Dakota, Dog n.2 - Full Story

Dakota on his bed

Let me introduce you to Dakota !
Dakota is a

• cute, but big 
• 4 year old
• 40kg (around 88 pounds) heavy
• Alaskan Malamute/Lab mix 

We picked him up on January 2nd and will have him for 2-3 weeks.

Evil Husky puppy face

Dakota was brought to the Humane Society from Quebec and then adopted here in Toronto. He only stayed with his adoptive family for 3 days because they brought him back complaining about a lameness with one of his legs. He also had Giardia for a while which is cleared up now. We got him with a few medications (medication to increase appetite, decrease inflammation,...) and our main mission is to look for any problems in his legs while walking/playing with him. They did X-rays and everything at the humane society and they didn't find anything that would indicate any issues in his legs, and to be honest we haven't seen anything yet either, but I am not going to jump to conclusions about the adoptive parents...

Dakota and me

How did we get him:
I received an email from the humane society on January 1st (my birthday) about this dog (slightly bigger than Harry) that would just have to be watched for a bit. We said that we'd first check him out as we were informed that he had Giardia and could still transmit it. We went to the humane society on the 2nd and once we saw him and how playful he was, there was no question in our mind. Sam's exact words were "Sure we'll watch your perfectly healthy dog for a few weeks".

The daily life:
Dakota is a very very quiet and calm dog. He doesn't sleep as much as Harry, but he sits/lies around and just watches very intently, what we are doing. He's not as cuddly as Harry was, but he loves to get his chest stroked. We have never heard him bark, but occasionally (eg. when one of us is in the shower) he will whine a little bit - after all the shower is dangerous and with a closed door he wont be able to protect us, right ?
Sometimes when he hears suspicious noises outside the apartment he will start growling very deeply and then he'll give an occasional very scary, deep bark. The first time I heard it I sent a prayer to god because he did scare me quite a bit !
Walking him is really easy as he doesn't really pull - only when he sees a squirrel he will try to get closer to it, which is a challenge as he is so strong !

Alaskan Malamute/Lab

The dog:
As Dakota is a Alaskan Malamute mix we did some research. They live in (surprise) Alaska and were used as sleigh dogs. They are often mistaken for Huskies cause they look like one but their personalities are very, very different form Huskies. They can live in areas as cold as -70 degrees (OMFG !!) and George Lucas (FYI for all you non-geeky people: he invented Star Wars and Indiana Jones) had an Alaskan Malamute.

The Wookiee in Star Wars was created due to the inspiration that came from the Alaskan Malamute that George Lucas owned, and so did the name Indiana Jones (Lucas's dog's name was Indiana). This is why we decided to continue the (started) tradition and give him the full name: Dakota Jones.

Dakota appears to be a very, very smart dog. Actually so smart it sometimes scares me... He can sit and lie down (even just lightly patting his back makes him sit). He knows how to give paw (which I hate when dogs know), and if you tell him to sit and stay, he'll sit and stay until you tell him to go. He knew the building we lived in after just walking into it once (something Harry didn't seem to understand even after 4 weeks of living here) and Dakota knows to let us walk into the building/room before him.
He is very friendly to strangers, but a little bit more cautious than Harry was. And he is becoming quite protective over Sam and myself.

I don't care if he likes it or not... Sophia needs cuddle time.

The end:
After 10 days with us, I brought Dakota back. The reason he was brought back a few days earlier than expected was because he seemed fine at the doctors appointment and because they had a needier dog that needed a foster-home which I will tell you about in the next post.

And now for some closure:
Dear Dakota:
I'm very sorry that I had to leave you all alone in the room with the vet to finish your check-up but I am sure you understand that Polly needed me too. I already received an email that there may be someone interested in adopting you, so I am glad to hear that people already want you - doesn't come as much of a surprise though !! You're a gorgeous dog, taking you for walks and jogs was awesome as I have never felt safer. You were a great, very smart and quiet dog and I wish that I could've had a chance to keep you. Thanks to you I will definitely consider an Alaskan Malamute as my doggy and I shall call him Indiana (the one that started the craze ;)). I loved you, even though I feel like I didn't know you well enough to already let you go.
Best of luck to you Dakota Jones, I know you will find a good person now. Take care of your gorgeous nose, it's my favorite feature on you.