs, mainly Granite, as he has his special dietary needs.

And because sharing means caring, I decided not to keep them for myself - isn´t that nice?! :)

Seriously, I realized that if I can prepare healthy, natural meals for the kids with half of the house totally out of order, you can do it too! And although some of the recipes look fancy and time consuming to make, rest assured that none of them are!

Ok, so let´s see what I made:

Raw Ground Whole Chicken with

Steamed Oat Flakes and Dandelion Greens

this seriously took about 2 minutes to prepare.

Cooked Chicken Thigh, Carrots,

Culiflower, Broccoli and Blueberries

This is also very fast dog menu to prepare - just put all ingredients together in a pot, add some water and cook till soft. Add blueberries at the end.

Cooked Chicken Breast with Broccoli, Carrots,

Blueberries, Cinnamon, Curcuma and Ginger

I will post about this particular recipe in more detail later. It is a part of Granite´s special nutrition and I will explain its benefits thoroughly.

Raw Herring Filets with Kibble,

Brown Rice and Fresh Dandelion Blossoms

When running out of time or ingredients, adding some kibble in with raw fish or meat and adding fresh herbs is a great, cost effective and time saving solution.

Raw Ground Meat and Tripe
with Fresh Dandelions

Food for days when you totally lack time. Dog meals do not have to contain carbs all the time. Two to three times a week is good enough. Make sure you add some herbs, greens or vegetables to provide enough quality fiber.

Cooked Chicken Breast, Pollock Fillet,

Quinoa, Carrots and Kibble

Another quick dish - especially if you cook enough meat and vegetables in advance, or just though out few white fish fillets and mix with a bit of kibble.

Raw Herring, Ground Raw Whole Chicken,

Brown Rice, Kibble and Cinnamon

Two fresh meat soures (herring and chicken), brown rice left over from the human dinner, cinnamon powder, supplements and a bit of kibble (optional). This is a typical classic meal of my house dogs.

Got inspired? I hope so :) Go right ahead and try some of these for your four legged friends. And don´t forget to let me know how they liked it. Which one turned out to be their favorite?

Happy Trails,

Dandelion Greens: Natural And Free Supplement For Dogs' Great Health

2013-05-27T12:18:00.000+01:00

In our part of the world everything just turned green nearly over night. And while things grow rapidly under the late night sun and white nights, I have been waiting patiently (and sometimes also not so patiently) for a number of wild herbs to show up.

One of them is my all time favorite DANDELION.

The young, fresh, great tasting leaves are out now and I am planning to make a salad for ourselves out of them.

But this post is not about my favorite wild food recipes, but rather about what we do with dandelions in their different vegetation stages, in our canine kitchen.

I have previously blogged about our Dandelion Cure for the dogs, made from mostly the blossoms, and about the benefits and healing properties of this wild herb.

Here is what we do with the young, freshly harvested leaves:

As you can see, nothing is simpler than grabbing a handful (or more, depending on the amount of dogs you feed) of leaves and chopping them to small pieces.

Then add all the other supplements and mix in well with the meat and rest of food.

On the picture above you can see an individual portion made for one of our dogs who gets completely kibble free diet due to his allergic reactions to any commercial dog food - this particular menu consists of ground raw chicken meat and bones with steamed oat flakes and fresh dandelion greens, plus supplements.

This is our use of the spring dandelion greens. We feed it 3-4 times a week. Later we switch to the blossoms, picked on a sunny day, when the healing properties of the herb get most powerful.

As the summer will progress, we´ll be harvesting and drying both the leaves and blossoms for the dogs´ weekly detoxication cures in the fall and winter time.

So, you can see that feeding healthy and adding natural supplements to your dogs´ feeding program doesn´t have to be neither expensive nor difficult and time consuming.

And last, but not least, here are a few useful information on the benefits of dandelion root, including a recipe for tea (both for human and animal consumption):

Blueberry Buttermilk Healthy Breakfast Cake

2013-05-27T08:50:00.000+01:00

I must confess I got inspired by another recipe for a blueberry buttermilk breakfast cake, BUT I heavily modified it by substituting most ingredients and I changed and adjusted amounts as well.

So here is my version of this delicious, but not so full of guilt sweet breakfast or morning snack. And since I eat sweets once a week, I feel even less guilty - because it´s Friday and Friday is my sweet day! :)

Ingredients:
1 cup organic spelt flour
3/4 cup rye and wheat flour (we get it as a blended flour in grocery shops here in Sweden)
1/4 cup oat flour (we make our own from oat flakes)
1/3 cup unsalted margarine or butter
3/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup birch sugar or agave syrup (optional, you can keep the sweetener amount at 3/4 cup if you want)
2 tbs lemon juice
1 egg
2 cups blueberries
1 cup buttermilk (in Sweden called "Filmjölk")
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

pre-heat oven on 200°C (or 350°F)
put butter or margarine in a saucer and turn on the heat
once butter is semi melted, add sugar, lemon juice and egg and whisk thoroughly, until creamy
add buttermilk to the cream
in larger bowl blend all the flours together, add baking powder and salt
mix the creamy mixture with the flour properly, creating a rather thick batter
mix in the blueberries
grease a glass or ceramic baking dish and pour batter in
bake until done (top should be golden like the one on the picture). Around 20-25 minutes should do.You can also leave it in the oven switched off if you need a few more minutes to get it done.

That´s it! It contains way lower GI levels than most cakes and pies out there, plus it contains good quality sources of the carbohydrates such as spelt, rye and oats. Multigrain is always better than pure white wheat flour.

This pie is purposely not too sweet and I find it really suitable as a breakfast to start the day with good balance of carbs, proteins, fat and fiber.

Good Appetite!

Invitation For Lecture: Nutrition's Influence on Health and Longevity of Our Four Legged Friends

2013-04-13T16:24:00.000+01:00

I have another exciting upcoming event news to share: On May 7, 2013 at 5:00pm I will be holding a lecture on the effects and influence of nutrition on our animals´ health, condition, performance and longevity. There will be room for discussion and Q&A.

Coffee, tea and other non alcoholic beverages will be served together with Swedish cookies! :)

This lecture is hosted by HOLISTIC SHOP CZ, internet shop with healthy nutrition and health care products for animals and their humans, in Cernosice, Czech Republic.

Entry fee: 50:-CZK. All customers of www.holisticshop.cz get a FREE entry.

More questions and reservation at info@holisticshop.cz

CDs with my e-book Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way will be available to purchase for a special introductory price (Czech Version: 75:-CZK, English Version: $7.99USD).

Please share the invitation with your animal loving, owning or breeding friends.

Everybody is sincerely welcome to the beautiful garden of Holistic Shop (we are all hoping for good weather so we can sit outside in the peaceful greens of spring!)

CESKA VERZE POZVANKY ZDE:

Reiki For Animals Lecture Invitation

2013-04-12T14:13:00.000+01:00

Time certainly flies by so fast that all my planning for the spring projects finds me actually in the middle of the spring projects! :)

Soon we will be travelling south again, visiting our homeland Czech Republic and many friends and family after two long years. And during this trip I have a few exciting events to attend.

The first one is called Reiki For Animals and it is a lecture and a get together with fellow Reiki practicioners but also for all dog, cat, horse and other animal lovers interested in learning how this natural, holistic therapy can help your animal friends.

