Since I was 8 years old, I've dreamed of owning a Siberian. I asked for one for Christmas for years and years, always receiving a stuffed animal instead. I loved each of those stuffed animals dearly, but none ever quite filled the void.
My senior year of college I finally had the funds and apartment to have a dog. I'd been researching the breed for over a decade and really knew what I was getting myself into. I began looking in the spring of 2010 for a puppy so he could grow up during the summer and be ready to go a longer time in the crate by the time my courses started that fall.
Above all other things that I could teach Kenai, we've worked on his recall. Huskies are known to be the kind of dog to run away from you for days - running is what they were bred to do after all! They are incredibly athletic and need a lot of exercise. My lifestyle played right into feeding that need.
With the security blanket of a remote training collar, Kenai has learned phenomenal recall and will either stop, pivot, and make eye contact, or pivot and return to me dependent upon my whistles and commands. He is my barn buddy when I'm out with the horses, and my trail riding buddy when I head out on rides that aren't too long. He hikes with me and has been to Acadia Nat'l Park. He climbs with us and is a great crag dog - though he still doesn't get to NOT step on the ropes! He's even been at the ski resort I patrol at and ridden the ski lifts and patrolled the trails with me.
He's a do-it-all dog. His memory is incredible, too. The one thing we haven't done that I dream of doing with a dog one day is search and rescue training. Its a very time consuming process, however, and it isn't something that fits into my life currently. I believe Kenai would excel at it, and I'm glad he's sparked the desire in me to pursue it one day.
Kenai is a phenomenal dog; I'm really lucky to have him in my life.
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