Mikulov Siberian Husky Rescue

Mara's Irish Setter, Mulligan

2006-10-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well, Mulligan came home on Saturday 7 October.
I am so depressed, but he isn't.

His new family told us that he was becoming increasingly predatory towards their revered "Cat in residence". As that cat is almost 15 years old, they did not want Mulligan removing any more of its remaining nine lives (with his mouth), so the difficult choice was made to send the new dog back here.

Meanwhile . . . Mulligan enjoys running around in the bush outside the front gate of our property like a mad Irish dog first thing in the morning, then crashes to sleep till lunch time when he is up and about in the bush for a while longer before enjoying an afternoon nap . . .

Does this sound like a dog for you?

He is highly obedience trained, is reliable off leash (except around cats) but needs a fully fenced yard and somewhere warm to sleep at ngihts. Mulligan has a predisposition to spinal arthritis as he has six fused vertebrae in his spine. This put a swift end to his show and obedience work, and he needs more personal care and attention than we can give him.

Mulligan would like to go and live with you - anywhere in Australia.

More details can be found here:

http://mikulov.org/ped/mulli.htm

2006-10-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Husky Picnic in the Park

Sunday 15 October 2006
Parramatta Park, western Sydney, NSW
From 10.30 am till around 3 pm

An ever growing number of Husky owners get together once a year to share good food, good and drink and most of all GREAT HUSKIES with each other. The Picnic was started over 15 years ago by Malcolm Berry who noticed a few Huskies being walked in local parks and organised their owners to get together one Sunday for a Picnic. With press coverage, the dog numbers increased each year, and now close to 100 dogs enjoy some time outdoors with their canine buddies.

The two highlights are the Parade of Veterans, where the golden oldies get a chance to strut their stuff and the Parade of Rescued dogs, where new owners tell the story of how their rescued dog joined the family. Some stories cen be real tear-jerkers.

For the last few years we have organised semi-formal fun activities like races (T shirt and 11 legged - think about that one), catching treats at a distance, and fun competitons like the most vocal dog, the baldest dog, and the dog with the best trick.

You are invited to bring your Husky dog (on a suitably strong leash), the family, some food, chairs and water in a bowl for the dog.

The bonus for ouselves is that for the last 4 years we have taken the current fostered Husky to the Picnic and come home without it - the Husky went to a new home! In 2005 it was Bear, a lovely red male, and in 2004 it was Missy, an older white female.

So far, we don't have a foster dog in need to take to the 2006 Picnic, but it is only Thursday, and Ihaven't got home to listen to the phone messages today . . .

We were going to take Loki, a grey male, who arrived on Monday 9th, but he was re-homed on Wednesday 10th. And - who am I to stand in the way of the perfect home for a Husky in need?

For more information about the Picnic, look at this page:

http://mikulov.org/picnic.htm

the Canberra Pet Expo

2006-09-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Pet Expo was held in Canberra on 9 + 10 September 2006 and we had a booth there from which we planned to educated the passing public about this breed of dog. We also took some dogs along to give patting and photographic opportunities to all who wished.

Our fortuitous mistake was to take 3 Huskies on Saturday who needed re-homing.

Faith is a cross breed Husky who was dumped at the Queanbeyan Council Dog Pound on 9 February - too sweet for the staff to euthanise, we were asked to reprieve her, which we did. Faith went to a new home early on Saturday morning after a young couple asked to walk her around (to test her temperament around crowds and animals) and later decided to take her on trial.

Faye was found wandering the streets of Canberra on 26 July, and her owner did not want her back so she was surrendered for re-homing. Our friends Brett and Emma had been looking after Faye and dropped her off at out booth. There was a lot of hugging for Faye from the public as she is so very sweet natured and cuddly. One couple (with 2 small children) was particularly enamoured, and though they admitted to having pet Guinea Pigs in the laundry asked to take Faye on trial. We dropped in to their home and watched Faye walk past those Guinea Pigs without even a sideways glance. 5 days later - and she still ignores the furry little animals.

Iggy was our special case Husky. A pure white male with blue eyes, he was surrendered for re-homing by his owners who were travelling to Korea to teach High School for all of 2006. Iggys big selling point is that he is "ball-crazy" and will chase and retrieve tossed balls or toys for hours on end. His drawback is that he pops over fences if he thinks life outside is more exciting. Well, Iggy went to a home as well. A young couple with a "too energetic" 9 months old female German Shepherd Dog took Iggy as a playmate, and their recent reports suggest that the dogs are getting on so well.

With those 3 Huskies gone, our booth was quite denuded of live dogs so we went overboard on Sunday, taking as many as we could cram into the van.

We took Ace of Spades - our gimpy black male Husky - rescued from Renbury Animal Shelter in western Sydney on 9 August. Ace walks with a wobbly gait and almost trips over when he runs. Who knows why? He received a lot of attention and eventually went home with Jo who knew the people who had taken in our Daniel two years ago. Ace started howling when they left him to go to work, so today Ace went to spend the day at Bendora Boarding Kennels on the Federal Highway at Watson - managed by Richard - Phone 6241 1042 - where he is happy with the company of other dogs there. Ace had bonded already to his new family and just couldn't understand why they had left him all alone in a strange house in an unknwon neighbourhood. We all hope that this behaviour will dissipate over the next few weeks as Ace becomes more confident that his human family will come back to him every evening.

As a real bonus, we found homes for Mara's lovely Irish Setter, Mulligan (http://mikulov.org/ped/mulli.htm) who was recently disanosed with spinal arthritis and needed more individual attention than being one of the 20 or so dogs here.

Benji ( a Shih Tzu - Maltese cross breed) and Andy (a black Kelpie) both found homes. These dogs were at Bendora Boarding Kennels as an alternative to euthanasia and their owners had asked for help in re-homing them. Who knows why? - Benji is the sweetest little good natured dog, and Mara clipped and bathed him on Friday night so that his new lady owner had no coat to care for.

We talked ourselves hoarse over the weekend, handed out buckets of informative flyers and dissuaded more people from taking a Husky than we could count. Our dogs were patted, cuddled and walked non stop - and we thank Duncan, Biggles, Cricket, Rebel and Teza for enjoying the public adoration that came their way. Helped out by Zen on Sunday.

We sure enjoy these opportunities to share our well trained and good natured Huskies with the great public out there. Catch us at the next one!

Blogging - a new way to pass some time every few days

2006-09-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

Richard and Mara Herba share our piece of Australia with a pack of assorted Siberian Huskies.
This is an introductory post to get the feel of writing for a blog.
Interested readers can learn more about our Siberians Huskies on our Web Page
www.mikulov.org

This first post will introduce the most titled Siberian Husky in Australia - our beloved piebald male, Patches. He has 10 titles in 6 different disciplines - an achievement which betters most Gundog and Working Dog breeds, let alone 99% of Siberian Huskies. Best of all, Patches is the leader of our pack of dogs. His strong personality, physical strength and devotion to his humans have helped us maintain control over the dogs here.

We take in adult male Huskies - these dogs can be rescues (needing new homes) long term boarders in need of a safe place to stay while their people's lives change, or much loved show dogs belonging to friends which we have been asked to campaign - and Patches quietly but firmly asserts his authority, using his posture and eyes, and backed up by ourselves.

Without Patches, the pack here would not be as stable, balanced and accepting of change in their lives as it is.

Patches - we have a lot to thank you for.