I am proud to share the news that I will be speaking about my 10+ years of experience of practicing REIKI of 1st and 2nd level on my dogs, cats and horse as well as how this therapy and philosophy changed my life. I am even more proud and happy to let you know that the lecture is hosted by my dear friends Zdenek and Lidunka Musil, my REIKI teachers and two amazing human beings.

There will be loads of space for discussion and Q&A and it will be accompanied by Jachym´s photography of the Nordic Nature and Wildlife.

So welcome - Monday, May 6, at 5:00pm, at the Musil´s Traditional REIKI School in Prague, Czech Republic. Please send Zdenek an email confirming your participation or with questions, at: reikicz@volny.czOh, and it´s totally FREE!!! :)

Plus I will be bringing a few CDs with my book Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way (both in English and Czech) for sale for a special offer price.

I am really excited and can´t wait!

Leftover Oatmeal Smoothie Rich In Antioxidants

2013-04-12T10:30:00.000+01:00

In our home, we often have leftover oatmeal from the breakfast. We are big on oatmeals and different cereal porridges, especially over fall and winter time. In a land with 7 months of snow and subzero temperatures, it is an excellent and valuable nutrition, that warms you from inside out and prepares you for the day spent mostly outdoors, running dogs and doing all kinds of chores around the farm.

We do porridges mostly from oat flakes, but often use also pearled graham, barley, polenta, rice flour, and add all kinds of seeds, nuts, almonds, sometimes raisins and apples. And of course the super healthy, my all time favorite cinnamon :)

In case you haven´t tried, I highly recommend this kind of breakfast - it is multigrain, full of vitamines, minerals, proteins but also low GI carbohydrates (the "good guys" :)).

So a while back I started toying with ideas of what to do with the leftovers. And soon they became a part of my morning or mid day snacks - smoothies, shakes and cocktails.

I often add a banana or just a bit of milk (regular, almond or soy), plus some natural sweetener - I personally use either birch sugar or organic agave syrup, but you can also use raw brown sugar or honey. I prefer to stay as low as possible with the Glycemic Index, so I chose the two first as they have 0 GI.

Today I opted for a more vitaminized version of the snack, as I need to add some extra antioxidants to my daily intake at this moment. With the end of mushing season I started running again and my training program is rather full, so hence the needs for more vitamins and also iron.

And I thought sharing means caring, so why not share the recipe with you, in case you are looking for some inspiration or find it simply interesting.

So here it goes:

1/2 cup oatmeal porridge with apples and cinnamon (or whatever amount you have left over, not more than a full cup, though)
You can take a look here for my oatmeal porridge with apples and cinnamon recipe
handful of strawberries
handful of raspberries (when it´s not their season, I buy them frozen to have on hand every time I need them)
1-2 spoons blueberries (we pick loads in summer and freeze them over the winter - nothing compares to self picked blueberries from the wild and clean woods of the North)
1 tbs agave syrup (or honey) OR 2 tsp birch sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 cup milk

Put all in a blender and create a thick smoothie. That´s it! Takes about 5 minutes to make! No excuses :)

If you want more creamy, less "sour" version, you can use banana instead of the berries and apples (which were originally in my leftover porridge) and you can even add some coacoa powder, or blend in some nuts. Let your fantasy run wild :)

Have a great day full of sunshine!

A Few Great Gardening Ideas

2013-04-10T16:15:00.000+01:00

As the season of snow and ice slowly comes to an end, I often find myself turning my mind towards another favorite season of mine - gardening!

Gardening is something that we started to take more seriously in the past couple years as we proceed on our journey to self sufficiency and natural health.

So when I came across this article with interesting tips for 10 natural fertilizers that I easily counted to be mostly available around our household, I thought to share them here with you as well.

I think that some of these tips are great - we´ve used used coffee and also see weed (particularly kelp) in the past as an organic fertilizer with great results.

We are also making our own compost, where egg shells, banana peals and other fruit and vegetable peals, but also used tea bags go, including grass cuttings. We cannot wait to finally use that compost this spring as we plan to increase the vegetable beds and enlarge the potato mini-field.

That brings me to couple new things we will be trying this year and I want to share pictures of these planned "projects" with you for inspiration:

1. Due to lack of time for weeding and simply because we love pallet projects and have a limited space on our mini veggie garden, here is project nr.1 we will definitely do:

2. Last year I was fascinated to find this ecological and perfect recycling idea for planting seeds and getting them organically fertilized as the tiny plants grow from them. So this is on my gardening check list for this spring as well.

3. We´ve had some trouble with keeping tomato and cucumber plants properly watered and their soil humid in the green house, as they were in pots, so we decided we need to create beds within the greenhouse with more soil that would be easier to keep humid. This pallet idea for raised beds will definitely come in handy.

4. And last, but not least, my latest find:

I totally love this practical and decorative idea for keeping my kitchen herbs! And my mom just told me she had one of these old wagon wheels at home and will give it to me! Isn´t that awesome?!

Aaah, just writing about all this makes me long for spring and summer! :)

And what are your gardening plans for this year? Any new goals? Will you try growing new vegetables or herbs? Please do share, I love hearing from you.

Hashbrown Casserole

2013-04-06T17:50:00.000+01:00

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound/1kg) package frozen hash browns OR coarsely grated potatoes
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup OR 2 chicken bujon cubes melted in cup of boiling water and a bit of creme
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 large chopped onion
3 minced cloves of garlic
1-2 cups grated cheese (cheddar works best)

Directions:

Place potatoes in a greased 9×13 inch pan.
Season with salt and pepper.
Melt margarine or butter, put in a bowl, add onions, garlic, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and mix together.
Pour mixture over potatoes
Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 350°F (180°C) degrees for about 40 minutes, or until all is completely warm, and cheese is melted.

You can serve the casserole as a main meal together with a fresh vegetable salad or as a side dish to go with any meat menu you desire.

Buon Apetit!

Avocado Salad With Rucola

2013-04-04T11:31:00.000+01:00

I got this simple, yet super tasty and healthy recipe from a friend, so I thought to share it.

Do you also have cravings for fresh vegetables and juicy salads this time of the year? I experience this every spring, when the long cold winter nights finally ease down on us in our part of the world.

Alright, here it goes:

3 Avocados

1 bundle of fresh Rucola

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil (if you don´t have it, you can substitute it with other oil, but this is a healthier option)

Juice squeezed out of 1 Lemon or 2 Limes

Pinch of salt

pinch of fresh ground pepper

Bled the oil, lemon or lime juice with salt and pepper

Peal avocados and chop into nice cubes or slices

Blend avocados with rucola properly

Add dressing made from the oil, juice and spices

That´s it! Super easy, super fast and super healthy. Buon Apétit!

Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way E-Book Special Offer Extended

2013-04-04T10:51:00.002+01:00

I have decided to extend the special Easter Holiday offer on my e-book until the end of this week!

The limited offer of 20% discount is valid until April 7, 2013 midnight, ECT.

Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way is now available ONLY for $7.99 USD!

Read testimonials and more information about my book, which serves as a guide to understanding the nutritional needs of our beloved canine and also feline friends, view sample recipe, remedy and a complete list of contents on the book´s presentation page HERE.

