Rogues Gallery Kennel Blog

Whew! What a whirlwind it has been the last 24 hours or so. Let me start at the beginning. We have volunteered our sled dog kennel to be part of an ongoing study being conducted (by Dr. Dirsko J.F. von Pfeil of the Veterinary Specialists of Alaska, and Dr. Bryden J. Stanley & Michele Fritz with the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University) to study congenital laryngeal paralysis. This is a big word for condition when a dog that has a dysfunction of the nerves which control opening and closing of the larynx (voicebox). In affected animals, the upper airway fails to open adequately during inhalation, so these dogs have trouble breathing while eating and exercising, so few with this condition can be racing sled dogs. They are commonly called “wheezers,” due to the sound they make when breathing.
We are very committed to not only providing the best care and quality of life we can for our own sled dogs, but we are also very committed to doing what we can to improve the body of knowledge for caring and treating all dogs. Since we do a lot of rescue work, we have several dogs with unusual conditions (including, just to name a few abnormalities: hip dysplasia, liver shunts, and exercise induced collapse) and two dogs that are wheezers: Coolwhip and Shagoo.

Coolwhip (photo above) is only about a year-and-a-half old and in addition to being a wheezer, she suffered from at least one other diagnosed condition (megaesophagus – basically her swallowing tube was too large to do its job properly), but she has largely outgrown this as she has gotten older. However, she may still be suffering from another congenital condition in which there is limited nerve functioning to the end of the esophagus (taking part in the study will determine if she has this too).
Since Coolwhip is so young, we thought she would be a great candidate for the study. If she can get corrective surgery, she may still be able to be a sled dog, which would be great since she is one of the most energetic dogs in the kennel. She can’t pull without collapsing, but she can play-run for quite a while without problems. She is such a wild child, but we have been working with her in the house to teach her to be calmer, so she doesn’t hurt herself during post-surgery recuperation. Well, her being the master of disaster that she is, she took off around dinner time the night before we were supposed to bring her up to Anchorage for her surgery.
Buckwheat knows how to open the door to let himself in after playing in the yard. We didn’t hear him come up the front stairs, and when he opened the door himself, Coolwhip ran out it and kept on going. We searched for her until midnight, then gave up to get some sleep. We got up a 5 a.m. to run three teams before heading to Anchorage and hoped the sound of all the excited barking during hook-up would bring her back. It worked, but not when we needed it too.
As we were leaving the yard with two 12-dog teams, Coolwhip popped out of the woods and distracted us and the lead dogs. We took the wrong trail out of the yard and couldn’t turn the teams around. Doing this alternate route took a half-an-hour longer than expected, so now we were going to be late. Fortunatley, when we got back to the yard with the teams, Coolwhip popped out again and we were able to get our hands on her.

To be honest, I think she was just worn out from playing all night. She appeared to have had quite a romp. She was covered in disgustingly stinky rotten fish that she had rolled in after one of our lazy neighbors dumped a big pile of it in the woods, rather than hauling it to the dump as they should have. We had to give her two shampoo baths (see photo above), which wasted another half-an-hour, and despite this, she still stunk badly. Still, we loaded her up, and Shagoo, and started making the 3-4 hour drive to Anchorage. Better late than never, I guess.

Unlike Coolwhip, Shagoo (pictured above) had a throat surgery to help her conditions about seven years ago, but a lot of scar tissue has built up since then, and she was once again struggling to breath. There have been a lot of improvements in the type of surgery available to dogs with her conditions, so we felt she would be a good candidate to take part in the study. After the veterinarians did their pre-operation evaluation of running a camera down her throat, they said it was good we had agreed to include Shagoo. The scar tissue had built up so much, it was obstructing more than half her airway.

They performed the delicate surgery (see above), and Shagoo, being the tough old bird she is, pulled though remarkably well. She still has a trachea tube in (see her hsvaed neck and still groggy photo below), which we slide out and clean every three hours while staying up to listen to her breathing (so not much sleep last night), but this should only be in for a few days. Shagoo is already breathing better than she has in years, We can hardly wait to have her completely healed so we can go back to playing and exercising with her. Seeing the clump of scar tissue that came out of her, there’s no doubt in our minds this surgery has added literally years to her life.

