She wasn't too impressed at the beginning of the journey...

Since it’s been so difficult to walk Sophie lately, I’ve had to have someone stand in for me…someone who is actually strong enough to control her. With her big bark she can be pretty intimidating, though all she really wants is some attention.

For those of you who have big dogs, you probably know the curiousity of just how much that poop machine weighs. At least I was. My little bathroom scale worked for a bit when she was a wee thing of about 50 lbs. Now, though, it’s not so simple. Nope. Instead, I had to head to the airport to weigh her.

Grand total? 88.6 lbs at 7 months. Is that normal? I though it was a bit small, but perhaps it falls into the target weight. Female full-grown saints fall into the 120-140 lb range.

…wow, though…I’m pretty sure most of that weight is just muscle. I just took her out for a quick trip, and my hands are now raw with leash burns. Any type of distraction (ex. the neighbor’s dog tagging along behind) gets her ready to charge this way and that. It’s enough to make you want to scream! I feel like I’m on some sort of home video entitled: Small Girl, Big Dog. Not too cool…

It hasn’t stopped snowing here in what seems like ages. Shoveling three times a day, though an interesting story, is not exactly the most fun thing to do. But three times a day? Including smashing ice from the metal teeth on the steps? At least I haven’t yet felt that I had to get on the roof to clean out the stink pipe!

…for those of you not from the north, the ‘stink pipe’ is the gas venting system found on the tops of buildings; when they ‘ice over’, the gas backs up and empties into the house…trust me, you don’t want that kind of drama!

Ah, there we go…there’s nothing like hearing the water truck come to fill you up after an evening of bottled water! Yes, I ran out of water again. I suppose I should start getting in the habit of avoiding a complete laundry day; my tank can’t handle it. I’ll have to spread out the washes…can I really be that organized?

Today is my school turkey dinner; the season has officially begun. Though I had a Christmas dinner last weekend, Korean food hardly qualifies as a traditional holiday feast in my world. Nope, for me it’s ‘The Bird’: the gobbles have ceased, and the gobblers are showing up in the roast pans. In fact, I have one ready to be juiced and roasted right now! I suppose that means I should get going.

Even Sophie's getting into the Christmas spirit!

So: water? Check. Turkey? Check. Spices? Check. Cider ingredients? Check. Someone to take Sophie out on her pee run? Hmm, grrr, I guess I’ll say ‘check’…

One more thing – I have to include the following pictures. Sophie guarding her chair, then Scarlett and Gryphon taking over:

"My chair, it's mine!"

"What-ev...the two of us can take you on!"

Warning: This post is an incredibly jumbled mess…gives you an idea how my head works these days…

The temperature has finally turned. It was only last week that I considered taking my chihuahuas for a walk; hovering around zero for weeks was insane. Realizing there might not be sea-ice for Christmas was a glaring reminder of global warming. People dying in Poland because of a cold snap while people here were foregoing coats…it’s just not right.

This is a weird icicle thing outside my door...getting dark at 11:30 am!

Anyway, back to the good news. -15 degrees Celcius is the warmest that it’s been in awhile…right now it’s -21. Of course, that’s with the windchill, but it’s still a good sign. Qikiqtarjuaq has bunches of snow, and this type of weather gives me the feeling that we’ll actually be able to head across the ice sometime soon. Apparently there’s some point nearby with really cool snowcaves to explore.

The one thing that’s bothering me right now is that my snowmobile, the infamous Arctic Cat, is still in Pangnirtung. Though I don’t really like the texture of the snow that’s fallen recently, there’s enough of it to bury the large rocks as opposed to just enough to cover them and blinding you to the fact that they’re there. That type of nastiness threw me on a flight last year.

It’s almost Christmas!!! Well, every now and then I get a reminder of that. One might think that should be every time I look at my tree, but that’s not exactly it. Let me explain…

Last week I organized a Christmas dinner for the teachers here. I’m like Monica, from ‘Friends’ in that way…I have to host the dinners to feel good. What’s that about? It’s just an extra stress and more money, but it’s how I’ve always been (though my friend, Siovone, always throws really kick-butt get-togethers).

…back to the Christmas dinner. Since all the teachers are heading south for the holidays, I didn’t really have a lot of freedom in scheduling. I didn’t want it to be last minute for them, so we have a potluck at the beginning of the month. The theme? Go international. All the food was from other ends of the world. It was awesome. I mean, the traditional turkey’s good, but you can only put up with so much! Stupid me…I forgot to take pictures.

See my beautiful tree, my ugly chair, and my crazy dog?

I decorated early. It felt early. It was warm outside. The tree just seemed like something cluttering up my living room.

…but now it’s time for Christmas. I’ve made my first batch of gingerbread (still need to be decorated and hung on the tree), and my holiday spiced candles have appeared!

I’ve decided to give Sophie a chair. It’s the ugly one in the picture, but it’ll be covered with a crazy blanket. So far, I think she likes it…

…but she doesn’t really fit…

Yes, she uses it as butt support.

Anyway, that’s the news these days. Oh wait! No! One more thing…I broke a few nights ago, decided to pull out my credit card, and ordered a Mac online. Can’t wait till it gets here!

How did it happen? I went to Ottawa for a week, left Sophie with a friend (to whom I will forever owe my soul), and came back to a huge-ass dog! Huge!

…and, if I thought I was having problems before, they’re laughable to what I’m dealing with now. She hasn’t had a good walk in awhile; polar bears won’t allow it. This means that today, on her 7-month birthday, she can pull hundreds of pounds and has reams of pent up energy. Ahh!