Do you ever wonder what goes into your pet´s dry or canned food? How you can make a tasty, healthy, natural meal for your furry friend, cost effectively and simply? Are you tired of complicated nutritional guidelines and charts? Need recipes for your aging pet, puppy, or pet with allergies, sensitive stomach, or other health issues? Or maybe you are tired of ineffectively fighting against constant diarrhea, or returning health problems which are a result of a low immunity of your four legged family member?

I believe I may have some answers, solutions and tips for you.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding natural nutrition and health care, I´ll be glad to help.

The Story of Miracles

2013-03-03T16:23:00.000Z

Those of you who follow my blog know I have mentioned to bring you the story of Star and her puppies and today is finally the day!

It is a long story so I will do my best and split it to several parts to avoid confusions.

The First Night

On the day „D“ Star had all the typical and usual signs of getting ready for delivery of her litter. But she never went into the labor described in books – with contractions and breaking of the birth water and that confused me. I believed we have still time left and went inside the house to make her whelping box ready. A bad feeling growing in my guts forced me back out of the house shortly, to find Star nervously running in the kennel, with a pile of vomit on the ground. Unfortunately, I found also remains of a puppy there… This has never happened before in my twenty plus years of breeding siberian huskies.

After the tragedy, about which we will never know exactly what happened and why, Star settled in her neat whelping box in my office and gave birth to a tiny little girl, that weighed only 250g, but looked very healthy and lively. The little one settled quickly to her mom´s nipples and which then showed signs of starting milk production. Everything looked quite normal.

Being used to different lengths of intervals between puppies from our different females, not being surprised at several hour gaps, I was alert but not stressed. Star looked calm and showed no signs of discomfort or distress.

Several hours passed and despite Star looked like she´s done, her huge belly was telling us there are several more puppies in there.

Again my intuition started to send me signals. I called a vet I trust to consult with her and to find out if we would ever need to, only hypothetically, do a c-section, if it would be an option at her clinic, distant 350km from us. I know Annette is a great, dedicated vet, very responsible, with the interest to help her canine patients, experienced with sled dogs as she and her husband have a distance racing sled dog kennel too, and I also knew Annette would not charge the incredibly high amount that the Swedish veterinary clinics and hospitals do.

Those are some scary amounts that we have had to face (and pay) in the past, that have sucked our emergency and later on even the regular household budget funds. Babeli´s c-section six years ago of 14.000SEK (2500USD), Chisana´s c-section of 22.500 (3.500USD), Canuck´s wrong diagnosis and worthless treatment by unskilled staff, that led to losing him (which is something I have not yet been able to get over), and which costed 17.000SEK (3.000USD).

I have become a little paranoid and really afraid of „what´s next“ over the years. This is a definite downside of living here.

So yes, I was quite worried as my inner sense kept sending those signals that something is not right, despite everything looking just fine, Star behaving totally calm and my trusted vet thinking the logical way that as long as the female appears ok, has no fever, eats, drinks, has no strange discharge, no strange behavior, pain, etc. The logical explanation and my ratio also said „just wait out till the morning“.

Day Two

The night was long and sleepless. Not only did I guard Star for any signs of continuing delivery, but her 14,5 years old mom Babeli got very sick and needed a lot of my attention.

In the morning I didn´t want to waste any time. I knew we need to make an X-ray asap to see what is going on inside Star´s huge belly so we heated up the truck as it was over twenty below, packed the pool that serves as whelping box, with fleece blankets and made sure it´s nice and warm for the tiny puppy, and made the journey to the vet clinic in Stromsund. The vet was kind to find time for us and in no time I had the picture in front of me. There were at least seven more puppies waiting to be born and one of them was stuck in the birth cannal. The need for an immediate c-section was in order and Star was given IV fluids for the way. We discussed options with the vet as to which animal hospital would be the best to do the surgery, considering travel time - two were between 3-4 hours drive away and one would take who knows how long over the mountains, with the weather getting worse.

The nearest was Ostersund, some 100 miles and about 1,5 hours drive from Stromsund. We were told to get ready for a 25.000 surgery (about 4.000USD) with a possibility to pay in three parts.

When I called Jachym on the way, we immediately agreed that priorities are in this order:

Star
then her born puppy
then the rest of the litter
then we worry about finances

We discussed that I could sell my sled if need be and we knew that the race season was over. Now all our energy, focus and money went to Star and her puppies.

We had no idea these worries will be the smallest ones of all….

The Surgery

When we arrived to Ostersund Animal Hospital, they were ready for us. They took a quick blood test to see if Star´s calcium levels are good, listened to her heart and found her in excellent shape, ready for the operation.

When they walked with her down the hall towards the operation room, a very strong fearful feeling ran through my body. I guess again my intuition was telling me things were not good.

Never before had I let a dog go to the surgery room with that kind of feeling, but everyone assured me Star will be just fine. The veterinarian even came back after Star fell asleep after the sedation, to ask me for my permission to take Star´s uterus away in case it starts bleeding or it´s not in the best shape. I totally agreed, thinking it would be anyway Star´s second and last litter.

Nor the vets nor I knew, there will be not much options.

After some more time I heard the familiar sound of a new born puppy. The first cry! And shortly one of the nurses came and brought a gray white girl, very lively and strong looking. My dog handler Katka who came along with me and was a great help during that night, and I started to work on drying and warming up the puppies. The next two came right after, almost all three at the same time. We had full hands and the feeling, seeing all these strong and lively puppies, was very euphoric. After the three grays came a pure white one, a bit lifeless so I got to practice my resuscitation skills, swinging the puppy, sucking water out of it´s mouth and nose, and eventually I used a drop of Rescue Remedy from Bach Flower Essences, which „woke“ her up quick. I could feel the anesthesia from her breath, and I guess that is what kept her „sleepy“. I am so happy I carry Rescue Remedy drops with me everywhere I go! J

The very last puppy was a red! Haven´t had a real red puppy in a long, long time! She was totally fine and joined her sisters in a special „kennel“ we got for them, shortly.

It was a busy time, rubbing, drying and taking care of all the puppies and Katka and I had all our hands totally full with this job. I am so glad that she is an experienced vet assistant and I an experienced breeder and dog person. It would have been totally overwhelming for a beginner.

We were happy with these five little miracles and waited for the completion of the surgery when a nurse arrived with a serious face and handed me a cell phone. She said the chief vet, the owner of the hospital, who was not on duty that night wanted to talk to me. I felt like I swallowed a big rock as I immediately knew something was not good with Star.

I heard his words as if from a far distance, as if in a dream or from under water. He said Star was unfortunately not doing very well, and that it´s possible she´s not going to make it. There was a massive bleeding that the vet team was working on stopping at the moment and she lost a lot of blood, causing her blood pressure going extremely low. He told me they were giving her a blood transfusion but the chances are fifty fifty, because they had only one blood type in the blood bank and only two units of it. He said Star will need at least two units but if it was the type Star can´t accept, she will die. He asked me if I could bring one or two of our dogs or knew any dog owners around Ostersund who could bring a larger dog to donate blood. I quickly asked how much time do we need to get the donor here, knowing I could never make it under 4 hours going back home and back. He said the soonest the better and with that I didn´t want to waste any more time and went to immediately employ my brain who could I ask for help.

