Nellie B. Dawg

Into Winter We Go!

Our Alaska winter is on and Nellie B. is getting more used to playing in extreme cold (and so are we!).

It was zero degrees today, and I guess that means winter is here in Alaska. As it gets colder, I feel more guilt knowing that we hauled Nellie up here to a place that might as well be on another planet. Remember, this is a doggie from California who has never known anything but mild weather.

Nellie's first "real" snow day. — Nellie’s first “real” snow day.

Nellie had no clue what lay ahead when we arrived in August. And if I have to admit, we were pretty clueless too (and still are!).

But we also know how much she loves the freedom up here. There’s lots more off-leash wandering, and crazy smells she’s never enjoyed before.

Like anything, there’s a price to pay for all this adventure. And right now, it’s the temperatures. Nellie has made it clear that she isn’t a fan of extreme cold or the dark days of winter.

*Behind our cabin on Willow Lake, location of the Ididarod re-start in March.*

Every morning it takes at least 15 minutes to get us, and her, dressed to go outside. Layer after layer we cover up, and then put on a headlamp because now it’s dark until about 9:30 am, and (then returns about 3:30 pm).

Finally, we make it outside to take her out to potty, and almost every time our walk lasts about 10 minutes at most. Without fail, she wants to come back inside as soon as she’s done.

Still, on other days, she has a blast. Especially when she visits the local teams of sled dogs. At the advice of our expert mushing friends, we are trying to let her coat acclimate. The colder it gets, they tell us, the more her coat will thicken and keep her warm. As a double-coated dog, we are supposed to be doing her a favor by letting her go outside naked!

But I can’t do it, at least all the time. So as a compromise, she only wears her Ruffwear Climate Changer fleece sweater when temps dip to about 10-degrees. And when it drops down to sub-zero, she wears her Ruffwear Powder Hound puffer jacket. Our musher friends say that’s totally fine.

"Let me lick that sweat so you don't go hypothermic, mom!" — *“Let me lick that sweat so you don’t go hypothermic, mom!”*

We suspect that osteoarthritis could be why she isn’t a fan of cold. So we found a great vet nearby and started her on Librela, the prescription monoclonal antibody therapy for OA that just made it to the US. She is also taking a new, interesting joint supplement called Jope. We’ll fill you in on both very soon.

Another crazy thing we’ve learned is how to walk her on ice. WOW that has been an eye opener. I’ll save that for another post, because we have learned a LOT about ice and dog booties. Anyone with a Tripawd, or other special needs or senior dog who lives in icy conditions during winter has my deepest respect and admiration!

Snow Day!

Nellie plays in her first snowfall in Willow, Alaska, October 2023

We are pretty sure this Northern California girldog has never seen anything like it.

Nellies First Snow October 2023 Willow Alaska — *“Um, what is this stuff?”*

The white stuff rained down from the sky last week, surprising all of us. “What? Already?” we thought. All of us woke up to see a wintery wonderland in our yard.

Nellie was curious, and with her best brave German Shepherd attitude, went out on our deck to investigate.

Nellie investigates her First Snow October 2023 Willow Alaska — *You mean I can PLAY in it?”*

She LOVES the stuff! Only thing is, she tried eating it up too. Mouthfuls of it!

Nellie eats snow October 2023 Willow Alaska — “I got it!”

We remembered how Wyatt Ray did that when he saw snow. Well, he pretty much thought anything was edible. Once we took him to the Pacific Coast and he wouldn’t stop eating sand. He started shoveling tons of it into his mouth and pooped sand for weeks!

We hope Nellie is more discerning. And we also hope the snow doesn’t pose too much of a problem for her wonky leg and arthritis. That’s something we will keep a close eye on this winter.

Nellie eats a snowball — *“Can you add some bubblegum flavor to it?”*

She had a blast though, and so did we. There’s nothing like seeing a dog’s reaction to snow, especially when they’ve probably never seen it before.

The snow stuck long enough to toss a few snowballs around. But it disappeared by the end of the afternoon. I can’t say we were sad about that.

Nellie was bummed though, she wanted more playtime in the white stuff.

Don’t worry Nellie, there is plenty more where that came from. Just you wait little Snow Princess!

She’s the One

Welcome to Nellie’s Story

Nellie’s blog has been a long-time in the works, but now that I’m sitting here doing it, I’m not sure where to begin. There’s a lot to say, but I’ll just start by saying how madly in love we are with this very sweet rescue pup.

Three and a half legged German Shepherd Dog Nellie — *Nellie’s first month on the road with us, June 2022*

Nellie’s Gotcha Day Anniversary post gives her whole backstory. But here it is in a nutshell:

Found wandering the mean streets of San Jose with a bloody paw and wonky leg, she was 48 hours from being euthanized when I saw her shelter profile. Nellie was such a trainwreck she didn’t even make it onto the list of adoptable animals. Fifteen pounds overweight and with a bum leg, her prospects of getting adopted were slim to none. Shelters are bursting at the seams these days with younger, smaller, more “adoptable” dogs, so she had little chance of ever making it out.

She wasn’t going to leave the shelter unless we took her out.

But when I saw her holding that leg up, I knew we had to go get her. It wasn’t because she reminded me of Jerry. Or that I’m a sucker for pointy eared dogs. It was just something about her that called out to me. I’m fortunate that Jim also saw something in her eyes too. This video helped.

Maybe it was her gentle demeanor, but with an occasional streak of that German Shepherd attitude and feistiness that we love. Or maybe it was the way she just fell into place with our weird doghouse on wheels. Heck, she’s not even an official Tripawd. But who cares? She’s incredible. It didn’t take more than a month before we knew. She was the One.

Today I look at her and it breaks my heart just thinking about the kind of neglected life she had before this one. Or all of the great dogs like her who deserve great homes. I take some comfort knowing that we are doing what we can for at least one of them.