Miko's Adventures

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Ithaca, NY
Miko's Adventures

Miko is our Georgia peach, a Titan Kennels Akita. Every day is an adventure!

09/03/2025

Guess who?

One.single.guess.

08/29/2025

I was about to freeze the 5 (count 'em) hot Italian sausages that remained in this pack when my phone rang. I got distracted, ran outside to grab something out of my car, and when I returned.....

I found this in the yard. I did not see what happened. Toka, however, was sleeping peacefully on his giant bed, in the same position he was in when I'd looked at him minutes before.

Toka was served his usual-sized lunch (topped with some of the veg & chicken stew/soup pictured). Just sayin'

Updated: their Auntie Abby says that it wasn't Miko, it was the coyote suspected of biting a human near Cornell.

08/28/2025

Happy Second Birthday, my Divine Miss M! Your BCAT title came in the mail. :)

08/27/2025

Miko's Auntie Becky runs her on a short course. Go Baby Puppy!

08/23/2025

Let's talk about lameness. Not canine lameness, homo sapiens lameness.

Specifically mine.

Y'all know that Miko took me out at the knees from behind in April (the 13th, a Sunday, actually - that date is burned into my memory).

Definitely a 'I've fallen and I can't get up' scenario. The next night I had surgery for a partial hip replacement, because that backwards fall broke my femoral neck.

It's been 4 months, including 14 weeks of PT, and I'm still not fully healed. There are days when I wake up (like today) and can barely walk due to pain. The proportion of how cranky and irascible I am is directly equivalent to the amount of discomfort I'm in. So yep, my snarl factor was pretty much off the scale this morning.

Nearly every day this week has been that challenging. Walking the dogs is problematic. Invariably they want to switch back and forth in front of me, sometimes impeding my gait (ow) or decide to take a sharp turn because they caught a whiff of something tantalizing just outside the leash's perimeter.

I've not held any nose work sessions for my peeps since early April. I'd scheduled a buried practice for today because several big AKC trials are coming up. Had I known how much difficulty I'd have with the simple act of walking, I'd not have planned it.

So very grateful that the stalwarts - Laura & John, Becky, Mary, Dori, Kathy - not only ran their dogs but also pitched in to set up (Dori & Becky spent an hour filling bins and on other prep work yesterday. Not kidding when I say if I were doing it by myself, I'd have taken the entire afternoon because of how slowly I move.) Clean up was done in a flash because they were all there to do it.

By that time, because who knows what makes the pain come and what makes it go, I could walk almost normally with very little discomfort.

Oddly enough, I am grateful for every day, no matter what happens. 100 years ago, I'd either have been dead or bed-ridden because of this. If the latter, my life would likely have been shortened by the formation of a thrombus, or some other unpleasant side effect.

So, a challenging week rolls to a conclusion. This experience has proven that healing is definitely *not* linear. I'm seeing the orthopod in a week and a half.

Hoping that by then, I'll have had so many good days in a row I can cancel that appointment. Not holding my breath, though!

Here are a couple of photos from yesterday - Toka had a Cornell Companion therapy dog session at the vet school, and afterwards I brought Miko inside to socialize and do a bit of training. Because yes, even though walking was tough yesterday, they need enrichment.

08/17/2025

Miko & I just signed up for a TDU tracking class (tracking dog urban) that starts on 8/19. FUN! (and wondering where/how/when I will be able to make time for this.... I'll do it!)

08/14/2025

A bit of NW proofing in between zoom meetings with students. Notice What A Good Boy Toka is (I put him in a stay).

(yep, I'm still camping out downstairs - should be walking well enough to move back into our bedroom shortly)

08/12/2025

So very proud of my little red dog, who has earned well over 135 performance titles in sports ranging from nose work to therapy work to agility to backpacking.

You rock, Toka!! Versatile Akita Excellent 7!

08/10/2025

Miko and Toka have had a couple of busy days.

In addition to galloping to her heart's content yesterday, Miko got to go swimming at the neighbors. In the evening, we met some friends for nose work practice (we'd had some fun with nose work Friday evening, too!)

This morning, she had two more Fast CAT runs - and she's figured out that she is not going to catch the lure, so is slowing down way before the finish line. Toka came along for the ride.

Despite her last (slow) run, she did earn her BCAT! Go Baby Puppy, Go!

After the runs, we stopped at the top of Taughannock Creek so They could do a bit of wading.

They both then sacked out in the shade, overseeing our efforts at weeding.

Currently both pups are sleeping in air-conditioned splendor. Toka in particular is resting as he'll be at Brookdale Assisted Living later this afternoon, for a Cornell Companion therapy dog visit.

Nose work - Fri & Sat
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGDt3s35lR7YtWB-p-r5hgKWyykXlRIZ3

Miko's 1st FCAT run from this morning. (The 1st part shows a lot of nothing): https://youtu.be/P-3N4th5BG4

08/09/2025

Another fun morning of F-CATs for Baby Puppy. She now flat.out.loves.this.sport. Her times are a wee bit better!

What I like even more than how much fun she is having is this:

if you've run your pups in Fast CATs, you've witnessed those crazed dogs that are shrieking & lunging and basically acting like lunatics.

They are allowed to act that way. Miko got way over threshold and would have acted like a dope if she'd been allowed to.

Nope. I'm still pretty lame, and won't tolerate that type of behavior - and not only because she could pull me over. Also because that stupidity, that total lack of self control spills over into other activities and other situations.

She can run her heart out when she is released. All of her energy and enthusiasm can be directed toward catching the lure. When she's in line, she has to be calm. Or at least act that way! ;)

She has now earned over 116 points towards her B-CAT

08/08/2025

Miko had 2 early morning Fast CAT runs -- her second time chasing the lure. She was faster today than her first time out.
1st time - she earned 31.98 points (her very first run she was entirely clueless, and finally figured out that she could at least run to me.).

Today's effort brings her total up to 73.37 points. She's on her way to her B-CAT.

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Ithaca, NY

Website

http://www.thebrainycanine.com/

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