It was one of the most difficult moments in my life – fighting the desperate tears, the shock the thoughts of losing my Star, the thoughts of six orphaned puppies to feed and raise, and trying to stay calm and focus on finding a donor. I realized our friends Karsten and Eveline lived about an hour drive and had some big, strong siberian husky males in good shape so I called them immediately. Eveline, bless her heart, agreed to immediately pack two dogs and come, but also offered that I might want to try other mushers Jonny and Nadia, who live only 10 miles out of town. They were unreachable though, so Eveline and Karsten took two of their dogs and sat in their car, calling me on the way that they drive as fast as they can. The roads were slippery and the weather was cold and I was hoping they will have a safe drive.

They made it to the hospital exactly five minutes after the chief vet appeared (he came from home to talk to us personally) and told me they managed to stop the bleeding once they took out Star´s uterus and that the blood transfusion from the first unit seems to be accepted by Star. He said her blood pressure was stabilized for now and that he now believes she will make it.

I felt like my knees are not going to hold me for long. On one hand a huge relief to hear these words, on the other one, the alert mode that kept telling – it´s not over till it´s over.

Another hour or so has passed, during which Karsten and Eveline´s husky boys were weighed and a blood transfusion specialist arrived to discuss with them the risks of donation and to take charge of further steps of the blood transfusions and testing.

One of the nurses came down to say Star got the anti-sedation and will be slowly waking up. During all these hours, we had no chance to feed the puppies which worried me a lot too. But they were warm and didn´t show signs of being week, which was incredible, especially with the first born little one whom we let nurse from her mom in the truck just before we arrived to the hospital, about five hours ago.

I heard Star cry from the distance. I know waking up from anesthesia and after a deep surgery is painful, confusing and very very far from glorious, but this was a different kind of cry. I felt she was really suffering. Star is a dog who never even squeeks out of pain, a real tough, a bit rebellious, stubborn and mischievous animal. She never shows signs of pain, weakness or suffering. Hearing her like this just broke my heart. I waited in the hall and finally she appeared at the far end, walking dizzy, but being her typical self, looking way better than what shape she was in, trying to walk proud, pulling on the leash, and searching for her puppy. I do not cry on public, but before I knew what I am doing, I found myself on my knees, hugging my dog and crying like a child.

I still knew this wasn´t over, nothing was sure and anything could happen. Star lost a lot of blood and needed another blood unite quickly.

We helped two nurses and the vet to settle Star down comfortably on a blanket in the examination room where we waited with the puppies, and they had to take a blood sample to analyse her blood type, as well as to check her blood cell count. It was extremely low. But one great strike of luck blessed Star – her blood type corresponded with the blood type the hospital had in their blood bank. They explained that dogs have only two blood types – negative and positive. And while one blood type can accept transfusion of both types, the other one can only accept it´s own type. Star was of course the more difficult one, so how lucky was it that the only blood units available were Star´s type!!!

After testing the donor dogs the specialist decided that the best for all the three dogs involved would be to give Star the second unit of blood and if she accepts it and her total BCC rises to a certain level, they will not, after all take blood from Karsten and Eveline´s dogs. Quite frankly, I was too tired and too confused to gather all the information properly, but I know there were some concerns about them due to their weight (ideally, the donor dogs should weigh 30kg, which siberian huskies of course don´t) and some more info.

We are and always will be deeply grateful to Karsten and Eveline for their support and will to help, for their immediate response without hesitation. The long distance mushing community has always been a great example of camaraderie, unconditional help to each other and support. Thank you so much Eveline and Karsten and also Barney and Dante for coming to help and being there for Star!

The hours went by and the vets were checking Star´s temperature, pulse and other vitals for any signs of reaction to the new blood. Again, very luckily, she had no reaction at all and accepted the second unit well. We let the puppies nurse from her, but I could see over the night that the milk production was definitely not underway the way it usually is. I was hoping that once we settle back home, everything will start to work out.

But now we were still at the hospital, Star was more and more awake and got a can of pet food and some water to drink. After another hour we were allowed to give her a bit of kibble I had in the truck.

The transfusion was finished and another set of blood tests was made to see how much the total BCC rose since the last transfusion. We were crossing our fingers for a good number which would mean Star is out of immediate danger and could be released home.

I could take her out to pee, which she did quickly but wanted to go back in with her family. All she cared about was taking care of her babies.

She didn´t care that half night ago, she had only one and now there were six of them. She did what every good dog mama does.

Her hematocrite level rose to 13, which we were told was the minimum or border line at which they would let Star go home. I know that a well trained long distance sled dog athlete in top condition has easily hematocrite level of 50. That shows how extremely low Star´s dropped, considering the fact that now, after accepting two blood units, we were celebrating a 13.

The saying that „blood is the most important liquid in the world“ crossed my mind. The thoughts of so many animals needing blood transfusions during surgeries after being hit by cars, eating a poison and more, did not want to leave me. There are so few registered dog donors out there. Ostersund Animal Hospital has only four registered donors who give blood regularly few times a year for the blood bank. Then there are dogs needed to come on call in situations like Star´s, which they don´t have.

So I decided that in spring time we will take our malamute Cooper (who is well over the 35kg mark) down to the city for testing and see if we could help somehow.

I still feel the need to thank whomever the donor (or donners) of the two units Star received are or were, for saving my girl´s life. And I feel the need to give back. To maybe help save another animal´s life through blood donation from one of our dogs.

Around 2:00 am we were allowed to go home, we did some paperwork, got emergency phone numbers and instructions what to watch for with Star. The next three days would be the most crucial and if any complications would arise, it would be then. We needed to check her temperature, appetite, loss of energy, check her gums and ears for paleness and slow return into the healthy pink (which would indicate her blood cell count going down again), watch for any discharge, or blood in her stool, etc. I must say, I was not very keen on taking Star and the six puppies back into the truck and drive 100 miles through the woods home. I felt a lot more secure here at the animal hospital, for I knew I would not be able to do much for Star shell she get anemic or get infection.

The Morning After

We got home at 4:30 am and now it was time to settle the family back into normal, into their cozy whelping box in the warm room. Star was restless in the car, panting heavily, and I was quite worried about her, but as soon as we got home she calmed down, ate another small breakfast and took care of her puppies.

Katka went to feed the dogs who haven´t eaten since last morning, then I sent her to bed, while I stayed awake with the new family.

The puppies were nursing, but grew more desperate and within couple hours it became obvious that Star has no milk left. Her production stopped as her body prioritized the recovery and saving itself as it was in the survival mode. Star simply had too much going on in her own organism since the surgery and blood loss and despite she cleaned and took care of her puppies wonderfully, she was not able to nurse them.

The smallest first born puppy cried a lot and I decided to give it some light chamomile tea with honey for energy and re-hydration. I also gave her couple drops of the Rescue Remedy and some REIKI, which helped to keep her going, but in couple hours the problem was back. She was leaping for food and her tiny body was getting weaker. Although she was wrapped and warmed up in electric frote blanket, she was not doing better. I first though that we are most likely going to lose her, because there might simply be something wrong with her. But my inner feeling kept telling me to fight for her and I again gave her more tea with honey and REIKI and she again got a bit better.

