Cashew is a sweet girl who came to us all the way from Alaska, along with her son, Ookie. Cashew is fairly quiet and very gentle, but she loves pets and attention! She is known for her cute, small face, and she enjoys spending time outside with her girl friends Cash, Piney, Piper, Kansas, and their buddy Clyde.

            Prior to coming to Cornell, Cashew was a distance runner and actually ran the Iditarod in 2016! During the past few months she stayed in shape by running 2 miles every day with her team, and she was a natural leader in the harness

When Cashew exercises on a treadmill she needs her son Ookie to be present in the room - otherwise she refuses to run!

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Cashew helped out to create a first of a kind Canine Brain Atlas. For that her brain was imaged by magnetic resonance while she was asleep. This type of imaging is commonly in humans and allows to identify such alterations as brain tissue volume and connectivity as well as to identify neuropathology at the early stages. However until recently this technique was not utilized for the same purposes in dogs. Participation of Cashew and 9 other Vaika dogs allowed to build a comprehensive atlas of canine brain which from now on will serve as a reference standard for canine neurological research. Most likely more MR images will be taken while Cashew ages - it will help to better describe which alterations canine brain structure undergoes through aging.