Maverick

‘Sounds like you need some dogs’, Sarah Tarlton turned to me at the mushers meeting of Copper Dog, after hearing my comment that I had dropped to the 80 because I didn’t have 10 dogs. ‘You want to do a dog deal?’ I raised my eyebrows, ‘I’m in.’ In their trailer, we talked about what I needed to add and out popped a big black head. ‘Pointy ears’ I said, and Ryan pulled out a large strong sleek dog, promptly sticking his head into a bowl of water and food, completely relaxed and comfortable.

‘That’s Maverick.’

Mav got the blessing of Al Borak, who had run him in Stage Stop that year, and Mav went onto the truck. It was only when I got home when I realized for all of Mav’s strengths, and he has a lot of them, he makes this ungodly noise somewhere between a scream and a foghorn, whenever he gets excited or has FOMO, which it turns out is often. Lynne Witte referred to it as his ‘happy laugh,’ but honestly it still kind of drives me crazy.

Maverick quickly moved to the front of the team, and is quickly learning how to be a distance dog. He’s learned about commands, rough trail, and to listen. He pairs really well with Stitch, as they are similarly sized and gaited, and Stitch is big enough to counter when Mav boldly makes the wrong choice. That said, it’s been awhile since Mav has made the wrong choice and instead he is starting to show he knows his commands and finds joy in getting things right.