KEEN® and Mountain Khakis® ‘Get In Our Duds’ Wardrobe Contest - week 5

 

 LAST CHANCE TO WIN!

 

 

 

This week's challenge question is in memory of Sal, MK's mascot in our Colorado office.  Sal was a Golden Retriever Collie mix that lived to the ripe age of 17.  Fueled by years on the trail, in the mountains and in the desert, Sal spent her days inspiring the MK Colorado team.  From Product Development to Marketing, if Sal herself wasn't in the room, her hair was!  She was always a sport at holidays, and stressful days were always calmed by her presence.

We’d like to hear your best pet story. Did you take your cat camping, did Fido ward of a bear?  Share your story to be entered into this week’s challenge for a MK and KEEN fall outfit.

 

Guys, you'll win this outfit: MKs new Fall09 Flannel-Lined Original Mountain Pant, MK belt and hat plus KEEN's new Fall09 Boots, HybridCare t-shirt and backpack.

 

Gals, you'll win this outfit: MKs new Fall09 "avocado" Cords, MK belt & visor plus KEEN's new Fall09 boots, HybridCare t-shirt and backpack.

 

 ENTER TO WIN:

1 - Leave a comment on this blog telling us about your best pet story.

2 - If you use. . .

Twitter:

Follow us @MountainKhakis and @KEEN_shoes

Tweet: I entered the #GetinOurDuds Contest for a @Mountainkhakis & @KEEN_shoes fall wardrobe. U can enter at http://www.builtforthemountainlife.com

OR

Facebook:

Become a “fan” of Mountain Khakis and Keen Inc.

Update your status: I just entered The Get in Our Duds Contest for KEEN & Mountain Khakis fall duds for me and a friend. You can enter at http://www.builtforthemountainlife.com

We’ll choose one person as our random winner on Wednesday of next week!

This is the last week of the “Get In Our Duds” contest so be sure to enter to win!

 

Click here for the full contest rules.

Comments

[Rich]

My wife and I were out running errands in different directions one weekend. She called me to tell me that the steaks for dinner were in the fridge and that there was corn on the cob on the counter. I got home and went to prepare the corn but there was only one ear on the counter. I called my wife and asked how many ears of corn she had purchased and she told me two. I went into the living room to see our german shorthair Maggie sitting head down in about as sheepish a look I had ever seen. Strewn around her were corn silk and leaves. She had eaten the corn cob and all! And shucked it first!

http://webpages.charter.net/rkovars/Maggie.JPG

[Catherine]

Reggie, our 8 month old yellow lab, has had many accidents but this one is the most memorable. My boyfriend had recently moved into an older house. He started keeping Reggie in the upstairs bathroom while he was at work so he would have room to walk around rather than be in his crate all day. One day i went over to let Reggie out. I walked into the living to find water dripping down the balcony, through the light fixtures and through the ceiling. Both the kitchen and living floors were covered in water. I ran upstairs to get Reggie and to see if he was okay. I opened the bathroom door to find him smiling and lapping up water off of the floor. Turns out he had chewed through the cord that connected the toliet to the wall causing 'the great flood' as we refer to it. I didn't think anything could be worse then the time he ate all the material under the box spring and then proceeded to throw it up in my backseat while on a two hour car ride. But you never know what Reggie will do next :)

[Matt Simcox]

My dog Woody, aka Houdini, has a way to do things that amaze me. Other than eating the side of my house and constantly sneaking out of the back yard he has one tick that I will never understand. My house is on a hill and I have second driveway that runs alongside a 10 foot tall retaining wall to the basement of the house. Before Woody got along with the other dogs in the yard I tied him to a tree next to the fence and basement with a 25' long leash. The leash reached just passed the basement wall and alongside the retaining wall for a few feet. One day, I came home after work to find Woody sitting on top of the 10' tall wall still tied to the leash. The only way for him to get up there was to climb the wall. That was when I gave him the nickname Houdini.

[twitter.com/stvod]

A German Shepherd named Yoda, gets me to see the lighter side of being outdoors. She is equivalent to a toddler with ADD, but fun no less. We both thrive in the out-of-doors and feed off of each others need for exploring the unknown and to unwind and just run free. At times when I don't want to go outside, Yoda is there to insist that we need to go out and I end up rethinking why didn't I want to venture past those doors. I sometimes am amazed at how much a different species and show you. She also shows the same force with my kids and just about anybody else she meets.

@stvod

[Sarah K]

My parents had some land up north that we camped on when we were kids. When I got older, used to go up by myself to camp. Actually, I didn't want to go by myself, so I always took Zach, our trusty Standard Poodle. He was a great companion and camping buddy. He passed away about a year ago. We miss him and hope to adopt another little buddy soon!