But now the white puppy started to leap and through it´s head backwards with desperation. That moment I knew we were in another serious trouble.

The Race For The Puppies´ Life

I found remains of powdered puppy milk substitute, expired back in 2007. I remember using it some years ago with not very good results, the puppies always got constipated with it, and I managed to find a way how to make the milk a bit more digestible with the use of a bit of butter, but only for a bit larger puppies, not half day old ones.

It was our only option though, so I had to try the milk substitute anyway. For anyone un-experienced, this is a rather tough job to do. If it was „only“ about feeding the puppies every hour or two, it would be fine. A lot of work and no sleep, but fine. But the thing is that there are many challenges before the victory of getting the puppies fed with the milk substitute.

First of all, they do not want to accept the doodle of the bottle. It is rubber, it smells rubber and it is too big or a wrong shape. Then the milk itself tastes nothing like their mother´s milk so they spit it out once they taste it, with most of their portion ending up everywhere around, except where it belongs.

Although I have a collection of bottles and doodles for artificial feeding of puppies, I always end up using a syringe. This is a very tricky thing though and I warn any beginner in advance. If you press the syringe too fast and in a wrong position, you can get the milk into the puppy´s respiratory ways, which can cause suffocation and/or respiratory infection, which most often leads into pneumonia. Basically un-treatable in such a tiny puppy.

The risk is huge, but I had not many options if I wanted the puppies to get fed and try to save them.

During the day I developed a system in which I held my left index finger in the puppy´s mouth, injecting the milk slowly drop by drop into their mouth. After some practice, they learned to suck on my finger as the milk slowly streamed down their throat, so for them it felt very natural. My index finger was very very numb after the day! J

Three puppies were no problem, accepting the artificial milk rather well, the other three spitted and twisted and hated it. They reminded me so much of their mom Star in her stuborness. Such tiny little bodies and so much willpower and strength!

I measured Star´s temperature every hour, then every two hours, and she was totally fine. She ate, drank, went out to potty, took care of her puppies and looked more relaxed and energetic with every hour of the day. Her skin was nice and pink, no signs of anemia.

The day was very long. Now I haven´t slept for two nights in a row, or 48 hours. By night time the puppies started to show signs of constipation. Whining, pushing, having hard times to poo, I had to help them out with massage of their tummies with warming herbal oils and REIKI.

I continued to feed and check them every hour and a half, which gave me about 20 minute cat naps in between. I was in my clothes all the time, just crashing on the bed without blanket, for twenty minutes or so, then the alarm clock woke me up and I went like a robot to the kitchen, prepared the puppy milk, made sure the temperature is right, warming it up when it was getting cold, feeding the puppies, massaging their bellies, cleaning up the mess from the milks spitted out all over me and the room, and then I went back for my next cat nap. Every second feeding I checked Star´s temperature and kept eye on Babeli, the sick house dog, who now was luckily doing much much better.

I thought for myself that despite cancelling my racing season, I am getting my dose of long distance mushing experience through the sleep deprivation and I smiled for myself.

But I also knew that I wasn´t sure if this is going to work out this way long term, with the puppies not digesting the milk very well.

In Search of Milk

Another night during which I collected about an hour of sleep in total was behind us. It was Friday morning and went to feed the house dogs. I cooked lunch and decided that I need to do more before the weekend comes. I needed to find another milk subsitute, because this supply wasn´t going to last over the weekend. I also wanted to try a formula that the puppies would strive on. Since their birth, they only kept losing weight.

And I most certainly felt I need to do something about Star´s milk production. I just didn´t want to give up the thought „what if“ her milk could come back.

So I browsed the internet and phoned elsewhere and in the process, I found myself typing a message on Facebook, asking if anyone would know about a nursing female that would be able to nurse six more tiny puppies. I knew that in the least populated province of Sweden, and it´s least populated county we don´t really have chances of finding a suitable nurse, as it is tough to find one even in a city, but I anyway sent the message out to a few dog oriented groups on Facebook.

In the meantime a Facebook friend from Australia read about Star´s story, and she wrote me suggestions of the use of certain herbs that can help to re-start the milk production, as she had a similar experience herself before.

I immediately searched the net for herbs and herbal products that could help. The question was where to find them and get them over here so quickly. A week time of delivery from internet shops is great, but not in case of starving one and a half days old puppies.

I also needed to get more puppy milk substitute which was nowhere to be found in the little town of Stromsund, except for a lamb milk substitute which the vets did not advice to use due to low fat and protein contents.

By the late afternoon I opened my Facebook and found a message from a dear friend I have not seen for a long, long time.

Malin wrote that she has a two years old siberian husky female who´s puppies are just going to new homes during the weekend. Their mom still had a lot of milk, although her puppies nursed from her just sporadically, as they were fully weaned and ate meat and kibble.

I immediately called her and we both agreed that the best would be if I came, picked Carla up and see if it works out or not. That was a fantastic option as driving the puppies all the way down, taking them away from their mom and on top of all, adding more work to Malin by bringing in six more lives to take care of would be really a lot for all of us.

Malin and I are good friends and we share some similar thoughs and philosophies on life and dog care and that made it easy for both us to agree to give it a try.

I did not feel I could make that 400 mile round trip during the night alone. I needed Katka to stay home with all the dogs and keep feeding the puppies every two hours and so I decided to wait until the morning and start driving during daylight.

The veterinary hospital was on the way so I made arrangements to pick up a can of the milk substitute just to be on the safe side. I also found a natural health shop downtown, which would be open on Saturday and which I hoped would have some of the herbs stimulating milk production.

Katka got her instructions on puppy feeding and I was so fortunate to have our dear friend and „neighbour“ (living 20miles down the gravel road) Ake to agree to accompany me if I shell start falling asleep. I dont´ want to sound like a weakling, but I wasn´t exactly in the „Olympic shape“ after four nights of no sleep and four days of stress and worry J

Carla

The weather of course had to give us an extra challenge, just to keep me awake – gusting winds, snow drifts on the highway and icey surface on the narrow roads in mountain valley where Malin lives. But we made it and finally met Carla. And it was like meeting a sunshine. She was a small, yet strong looking gal, a bit timmid towards the newcommers. She played with her puppies and I could see right away what a good mom she was. Patient, positive and friendly. „This could work out“ I thought for myself.

After a hearty chat and nice cup of coffee and cinnamon buns it was time to drive back with a new member of our dog family.

The trip home was uneventful and Carla and I bonded within the first half an hour.

When we got home, she entered the house and all the house dogs greeted her as their own. It was an amazing experience. They accepted her immediately. There was a unique feeling, atmosphere, hanging in the air. It felt very spiritual. As if they knew. As if Carla knew. Everyone was in harmony as we all were in a survival race.

Miracles Happen!

Malin and I as well as few friends I talked with agreed it would be only logical to introduce the puppies very slowly, first let Carla see them, then smell them, etc. We thought we´d just let her know they are here and see her reaction this night, and try the nursing in the morning.

But something told me it will be fine, to try it out now so I did. I brought one puppy to Carla, who was now settled on my bed. Katka held her and I let her sniff the puppy, so she could not bite it. She reacted as if it was her own baby. So I tried to put the puppy to her belly to see if she would let it nurse and she did. The puppy immediately found the source of the life giving milk and the rest is, as they say – history. We had all six puppies fed with full bellies in few minutes, with Carla being totally cool and content about it. What a true miracle!!!

