Succession plan... Meet Starbuck!

Autumn and Linden will turn 15 this year, and are in excellent health. However, I'm not one to be in denial, and I do know that they have already outlived all of their siblings, and are older than any of their parents or grandparents were when they passed away.

They are also the sweetest, smartest, lovingest, cuddliest, fuzziest, wuzziest dogs that I have ever known, and I know that their passing will be exceedingly difficult on me.

I thought it might help to get our next dog now, so Autumn and Linden can teach her how to behave in our home. Also, so we can all bond with her so that when the sad day comes that either Autumn or Linden goes, she will be more of a comfort to us since she'll already have been part of the family.

At first I called Autumn's and Linden's original family, and the two suggestions that came up were Burt (their nephew):


and Lily (their niece):


However, neither worked out. Lily was too dominant and would have been a stress source rather than a companion. Burt was sweet, but he was already 10 and might not have served so well in the succession plan...

I decided to sit on the search for a while since I was in no hurry. Better to wait until we found the perfect match rather than one that would upset the old ladies' retirement! Then one day I received the following mass email to the UAF grad student email list:

Beautiful, sweet Alaskan husky looking for a pet home. Spayed, 7 yr old. 40 lb, female. Black, great fur, house trained, super friendly and loving with people and dogs. Is tired of the tour business and needs to sleep on somebodies bed :)

It sounded like a good fit to me!

We went to meet her last weekend. Her name is Starbuck (first mate of the Pequod!), and she was as sweet as her description. The girls liked her fine; they all did a polite mutual butt-sniffing, and nobody raised their hackles:


And she is very cuddly:




She is very well socialized from working for a sledding operation that gives rides to tourists. All of the dogs there were unusually friendly and kissy. Even the giant malamutes rolled over for belly rubs and wanted to be held and cuddled.

We'll be bringing her home for a trial this weekend! :~D

Oh, and in other news, behbehreindeer!!