return to top

The Life of Jaxon, the Malamute Lap Dog

They Say It's My Birthday.... da da da da da da

Happy Birthday to Meeee!!!!!! October 22nd I turned one year old. Or is it 7? I don't care, I got TREATS!!! Lotsa TREATS! Mom bought me this treat called Frosty Paws and it was yummy, scrumpdilicious ice cream in a cup just for ME! Well, okay, she gave one to Chloe to, but it was all cuz of MEEE!!! Cuz it's my Birthday. Woo Hoo!!! Dad was going to try one to, but mom stopped him and said it was only for me and Chloe. Ha! Take that, dad.

Mom says I weigh 78 lbs now, a and I've "blown" my first coat (whatever that means). She says I'll probably get another 7 or 8 lbs bigger in the next couple of months. She said she was kind of happy, because she was afraid I'd be 100 lbs and still sleeping while laying on her back at night.

Anyway, my birthday started out like any other day, and we had to go outside while mom & dad worked and my human brudders went to school. It was raining, so I spent most of my day in the garage, but I ventured out to dig a few holes and make some mud pies. I made sure to get the mud all over the patio before mom came home. Chloe has been such a fuddy, duddy lately, being older than me, so she isn't much fun when it rains. She doesn't like to get wet and I LOVE IT!

I can't wait to see what fun adventures this year brings. I love being a Malamute and I love being a part of this family where I get to sleep in a warm bed next to my mom & dad, have brothers to play fetch with me, a mom who puts me in harness and lets me pull, pull, pull and dad who gives me lovin's every day after work by rubbing my belly. We just laugh and laugh!

Happy Birthday to me!

Life After Neutering

I know it's been awhile since I've written, but I went through a tough time there for a bit. After my "surgery" (I still don't like that word), I had to wear this big white thing on my head for almost two weeks! It was horrible. I kept running into things and mom had to hold my food bowl up for me at every meal because it scared me to lean down with that thing on my head. My human brothers kept calling me "Conehead" which I didn't think was very nice. But, since it was on my head, I couldn't nibble on their rear ends to let them know I didn't appreciate it. My tummy really hurt. I kept trying to lick it to make it feel better, but mommy kept saying no, I couldn't lick there. These little black strings were driving me crazy, so I'd scoot on the floor and then they'd come loose and mom would keep driving me back to "that lady's place with the funny smells" and she'd put this glue stuff on my tummy again. Then they'd give me a hot dog with some funny tasting stuff in it and all of the sudden, I'd get really sleepy! Oh well.... I'll lick again when I wake up. I don't really understand it.

Now I'm feeling much better. For some reason, I don't feel like I have to jump over the couch all the time and I've come to the conclusion that the Labrador around the corner really isn't all that cute. My sister Chloe took really good care of me when I got home. She told me she had to go through the same thing when she was 6 months old. She helped me cope with the cone on my head. The only time she laughed at me is when I tried to go through the glass back door and ran straight into it with my cone. I couldn't see the door frame to know where to go!

I'm back to my old self again, running and playing. I told my buddies at the dog park that it wasn't so bad. They know I'm lying.

Something strange going on here...

This morning I woke up at my usual 5:20 am and went into scratch mom on the back to go outside. After playing around out there and doing my business, I headed back in to the house, fully expecting to see breakfast waiting for me as it is every morning. Not so! What is this? Sabotage! I looked up at mom and she just reached down and mumbled something about "no food before surgery." What's this surgery thing she speaks of? I can usually understand mom because she repeats the same words to me so I can understand what she's saying, but "surgery"? Nowhere in my vocabulary. And I was hungry!

She got ready for work and I made sure I stayed close beside her the whole time because my tummy was growlin'! I figured if I walked in front of her continually all morning long she'd have to stop and pay attention and then maybe, just MAYBE, she'd remember to give me my breakfast. Alas, the time came when she called me and my sister to go outside. I was devastated! She always sends us outside for the morning with a treat so I thought, "Cool!" At least I'll get some treats before she leaves. My sister Chloe came running at mom's call and headed out the door. Then when it was my turn to go outside mom held on to my collar and closed the door with me inside. At this point, I knew something was off. This wasn't our routine! Chloe knew it too cuz she was staring through the back door at mom like, "Where you two goin'?"

Then, joy of all joys, mom grabbed the leash. Woo HOOOO!!!!! Goin' for a walk. Who's going for a walk? ME! I'm goin' for a walk! Food can wait. This is much better. There's that Labrador around the corner; I still need to get her number and...

So I sat still while mom clipped the leash on me and headed for the front door. We left the house and I took off on my normal path down the road but then mom stopped and I heard those words... "bye bye." Bye, bye? No... you mean...could it be? The CAR! YES! I did the happy dance and then jumped up into the big metal thing that takes me really cool places.

After about 20 minutes in the metal thing and mom yelling at me for drooling all over her work clothes, we arrived at our destination. I hopped out and took a look around. Hmmmm. This didn't smell good. I smelled lots of other people, er, dogs. I looked up and saw this building that kind of looked familiar and cautiously followed mom into it. Then I knew. This is that lady's place. The one who pokes the sharp thingys in my behind and tugs on my paws to clip my toenails and, gulp, looks in my mouth and ears and stuff. (The last time I was there the lady made me eat a bunch of nasty stuff and I threw up all over the place. Even threw up that whole sock that my human brother Dakota left laying around.)

I didn't like it one bit. Something was wrong. Momma was talking to the lady and seemed like she said something about picking me up tomorrow. Tomorrow? Nooooo! Hey - there's a cat under that desk over there. But I digress.

I kept hearing words like "surgery" and "neuter" and "man-berries." What the heck are man-berries?

Mom gave me a hug and kiss on the head and told me it was going to be okay and she'd see me tomorrow. I knew at this time that something was definitely wrong. Mom never leaves me alone at this place. I decided not to move until she walked out the door. The lady was trying to tell me to come on but i dug in and stood there and it was sure going to take a lot more than this lady with the funny flowers on her shirt to get me to go back into that funny-smelling room with her.

Finally, I summoned the courage. I did not know what this adventure would entail, but my mom has never done anything to me that wasn't in my best interest. So I went back into the room with the lady and....hmmm.... there sure is something strange going on here.

(Jaxon will report on the outcome of his procedure when he's feeling better on Saturday! :) )