Star had a bit different opinion though, which was something I expected, so I was very careful when returning the puppies to her. As soon as she smelled another female´s smell on them, she wanted to bite them. She was angry. But I talked to her calmly and took only one puppy at a time away, and she got used to the new situation during the night.

The next day we knew that victory was ours! Star went three days without a sign of complication, the puppies were nursing real mother´s milk, their stools returned to normal, they started to gain weight and Carla loved them as her own. Miracles do happen!

Before I continue, I must express another huge thank you to my dear friend Malin for trusting me enough to let Carla come to us and help raise Star´s puppies. My gratitude is endless and my appreciation hard to express.

Everyone fell in love with Carla. The house dogs (yes, including the girls!!!), Granite, myself. She is one of the most kind spirited animals and beings I ever met. She took on such a huge task – travelling so far away to a place she´s never been to, to a new pack of dogs, new people, then nursing six little puppies over again after her own litter. She settled inside the house, befriended all three of our cats and kept charming us all. It was very hard to let her go back home after the two weeks. I feel forever connected with this little dog.

There were so many miracles happening during the entire experience. Starting with the moment when the hospital had only two units of blood and it happened to be Star´s blood type, and the only one she could accept. Our friends having two dogs to donate blood and making it so fast to the hospital to help Star.

Then the fact that the puppies, especially little Jodi and Libby, made it through the starvation. Then the entire litter making it in general. Star recovering. Finding of a nurse – in a perfect timing. Carla accepting the puppies immediately. Those are all huge miracles that I am stunned by every time I think of them.

We may be broke. We have had to sacrifice our racing season. We need to come up with a way how to pay the vet bills that totalled to nearly 6.000 USD, a sum we do not have. But I still consider us lucky. I still see the whole situation as a miracle with a true happy ending. And I feel truly blessed to have wonderful folks who helped along the way.

There is one more miracle that happend during the journey. I found a special herbal blend for stimulating milk production in the health shop in town and started to give it to Star immediately, three times a day. Her milk started to appear after about ten days!!! She started to nurse a bit when Carla´s milk production after 10 weeks of total nursing went down, just in perfect timing. Star has gotten so much milk between 3-5 weeks of age of her puppies and has been nursing them since until today.

I will write a blog post describing the herbs, etc. so it can help other breeders shell they ever get into similar situation. A huge thank you to my Facebook friend Kim for her suggestions and intersted to help!

We named the six miracle, tough girls after tough amazing female long distance mushers: Susan (Butcher – four time Iditarod champion and a dog care ambassador), Libby (Riddles – the first woman in the history of the Iditarod race to win, by going into a blizzard no one else dared), Dee Dee (Jonrowe – top finisher and constant contender on the Iditarod, breast cancer survivor), Aliy (Zirkle – the only female Yukon Quest champion, top Iditarod finisher, dog care ambassador), Sigrid (Ekran – Norwegian musher, top contender of all the world´s long distance races, rookie of the year on Iditarod, dog care ambassador), and finally Jodi (Bailey – the only rookie musher in history to finish both Yukon Quest and Iditarod in the same year, an amazing person, inspiration and dear friend. We named the smallest girl, whom we find the toughest of the bunch, in your honor, my dear Jodi!

We needed and still need to make sure the girls get extra good nutrition and many immune system boosting natural supplements due to the lack of those essential substances during the first days of their lives.

Since the girls were just a bit over two weeks old, we started to feed them semi solid food, as they showed signs of need for more nutrition. They are always hungry, which is a good thing – it´s going to make good eaters out of them J

We supplement their diet with dried colostrum powder, probiotics, powdered kelp and other supplements. They get chicken meat and high energy kibble and sometimes oat flakes and eggs too.

I would like express our heartfelt thanks one more time to (in no particular order):

Karsten Gronass and Eveline Koch

Malin Aspaas

Dr.Cecillia (I lost her last name) from Östersunds Animal Hospital

Dr.Johann Brommee – the chief vet and owner of OAH, for letting us come despite not having the money and working out a payment calendar for us

Fjall Veterinar in Strömsund

EJs Health Shop in Östersund

Ake Nilsson

And to one more great being and amazing dog – Carla

Amundsen Race 2013

2013-02-21T12:53:00.001Z

The Amundsen Race 300 (200 miles) starts this Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 11:00 AM in our home town of Stromsund, Sweden!

Unfortunately, we had to withdraw from this race we´ve been looking forward to the whole year, and training hard for the entire fall and part of winter season. It literally runs over our training trails and would have been fun to see the dogs race on their home ground.

But I couldn´t stay away from the race, with teams crossing close by our house and kennel, so I decided to volunteer and give a hand with various task during the entire race. It is a nice way to give back to the mushing community when I have a chance and time. It isn´t very often that I could spare time in the middle of training and racing season. So it´s a payback time now :)

Amundsen 300 2013 - Complete trail map

I am also excited to meet friends and fellow mushers from my mushing club - the Jamtlands Fjallens Sled Hund Klubb, which is also the organizer of the Amundsen Race. But also friends from other parts of the country and world, including my two favorite sled dog veterinarians and awesome guys - Sergio Maffi, who just returned from the Yukon Quest 1000 mile race between Canada and Alaska, and Jerry Vanek, a true specialist in the canine athletes.

Ziggi an Magpie looking at Sergio as he is checking my team
upon our arrival to a checkpoint during Polardistans 2011.

With Jerry and Asa at the Kiruna Sled Dog Symposium 2011

And because we are not racing, but will be at the race, I will also try to bring you the best possible reports, photos and news from the trail, checkpoints and backstage to at least share some sled dog action and excitement with all of you, who follow our team and our journey towards our dreams.

Visit Amundsen Race official website at www.amundsenrace.com for updates and information about the trail, mushers, program, etc.

Follow the race on Facebook, where lots of updates in English are bringing you to all the hapenings.

Support this great event, by liking the official Facebook page! Let´s see if we can bring the fan club to 1000 likes by the end of the race!

If you are from the area, make some time to give the teams a shout out and wish them good luck as they set for the 320km journey through the Northland! See you Saturday at Stromsund´s Bygdegard.

I´ll try to have a post here from tomorrow´s vet checks during the day/evening. Make sure to check back for the updates.

Happy Trails!

Team House Dogs Trail Report

2013-02-17T13:55:00.001Z

Team House Dogs trail report:

Weather is awesome, snow is cool and soft and at some parts pretty deep. The hiking trails are perfect for us dogs.

The two legged members of the team keep slowing us down as they struggle on the narrow path.

Mouse is lazy, walks only in other dogs´s tracks. The border collie is crazy and cheeky and too fast to take pictures of and the shepherd too busy sticking to her human mom.

We would like to also report that we are the only two real sled dogs in this team, keep pulling our musher even though there is no sled and not even harnesses.

Here is what our musher, while struggling to keep in vertical position, managed to do. Some photos.

Ok, give us a treat and let´s keep movin!

Stop filming and come on already!

It was a nice walk in the winter wonderland.