Unfortunately, Coolwhip’s condition requires a little more study before she can have the surgery. They sedated her yesterday and ran the scope down her throat too. They saw that unlike Shagoo, Coolwhip has one fold of the larynx that is paralyzed, but one fold slightly works. To my knowledge, this has not been documented before, so it may explain how some wheezers) like Coowhip) are able to perform varying degrees of exercise, while others (like Shagoo with both folds paralyzed) cannot perform any.
Coolwhip still has to take part in another swallowing study to check the others conditions I already described that she may have, and then depending on the results of those, she will (hopefully) have the corrective wheezers surgery. Time and more tests will tell, but in the meantime, we are happy to be helping improve the lives of our dogs, and hopefully others out there – now and into the future – suffering from this same condition.
We sincerely thank the two amazing veterinarians (Dr. Dirsko and Dr. Bryden) who performed this surgery. We don’t trust just anyone, but like the doctors at our local veterinary clinic, it was clear these veterinarians were truly devoted to helping animals.

Running a sled dog kennel seems to be non-stop work, but it’s the type of work that is mostly fun, so you don’t really notice all the labor your constantly doing. First, let me answer a question from the last blog. The dogs pictured are Oaky (rearing up on two legs) and Squirrel is next to her. I tried to photograph the leaders (Brick and Metoo), but they went by too quickly. In the photo below it, Zoom and Quigley are in lead.
O.K. on to this week’s news. As is typical for this time of year, we are racing the weather trying to get everything done to last another cold weather season. We don’t usually get out first snow until Halloween, but we usually start getting fall rains around now, and they frequently last until the snow flies, so it’s now or never to finish all the projects. We have been busy building new dogs boxes, getting screen sand dumped and spread in the yard to fill all the holes the dogs have dug in summer while burning off energy from not running enough. We also had that wet, wet summer, so we had more water than usual in places we didn’t want it, and it took a lot of work to compensate so they dogs could stay high and dry. We have also been refurbishing our dog truck box. It’s a few years old now, and starting to show the signs of its age, so we replaced the wood on the top which had started to get soft and delaminate. In the photo above, Cole is finishing repainting it after we had replaced and resealed to box.

Despite all the work getting ready for winter, we are still running dogs, weather permitting. It tough to run the dogs if it’s above 40 degrees, and the nighttime lows have been hovering right at 40 to 50, so it’s been hit or miss. Also, this season, since right now we are leaning toward likely not running any 1,000-mile races this year, and sticking to 200 and 300 mile races for financial reasons (last year’s Iditarod cleaned us out), we have started working with a junior musher who lives local. Madeleine is 12 years old and comes from a mushing family, but her dogs are starting to get a bit too old to race. Madeline would like to work toward running the Junior T, which runs simultaneously to the T-200 and T-100, so we are going to work with her on making that dream a reality. Above is a picture on Madeleine taking out a team for training with Colleen behind her keeping a watchful eye.

We have also acquired two new dogs recently, so it’s time to introduce them. One is named Keno (above), and he’ll be turning eight this year. Turning eight for sled dogs is kind of like a human becoming eligible for AARP. He’s getting up there in years, but he’s still not so old he can’t make a real contribution to the kennel. Keno should be a little familiar to regular readers of this blog, since we test drove him toward the end of last season. Keno helped round out our 20 dog team for the Denali Doubles race, and he helped Cole on the trip to Nome in the Iditarod. Due to his age, we’re not expecting Keno to be a superstar this season, but any contribution he makes will be welcome, and hopefully he can run a few mid-distances races before he fully retires. He is a big, sweet, playful male, so he is a joy to watch interact with the others. He is also related to one of our race leaders Zoya, so its always nice to have more kin of the dogs already in our clan.