When I got back on Tuesday, someone mentioned that it’d be fine to take her out again. However, during her walk, I was stopped by a local person who wanted to warn me, again, about how well-camouflaged the bears are.

Now I want you to picture me, on the main road, having this conversation. I had already been roaming around with Sophie for about 30 minutes at that point, and was just starting to get control. After about 5 minutes, Sophie got bored and took off.

Now watch this clip and imagine me instead of an old lady, a st. bernard instead of a great dane, and me flying backwards over a snowbank instead of forward and out of the frame. Classic.

…when I got Sophie, I thought it would be a great fit; she loves the snow and the cold, and there’s tons of space for her to run around. Unfortunately, I really didn’t factor polar bears into the equation. Qikiqtarjuaq is not really ‘dog-friendly’, in my opinion.

Competition? I think not…

...on the hunt...

Miss Thang before the snow really started

Oh, and an old friend sent me this link that I absolutely have to share…all about polar bears, and all made to make you laugh. Enjoy!

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated…I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection  by (people) from the cruelty of (humankind).” – Mahatma Ghandi -

Ghandi was an awesome guy. On his scale, how great is Canada as a nation? On a whole, how do we treat our animals? Have we progressed ‘morally’ along our life path? Also, is a ‘pet’ considered an ‘animal’? Perhaps in some households, but in others they’re simply considered little children.

Usually, when I see quotes like this, I agree whole-heartedly; humans can be so cruel to animals with no regard, whatsoever, to his/her affect on another living creature. I must say, though, I have no problems squishing a spider or baiting a rat trap. I know Ghandi would be the kind of guy to ‘be one with everything’, but I still categorize animals in a hierarchy which places a dog over a rabbit…and I just don’t like bugs and vermin. Does that mean that there’s a vacuum in my morality cache?

Looking at it closely, I understand what he means. It caught my attention because, in my experience, it’s easy to be cruel without realizing it…to be cruel when attempting to do just the opposite. I know this is kind of twisted, but this is what got me started thinking about it: Sophie.

Sophie is a St. Bernard – a dog with a gentle nature and a love for the outdoors. Though I’ve been trying, I don’t think I’m giving her the home she needs – even though all the major elements are here: the environment, the health care, the food, and the love. But if you have to work during the day and it’s reached full-darkness by 3, what are you going to do at 5? Sure, you can take a walk…but that takes 20 minutes at the most. I can’t go outside of the town because of the polar bears (and being alone). I’m stuck.

Then there are the dogs of the north. The ones that are born and bred to be outside – some working, some roaming as family scouts when out on the land (the stockier scragly-looking ones are quite popular for this). But is someone morally bereft because he/she leaves her dog outside overnight? Sophie is always kept inside and, on a certain level, that’s cruel.

I don’t know. I wish Cesar would steer his tour up north sometime – according to my twitter account, he was signing books at a Pet Valu location in Toronto yesterday. I need some help!

Patience. That’s what I’m missing.

Earlier this evening I was sifting through some old pictures, and I realized that I had a shot of each of my dogs when they were only 3 months old. Gryphon, the pure chihuahua, is the only one that looks the same – and even that’s a stretch.

Check out my first furbaby, Scarlett, when she was queen of the household (pre-Cesar).

Scarlett at 3 months

Next came Gryphon. At nearly 2 years, he still only weights a whopping 5 lbs.

And, finally, the monster who I can no longer lead (Cesar, help me Cesar!), Sophie. By now - 6 months today – she must be at least pushing 70 lbs.

One of my students found out her dog gave birth to a litter of 5 pups and she wanted to pass one along to me. Don’t worry mom, I said ‘no’…

Here it is, not even November, and I’ve already gone through all of the big chew-bones that I shipped up in my sealift. Since it was the first time I had put anything together – and it’s really difficult to foresee what a growing St. Bernard will need – I ordered a little bit of everything. The biggest hit were the big cow joint bones…

…and here’s the last one…

Gryphon is constantly trying to pull this away for Sophie...quite the power struggle.

You see, I didn’t expect to have the little dogs sneaking in and grabbing something that is so much bigger than their regular chews. This is that same bone with Sophie, the 5 and a 1/2 month-old St. Bernard…

The funny thing is how Scarlett acts as the ringmaster in the who circus. She usually stands back and just watches, then, when things look to be getting a bit rowdy, she ‘takes care of business’. “To the mattresses,” is that the expression? In this last pic, she’s defending Gryphon’s possession of the bone when Sophie got a little too close for comfort. You’d do that for your baby brother, wouldn’t you?

Craziness, craziness...

Awesome! I have finally seen a St. Bernard in its full puppy glory…the good puppy – not the crazy poop machine who rolls in nastiness. All I needed was a little snow!

Don't you just love that ear-flapping craziness when a dog takes off?

Some dogs are made for certain things. Retrievers are made to retrieve. Greyhounds are made to run. Chihuahuas are made to look cute. And St. Bernards are made to roll in the snow. And run in the snow.

Yes, there's actually a dog under there!

One thing that never fails to amaze me is how gentle the dog is – and how much she loves kids. If she had the choice, she would follow them around and let them pull her ears all day!

In this pic you can kind of see the airport in the background.

I have a fantastic open space behind my place that Sophie absolutely loves. I can sit back on a rock and just bask in the sun like a lizard while she runs off all the steam that accrues during her time alone. Nice.

The view back towards town...