I enjoy getting updates on my retired sled dogs.
In my March 16th column, I reminisced about several dogs from my past Iditarod teams who I will always respect and love. One of those dogs was Garnet, an Alaskan Husky/ Greyhound mix who finished the 2004 Iditarod in my team as a 13 year old. After that Iditarod, I decided to retire “the old man,” not because he was out of energy or the desire to run, but because he was slowing down just a notch, holding the younger dogs back.
l like to find good homes for my retired sled dogs where they will get all kinds of good loving and even become couch potatoes. And it’s perfect when I find a pet home where the dogs can continue to do what they were bred to do, what they love to do.
I was thrilled to get an update on “my old man” right after my last column was published. Garnet’s new owner, Ray from Veteran, Alberta, sent me this e-mail.
“Saw your column today,” Ray wrote. “I thought I should let you know that Garnet is still running strong. We use him in our rec (recreational) team and he still loves to run and is a good puller. I keep waiting for him to show his age...”
Amazing. Garnet is now 15 years old and still trucking. He even fathered his first litter of pups at Ray’s kennel.
It’s important for me to keep contact with the owners of my retired sled dogs. I want to know all of the dogs are happy and healthy in their new life. And after my November 17, 2005 column, I’ve received many e-mails from readers wanting to know the same thing about Walla Walla, the naked sled dog.
Walla Walla was an Alaskan Husky raised at a fellow musher’s kennel. Like her sisters, Onion and Vidalia, she was born with a beautiful, silky white coat. But at just under a year old, she started to lose her hair, slowly at first and then in big patches. Several veterinarians tried different treatments to cure her but nothing seemed to work.
Two years later, I was visiting the kennel and stumbled across Walla Walla - bald and very lonely. Because of her continuing skin problems, the musher had given up hope. I felt sorry for her - she was left out, a freak. I brought her home.
Dr. Andrea Simonsen, a wonderful veterinarian in Dillon, diagnosed her with Demodectic Mange and gave me a plan for making Walla Walla well again. She told me to give her weekly baths with a Benzoyl Peroxide shampoo and keep her on anti-parasite medication until she had four negative skin scrapings.
So I scrubbed her and bathed her and loved her. I popped pills down her throat several times a day for almost 5 months. Over a month passed with no signs of new hair growth.
Then Walla Walla started to shed what little hair she had on her head and tail and legs. The hair fell off in clumps, a normal fall shedding cycle, but I was worried it wouldn’t stop falling out.
Finally, the shedding did stop. And with the cooler fall weather, Walla Walla started to grow new hair - this time not just in spots but all over her body.
It was a beautiful thing to watch - Walla Walla sprouting a new coat and a new life. She became more energetic and confident. And she was crazy to run with the sled dogs.
This winter she led my 6-dog sprint team at the Elkford Wilderness Classic Sled Dog Race in British Columbia. She’s a natural leader.
And she continued to grow hair - lots of it. Now she is completely clear of the mange and has beautiful white hair covering almost all of her body, except for a few quarter-size patches on her legs.
Just a few weeks ago, I adopted Walla Walla out to Kim and Bryan Busch, a couple from Billings who were looking to add a new skijoring dog to their family.
Skijoring is a sport where a dog (sometimes several) pulls someone on skis. Depending on the terrain, the skier either skis along and helps the dog on the flats and climbs or brakes on the steep downhills and sharp corners. It’s a sport that requires total communication behind the dog and skier.
The Busch’s first started skijoring with Jake, their husky/ lab mix who is now retired at age 13. Nowadays, Jake runs along side the skiers instead of in front of them pulling. They have another skijoring husky-mix, Willow, but wanted one more so that they could each ski with a dog. They called me to see if I had a dog that could help them.
I immediately thought of Walla Walla. My goal has always been to find her a good pet home where she will be loved and get to run. I thought Skijoring would be the perfect sport for her.
And it has been. The Busch’s are thrilled with her. And it’s a delight for me to see her healthy and running and in a great home. Especially when I think back to the time when she was bald and very sad.
No matter where I am, what I do, Garnet, Walla Walla, any of my sled dogs will always be important to me. Like a parent waiting for a call from their child away at school, I’m always happy to hear how my kids are doing.
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