More Alaska Please!

While in Alaska I think Sable was spoiled... between my dad giving away (practically) free treats for minimal amounts of work and there always being new dogs for her to play with. She came home thinking play dates and free treats were her new way of life... little did she know.








She did learn the command 'sleep'... wherein she places her head on the ground as if she were going to sleep, but the eyes bulging out of her head, looking for any sign of food, is a dead give away that she is NOT in fact sleeping. The good that came out of the free treat concept... was that while she started out fearful of stairs and stools (things she could see through) she ended up being able to climb both by the end of the trip.

Mocha, 'the grumpy old lady', knows that climbing onto the top of bar stools gets her a free snack so she already does this on a regular basis without prompting.






I think my favorite moment was when my dad got both Mocha and Sable to share a foot stool... until Mocha shoved Sale off knowing that there was a treat to be had (Mocha doesn't like sharing).










Sable also learned out to swim on the trip. Fetching sticks from out of the water for the first time! At first there was a mad dash to the stick, then a look of utter confusion when the water was past her elbows.



Eventually there was the 'oops' moment where she ran too deep into the water and the immediate 'ah ha! I can swim' revelation comes to her as her feet start kicking for solid ground. It wasn't long before the confusion lead to Sable realizing that water was her destiny... getting her out became the bigger issue.



For more active outdoor time, we had looked for some sort of dog harness that Sable could learn to pull on. She loves to pull no matter what collar she has on, so we figured helping her release that energy was going to be easier than wrangling it. We bought an official dog mushing harness... built much better for running that the consumer oriented international pet store chain versions.


















We tested out the new harness at Angel Rocks, a hike frequented by many a Fairbanksian. It was handy when she pulled us uphill, but less awesome heading back down. Luckily Sable was quite tired from the uphill hike making her pulling a little more manageable on the way down.

Leaving Alaska was hard... another three day drive was a daunting task to look forward to, but Sable's entertainment never ceased to amaze me. I think one of the highlights was her attitude toward wildlife on the road. Unlike most places, wildlife here does not move off the road with any sort of initiative... you basically have to drive slowly around it as it stares at you.

The video below was taken after we came upon some sheep that seemed much less interested in us and much more interested in the gravel they were eating... despite Sable's confused 'Boof' from the back seat.