Brooklyn is My Therapy

Life is busy as a business owner - entrepreneur - whatever you choose to call it. Either way, life is work from  the moment you wake up to the moment you finally let your eyes rest and close. Lately, it has been just that and today, I decided to take a partial day off to clean up and to catch up on some things.

Normally, when I wake up in the mornings, I let Brooklyn outside and she can "handle her business" as she likes. Then when I come home in the evenings, she mad dashes to me with tail swirling in a million different directions. She can't control herself - just excited to see mama! It's really because she probably thinks she's taken five naps through the day and that she hasn't seen me in a week! LOL

Well, today, it's a chill day and Brooklyn has been by my side like glue, but not the wildly excited Brooklyn, but the calm (as her disposition is) BFF that you can rely on no matter what. She is therapy. She is love. She is everything. She is my heart.

Today, we've been watching the pre-game show for Monday Night Football - Go Peyton! We made breakfast of oatmeal and bananas and strawberries with a side of kiwi. We organized the tupperware shelf and finally matched lids with containers. That was a long overdue project and we got it done! We made lunch together - marinated chicken on a Orowheat thin bun. That thin bun was a great discovery at Costco! Less carbs, low-calorie and holds your sandwich together properly. She meanwhile got me to give her a few slices of turkey from the fridge. We diced up her chicken breast meat that was grilled and gets added to her dry kibbles.

AND - lastly, our latest project which she has exuded ultimate patience for is the making of baked cinnamon apple chips! Her nose has been sniffing for the past few hours! They are finally on the cooling rack and it's pretty exciting to everyone!

While I'm still handling some work on my netbook, Brooklyn comes and rests her head on my lap (I'm sitting on a barstool) and I pet her head. While it may often seem like she's the one asking for love, she is...but she's giving me love and joy. Her eyes, her smile...she lights up my life and my world. I'm the luckiest mama ever!

Conversations with Brooklyn

One of the best traits of the Malamute is that they aren't real barkers. They, more or less, do a half-howl "wooo-wooooooo" that just makes you smile and laugh. Brooklyn's knocked her water bowl over before and I  give her a stern, "Brooklyn. No. Don't do that." She in turns says, "Wooooo-wooooooooooo." Now, at this point, I just laugh. I can't help it. Then we're back on good terms again. LOL

I'm definitely not the first to say this about their dog, but she really is like a person to me. She talks to me. She gets the last word in and many Malamute owners will tell you this. In conversations, she will almost always have the last howl in. It's simply too funny.

Some days, she talks a lot. Wherever we go, she is talking. Some days, she barely talks except for when I give  her the signal or command to speak. Most days, she is so quiet that you barely notice that the 95 pounder is there on premise. Most dogs give warning barks. Brooklyn, she just stares at you and with her wolf like appearance, this extremely gentle giant is a softy baby at heart.  Especially with kids, she is very very gentle, recognizing that they are little people.

I am a lucky mama.

Goodbye Holiday Collar

When you have a big dog that's a female, you tend to want to keep them a little "tough". I remember when my groomer once put pink bows in Brooklyn's hair just knowing that I would flip. She looked like a fruit cake! She looked cute...but still fruit cakey.

Her collar doesn't have jewels or sparkles, no jazz, just a standard black collar with her tags to show everyone that she is in fact a domestic dog - not a wolf or coyote as little kids like to shout when they see her. However, during the holidays, Brooklyn gets to sparkle. She has this red collar that flashes red lights all the way around with white snowflakes. It's extremely cool at night since the red blinks really stand out in the dark.

All December long Brooklyn does her rounds at her favorite human places and she greets people with holiday cheer. She brings smiles to people and gets a lot of petting from passers by. It puts a huge smile on my face when I see the smiles that Brooklyn puts on the face of others.

The unconditional love of a dog is something that I've never known until I got Brooklyn. No matter when or what, she's always got my smile. =)

Don't Call Them a Husky

Brooklyn at Mt. Charleston in Las Vegas, NV.

Rule #1: Alaskan Malamutes are not Siberian Huskies. Loyal and cuddly furry friends come in all shapes, sizes and temperaments, but in my most biased opinion, one of the best breeds ever is the Alaskan Malamute. I guess I blame the dog shows for not spreading the word about Alaskan Malamutes more - since the footage typically skims over the whole Working Group of dogs and then quickly skips to do up close profiles of any breed but the Malamute. 


Now, they dog shows more often than not show the Siberian Husky, which really can look a lot different than the Malamute. It's the mask. It has to be the mask. People see a mask on my Malamute (meet Brooklyn) and the first thing out of their mouths is, "That's the biggest Husky I've ever seen!" Okay. Newsflash! She is an Alaskan Malamute. This is the point in the conversation when I typically go over the different traits that exist between the two breeds.


Shorter muzzle. Ears that are more on the sides of their heads rather than on top. A more stocky body frame. A mellower temperament. That's just a few. I tell people to just do some simple online searching and put a Husky image right next to a Malamute and the differences should be apparent.


However, as expert as I believe that I am in identifying the two breeds, there have been one or two Huskies who have fooled me in the past. They were actually larger than typical Huskies which made me think, "Is that a Malamute?" 


Plus, don't let me leave this out - there's the standard Malamute and the Giant Malamute. Brooklyn comes from the giant family yet I believe (I can't confirm) that she is the runt of her litter. The breeder had told us that no Malamute of hers had ever stayed below 100 pounds but Brooklyn has. She peaked at 97 pounds and she now comfortably sits at 93 pounds. 


I love my baby girl. She epitomizes the ultimate sense of loyalty. Meet Brooklyn. Brooklyn, meet everyone.