Ok, so no our new addition to our family is not a new baby, but instead it is a new dog! :) Before we went down to Montana this past summer, I was searching for a husky type dog. I figured since we live in such a cold place and the girls are getting into mushing, a husky might be a good fit. My searches for a husky in Alaska kept coming up with the Alaska Husky which is more of a mutt looking dog. They are mostly bred for racing and taken from different breeds to make a dog that is a good runner. Although these types of dogs would be good for mushing, I wanted a dog that looked like a husky, would be good with kids, could be inside with us, and would pull the girls on a kick sled. Not asking much right? :) Well, I wasn't finding what I wanted, so when I got down to MT, I did a search. Up came a picture of a beautiful 5 month old Husky, Malamute, Wolf cross in a town not too far from where my parents live. When my mom saw the picture, she said "I'm already in love with her.". We called and set up an appointment to take a look at her.
While we were waiting for the day to come to look at her, I called Ross on the Sat phone. We try to not call on the Sat phone as it is expensive, but I needed to pass the dog by him before we went to look at her. His mind was not on choosing a dog, but very much on fishing. He just quickly said, "Use your best judgement!" I was concerned about the wolf part of her breeding so I was a little apprehensive about seeing her. I was even more apprehensive when we pulled up to her owner's place and they lived in a trailer court. When we saw the puppy she was very friendly and seemed to do very well with the girls. The family who owned her had six kids of their own, so I knew she would be use to kids. The girls fell in love with her and begged me to get her. Still a little concerned about the wolf in her, I was going back and forth. The girls kept on begging and I finally gave in.
She was quite scared of the car and we hadn't brought a dog crate. She ended up pooping on me twice and peeing on me several times during the car trip home. Let's just say it was not a pleasant ride home! Shortly after we brought her home, Ross called while I was out of the house. He had finally had time to think about venturing into getting another dog (we had a great dog that we left behind in MT when we moved to Galena who died of heart failure that first winter after we moved) and had decided it wasn't time yet. Galena is an expensive place to have a dog, especially if one does much traveling. It is expensive to ship the dog food in and expensive to ship a dog in and out on a plane. Ross had decided we should wait and besides if we were to get a dog, he wanted another lab like our Carbon we had before. Oops! It was too late! The minute my mom answered the phone, she started telling him about the new dog and how pretty she was and what a good dog she was. He said to use my best judgement and I did!!! I was hoping I made the right decision!
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| The girls with Vallie shortly after we brought her to the ranch. |
The people we got Vallie from had already named her Valentine, because she had a heart shape on her forehead. I asked the girls if the wanted to keep that name for her and they said they did. I didn't want to have to say, "Valentine" every time we called her, so I asked if we could shorten it to Vallie and they agreed. Sadly, the heart shape has started disappearing as she's gotten older so Valentine doesn't really apply anymore but Vallie has stuck.
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| My mom is an animal lover and fell in love with Vallie the minute she saw her. |
I was really beginning to question my choice to get Vallie this summer. We visited different people and were on the road quite a bit, making it hard to be consistent. It is also hard to potty train a dog in someone else's house. After she chewed up quite a few things at my sister's house and ran away from me several times, I was getting quite frustrated with her. She was also a scaredy cat. She seemed to be scared of everything...vehicles, the four-wheeler, horses, cows, water, etc. I think she just wasn't exposed to anything outside the fenced in yard as a puppy and didn't bond to us during her early puppy stages so it took a bit for her to trust us. The flight up and spending time in the suburban with us while we were barge shopping and then driving to Nenana and on to Fairbanks really made her bond to us more. She started out the trip scared to even go near a vehicle, but by the end jumping right into the suburban on her own as she didn't want to be separated from the girls and I.
When we got to Galena, Ross really liked Vallie and thought she was a beautiful dog. However, Vallie is very submissive and any time he would get on her a little bit for not obeying, she would piddle on the floor. We are wondering if there was abuse in her past as she seems to have fear of men at times, but loves women and children. As time has gone on, Vallie and Ross have bonded and she has gained trust in him. Now she is Ross' trapping buddy. She LOVES being outside. As you can see by the pictures below, our girls love her and she loves them.
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| The girls and Vallie during a Fall photo shoot I took in Galena. |
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| I love the look of joy on Marina's face as Vallie is licking her! |
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| This girl LOVES her dog. She tells me almost every day, "Thank you Mom, for getting us a dog." |
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Mackenzie is definitely a kid that needs a pet. There's that tongue again!
Vallie is a licky dog, something we are trying to teach her not to do so much of. |
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| I love this picture of Marina and Vallie peering over the Fall grasses in a grass lake here in Galena. |
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| Enjoying a walk together! |
With winter approaching, we couldn't wait to see how Vallie did pulling the girls. We didn't have a harness purchased yet, but when Marina and I were flown out on the life flight for her accident the people we staid with gave us a harness for her. It had finally snowed enough for us to try the harness out on Vallie in mid November. Vallie took right to it and leaned into the harness right away! We were so excited! She needs some encouragement to stay on course and not wander wherever she wants. We use lots of treats and run beside her to encourage her at times. We need a good lead dog to teach her the ropes. We don't know what we are doing when it comes to teaching a dog about mushing, but we are having fun trying! Vallie is still pretty young so we don't do much at a time. Just enough to give her a little taste. The girls would go all day, taking turns being pulled by her, but we have had to remind them that she is still young and we can't overwork her.
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| Ross and the girls headed out during Vallie's first time pulling. |
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| Marina having a blast! |
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| Aubrey, saying "Hike!" |
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| "Awww, this is so much fun!" says Mackenzie. |
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| Our family with Vallie on the frozen slough behind our house. |