[twitter.com/TxTravelPro]

This story is a little long, so stick with me. It's sad, but worth it!
We live in a rural area. Lots of people dump dogs out here because it is certain they will not be seen/caught.
It is also a certain death for the dog as there is no food and many predators. Every dog we have ever ‘owned’ found and adopted US. Most were misfits, the dog no one wants.
Driving to town a few times a week, I watch the roadside for animals that have been dumped.
One day I went to town and saw a dog lying on the side of the road and assumed it was dead. I continued on to town. On my return I noticed movement and pulled over to find the most pitiful dog ever. She was a cow dog of some sort, white with speckles and small. Both of her eyes were shriveled and useless; she was blind. One of her legs was deformed and gimpy, supporting no weight it just dangled. Another leg had been broken and was stiff but she still used it.
She was sickly looking, too. She was just the most pitiful dog I had ever seen, and I have seen some pitiful dogs!
I took her home and later determined she was deaf, too.
But she was sweet and seemed to know we were going to help her.
The most heartbreaking thing about dogs is their willingness to forgive and show love. We wanted to limit her exposure to the other dogs, so we kept her in a pen where we keep bottle calves at night. She was in a separate section of the pen. The calf was unable to nurse, so we were hand feeding it. This is a process that requires us to put our hands in the calves mouth to get food past the tongue. It is a shared responsibility in the family. Whoever has the time, feeds the calf. Now we would feed the calf and check on the dog.
So a few weeks pass. The stray has totally acclimated to the new environment and has shown some improvement. She's adopted one the other dogs as her eyes/ears. Nights were still spent in the calf pens.
One morning we noticed her belly was a little bigger and we thought “Uh oh, she's pregnant”. Then a few hours later she suddenly died. It was so odd, I took her body back to the vet and he said he wanted to test her for rabies.
She did have rabies! This meant that my whole family had to contact the state and get scheduled for the series of shots. The dog had been bitten by a rabid skunk. There are loads of rabid skunks out here and we hear (and smell) commotion every week. The dogs chase them off anytime they come around. The stray was not well enough to be vaccinated when we found her. She would have been vaccinated as soon as she gained some strength. We did not notice a bite and she did not show any signs of rabies. She just died suddenly.
A little over 3 weeks later the calf died. The vet sent it off for testing and it also had rabies.
It was determined that the skunk entered the pen area, biting both animals as it scurried through. They were separated so there was no chance the dog bit the calf.
What is so amazing about this story?
The stray pitiful, sweet little dog probably saved our lives.
If she had not died much earlier of rabies, we would not have been required to get the shots. No one suspected rabies with the calf. The whole family had been taking turns feeding the calf. We were all sticking our hands in her mouth on a regular basis. We live on a farm and always have cuts and scrapes on our hands and arms.
Bottle calves sometimes die and you don't typically take the body to the vet for an autopsy. This means that if the dog had not contracted rabies, we would not have known until one of us came down with it.
We all believe that this dog was a gift. We gave her a chance and loved her for the last few weeks of her life. Possibly it was the only love she had ever known.
In return she saved our lives.
It is a bittersweet story :(

@TxTravelPro

[twitter.com/TheBlueBlaze]

I have a sweet Aussie named Annie.
Annie came to me 3 years ago as an young adult who had been loose and neglected her whole life. She was feral when captured and did not know anything about living with people. My husband was not sure she was the right dog and Annie would stare and growl at him at night. Not a threatening growl, a 'why don't you like me' growl. Within a couple of days he decided she was the right one!
Everything was brand new to her. We had to show her how to walk up stairs, how to jump in a car, how to walk on a leash, etc... She took to everything like a duck to water. Australian Shepherds are incredibly smart! Her current trick count is 38. She has been 100% inside since we brought her home and she has never had a potty accident nor has she ever been destructive. She LOVES toys, balls and frisbees almost as much as she loves us.
We take her everywhere with us. We plan our trips around parks and activities that will allow her to come along.
The pic you see is of Annie at an outdoor market this summer. It was 100 degrees that day and she decided to sit on a step while I looked at some vegetables.
You can probably understand why she is a magnet for affection. She is beautiful and loving. She brings out the best in everyone she meets.
For this reason, we have started the process to get her registered as a therapy dog that we will take to area hospitals and senior care centers.
She is just too special to keep to ourselves.
This dog has changed our lives for the better. She helps keep us grounded... helps keep us from being too rigid or fixed in our ways.
I think that she gives to us more than we could ever give in return.

Twitter: @TheBlueBlaze

[Marsha Saenz-Jones]

When my son was little we had a pet rabbit. He named her Honey Bunny because of her golden color. She was the sweetest little thing and loved to be held. We have a large enclosed patio that we set up as her "home", but would let her out in the backyard during the day to eat to her hearts content. At night we would have to bring her in so that they raccoons and cats didn't get her. She loved being free in the backyard and sometimes it took some coaxing to get her into the patio. We'd be out there calling her and calling her until she came in or we found her hiding place. It wasn't until a year or so later that we realized the neighbors might think we were a bit crazy to hear my husband out there calling "Honey...Honey Bunny, come here please." What must they have been thinking of us?

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1126586261]

It was a hot, humid Fourth of July weekend, and we had just started on a three-hour trip from the river place to the beach place. It took us awhile to get everyone--a hot, sweaty 8 month old boy and our hairy, wet, panting, 80 pound yellow Lab, Ginny--in the car from the river. The boy hadn’t wanted to leave the sand and the water, and Ginny had been working hard on chewing up a hard plastic Frisbee in the sun. No one wanted to leave. The 1990 Honda Accord--also hot, sweaty, and hairy—was cranked up, lukewarm air streaming through the A/C. We finally got the boy, kicking and screaming, in his car seat, and Ginny situated next to him. We thought the boy would settle right in for a nap while we drove, but he kept on screaming; he was still hot and still sweaty. Ginny was calm next to him—waiting for quiet. Finally, when we thought we could take no more of the crying, he FINALLY fell asleep, and so did Ginny. We turned on some Dave Matthews, ready to start thinking about drinking a beer on the beach. All of a sudden, we heard a great burp, and Ginny threw up what looked like a gallon of white, plastic, Frisbee vomit all over our sleeping boy’s lap. We looked back, he didn’t wake up…and we kept on driving like that, all the way to the beach.