Juniper the husky lays in her bed with a Casita camper in the background

March 16, 2021 by Subalpine design

Juniper’s First Campout

The new year brought a sad parting with our 15yo husky-malamute, Pakak, the pup, the last of our original pack of seven dogs. The house sat quiet and empty for about a week while we allowed ourselves some time. Having spent the last 18 years with a family of four husky-malamutes, we knew we wanted another husky or malamute, a sled dog, a northern breed. We also wanted another rescue dog, so we started looking around our local humane societies and Colorado based breed specific rescues.

Pakak on the Chama River, September 2020

We had every intent of adopting a slightly older dog. We were open to about 2-5 year olds, thinking they may have tougher times finding homes. Through Taysia Blue Husky Rescue, we ended up on the puppy list and within about a week of that, we were notified about and jumped on the opportunity to adopt Juniper.

Her name with her foster family was Olive. She was the only girl in a litter of five named after taco toppings: Pico, Guac, Salsa and Queso. We still had to wait two weeks for her to be old enough to pick up over a weekend haul to Kansas City, at the beginning of February, traversing precarious highways, in snow and freezing fog.

Juniper and her littermates, photos courtesy of Taysia Blue and their foster family

It was so worth it, and she’s been the perfect match. She sleeps in the car yet is adventurous. She loves all the people we meet. We need more experiences with dogs. She was introduced to other dogs in her foster family. The few she’s met around town, she has mostly ignored. She has slept through the night and been the easiest pup we’ve ever had to house-train. To celebrate a month with Juniper and four months since her birthday, we took advantage of a small spring-like window in the weather to camp on the Chama River.

I’ve written about this camping spot before and painted it. We usually seem to visit over shoulder seasons. When we’re lucky there are boaters to watch. This weekend our only nearby neighbors were geese and cows, although we did hear owls and coyotes.