The off-season is somehow impossibly long while also flying by. It’s already August and it’s begun to dip below 60 degrees in the early morning hours. Still, it feels like our last run was eons ago and it will continue to be too warm for awhile, it seems. In the mean time, we’ve had three newsworthy additions this summer.
First, Kuiper joined the pack at the end of May!
Kuiper was born in New Hampshire back in March, out of a litter bred by my friend, Megan, of Yukikaze Siberians. He’s a spunky, goofy, snappy little guy with the longest legs I’ve ever seen on a pup. I can’t wait to get him started with some easy-going puppy runs this fall and winter. Faye absolutely loves having a little brother to push around, although he’s already bigger than her.
A week after Kuiper arrived, his favorite person and our second big addition moved in. I’m only kind of joking—Kuiper immediately decided Sheridan was a safe space. Meanwhile, I am the “bad cop”/food-lady in the relationship. That’s OK, I have enough dogs following me around. Sheridan can have one or two.
Oh, and bonus additions with Sheridan: Soup and Bebbu now inhabit the newly renovated “Cat-shop” (formerly the workshop) in the barn. The family grows larger by several dozen toe beans.
The final big addition of the summer is non-living: we got a treadmill! The DogPACER, to be exact. I had wanted one for a long time, but they’re fairly expensive and I was afraid the dogs would hate it. Unfortunately, temperatures are constantly rising and the off-season gets longer every year, so the dogs aren’t getting much exercise on really hot days. Enter: treadmill in the air conditioning!
To my complete surprise, it only took a few days of practice for almost every (active) team member to start using it! Hopper took to it right away and is the leading champion for speed. He likes it so much, he’ll try to join other dogs while they’re using it.
Willow, Blitz, Hubble, and Atlas caught on really quickly as well. Laika and Faye took a bit more convincing, but both happily use it now. Sagan was the final hold out—it took weeks to get her to steadily walk for a few minutes before leaping off. Progress is progress, though, so we’ll take it! (Denali is a little too wobbly these days to safely try the treadmill and Kuiper is still too young for any real use)
That pretty much sums up our summer thus far: lots of changes and settling in, but all very, very good things. There are some other, business-as-usual things, like the garden and trips to visit New Jersey. We’re all ready for it to be fall, though.
