Dora

Here is another dog that is going to make a great leader. I have run her with Risk almost as many times as Olive this winter. Dora is very much like her mother, Blitzi, because she has the strong desire to please and she gives everything she has every time she is out. She is certainly the most confident and assertive of her litter (Taiga, Jinx and Chili) and she can be a bit bossy already with the other dogs.

When Dora was very small - I think she was only four weeks old, maybe five - she escaped her puppy run and followed Blitzi down the driveway and off the property. Blitzi was trying to wean the puppies and had no way to get away from them, a poorly designed puppy run on my part, and so she took to climbing an eight foot wildlife fence. I'm not sure how Dora got out, but she did, and away she went, following her mom. It was a miserable night with a hard rain for most of it and we were late coming home. We pulled in the driveway and there was Blitzi with an absolutely heartbreaking look to her, laying beside the puppy run, presumably where Dora had escaped. I don't know if Blitzi knew Dora was following her, but she sure knew she was missing a puppy when she came back. We looked and looked for Dora, but Blitzi refused to leave the puppy run anymore that night. When it became evident that Dora wasn't lost on our property, Jenn put up signs for a lost dog and we heard nothing for a week. We did eventually get Dora back; a very kind neighbour had taken her in when she and another stray dog showed up at his place one night. He said that the stray had led Dora to his house and then taken off, leaving Dora behind. He had bought a big bag of food for her, a new collar and some toys and we felt pretty bad taking her back. We paid him the reward we had offered, but still... Anyway, we are very glad to have Dora back, she is turning into a very good sled dog and if we have learned anything from all of this it would be 'don't give your dog too adventurous a name.'