In addition to Keno, we took on another dog named Wolf (above). Wolf is an interesting addition to the kennel and we have felt a connection to him for a while, even though we have never run him until now. Wolf was a promising up-and-coming lead dog for a close friend of ours (who I’ll get to in a minute), but this friend was struck by some of the worst luck any musher could ever have. While training near a road crossing, the dogs pulled through his brakes, and several dogs got into the roadway and were hit by an on-coming car. Several died, but not Wolf. He was struck and had his rear leg shattered. As a journalist, I was doing a story on it for the newspaper, and I remember seeing Wolf in the emergency room, his leg looked like a sock that was too big for a foot. You could see skin, but everything in it looked all wrong, and piled up at the bottom. The musher did what everyone should do, but so few mushers actually would have done, he sprang for the expensive surgery to fix a dog he knew in all probability would never run again even with the surgery. Since we rescue a lot of dogs, we know from experience that often dogs that we are told have no chances, defy the odds and prove everyone wrong. It just takes time, faith and a little luck. Wolf was one of these exceptional few. Despite having an ankle fused in place, he learned to walk, then run, and eventually pull in the team, and I did occasional stories of his remarkable recovery. He’s now 5 years old, and while he’ll never be able to run the Iditarod or Quest, last season he finished in the top 10 of the T-200. Anyhow, this musher friend of ours is moving and getting out of sled dogs, so he sold most of the professional athletes, but asked if we would take Wolf. We couldn’t say no. He is a bit shy of people, and a little aggressive to other dogs during the excitement phase of being hooked-up, but we are working with him on these behaviors. In time we think he’ll become part of the family.

O.K. this is getting long, but I have to mention one more thing, the family Keno and Wolf came from. They belonged to Jon and Bree Little (see photo above on JOn), two quality mushers also from Kaslilof who are preparing to turn the page to a new chapter of their lives. The Little have always been kind and generous to us. So many mushers talk about wanting to foster the sport and helping newcomers, but they don’t do much without the promise of pay or sponsorship at the end of the deal. Not the Little’s, they talked the talk and walked the walk, giving us clothes, gear, dogs and lots of sage advice when we got started and throughout the years. They were among the most compassionate mushers we have known, never culling dogs and always providing fantastic care and treatment to their kennel. They will be sorely missed from this sport and this community, but we wish them the best as the forge a new trail to Texas.

Spirits were soaring and tongues were on the ground this morning as it finally cooled down enough to make our first run of the new season. The weather has been nothing short of atrocious this summer, (which is why we haven’t written in so long…too bummed out). Until yesterday, it had rained for roughly 70 days straight. Even the days that weren’t pouring, the sky was still dark and cloudy. The weatherman actually reoprted for the month of June there were only 17 hours of dry, sunny skies. Finally that all changed.
We woke up this morning to 38 degree temps and knew it was “go time.” We got the wheeler out and as soon as the dogs saw the harnesses they went crazy. A neighbor from across the street said their histarics woke her up from a dead sleep.
For the first team Zoom and Quigley led the way (see photo below), while Metoo and Brick led the second run. They were all so raring to go. Even with new front and back breaks put in the wheeler last week, and those brakes tied down, the dogs still managed to drag the wheeler before the whole team was hooked in. I guess we’ll be chucking the wheels and tying the wheeler down early this year.

It’s exciting to think about all this season will hold. Some dogs remain the same from year to year, but some dogs dramatically change from one year to the next. We can’t wait to see who will step up and lead, or who will become the next power house, especially since this year we have so many up-and-comers. Metoo and all her brothers will be two this year, so they will really start to get tested in some tough races, and Klaus and Boo will be yearlings, so they will be largely learning the ropes of distance training, since they didn’t do anything over 10 miles last year as pups.
As we train these young guys, we will do some of the work, but largely we rely on the other dogs to teach them for us. One of the ways we do this is to run a dog in lead who knows what they’re doing with a dog who is not so knowledgeable. This already began this morning. Quigley is a big, powerful male who just loves to go, go, go. He began picking up some of the basics of gee and haw last year, but he still has trouble with the “line out” command, which is so essential for leaders to know. Lining the team out at hook up, during tangles, or at the end of a run, keeps dogs from getting wrapped in the lines, and it just basically makes everything run smoother. ALL leaders must know it. So to teach Quigly to line out, we are running him with other big dogs, like Zoom, who will is too big and heavy for him to drag around. This morning when we finished the run Quigley tried to wander a few times, but Zoom knowing what needed to be done, looked at us and then deliberately layed down so she could use her weight to keep him from going anywhere.

