October Siberians
Vermont Sled Dog Adventures
Say Yes to Life! Embrace your passions, explore thepossibility, welcome the adventure, and go for it! |
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 Home Plan Your Adventure Meet The Team Kennel Life Special Events |
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| Kona | |||||||
| Some dogs pick you. We could have saved ourselves a lot of time when we walked up to Judy's door and she held three puppies for us to choose from, because Kona just looked at us as if to say, “I'm yours.” BUT NO, we had study up on how to pick the best sled dog puppy. So Kona went along, thinking “ Well, if you must have me do this, but I'm telling you we could save a lot of time and be on our way . “ She was the second dog that made it into our new home and Thyme had a little playmate. |  |
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| We had to wonder what we got ourselves into. Kona would pick up new ideas with hardly any effort; "Kona go pee/pee" we would say as she peed, but we had to remember to only say it outside. Elly made that mistake when Kona showed signs she needed to go, and Elly asked her if she had to go pee/pee, and then cleaned up the puddle in the mud room. Kona would use the jiggle bell on the door to ring if she needed to go out. Then there was the time, when Thyme and I left for a Skijoring outing, and Kona went ballistic throwing herself at the door and window, screeching for two hours. |  |
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Elly was convinced she was psychotic. But then there was Kona's sensitive side with her carrying around a blanket – actually an old shirt of mine we gave her to help adjust to us and comfort her in the crate – like Linus in the Peanuts cartoon. She also retrieved blanky on command. She would go, go, go and then would finally sit down and her head would drop into a sleep like a Narcoleptic. She might have been small in size, but she was massive in personality. | ||||||
| Obedience training was the way to go with her, and we had the time back then with only a few dogs. She made it look easy, and that is not typical for a Siberian. Kona would not just learn and follow the commands, she would have her say as well—I would say “Kona Heel” and she would say “Wooo” (translation “Musher Heel”) and start walking. Just about every show or match we went to she left with a ribbon or prize. A Companion Dog (CD) Title requires a qualifying score of 170 points out of 200 for a routine of heeling, coming, stand for exam, sit-stay and down stay. This has to be done successfully three times in front of three different judges. A Siberian is considered a scholar completing this in five shows—Kona did it in three. |  |
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We knew we had a leader here, and knew we should get a trained leader to help her along. That's when Micro came along. It didn't take long for Kona to pick it up. While she was still a yearling, I had her running single lead on occasions. Good leaders can rescue you from a bad situation, by listening to the command and thinking on their feet. One shining example for Kona was when we were crossing a main road (VT Route 232) at a diagonal and the trail was plowed in. It was not obvious where the trail was on the other side, and the team started down the road, a scenario where there was no way for me to stop the team and turn them around. A somewhat panicked “Haw” command was given and Kona jumped the bank, bringing her co-leader along, and got us back on the trail. The pampering and treats were well deserved that day. | ||||||
| Unlike the portrayal of Hollywood/Disney, the Lead dog is not necessarily the Alpha. It is brains that matter. Kona was low dog in the pack, and only rose slightly as new puppies came along. That did not stop her from outsmarting the others. Her most memorable trick was on Thyme when we only had those two. Thyme was chewing on his bone, and Kona had the same type of bone but wanted Thyme's. She barked and pulled at Thyme, but he wouldn't give it up. So Kona went and rang the jingle bell. Thyme got up and headed to the door to go out, and Kona ran back and grabbed the bone. I always like to use this story when someone states that dogs don't have intelligence capabilities. Ho! Elly's reminding me that this is not the end of the story. This is my dog playing tricks on her dog. Kona tried it the next day, but Thyme didn't move. Kona peeked her head around the corner when Thyme didn't show up. Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me! |  |
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Kona was my first baby, a birthday present from Elly in 1994. Kona always thought of Elly as the other woman. Any night Kona was in she would sleep between us and pounce if we tried to kiss. Kona was possessive of the things she held dear. She had a toy pig we broke out at the end of training, and she would fret over where to bury it. I forgot to retrieve it one day from the snow bank, and when I went back to look for it a few days later I could not find it. Kona went right to it. When Kona had her one and only puppy, Maui , she would lay her head across her and be reluctant to let us near her. It would have been great to have a kennel of Kona's, but it was not meant to be. Sometimes the mold is broken and this is your one and only. | ||||||
| Every Musher will tell of that one special dog—Lenard Seppala and Togo , Gary Paulsen and Cookie, me and Kona. As one of our first dogs, she and I did everything together: walks, hikes, visits to the city, traveling and all those first sled dog adventures. You always hope the day never comes when you know you have only a few more adventures left. On our fourth day of an outing in Quebec, Kona was stiff and sore and should have been carried out, but by the time the sled was ready, she made it known that riding in the sled was not an option. As we headed down the trail (back to the truck) and Kona loosened up, I knew our days on the trails were numbered. Kona was full of life and lived every minute of it. With her passing comes an end of an era. She was the last of the original five dog team, the one that was with us the longest, our first puppy. Kona, you left foot prints in our heart, a tear in our eye, and memories for a lifetime. May your spirit run free until it returns to us again. |   |
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Kona was my first baby, a birthday present from Elly in 1994. Kona always thought of Elly as the other woman. Any night Kona was in she would sleep between us and pounce if we tried to kiss. Kona was possessive of the things she held dear. She had a toy pig we broke out at the end of training, and she would fret over where to bury it. I forgot to retrieve it one day from the snow bank, and when I went back to look for it a few days later I could not find it. Kona went right to it. When Kona had her one and only puppy, Maui , she would lay her head across her and be reluctant to let us near her. It would have been great to have a kennel of Kona's, but it was not meant to be. Sometimes the mold is broken and this is your one and only. | ||||||
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