They Keep Me Fit

Yes, without these two dogs I'd sit idle and gain about 100 lbs.

Almost everyday we go walking, since these dogs love to pull, I have to walk briskly. Layla is a little more of a challenge than Lobo, aside from being skittish when other people are coming from the other direction she has high tolerance for pain. Walking a siberian husky requires a pinch collar. A pinch collar is a chain link with spikes. Contrary to popular belief, the spikes do not hurt them unless they pull on the leash only then would the pinch collar "pinch" them. Layla does not care if she gets pinched, she'll keep on pulling to get away from strangers especially screaming kids. Walking her by the playground is a pain...literally. If you were on the other end of that leash opposite Layla, you will get your arms yanked out of its socket. We tried to so hard to train her by sitting on a bench at the playground so she will get used to screaming children. I suppose she will never completely be over her trauma from her previous owner/s. She had improved a lot since we first adopted her almost 2 years ago. If we never have to see a stranger coming from the other direction during our walks, we would have such pleasant ones.

Despite the arm yanking, it has not deterred me from taking them for a 2 mile walk almost everyday. Believe me, it's better all around. They are happy and not antsy, as the breed itself has a plenty of energy and I'm fit. We all benefit!

Pregnancy and my 2 huskies

It's been a while since I last wrote and there has been a few life changes. I'm now 6 1/2 months pregnant and my dogs have been wonderful about it so far. Considering that I wasn't able to walk them for the first 5 months of this pregnancy, they've been wonderful and hardly gave me grief. Sometimes I feel that they know when I'm not feeling well.

The first trimester and most of my second has been difficult. I suffered from a rare condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. What is this?

Here are the symptoms:

• loss of greater than 5% of pre-pregnancy body weight (usually over 10%)
• dehydration and production of ketone
• nutritional deficiencies
• metabolic imbalances
• difficulty with daily activities <~~ this part affected the dogs the most.

We use to walk the dogs twice a day, then once, and in the first 5 months of this pregnancy...zip! Those 5 months were torture for them I am sure, but it was for me as well. I fainted (complete blackout) in a public place, I had irregular heartbeats and gave everyone around a scare. It was a good thing that my husband was waiting for me in the car. But poor husband of mine, in a panic, left the car door and windows open while the dogs were in the car. Good thing they did not try to jump out and go "exploring" on their own, never to be seen again. Crazy! But the dogs seem to understand that something was wrong. In a normal day, they would have jumped out of the open door. Few days after the incident the dogs refrained from howling for their walks which they normally do when they get antsy and restless. They seem to be in tuned with my feelings which amazes me still.

There are some days too that the dogs will put their heads on my lap close to my stomach as if listening for the baby inside me. I love my dogs, and I hope they'd love the soon-to-be new member of our family. Such wonderful creatures Siberian Huskies!