This is a long story but there are cute puppy videos at the end, I promise!
My parents have been looking for a new female Alaskan Malamute to keep Joe, their Husky, company. When he came to their house, they had Mariah, who was elderly. They got along after she put him in his place a few times, and his behavior improved, but she had what we thought was a stroke, after already losing the ability to stand without help, and my parents made the hard decision to help her cross over the rainbow bridge.
They reached out to Illinois Alaskan Malamute Rescue Association (IAMRA) to look for another girl. Malamutes tend to have problems getting along with other Mals of the same gender, so they were looking for a girl to balance out their Husky, Joe, and our Malamute, Tundra.
They found Mary, who I’ve posted about before. She was a discard from an Amish breeder that gave her to IAMRA. She had mammary tumors and had never been a pet. She was terrified of people, especially people with beards, and if another dog approached her hind end she’d round about with snarls and teeth. Not that I blame her! But she was a rough introduction.
Things seemed to be going well at first, and she was improving in temperament and behavior, but then her back end was a little weak. Then she needed to be carried with a lift to walk, and she wailed in pain. Then her back legs stopped working. She became incontinent. The Vet came and visited her and thought it might be a herniated disc but wasn’t sure. They thought it would improve over time.
It didn’t.
She lost control of her front legs, and on her last day she couldn’t lift her head or uncross her eyes. My dad and brother brought her in to cross the rainbow bridge. We never got a definitive reason for her deterioration, but we suspect that she had more than just mammary tumors, possibly a bone or spinal cancer. It took a month, slowly climbing her spine, and while we treated her as best we could, she was in pain and helpless. Even trying to ease her with a soft bed and turning her, she developed a bed sore.
It was a hard experience all around, and on top of it, my mom was in pain waiting for her hip replacement and also unable to walk. It was a hot mess – what she thought was a back injury, was actually her femur losing the ball at the top and digging into her hip. See below:
Even I can tell that ain’t right. So she had to have her hip replaced before we could look at any new Malamutes.
My parents reached out to IAMRA again, and after considering several dogs, they put my mom in contact with a family in Illinois looking to rehome their girl Malamute. They talked back and forth, and then my dad and husband took Joe and drove four hours to meet her.
Her name is Nova Scotia, and they loved her and brought her home immediately. Joe liked her too! My mom and I spent the entire day together, waiting for them to get home, Tundra at our sides. When she arrived, she met Tundra, and they got along and immediately started playing.
We’ve had her for about a week, and things are going well. There was a brief scuffle with Tundra and Scotia about a bone, and there was a minor scuffle this weekend between Scotia and Joe about bones as well. But overall, they’ve been Good Puppies.
Scotia has even been coming upstairs to keep Tundra company in the office with us!
Now, I promised videos, so here they are.
Click this link for Scotia and Tundra playing.
Scotia and Tundra still playing.
I think she’s a good fit, and we’re so happy to have her with us! So, thank you to the family that raised her – she’s a good girl, very sweet, and knows her manners and how to behave with other dogs. We love her. <3
Tundra and Nova have a lot of fun playing together. We are in love, again.