Brick, who ran with Metoo (Quigley’s sister), employed a different technique. Brick really loves leading. She’ll even try to run around the dog in front of her if she’s not in the front of the team. When we put her in next to Metoo, she just pulled forward so hard, there was nothing Metoo could do but stand there lining out next to her. Metoo got the hint and started to do the same. The photo above is of Brick AT THE END OF THE RUN, and she still was leaning into her harness and lining out like the excellent leader she is.

Hey all. This will be a visual blog post, with more photos than words this week. We have had two bear encounters this week. For the first one, we went to Katmai to celebrate Joseph’s birthday. This area is known for bears, but maybe it is because of the incredibly thick smell of dogs that must be on everything we own, the bruins took and extra interest in us. It was amazing to see a bear walk by, catch a wiff, and then make a u-turn to get closer to us to try and figure out why we smelled so different than the usual two-legged traffic through their turf. Then, oddly enough, the night we got home we had a brown bear come through the dog yard. All the house dogs were out at the time and Jeeves, of all dogs, gave the bruin a really tough time. He ran up to it barking and carrying on like he was rabid, and luckily for him the bear turned tail and ran away. No one was hurt, thankfully. Anyhoo, on to the photos. Enjoy.

Cole getting a close up shot. She DID NOT approach this bear, rather it just walked that close to her and she stood still…perfectly still.

May I have this dance?

Nom…nom…nom.

Two bears catching some dinner: a fresh sockeye salmon.

When it was time to leave, this bear cub even attempted to crank the prop of our plane for us.

Ugh…is it ever going to stop raining. It’s been more than aweek of the wet weather, and the dogs and us are ready for the sun to return so we can resume our daily swims. In the meantime, we have just been taking the dogs on several long walks. This is a great way to bond with them. It’s fun for the dogs and it lets them sprint around for exercise and get stimulation by sniffing flowers,grass and where other animals have been. Here’s a few photos from about 10 days ago, the last time we saw the sun. I shot these four pictures from the same vantage to try and show the similarities, yet subtle differences in four related females of the kennel. The above image is Screamer (the tan-colored dog) and her sister Oaky (white). Two cornerstones of the kennel.

This photo above is of Nuk. What’s funny is this face is how she looks in 99 percent of the all the photos ever taken of her. Nuk loves running omre than I think any dog in the kennel and she is by far one of the strongest and most reliable. She is very, very muscular, even in the pff-season. Unlike her sisters she doesn’t run in lead, but we are always hoping the future season will be when she starts. Even if she doesn’t though, she is still a powerhouse in the team or wheel position.

Here’s another image (above) of Oaky. Most people who have seen a picture of the race team have seen Oaky out front. She is one of Cole’s two main race leaders. Oaky has led some leg of every race Cole has ever done. She is also the mother of Kawlijah, Seeker (in the background) and most recently Dunkel. Oaky is another naturally muscular dog. She is almost all white with the odd exception that she has a blackish tail.

The picture above is of Screamer. She was raised by us, then through a series of events outside our hands, she moved from kennel to kennel for a few years. We got her back permanatley two seasons ago, and were happy to have her home. When she left she was an exhuberant dog who loved to lead. Since she returned, she still leads, but not quite with the same confidence and excitment she used to show. We’re hoping with the future season she returns fully to her old ways. Screamer is a little leaner than Nuk or Oaky, but has the shaggiest coat of all the ofur sisters.

This last gal shouldn’t need any introduction. This is Penny, Cole’s main race leader. Penny is by far the smallest of the four sisters, and one of the only ones with a hint of silver to her mostly brownish to cream-colored coat. She is the littlest dog in the kennel, and the tiniest to ever finish the Yukon Quest or Iditarod. Penny’s proof why no dog should ever be judged on size alone. This dog has the heart of champion.
All for this week. Keep you fingers crossed for some fairer weather.

