Monday, June 21, 2010

Mazunte and me

Very observant readers might have noticed how I have gradually reduced the number of dogs up here at the hermitage.

I am going to be a father, it seems. Obviously I have been rather cavalier about some of the more traditional aspects of hermitdom.

I can't run dogs and take care of a family while doing justice to all.

I have not gone into detail about distributing the dogs to better futures, because if I think about this too much I get hopelessly maudlin.

Mazunte, pictured above and below, is getting a human all to himself today. So far, giving away dogs used to living outdoors in a pack has been a success. They know how lucky they are to spend time indoors with amazing amounts of quality time with humans, and prove themselves very loyal to their new owners.

It doesn't work that well the other way around. A dog used to being somebody's only dog will get traumatized by joining a pack. Many mushers have stories about how their first dog went nuts once other dogs entered the picture. Better leave spoiling to the second part of life, when it will be appreciated.

I am going to try to not extrapolate too heavily from my mushing experience when it comes to child rearing. But once you got this stuff in your bones, it's hard to get rid of it.

6 comments:

Andy in Germany said...

Congratulations!

I'm sure we'll get further updates on how things are developing.

Just don't panic. You know more than you think.

Northmark said...

I will be running to you for advice.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Very happy for you.

dogsled_stacie said...

Congrats! You might be surprised how the dogs react... had a friend feeding my dogs with her pretty new baby one year. She had the baby outside the dog pen in her stroller, just sleeping while she was scooping poop. Turns out my little dominant female was sitting on the inside of the fence growling at the other dogs whenever they came near the baby! I think she claimed it as "hers" but pretty cool regardless.

Northmark said...

Stacie: Fantastic!
I had a bitch once who couldn't care less about children. But after she had puppies she became noticeably protective of small people, incredibly interested in all their doings and mannerisms.

Anonymous said...

... :(