What do you mean I have to say goodbye to this face?

And this face?

And this one?

Pardon me, but this sucks!

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved dogs. I was about 2 years old when my family got our first Shetland Sheepdog. Pixie and I were always best buds. Although she was a family dog, we were the closest – maybe because I was the closest to her size. I could hug her and pet her all I wanted while others didn’t necessarily have the chance. I’d walk her around the neighborhood, chase squirrels up trees with her, patrol the Lake Superior beach for seagulls with her, cuddle with her, and make her a sandwich to open on Christmas morning. I have an older brother, but I was closer to my little sister. 🙂 (Hey, my bro speaks computer, so I think it’s understandable!)

Sadly we put Pixie down in spring of my senior year of high school. My parents, Belgian exchange student, and I left home for the weekend (worst. idea. ever. with a sick dog), and we knew it was time to say goodbye when we returned. Watching my good friends come say bye to Pixie was absolutely awful. As I type this, I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. The day was a half day of school, and the appointment to take her in was later in the afternoon. With my free hours, I did a lot of crying and lying on the hard floor, just looking at my buddy. I had spent the last 2 nights sleeping on a cot while praying she’d just pass away in her sleep. I didn’t want to make that trip to the vet’s office. Unfortunately, that’s what it came down to. Before we left home, my mom and I carried Pixie on a tour of the house. Having not been allowed on the carpet, she’d basically never seen any of our bedrooms. I carried her to my room and laid her gently on my bed, telling her “my bed is your bed.”

Somehow I survived losing Pixie. I drove her to the vet clinic and hugged her for dear life as she faded away. At this point in writing, I’m not too tough to admit that I’m practically sobbing. March 20th makes it 6 years ago, but I will always love my pup.

This story was a horrible way of introducing the end of a field season, but I was thinking about saying bye to these Alberta dogs, and the memories came rushing up. Thankfully none of these 10 dogs are going away in that fashion, but I’ll be leaving them for “home” in just a couple weeks. Since there aren’t many projects in the works, the majority of our crew won’t be staying on for summer, meaning we’re heading separate directions and hoping this wolf, caribou, moose, and deer study will happen again next winter.

Anticipating the end is the roughest part of every field job – at least for me, since I’ve liked every job and crew I’ve been a part of so far. This season has extra poignancy because I have to go from life with 10 dogs to life with none. In my opinion that’s the epitome of depressing. In general I feel I’m a pretty independent person. However, a friend back in AK contradicted me, saying, “You’re dependent on those dogs!”

He does have a point. Dogs are kind of my favorites. When I started dating a friend, my other friends said to him, “Listen, you know how this works, right? First come dogs, then you, then it’s the rest of us.” (You may think it’s sad, but it’s true.) Face it: dogs are cuter, smarter, more forgiving, and happier than humans! Why shouldn’t I love them?

Saying bye to our human team members will be sad, but I think we can essentially all agree that saying bye to the dogs could be the real tearjerker. These pups are amazing; they have the highest work ethic and love their job more than anyone I know! With their charming good looks and sweet personalities, they’re fantastic co-workers.

With that in mind, come morning we’ll be rolling out of camp and on our way to Jasper for the night. But of course that’s only after we try to see the aurora again, drop off a freezer in Edmonton, and drive the snowy roads – you know, the usual for our Alberta crew.  Time for road trip adventure part 2. This time it leads back to the kennel at Pack Forest, where we’ll find Pips, Pepsi and …(see below)… waiting for us! (Not to mention Frehley, Buddy/Dexter/Steven, Alli, Annie, and Casey. Oh, and some people like Heath, Bud, and Julie.)

It’s not time to say bye yet, but that time is creeping closer. I think I need a hug from my ginger bud Chester now.