by Jacob Lasilas

Created on: March 21, 2009

Who do you want in your pack?

People laugh when I tell them my parents dogs ate the neighbor's cat. "No, really they did," I tell them. Yes, Siberians are known for eating cats and small dogs. If there are a lot of little animals around that you would like to get rid of then Siberians would make great pets for you. If you'd like to wake up at night repeatedly because they need to play or if you really need to have lots of holes in your yard then Siberians are perfect for you. When my parents dogs had puppies of course I had to take two. One just wouldn't be enough.

My two year old boys, Silas and Lysander are double trouble. When they walk anywhere together they look like the Siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp with their tails up waving back and forth, just plotting their next prank. They can usually be found on opposite sides of the yard pulling the grass out in clumps just to make me have to run back and forth to try to get them to stop. Forget about correcting them. Everything is a game. Prevention is the only way to win against them and even that doesn't always work. When they first came home they were into everything. They dug through walls during the day to get from one room to another if I had put a gate up somewhere. One day they must have been really bored because they dug up my kitchen floor. We very quickly learned that they need lots of attention and exercise or we wouldn't have a house for long. I quit my full-time job and now work half of the day away from home and the other half at home. We started running them for at least half an hour every morning. We hike when the weather is nice and bought a dog sled for them to pull during cold weather months. They have play dates with neighborhood dogs to use up even more energy.

Every dog has their own personality. Silas is independent and is a fierce competitor. He is the faster runner and the first to master the agility course. As brave as he is outside he is just as cowardly inside. He runs from the vacuum, mop, broom etc. He has his hiding spots for cleaning days. Lysander is the complete opposite. He's more playful then competitive. He likes to swat at the vacuum hose while I try to vacuum the clumps of undercoat that make their way to the top to be shed off. It is impossible to get him to go where you want him to. If you want him to get off the bed and he wants to stay on he does his floppy fish thing. He will flop himself down wherever he is and squirm and flop around so it's impossible to move him.

For all the trouble they are I wouldn't trade them for the world. There's nothing like the joy you get from seeing how excited they are when you come home. They force me to keep moving. I am in much better shape now then I ever was because I need to keep up with them. I want to do the best for them and what keeps them happy. They have not attempted to escape even once and I believe that is because of the activities we constantly provide for them. We provide lots of activities that are mentally stimulating and use lots of energy at the same time. I figure that if I loose my house because I can't work full-time anymore I can always take them out into the woods and live there with them. They would keep me warm and we would always have plenty of food.

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