Here is a little video too:

We also heard that within a few weeks we´ll have a new responsibility - teaching mini huskies the husky ways and help keep an eye on them on walks in the woods.

Team House Dogs report over.

Krtek and Granite

Two People, Two Dogs and Six Loads of Sh...PEEP

2013-02-16T12:57:00.000Z

I truly regret not having pictures to go along with this post. They would make you laugh. They would make you feel inspired. And most definitely they would make you wonder about our mental health.

Let me assure you that we are mentally fit. At least we think so, although I guess that it could be a topic for debate, because living alone in the middle of nowhere with 60 dogs, not seeing much of other human beings and not leaving the land of woods and lakes for literary years, can actually effect our sanity.

Weather crazy or not, we at least know for sure, that we are physically fit. We have tested that numerous times and ultimately yesterday.

In this case the "we" refers to my handler Katka and myself. Two mad women, who are stuck in the wilderness with no snow machine. And no trails. In a kennel with sixty dogs who poo a lot. Or, not really so much, as they have a very high quality nutrition, but still - there is a lot of poop after sixty dogs. Period.

You can do the math: No snow machine. No trils. Tons of shit. (Sorry, poop doesn´t sound so just in this case). Guess you know what that means.

Yes, dog handlers, kennel owners and mushers are masters at poop scooping. But the next step is a super easy task - load it all on a trailer or sled and haul it out of the yard with an atv or snow machine. Yeah. That´s how it goes in the normal kennels.

How do we do it, you ask? We pull it in tubs and a small pulka by ourselves into the woods. I do not have to mention, that the trail to our dog poop dumpster is uphills. How else? It would be quite boring and way less challenging otherwise.

But somehow, we skipped a trip here and there and ended up with a pretty large pile of (forigve me once again) shit. And yesterday was the day. Day D. Or I should say day S.

It took six loads to get rid of majority of our poo "collection". Katka made a comment somewhere in the middle of the process, that we both had a wild laugh about. "If we had money equaling this amount of shit, we´d be all up in Alaska, and all the dogs would be flown in there first class, we´d be running the Yukon Quest (a thousand mile race between Canada and Alaska) and hanging out at a bar each night", she said. Hahaha. If only dog poo could turn into gold.

So how does one pull a load of shit on an ungroomed trail? That is why I wish I had pictures for you. We hook up a husky in a harness. We hook ourselves up behind the husky, with a line across our hips. And then we both set on a pilgrimage to the dumpster. The husky is the lead dog and the human is the wheel dog. Or wheel man. In our case wheel woman. It is actually quite efficient, this tandem hitch. We take a few breaks to catch (the human) breath, while the husky wonders we did we stop. They are definitely the stronger ones. The tougher ones. Mind you, they weigh five times less than us!

You get to realize that you are always going to be the weakest link in your dog team. It is actually a great exercise to do to think for a bit, how the dogs feel, how they need to pull and unite, what motivates them and so on. Let me tell you, after the six loads I did yesterday, I honestly have to say that if I was someone´s wheel dog pulling a heavy sled, being asked to go through unbroken trails, to go faster, to rest little, I would seriously consider biting the person in their ass, if they ever treated me not right.

After six loads, we were done. Done as in wasted. Hawky and Dasher hopped happily around, happy to get a bit of meat soup for their efforts, while we went to take a hot shower, as we were sweating from head to toes. My hair (and it is quite thick and very long) was soaken completely through, as if I just washed it. I felt as if I took shower in my clothes.

We also made ourselves a soup, topped with about a liter of tea for each, to rebuild our water loss.

It was tough. It was fun. But next time I am doing just one load a day. Or better, have a functional snow machine. This winter is not over yet, though. Lots of loads of dog poop are still to be hauled. I better go and do my daily workout, to keep myself in shape for the wheel dog job.

The Perfect Valentine´s Day Gift To Dog Lovers

2013-02-13T14:01:00.000Z

While my DIY oriented mind has been thinking what Valentine´s Day presents you could make for your loved ones, I came up with a gift idea for your four-legged darlings.

In my native language they say that loves goes through the stomach, and your dog will most of all the great gifts appreciate something delicious to eat, so I decided to post and share with you one of the recipes from my new e-book Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way - Recipes, Remedies and Health Tips from Katerina´s Canine Kitchen.

And that´s not all! I have also decided to give all of you animal lovers a special Valentine´s Day discount of 25% when you purchase my book until tomorrow - February 14, midnight CET.

You can read more info about Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way and order it here.

The book is here for all of you who care about your pet´s health and longevity, to all of you who seek simple ways of improving your pet´s diet and general health, and also to all of you who wish to try out some new, tasty and healthy recipes and learn how to prepare complete, balanced, natural and healthy pet food at home - simply, time effectively and inexpensively.

Ground Meat with Brown Rice, Spinach and Flax Seed

200g (9 oz.) raw ground whole chicken

(with bones)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

5 tbs spinach or a handful of spinach leaves

1 tsp ground (crushed) flax seed

1 tsp kelp and sea corrals mix

1/4 tsp psyllium husk

- cook rice till very soft

- put spinach in a bowl, pour over boiling water

- add meat and the rest of ingredients

- mix all thoroughly together

Note: raw meat with bones is very healthy and important, feed it at least three times a week.

Do you like this recipe? Wanna learn more about the importance of feeding raw meat and other healthy, natural ingredients? You can find all this information in Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way e-book. Take advantage of the 25% Valentine´s Day discount and get the book for only $7.50 (47SEK or 5.60EUR). You can order your copy here.

Happy Valentine´s Day to you all from not only Krtek (above), but all of us at Kipp d´Amundsen Kennels and Team!

Nutella Banana Sushi

2013-02-10T11:16:00.000Z

The moment I saw this picture, my taste buds jumped. Or whatever it is they do. At any case, they started the drooling process.

Then I read the words: NUTELLA (NUTELLA!) BANANA and I was hooked.

I came across this recipe on Pinterest and it was simply too good to pass by without notice. And without sharing. Because sharing is caring, right?!

Well, I hope you´ll enjoy the recipe as much as I do. I mean:

1. It´s delicious
2. It´s Nutella, banana and pancake
3. It´s super easy to make
4. It´s gluten-free, meaning more folks can enjoy it!
5. Did I mention it has Nutella in it?

Anyway, thank you to Amee from Inspired Housewife blog for not keeping this magic for herself!

Here is link to the full recipe on Amee´s blog:
http://www.inspired-housewife.com/2012/08/27/nutella-banana-sushi-gluten-free/

The Mush Girls Aka Sled Dog Babes

2013-02-09T16:57:00.000Z

Star and Sherwood´s babies are already three weeks old, would you believe that?!

Usually, we play around with puppy names and litter themes in advance, or right after they are born. With this litter, well, things were quite different.
First we were not sure how many will be alive after the complicated c-section (more on that in a separate post).

Then many things went far from smooth, with a struggle to keep them fed due to many complications that followed their birth, including Star´s loss of milk. We took things day by day as nothing was sure.

But eventually, we all reached the day when everything started to work out and look bright and I could dare start thinking of names for the six little miracles.