IN our usual summer pattern of doing our best to keep the dogs happy and fit through cross-training, the temperatures have finally warmed up enough to begin swimming the dogs. We’ve been taking daily excursions to the pond near our house, rotating who goes. The guys who love it and listen the best off-leash get to go the most. Zoom (pictured above) is on that list, along with Goliath, Screamer, Crumb and several others who could love the water enough to give any Labrador a run for their waterdog title. They all relish swimming, at times I think, more than running. They are hilarious now that they know the routine. They’ll start whining and screaming right when we pull in and they see the water, then they charge in with a big splash and go right across. They don’t even wait for us any more. They’re already three laps in by the time we’re starting to wade out.

We also took seven month old Dunkel down for his first swim, and he took to it immediately. He was a little hesitant initially, especially the first time he went so deep his toes couldn’t touch. BUt, he is SO bonded to Metoo, he’ll go anywhere and do anything she does, which is great since she is the wonder dog. Dunkels first time in the water, he was like Metoo’s shadow, if she turned left, he went left, if she went right, he went right, he just mirrored her every move from a few inches behind her, as in the photos above.

NOw that he has been a couple of times, he is starting to do his own thing, and like Metoo, he is a total maniac once he gets in. He just charges into the water like he’s part otter. A few readers have noticed that Metoo is in practically every picture we post. It just boils down to she is an amazing dog, so she goes everywhere. She leads in winter, and can hike and swim and walk around town off-leash in summer, so she is with us practically everyday, all day long.

Dunkel only has one more trick to learn at the pond, and that is Metoo’s spectacular belly-flops. HOwever, I’m sure it won’t be long before he picks up on this one, since Metoo tends to dive in every time she enters the water. I’ll try to get more photos soon, this one is a little grainy beucase I shot if from across the pond.

We got out for another hike last weekend, and this was one a tough, but rewarding endeavor. A friend told us about a trail called Cecil Roads Peak that we had never heard about, and having done just about every other known trail over the years, we decided to give it a try. We quickly figured out the hike was someone’s mountain goat hunting trail. It went straight up the entire way, and the lower elevations were a lot of bushwhacking, while the upper reaches moved into apline meadow and eventually scree and snow left over from the last season. It ended up begin a great workout for the dogs that went, and while we never saw any mountain goat, we saw a lot of their shaggy white hair left behind, which the dogs relished in sniffing. The goats must still be blowing their winter coats like a few of our dogs. Here are a few photos of the trip. The one at the top is of Metoo looking down at the Kenai River and the town of Cooper Landing. We were only about half way to the top ot this point.

In the photo above, you can see Buckwheat is actually walking above the clouds behind him.

Here is one of us being silly with Metoo. You blinked Metoo!

This shot cracks me up. Metoo likes taking in the views more than we do, I think. Here she is taking in the valley.

This week we thought it might be fun to share some of the more unusual looking dogs in our kennel, and while we have several variations of color and pattern, we find none more beautiful than our red dogs. Not everyone likes red dogs though. Red dogs can be extremely tough, as evident by nearly all of ours having finished at least one 1,000-mile race, but these dogs can also be tough-headed too. And, like no two people seem to agree on the merits of a red dog’s performace, red seems to be somewhat of a subjective term too. Butterscotch (pictured above) is a perfect example. We consider this six year old Quest and Iditarod finisher red, but some people call her orange or tangerine, and still a few others just consider her a funky shade of brown. It’s hard to say who is right, especially since we call so many of our dogs “red,” despite that they have subtle variations to their color. Here are a few examples (and only our dogs that are primarily red, we have several, like Hildy, Hank and Zoom, who are partially red). How would you describe them?

The little lady pictured above is Butterscotch’s daughter, Brick. She has a totaly different type of red than her mom. Brick’s color pattern is somewhat reminiscent of a red doberman, or possibly even a red-phase Australian shepherd. Unlike BUtterscotch who is an amazing swing dog, but who won’t take a step in lead, four year old Brick loves lead more than any other position. In fact, if we run her further back in the team, she will pull as far as she can to the outside and actually try to pass the dog in front of her to get to the front. Brick was Joseph’s leader for his 3rd place finish in the 2009 Tustumena 100. She ran out front the whole way.

