As Ann posted, Dakota made her final trip to the vet yesterday. I don't even know what to say really. I does not feel real yet. She has been with me since my sophmore year in college. I will never forget picking her out of the litter. Her breeder sled raced Sibes and had an entire back yard kennel full of them. The entire backyard was filled with dog houses, under ground tunnels (as huskies like to do) and so on. It was sled dog paradise.
I originally wanted a red husky, but when I saw Dakota's eyes (half black and half blue) I just had to have her. I should have known how she would turn out when she gave me about 1 seconds worth of attention, then went back to playing with her littermates. She never did become a cuddley dog but she was very sweet and gentle in her own way.
When I took her home, she was SCREAMING and fighting the entire way. Poor thing. She did eventually settle in though but she was never tamed. Her instinct was to always run. She HATED to be confined in any way. She was a pure "freedom" dog. If you put her in a 10 acre fenced in yard, she would inspect every inch of the fence for a way out.
It was this instinct that made her such a great outdoor companion. We spent our best times together either hiking (every day), camping or roller blading. There was nothing like roller blading with her. It was so exhilarating. I would just let her open up and go and we just FLEW. Once she got the initial burst of energy out she would settle in to a really nice pace and we would blade for hours. She could easily go 10 miles and not be tired. It was her favorite thing in the world to do. We learned to be a team so that she never hurt me while on my skates. I only had maybe 2 falls over all of the years with her and that was when we were just learning to work together. There will never be anything like that again. She was definately one of a kind.
She was the most challenging dog that I will probably ever know. She had more than 9 lives from all of her escapes. She's jumped through windows, opened doors, jumped off roof tops, etc. All in an effort to run free. She even ended up in a shelter once with 1 day left to live before my SIL found her and bailed her out (long story!).
She was a great ambush hunter. She's killed her fair share of rabbits and been in some tangles with skunks, possums and racoons. It was very cool to watch her ambush hunt. Of course, I did not enjoy cleaning up after and she always wanted to bring her "prize" in the house with her. ;)
She was super gentle and loving with my nieces. They just adored her.
She was so beautiful and here eyes were so unique that she got attention no matter where we were. She was very well known around our community because I made her wear a "do not feed me" vest :) She gots lots of pettings and attention, but never any treats. I'm sure she hated that :)
She is finally free.
RIP my sweet girl. You were one of a kind.
