It's so funny how we still call them that. It's 7 years now, and although in years they couldn't be further from being puppies, in attitude and spirit, they still are and I hope always will be.
Amarok, means "wolf" and is the name of a gigantic wolf in Inuit mythology. When we went to pick them up from the breeder, he would wander over to be petted and once you stopped would wander away to do something else. When we got him home, he was pretty much the same for a long time. He seemed to keep more to himself. He'd play with us and run around with his brother, but once things got quiet, he'd wander off someplace by himself. We nick-named him "Lone Wolf". Now, he's the biggest mush you ever want to see and we always talk about the change in him. He wants to be held and cuddled and will even crawl up onto your lap if you let him. Mind you, he's every bit of 90+ pounds and stands about 5 feet tall. That's a lot of puppy.
Nanuk, which means "Polar Bear" in Inuit, was the
biggest baby and still is. At the breeder, he'd come over to be petted and play and once you turned your attention to another puppy, he'd go sit in a corner and whine and howl. I had to have him! He still does it today. He'll either whine, howl or pout. He's always looking for cuddles and pets and will get up on your lap as well. He's about 120 pounds and a little taller than his brother. Imagine that sitting on you. He is one of the most lovable dogs I've ever had, always looking for attention.
Sometimes there are actually 3 puppies in the house. The littlest puppy, as we jokingly call him, every now and then makes an appearance and will hang out with the puppies. He's all of 4 years old now, and when he comes over for visits, they all greet each other with wagging tails, big hugs and wet kisses.
In case you were wondering, the one with the long curly hair is Devon before his first haircut.
Nanuk was his official guardian and would get upset if we lifted Devon too high in the air. He'd howl until you bought him back down to where he felt it was safe and would then, and only then, stop howling.
Here's a shot of Nuk and Devon "reading" together. I guess I disturbed them by taking the picture. Meanwhile, Amarok has taken full advantage of the blanket being partially on the floor...
Amarok was / is Devon's favorite. We call him "Ami" for short and Devon would call him "Hammie". He'd follow him all over the house, lay down next to him, sit next to him, feed him from the table. Sometimes Ami just wanted his alone time and would head down to the basement. Devon would wait for him at the top of the stairs until he either got tired of waiting or found something else to do.
On a trip to the pet supply store to pick up food for the 2 puppies, I saw these little stuffed toys with squeakers inside and figured I'd get one for each of them. What a hit they were! Here's a shot of Nuk in the basement killing the lion. He picks it up and looks at me. I start egging him on by saying, "kill that big ole lion Nuk" and he starts shaking it.
Here's Ami with his tiger. He likes to shake it first, then he drops it to the floor and starts nudging it with his nose, trying to find the squeaker and making it squeak.
In this picture it looks like he's laughing. He got it to squeak several times, I guess he was pretty pleased with himself.
After lasting, surprisingly, for several months, both the tiger and lion were totally destroyed and had to be replaced by bears. They've been around for about 5 months now and Devon added a duck that quacks into the mix. The first time they made it quack, they ran out the room howling.
Sometimes I think they tell jokes to each other and it actually look like they're laughing about something.
Most recently, they were asked to pose with a product a friend of mine developed, which is a first aid kit for pets. It's Country Dog and Friends and they can be found on FB and at
http://countrydogandfriends.com/.
Well, there you have it, they've been formally introduced to the public. My furry kids, my puppies. Hope you enjoyed meeting them.