O.K. this picture above doesn’t do him justice. Cyder is actually much more reddish than this rainy day picture would reveal. Unlike the girls, Cyder has a bit of white mixed in to his oragne and rusty red. Like Brick, Cyder loves to lead and ran out front for several legs in both the 2009 Quest and 2010 Iditarod. Cyder is nine years old, so he is just starting to slow down, but only slightly. We hope this powerhouse can hang in for a few more seasons becuase he is a valued member of any team he is on.

This 13 year old man above still has a lot of fight in him. This is Crazy Horse. We took him in as a retiree four years ago and he’s still going strong. He didn’t race last year, but he trained with the team almost every day, and if we had been in a pinch, I think this guy may have been able to step in despite his advanced age. His only health flaw is he has a bad nose, as evident from this picture. he came this way when we got him, and we never got the full story of if this was from a severe frostbite or severe sunburn (the red dogs can be sun sensative). We took him to the veterinarian on multiple occassions, but despite drugs and salves, his nose has remained the same. Unlike BUtter who has yellow eyes, and Brick who’s eyes seem to change from yellow to green depending on how the light hits them, Crazy Horse is red with Blue eyes, just like Cyder who is a distant nephew. However, in terms of running, Crazy HOrse is more like BUtterscotch in that he loves to run swing, but refuses to lead. Crazy Horse has completed multiple Iditarods, which is why we bred him to Oaky several years ago, the results of which produced this next guy.

Anyone who has ever visited this blog should know this handsome devil. This is (was) Kawlijah, our beautiful boy who died accidentally this past spring. He was a powerhouse who occasionally led, but typically lent his strength to the wheel position where he could help COle muscle the sled around trees and other obstacles. He lacked the contrasting blue eyes of his father, Crazy HOrse, but he had a stunning quality that was all his own. It’s hard not seeing his silly red self jumping and shouting in the yard anymore. He is still deeply missed.

This is another washed-out photo that doesn’t show the true magnificant color of this 14 year old. Bashful is actually quite good looking despite his age related bumps and wrinkles. Unlike some of the other old timers, Bashful has started to really slow down, and sadly, he may not be long for this world. Like his now deceased brother, Doc, Bashful was all power in his heyday and was on Cole’s team in her first 1st place finish in the 2004 Tustumena 100. When he finally passes away we’ll be sad to see him go, and even sadder to hear him go. This guy has a very houndy look and howl, and he often instigates dog-yard chorus sessions while hooking up a team or after a big meal has been fed.

Part of our view of being responsible mushers/ dog owners is teaching others about what we do, why we do it, and how they can responsibly do it too. Interacting with school children is a great way to spread this message. Cole works with “troubled” children as her 9 to 5 job, so teaching and inspiring young minds is nothing new for her, but these invitations to talk about the dogs, rather than the regular curriculum, is always a special treat. Some mushers get paid as much as $600 for these presentations, but despite our perpetual need for kennel funds, we always do local presentations for free.
On this most recent outing, we brought three dogs: Buckwheat, Pong and everyone’s favorite little lady - Penny (see above). Cole discussed our lifestyle as mushers, what racing is like, and all the gear we uses such as harnesses and booties, and she kept it all in the context of how important concepts learned in school play into her mushing life. Knowing math helps her add up mileages or figure out her run/rest schedule. Geography helps her understand trail maps. And reading helps her understand the rules for each race. It all ties together.
Of course, there were lots of fun activities too. In addition to letting all the kids play with, and pet, the dogs we brought. Cole always organizes games. She split the kids into two teams and had them run a relay race where each child had to run in bunny boots. There was lots of stumbling and laughing. By far though, the highlight of every presentation is when Cole unloads a sled and gangline, explains the positions on the line to the kids, then lets them fill in for the dogs and pull their teacher on the sled like she was the musher. (See below).