Super hero names came in mind first, but truth to be told, I am not a big comics fan and besides, there are a lot of Flashs and Wonders running around already :)

When Jachym came home last week, we went for a short relaxing hour to a Jazz club in the city and suddenly he pulled out Libby. And Susan. And Dee Dee. And it immediately hit us that there is no more suitable and perfect litter theme for these six brave little husky girls, than honoring some of the brave, incredible women who excel in the world´s toughest long distance sled dog races, known for their toughness and also excellent sled dog care, some of whom I am honored to call my friends.

So let us introduce without a further due the Mush Girls, aka Sled Dog Babes! Meet:

Aliy and Jodi

Dee Dee and Libby

Susan and Sigrid

May they grow into beautiful, tough and brave sled dogs, just like their namesakes are as dog mushers.

Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way E-Book!

2013-02-06T14:04:00.000Z

I am excited to present Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way - Recipes, Remedies and Health Tips from Katerina's Canine Kitchen!

It is a 33 page e-book I just completed. You can read more information, view full contents and sample recipes, and order it at http://huskymusher.blogspot.se/p/my-book.html

The book is in English and is available for easy download in a PDF format. We are working on getting it into other formats as well, and there will be a Czech language version available soon too!

Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way is written with the goal of helping improve the health and longevity of your beloved canine and feline friends, and includes not only nutritional facts and information, but mainly feeding guidelines, principles, ingredient importance explanations and nutritional and health tips based on my 20+ years of experience with animal nutrition and health care.

The listed recipes, remedies and cures were developed while finding ways how to heal, generally improve health and longevity and overall wellness of my beloved dogs, over the years. They are fed and used daily in our feeding and health care program to all our dogs of different life stages and activity levels.

I have dedicated my life to finding effective answers for many nutritional and health issues in the nature, and many of my friends and customers over the years have asked for tips, recipes, solutions, ideas and help with the nutrition and health care of their dogs. This all led me to writing Feeding Your Pets The Natural Way.

I hope you will find the book useful, practical and easy to understand.

Wishing you and your animals all the best of health and happiness!

Meal Time!

2013-02-04T12:41:00.001Z

The six baby girls are a hungry, funny bunch with lots of joyful appearances!

Yesterday Jachym filmed as I instructed them on how to eat from a dish. As you can see in the video, they picked it up really fast :)

We also did some nail trimming as their tiny little claws were starting to get really long and sharp, which can be very unpleasant for their mom.

They have their names finally and we will introduce them shortly! Check back soon later.

Star And Sherwood's Little Girls Growing And Talking

2013-02-02T13:49:00.000Z

The six little munchinks are already 2,5 weeks old! Time flies in an incredible speed!

The moment they opened their tiny little curious eyes they walk and talk and show a lot of interest for the world around them.

Today will be their premiere in eating a semi-solid nutrition, a bit earlier than our other litters, but not strange at all given the circumstances of their difficult birth and the critical first days, when their mom Star lost her milk after the nearly tragic surgery.

We´ll do our best documenting their dining :)

And one more great news today: Last night Jachym and I sat down and came up with an awesome litter name theme for these six brave, miracle girls. Introductions coming soon - stay tuned!

Europe's Tough Sled Dog Race Femundlopet Starts Today

2013-02-01T11:43:00.000Z

Today starts one of Europe´s toughest long distance sled dog races - FEMUNDLOPET.

52 teams will hit the trail at 4:00pm today to embrace on a 600km journey across some of the toughest Norwegian mountain terrain, while 105 teams in the eight dog class will be starting tomorrow at 11:00 am, to run 400km.

The official race website is available in Norwegian and English and offers many interesting articles and race coverage, including webcams in checkpoints and live tracking.

Don´t miss the chance to be a part of this great event, which also happens to be the Norwegian National Championship this year.

Follow Femundlopet at www.femundlopet.no

Good luck and Happy Trails to all the teams!

Good Luck To Aud-Kristin And Striker In Their Big Race

2013-01-31T13:41:00.000Z

Fifteen years old Aud Kristin Bjorgum from Norway starts her very first distance race today.

It is called Femundlopet Junior and covers 200km (125 miles) of tough Norwegian terrain, including mountains, lakes and deep fresh fallen snow.

Aud Kristin is not just a Norwegian girl with a mushing dream and good feeling for dogs, she is daughter of Haagen Bjorgum, our dear friend, a hardy, hearty man with years of mushing experience himself.

I know how proud Haagen is today, handling for his beloved daughter, switching roles of musher and handler after a few years of watching Aud Kristin grow up, learn to take care of the dogs, helping her dad as often the only handler at long distance races.

Aud Kristin with her dad Haagen at the finish line of Polardistans 300

When I first met Aud Kristin, she was a twelve year old fragile looking girl, who accompanied her dad on a visit to our kennel, when Haagen was picking up Striker - puppy after Magpie and Ewok, as his first Kipp d´Amundsen dog.

Happy new owners and happy puppy - Striker at 3 months

We went for a mushing trip and Aud Kristin followed us all the way with a four dog team. I was quite impressed. I knew then, that this gal has got what it takes to be a good musher.

Aud Kristin and me with Striker and his team mate
after they completed 300km Polardistans 2011

When she showed up two years ago on Polardistans 300 sled dog race as Haagen´s only dog handler and bravely took all the stress and not knowing what is going on, when her dad and his team got out of contact for over 24 hours in bad weather, I realized how exceptionally tough she is.

Striker (right) enjoying reunion with his mom Magpie after they both ran
the Polardistance race in Haagen´s and my teams

Two hours from the time of writing this post Aud Kristin will be standing on the starting line of 200km adventure with six siberian huskies her dad helped to train. Rough Norwegian mountain terrain, freshly fallen snow and vast lake and swamp spaces are awaiting them together with fatigue and the competition of fifteen other teams. Somehow I know she will do just fine and will have a blast.

I spoke with Haagen briefly this morning and he reports the team is looking good, sun is shining and he feels confident about releasing his daughter into the wild. After all, she will be in good paws - one of her main leaders, that Haagen believes will lead the team from start to finish, is Striker.

I am proud of both, Aud Kristin and Striker, my own four legged "child" :)

Happy Trails and Wagging Tails!

P.S. You can follow Aud Kristin and the other teams of the Femund Junior at http://www.femundlopet.no/front.jsp?lang=en&ref=home

P.S.S. Femundlopet 400 and 600 start tomorrow. Wishing all the best of luck to all the teams!

Katerina's Journal On Facebook - Win A Beautiful Husky Calendar

2013-01-30T14:09:00.000Z

Katerina´s Journal is now also on Facebook. Besides new blog post alerts, together with fun pictures, inspirational and motivational quotes you will find also many interesting articles and information from other bloggers and websites there.

If you want to keep yourself up to date on the happenings at Kipp d´Amundsen Kennels, our latest adventures, but also on natural animal nutrition and holistic health, sled dog care, race links and reports, DIY project ideas and much more, please like my blog on Facebook.

Will you help Katerina´s Journal grow to 300 likes? Like and share the page on your wall or with your friends and Get A Chance To Win the Kipp d´Amundsen Siberian Husky Kennels 2013 twelve months wall calendar!

Each month comes not only with a picture of our huskies in the beautiful Scandinavian nature, but also with inspirational and motivational quotes.

Once Katerina´s Journal reaches 300 likes, I will pick and announce a random winner! Good luck!