The wired-haired pointer started to come of age. He had been used for most purposes; pulling, packing, hunting, tracking, guarding and for the last few years, babysitting. The wife was very fond of this scruffy and stubborn beast….but had some vague memories from her teenage years as the owner of a rather dubious Greenland dog and as a co-owner of a beautiful, but unwilling- to- pull Malemute female, Tote-Um's Ballard Queen (Nino).
“I would like a polar dog next”, she announced to her husband during breakfast one morning. A polar dog??? He had been brought up in civilized surroundings together with a most peculiar Golden Retriver named Lotte. Besides, the adjustment to the energetic pointer had been a long and somewhat painful process.
The weeks went by and one day the husband was careless enough to mention that someone he knew through work had a pregnant Siberian Husky. When the couple a bit later met the man during the opening of an exhibition, and the wife begged her husband to ask for a puppy, the craze had slowly begun.
They went to look at the puppies in July. They were just about born, but the wife was eager. In September they went to bring the new family member home. The husband and wife had made a superficial agreement that one Siberian and one wire-haired pointer satisfied most of their needs.
At the kennel they picked a male they both liked. The problem was that there was one female left…….” I’ll take this too”, the wife said and avoided eye contact with her husband. “ A wise choice. Then they can keep each other company”, the owner of the litter said and went to find a cardboard box they could transport their new family members home in. The husband usually grew silent in uncomfortable situations, such as now.
Half way home they stopped so the wife could breastfeed their little son. She smiled tentatively towards her husband while their 5 year old daughter, their 12 year old limp pointer and two 8 week old Siberians were running around beside the road. From the outside it all looked like the perfect family idyll.
The wife had maternity leave and with that time to think of new projects home on the farm. “We need a new dog yard”, she said two days after they had brought the puppies home. “ It can wait a while”, he said…but the dog yard was soon under construction.
Nearly three months went by without other projects being brought to the table. It all seemed peaceful and quiet, but the wife worked secretly on. She enrolled in the National Husky Organisation and the local sled dog club, she took on some work in the local sports shop to finance an expensive headlamp, and while her husband was at work the postman constantly delivered packages ordered on the net containing books, videos, calendars, sweaters, pins ….the wife worked hard to infect her husband and children with her own sled dog-bug.
After Christmas it was the husband’s turn to stay home with the baby. In the beginning the wife didn’t notice anything in particular and thought her plan to influence him was about to fail, but then…She came home and found the documentary about the Iditarod 2000 in their VCR, books about sled dogs were left open around the house, and after some weeks he announced: “We are not going to have more than five”. ”That’s ok”, she said and tried to seem unaffected. They both knew he wasn’t talking about children.
Their Easter vacation in the mountains that year was a success. Tuva was skijoring with a good-natured young male, and even with two small children the family could surprisingly travel pretty long distances.
In June the wife telephoned another kennel. A website had made an impression. The owner could confirm that she had 2 litters and welcomed the newly infected sled dog fanatic to come and have a look. She returned from the kennel with an all white male puppy. “He can be yours”, she told her daughter, who without hesitation named the dog Balto after the dog in the movie she had received as a present from….you’ re right…her mother.
The pointer did a great job with making Balto feel at home, before he went to “the other side”. The grieving period was hard, but what could be a better cure than buying a new dog?! A new dog from the same kennel was introduced to the rest of the pack.
When summer came to an end, fall was used to train on dirt roads with a Van Dyck wagon kindly lent them by a friendly Alaska Husky driving neighbour. Such carts were truly amazing, maybe they should….???
Winter came fast, too fast. It snowed in the second week of October and it neverleft the ground…The wife had received a new and bigger dog yard as a present in connection with her 40th birthday. Increase in the number of dogs made it necessary. Friends and family contributed with money both to buy mortar and materials for more dog houses as well as spending days helping with the actual work. The snow stopped them from finishing the new division of the kennel.
Another kind Alaska driving neighbour lent them a sort of sled the first months they tried out nomestyle with their “team”. A very homemade sort of sled, BUT it worked. Especially if you wanted a combined strength and sled session. It wasn’t exactly flexible. The neighbours used the sled as a base for a cosy bonfire next spring.
”I want to build a sled” the husband exclaimed in November. At first the wife was in doubt as to whether this was a good idea. They were still dependent on another homemade sled, remember? Her fear was unfounded. In January they had the maiden voyage with their new sled, and what a change! The trips were from then on more characterized by trying to co-operate with the dogs rather than intensive strength work-outs trying to keep the sled on the right track.
“Am I going to take the children or the dogs?” They had for a long time realized that they had to have a new car. A station wagon can only have room for 2 adults, 2 children and 4 huskies for a very limited time. The hunt for a 4 door pick-up truck at a reasonable price had started. In February they heard of a pick-up for sale from an idealistic but havocked farming co-operative. In March the car was theirs. A dogbox was built and mounted at an impressing speed.
Just before Easter the wife met a dogdriver who had a racing sled gathering dust in the barn….for sale. It would suit for instance Tuva perfectly, who at the age of six and a half year had her future carved out;” I’m going to become a pop star and a professional dogdriver when I grow up”. The sled was taken home on trial, and soon became a natural part of their new doglife interior. During their traditional Easter vacation in the mountains the weather was lovely. A pity that they only had one 4 dog team, imagine how far two 4 dogs teams could have brought them?!
There are many great Siberians in Norway…and in the rest of Scandinavia, in other parts of Europe, not to mention the rest of the world! The wife surfed the Net looking for interesting Siberian kennels, and sometimes the husband brought her down to Mother Earth, since his two feet were still on it!” We agreed on 5”, he said. “5 is just a number”, his wife replied distantly.
Yesterday, they brought home what they consider to be the last equipment necessary to lead a satisfactory doglife( did I hear laughter?)- a cart to use for spring-and fall-training. A former pupil(the wife teaches at an upper secondary school) had made a splendid cart, but wanted to reduce the number of dogs and didn’t need the cart any longer. How lucky can you get?!
The snow has melted, and they can finish the dogyard. They just haven’t agreed exactly on the size of it yet.
Kari