Also, we try our best to keep up with requests we get from readers, so below is the photo of a healed Buckwheat that a few folks asked for. He has healed remarkably well considering how badly he tore his chest.

Also, one reader asked to see the photo of the grouse I refered to in the last blog entry. Below is the mama grouse with several chicks tucked under her wings, just before she sounded the alarm.

Also, a few people have asked about why Cole’s name wasn’t on the list of mushers who signed up for the Iditarod on Saturday. Quite simply it boils down to lack of money, rather than lack of interest. We got lots of financial help last year, but still ended up spending close to $20,000 to compete in the race. We just can’t do that year after year without more corporate sponsorship. It’s like NASCAR, there would be few drivers or races without all those company’s like Tide, or Coke-a Cola and all the rest, making contributions to cover costs. We must remember that while it is great to compete in the Last Great Race, we still are responsible for feeding and covering veterinary expenses for 40 dogs the other 50 weeks of the year when they’re not on the Iditarod. Still, the last day to sign-up isn’t until November, so we have more time and we are always pursuing more sponsors, and if we don’t run it thise year, we still have fun participating in 200 and 300 miles races around the state. All for this week.

Between work, fishcamp and dog chores, the last two weeks have been so busy, but today we actually found ourselves with a few minutes to think…about the past, present, future. It’s strange where the mind walks when it isn’t completely focused on a task. I saw a mama grouse today, basking in the sun with several chicks not much larger than the eggs they must have recently hatched from. I had my camera with me and popped off a few pictures, but as I got a little too close the grouse clucked, sending the chicks scurrying in one direction, while she headed off in the opposite direction, feigning a broken wing. I’ve seen this behavior before, an attempt to selflessly draw a predator away from her offsping, but still it amazes me every time I witness it. If this is learned behavior (rather than instinctual, like most naturalists believe) what does it say about the intelligence and empathy of this literally “pea-brained” bird. More importantly, what does this mean for even larger brained animals with more complex social relationships, such as dogs.
I’ve mulled this question over most of the day. I wonder how much about dogs we still don’t know. How much they see and read in us that we will never understand. Gestures are all they have. How constraining it would be to live in a world where this was our only form of communication with those we love and are completely devoted to.
As is often the case when I hit these periods of deep introspection, my thoughts turn to Kawlijah. We still speak of him, think of him and miss him daily. But, through the kindness of our own species, we never have to go a day without seeing him. After our loss, several strangers wrote to share stories of meeting Kawlijah at races, some shared stories of the loss of their own dogs, and some sent beautiful momentos to remember him by. I have drawn so much happiness from this kindness of others, and knowing how many people Kawlijah affected. I wanted to share a few of the gifts we have recieved, but I will not mention who they come from out of respecting a request of a few who wanted thier contributions to remain anonymous. Still, I wanted everyone to see what we see daily to get us through this loss.
The photo at the top of this post, was taken of Kawlijah as he crossed the finish line in NOme. He happily took a pet from a thick-mittened child. The inscriptions at the top and bottom of the picture are passages from the book “Racing in the Rain.” It is a good read for anyone who shares a close bond with a dog. I take strength from it everytime I pass it in the stairwell where it hangs.

This photo above is of Kawlijah in wheel position the first day of the race, but it is the frame that should be noticed. (We put this photo in the frame, since the one that came with it was one we had already made into an 8×10 and had hanging, but the frame is made of hand-stamped leather.) Kawlijah’s name, character, birth and death dates, and “gone but not forgotten” inscription have all been put in. It blows my mind to think of the time someone put in to making this for us. Truly heartfelt.

This photo is Kawlijah and Cole coming down front street. The person who took this photo visited with Kawlijah after the race, while he was busy causing trouble in the doglot in Nome. His exhuberance quickly won her and her sister over. This photo now sits in the windowsill of our kitchen, where we see it during breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This last one is an abstract image, sent in Kawlijah’s memory. Much like the grouse, this picture often inspires me to think about the spirit of the dogs around me. For this reason it sits on my desk in our office, where I can look at it inbetween looking out the office window at the dogs playing in the yard.