It’s time again for the Wednesday Weekly update:

  • Miya is starting to show.  She is in her 5 week of pregnancy, and depending on the size of the litter, that is usually the point where they start to swell up enough to notice.  With smaller litters (like Aleu’s litters), sometimes it is difficult to tell until about 6-7 weeks.  Both of Miya’s litters have been on the larger side, and we anticipate this will be the same.  The fact that she is swelling a little at this point tells us she is like heading there again.
  • Speaking of Miya, I went out to start my chores and let the dogs out the other day and I couldn’t find her in her stall!  To say the least, I was a little panic stricken.  I walked around looking for her outside to no avail.  So I went back in and noticed a hole that she had been working on was a little bigger.  They dig all of the time, but normally it’s not a major concern.  Her stall is (or was) along the east outside wall of the barn.  She had the hole started on the west side of the stall, and had it tunneled across and was almost out.  I had to carefully pull her back out of the tunnel.  It was longer than her body!  The only reason I saw her there was I saw her tail.  I think she was relieved to see me too.  I think she was too far in and got stuck.  Poor girl!
  • Needless to say, I put her in the next stall down with Kallen, and poured some cement down into the hole. 
  • One of the pitfalls of owning a husky is their destructive nature when they are bored.  We hear stories all the time about them chewing their way through kennel cages when their owner is away at work.  The same idea applies here.  Usually, our huskies are at least two to a stall, but Miya was by herself since she is pregnant.  We put her back with Kallen.  She can’t go in with another female, because of her aggressive nature to the other females when pregnant.  She is fine with Kallen though.  We also obviously didn’t want to put her with one of the other males either.  Her heat cycle is long over, but better safe than sorry.
  • Now that she is with Kallen, they seem much more content.
  • That brings me to a future project.  Something I have had in the works for a while now, and will start to work on soon, is cementing the floors of the stalls.  I will start with one stall and only do one at a time.  Probably starting with that corner stall.  I need to test things somewhat like drainage, and how they like it.  Once I have the first one completed, I can look for ways to improve them, and start the others when I finalize the plans.
  • A cemented stall would need a drainage system so that is the biggest thing.  But with the proper system, it will be much easier to clean and more sanitary for them.  The current system of pine shavings works well, but this would be better.
  • In other news, only two more weeks to the start of the Miami County Fair!  All of the animals are pretty much ready to go.  Can’t wait to give our ducks a bath!!  (NOT!!!)