Chco is Finally Home

So Choco is home for good. Sarah and Jeffy went out to the sled dog kennel and picked him up. There was a lot of preparation though. I sunk a heavy duty chain stake near the front door so we can let him out in the morning and not have to worry about him chasing seagulls---his new favorite hobby. Then, we had to get him a new collar, doggy bowls, etc. My arms are so sore from excavating his kennel that I can barely type. You ever try to dig a trench near Lake Michigan? Well, you can’t dig---you take the pick-Ax and inch by inch slowly chip away. I have piles of rocks. I finally got the treated lumber down horizontally about 10 inches so he can’t dig himself out. Then, I put the twelve inch treated lumber up vertically around the edge of the kennel and back filled the whole thing with pea-gravel on top of landscape fabric. I don’t remember bow many wheel-barrow loads of pea gravel I moved. I only know I am pleasantly sore and tired.

My Sarah is home for break and asked for shish-ka-bob for one of her meals. Thus, I trudged in after excavating and washed up and made an incredible meal. I had some filet of beef that is very tender and I cut it up in chunks enough to make a chef cry. However, I kept a few outside chunks for Choco. I never saw a dog eat raw beef quite that fast---but it’s ok, he had a ten-mile run with the team tonight before we picked him up. He is very happy in his new home with all the attention and the new digs.

I took him outside after dinner and ran him around the yard. I fell down on the grass and wrestled with him for a moment---but he didn’t stay with me. He kept going back to the door and wanted to go inside. I thought that is unusual for a sled dog---wanting to go back inside. In fact, he just always seems to want to be inside now. I guess that’s because Sarah and Lorhel and Jeffy just continually pet him. Not only that, the “She-Bear”, Queen of the Naubinway Nook has taken to him too—giving him little treats here and there and filling up his water bowl continually, etc. What the hell, can you blame him? He’s been sleeping outside for four years---tied to a chain and his only pleasure being to tow the sled and get a snack of chicken fat after. He must be in frickin’ doggy heaven right now. Yeah, he’s definitely adopted, he’s definitely home. He’s definitely aspiring to be an inside dog now.

In a way that’s a bit sad---taking this wild thing inside from the great outdoors and domesticating him. On the other hand, I think he’ll still want to run. We have Jeffy’s light-weight ATV available for him. We’ll get him a harness and let him tow the ATV up and down the road for the warm months. Come winter, I’ll share him with my other sled-dog loving buddies and team him up with other local sled dogs and run, run, run.

Choco had lightened up my life beyond belief. He’s a happy go lucky bundle of joy. He puts life into perspective---eat, drink, run, what else is there? I gotta teach him not to jump up on the dining room table though. You just haven’t lived until you see a 70 pound sled dog jump up onto your thousand dollar dining room table and smile a huge smile. I was laughing so hard I didn’t care about the scratches. It’s a damn good thing Jomay didn’t see that.