On a Pandemic Summer: Or, how we survived without puppies

It’s the first week of September, and the months of the summer seem both impossibly long and also seemed to have passed impossibly fast. The suspended animation of the pandemic spring, and the groundhog-day feeling of the pandemic summer. I’m writing now not to comment on the social/ political/ actual trends of the pandemic, but recognize that, for the first time in a decade, I was home every day with the dogs. Every. Day.

I loved it. I’ve grown closer to the dogs than I ever have.

My current day job, and the day job I had before it, involves long days and traveling away from home. I relied on dog sitters, house sitters, and was always in a rush in the dogyard, just slopping water in bowls and getting through in 10 minutes. Sometimes on weekends I’d find myself spending over an hour with the dogs, and then annoyed that I ‘didn’t have time to do other things.’ Last summer, I decided to reframe things differently, and dedicate just as much time to the dogs in the summer as I did in the winter. Easier said than done, as I was still flung all over NH and VT for work, and had two litters that distracted me from the adults.

This year: No Puppies. No travel. Just me, and the dogs.

Gemma and Oriana on Mt Crag, one of our one-hour hikes.

In the daily dog routine, things became so settled and expected. I fed the dogs at the same time every morning, and the same time every evening. It was always me doing chores (although occasionally I’d let Chuck do them, as he loves them too), and without a rush to go somewhere I found that dog chores was taking 45 minutes. Dog chores also grew that long because I decided to train the dogs to be quiet at feeding time, which requires unbelievable patiences, and a lot of time as I had to stop every time a dog barked. This quiet feeding training gave a focus to the team, and myself, especially to the nine young puppies just coming of age and melding into the team. The dogs became quieter, settled, less likely to go bananas in the crepuscular hours, the result of a dog team that is totally satisfied and content.

Surrounded by my favorite mountains, we went for lots of hikes. Right in the geography of Shelburne, there is an array of options from one-hour to three-hours to full-day expeditions. I paired young dogs with older dogs, focusing in on the nine pups that I hadn’t seen all winter. When it got hot, I switched to the mountain bike, riding on a dirt road in town in the early mornings or evenings. When it got really hot, I stopped hiking and went swimming, and just spent more time in the dogyard during chores, brushing everyone and topping off their water buckets. Without much variation, that was the summer.

The dogs and I did fall into a routine, of pairings and hikes. Here’s a sampling:

Bruce and Loki (BFFs) at Upper Gentian Pond in July. Upper Gentian Pond is part of the ‘Mahoosuc Pond Tour’, a 7 mile loop that passes three mountain ponds: Gentian, Upper Gentian, and Dream Lake.

(The Undefeated) Spiller spent her summer surrounded on all four sides by the puppies Jameson, Speck!, and Wocket. Spiller loves puppies, and played with (and yelled at) those three boys constantly. A high energy girl, Spiller went on a lot of hikes and grew especially fond of Jameson. When it got hot, Spiller and Jameson went on bike rides a lot, Jameson driving ahead and Spiller hanging out by me on the bike.

Bruce Springsteen and Loki became BFFs. Like seriously. BFFs. I never would have predicted this, as Loki is socially awkward with boy dogs and Bruce is kind of an a-hole with most dogs. They became neighbors in early spring, and they played so much with each other that Bruce broke two houses trying to get closer to Loki. I adapted the dogyard to meet their needs, moved them to a back corner so no one would bark and holler at them, envious of their love for each other as they played constantly (JB and Willie hollered at them because they could see what was going on, and Flora hollered at them because she couldn’t see what was going on. I moved them closer to Flora, and out of the way of JB and Wilie). I also paired them for hikes as well, short ones to Mt Cabot and longer ones around the Mahoosuc Ponds: the adventure boys. I had to build a special containment system for Bruce, as he got loose almost weekly and broke three houses. He’s got a lot of energy.

Marian, Page, and Skee spent the summer next to each other in a trio, off in the woods by themselves. Puppies with completely different genetic makeups, it was always hilarious to me to walk into their zone and see Marian and Page standing calm and spooky like their dad Hawkeye, and Skee Ball ping-ponging around like her dad Zippo. Page loved yelling at everything: thunderstorms, her sister Marian, and occasionally a biker on the road. Marian went on a few more hikes than the others, she seemed to request it.

Ariel and Aurora never fully accepted (especially Ariel) their status as non-house dogs when we moved back to Shelburne. Ariel responded by digging a complex array of holes, and Aurora played with her baby Squan. I did take the sisters for a hike at the end of the summer, and realized how much I’d missed them.

Oriana Fallaci on a trip to Upton, late August.

Orchid, the most playful of them all, went on playdates to visit our friend Maia and Zack and their dog Bueno. Orchid would zoom around the yard, quickly tiring out Bueno who was half her size. A good natured, and chubby, girl, this was a great way to spend time with Orchid as she overheats easily in summer. She spent her summer next to her brother Hoss.

There is a list of adult dogs that really liked to go out for hikes solo: Flora, Gemma, Oriana, and Rocky. I did pair them with other dogs, or other adults, but honestly they did best by themselves. They relax and enjoy the one on one time.

Gem spent her summer playing with her bone collection, wrassling with Willie, and chewing on Riptide. Gem went on a few hikes, usually the shorter ones, and she did great with Riptide as a partner. Riptide is a calmer more emotional dog, and the times I took him out with the bossy Spiller she was a bit too much for him.

The serious older lead dogs of Foxtrot and Jasmine spent their summer sleeping under their houses and watching me. Apparently summer is just one long checkpoint for them.

And then, there’s Speck! Pond. Who got spoiled as the primary partner for my trips to Upton to mow the grass and get away. Speck! has grown into a monster of a dog, apparently the only one of the pups I kept who inherited his dad’s giant frame. Speck! and Jameson spent the summer next to each other, completely content and playful, excepting the one time I went out there and they were both standing looking sheepish, with the faces all blown up from a face-biting fight. Someone had tripped up something, and they both overreacted and knew it. They’ve gotten along just fine since.

It’s time to look ahead. In two weeks, the dogs will officially move to Upton to start training (September 16th is the big day!). There are going to be some new support changes this year, with new caretakers in Shelburne for my siblings and adding a second musher (!!!) to the team. I have no idea if races will run, and if they do run, what they will be like. How I will feel.

With dogs, it requires being in the moment but also looking ahead and training for a goal. It feels strange to start training without a goal in mind, but it also felt strange last year to start training so late and not be training for 200 mile races. We are in strange times, and maybe for now, the goal is just to be with the dogs, on the trail.

It’s time.