Greetings from Alaska, where humans struggle to survive the harsh winter, and hounds stand by and watch their pitiable efforts.
Our household consists of 4 humans, two of which are adults and two of which are teenagers. More importantly, our house contains a total of three, yes three, hounds. Not calm, lay by the fire and snooze hounds, but three in your face, full of noise, looking for trouble, bundles of energy hounds!
The first hound of the household was Dimond Willow. (spelled the Alaskan way) She is a beautiful Treeing Walker Coonhound who joined our family as a pup, and is now 7 years old.
The second hound to join our house was Molly, a Bluetick Coonhound/Treeing Walker mix. Molly was adopted at the age of 8 from a man who was retiring from his job in Alaska and would be traveling extensively in the future. Molly is now 12 years old, and still going strong!
Gus, a liver and tan Bloodhound, was the third hound to join our household. He was the hound that turned the dogs into a pack, with all the trials and tribulations that go along with having a pack of boisterous hounds. Gus came to us as a 10 week old puppy, and is now 2 1/2 years old.
We love our hounds, and it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to keep them safe and sound while living in Alaska. Our winters are long, dark and harsh, and exercising dogs meant for living in warmer climates always presents a challenge. Warm dog coats and extra-large booties are a must during the coldest weather.
In this blog, I hope to chronicle not only the amusement of living with 3 hounds, but to give a little insight into living in the far north city of Fairbanks, Alaska.
