Man does time fly! Ever notice that the less you're getting done the quicker time passes? Don't get me wrong stuff is getting done, but wow, days fly bye.
Suze and I just got back from the vet's, at 7 & 1/2 weeks old Keia, yes her name is Keia (Alaskan/Tinglit for dawn, new beginning for us) is already 17.5 lbs. Keia did exceptionally well at the vet not even a whimper, she did seem somewhat annoyed with the more vocal dogs there. We enjoyed quite the canine chorus including a contra-bass 6 month old Mastiff/St. Bernard puppy who weighed in at 60 lbs. A little girl sitting next to me asked if Keila was a coyote. Keia got an A-OK from the vet, but she must have been a little nervous with a heart rate of 170BPM, or maybe like her owner she needs more endurance training. (Does Polar make a canine model heart rate monitor?) Speaking of training, (nice segue eh?) Saturday I went on an almost 3 hr bike ride with John & Derek, fellow training freaks. We went at 12 noon with the directeur sportif's assurance that the rain was over. After riding 45 minutes to the training loop at 42° the skies darkened and we proceeded through the rain at a brisk 39° and headed for home. After about an hour into this, and after a brief discussion about the range setting of Doplar radar, things felt great! I was dressed appropriately (insert Boyscout motto here) and was warmed up and tried riding in the drops (aerodynamic/low position) and to my surprise was able to do so and still breathe normally. Previously when I would ride in the drops I couldn't breathe well with a posture looking like the question mark I typed earlier. Since this is the proper position for sprinting I tried a few "Flat Sprints" (all out effort off a 15 mph roll for 15 seconds) with a good rest in between and it felt good to have the left leg contributing way more than it used to. Oh, and speaking of further training we've had a couple of little accidents in the house but no big accidents as of yet. Keia was the dominant one of the litter and she's starting to show some of her "personality" and it's just great! Training a puppy is hard patient work but the joys definitely outweigh the pains. Keia didn't complain at all with her collar and we're working with her instinct to follow/chase someone in her leash training with frequent but short leash sessions. She has gotten used to, and now loves Juneau's old igloo and we have to get her used to the cage next. So training continues on both the dog and her owners. We're realizing just how small a seven week old puppy bladder is. So here are some pic's to enjoy.
Craig
This is Keia (front right) at her last family meal with Momma, (actually I've decided to post another album to save space)
Keia's puppy pictures
