Treat them right, and fucking FEED them ALL!!

here is the story of a dog named Galahad. this story took place last november. now i want to explain that this is NOT normal treatment of sled dogs. a vast majority of mushers take better care of their dogs than most people that own plain old pet dogs. sled dogs eat better than most dogs, they get daily exersize unlike a lot of pet dogs, and form a tight bond with their owners. there are a few people that do not take very good care of their dogs, use cruel training methods, and neglect many aspects of animal husbandry. those few make the rest of us look like monsters. we need to step up and try to educate these monsters- help them or turn them in to the authorities. i know it is hard, especially if they are a "friend," but are they a true friend if they will not take advice? i have learned they are not. so here we go........

ok so here is the complete story, i took a dog from someone. i actually was able to get permission from the owner (we will call said owner "z") i was going to take the dog regardless if z gave me permission or not, what was z going to do? call the cops? i think not, if the cops would have came out, and seen the condition of the dog(s), they would have hauled z off to jail (or at least forwarded the info to animal control, who may have pressed cruelty charges). now z really is a good person. i do not think z is a cruel person, and really cares for the dogs (not actual "care" as in feeding them enough) but some sort of "care" i am not sure how to describe it. i just happened to run my team by z's house and of course you look at dogs in a dog yard when you run your own team by, i have given z a few dogs in the past (this dog is one of them) well i see this dog (and a few others in the back of the yard were also SKINNY) and from about 50yds away i can see he is a skeleton, he is a medium coated dog, like a siberian husky. if i can see bones from that far on a hairy dog, it is WAY too skinny. so i finish my run, it takes another hour to get back home, and another 45 minutes to feed and unharness and put my team away. well it is cold out, my car had not been plugged in for 2 days, and i know it wont start. so i have to ask my neighbor if he can take me to z's house, i explain i am taking a dog that is skinny. i really did not want to involve neighbor in all this, as he is friends with z, but i had no choice, it was late at night, i would have had to plug my car in and wait at least 2 hours to start it, and i had a feeling the dog was in his last moments. i could not bare to let him die alone in a cold plastic doghouse with no bedding. so neighbor said "ok." i first had neighbor take me to the laundry mat to see if z was there (no one had been at home when i first saw skinny dog) and get water for my own dogs (for those that do not know i have to haul my own/dogs water in 7 gal jugs) z was not there, but as we were leaving z pulled up, we stopped, i simply leaned over neighbor, and asked z "give me permission to take Galahad". simple as that. i could see a bit of confusion and fear in z's face, a slight pause, then a sad "sure" was all z said at first. then z perks up and starts making excuses like "i do not know why he is so skinny" "he eats a lot" and this is the best one---------" i think he froze his dick" (for those that do not know, sometimes a dog will get a bit of frostbite on the end of their sheath, if you are running in really cold/windy weather, and do not use proper gear, being jackets for the dogs that have a special flap that blocks the wind from their groin area) this dog has not been on a run in at least a year. so now i have permission. neighbor then takes me to z's house. i go to get the dog. i was SO not prepared for what i saw. this dog is so skinny, not only can you feel every bone in his body, you can feel how the bones go together in the joints! there is no muscle, and tendons i can feel that i did not even know dogs had. he can not stand up to come out of his house, i have to pull him out and pick him up to carry to the truck. i get in with him on my lap, and off we drive. so i decide to take a peek at his penis, what i see horrifies me, i only look for a second, i can look better in the house in a bit. i carry him into house, set him down on a carpeted area and look him over. it is worse in the light. i can not understand how he is alive. then i look at his penis, the thing is completely out of its sheath! swollen, white in color, and the sheath is tight around the back part, it can not retract! so i grab some Vaseline and "lube him up" (just what i wanted to be doing on a saturday evening) i then can pull the sheath over the penis, but the tip, about 2inches will not go back in. great. so i make him a small meal (small meals many times a day is how you have to do it) and a bunch of water. i make a nice bed in a crate and put it near the toyo (heater) and let him go to bed. next morning, i take him out to potty, and his penis is back to normal! yay! he pees (very dark yellow, dehydrated) feed him many times throughout the day, lots of water, and lots of warm rest.... so when i picked this dog up, i intended on just having him put to sleep, to end his suffering. i can't do it. he is so happy to see me, wags his little tail, and his eyes brighten up. when you pet him, he leans his head on you. i just can not put him down. i think he will be fine after a long recovery. so i have to question z's actions (or lack of) the dog is skinny, he gets skinnier, if z is feeding him more food, and he is still losing weight, then something else is going on. maybe worms? maybe take the dog to a vet? and how about "i think he froze his dick" good gosh, bring him in the house and at least look at it. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! do not just think it is going to "heal" on it's own, in the winter, in sub-zero temps! WTF? now the best part (sarcastic) i hear today that z and the significant other went to dinner at the Valata last night. the Valata is one of the NICEST restaurants in interior alaska! not cheap! i am sure they spent at least $80, probably more!! so you can afford to go the the nicest restaurant around, but you have a starving dog in your front yard? (there may be others, i did not look really well, and it was dark when i went back) i have lost a lot of what faith i had in humanity. i know there are great people out there, but for a little while i am just going to be alone, i need to think. so that is why i had to have a beer last night. long weekend. remember the pictures do not show how skinny he really is, his hair covers up a lot of the bones. you have to feel it to believe it. oh yeah, he weighs 24.4lbs! he should be at least a 45lb dog.

here is the email i sent to previous owner, i never heard from them again, i am glad. i will not be friends with someone that allows this to happen to a dog through pure neglect.

the subject of the email was "i'm sorry"
i know not where to start.........i guess i'll just dive right in, it may be a bit out of order and mixed up, but i will try to be straightforward.
i am sorry that this dog had to suffer. i am sorry i did not do anything for him sooner. i am sorry there are other dogs in your care that also may be suffering. i am not sorry i am bringing this up to you. you need to know. you need to do something about it.
there was absolutely nothing wrong with Galahad. quite simply, he was STARVING to death. it was not too "cold" for him, i have dogs with short fur that live outside year round, that are not skinny. he has more fur than most of my kennel. all i have done is feed him, not a lot either, just consistently. he was 24.4lbs when i got him home that night. 24.4lbs! he is now (today) 41.6lbs. that is almost double. all i did was feed him. i did not even worm him until 15 days after i brought him here, he was too weak to be able to handle the wormer. so most of that weight was put on before worming. all i did was feed him. he gets 2 cups, cups, measuring cups, not dog food scoop thing, in the morning, and 2cups at night. that is it. 4 cups of food per day.
now on to his dick. you said "i think he froze his dick" when i asked permission to take him. "i think he froze his dick?" so you just let him sit outside in sub-zero temperatures, with his dick hanging out? that is cruel. you should have done something about it. i did. i lubed the thing up with Vaseline and stretched the sheath back over it as best i could. the thing was white and swollen. how would you like that? to be chained helpless with your dick out?
i said i may take him to the vet, you said "do you think he is worth it?" um, he is a living, breathing, feeling creature, do you think it is right to let him suffer? i did not end up taking him to the vet. you know why? because i couldn't bring myself to lie about where he came from, and if a vet would have seen the condition of that dog, they would have gotten the authorities involved. i do not want to have that happen. you have been a friend for a long time.
something needs to be done. when people see the condition of some of the dogs in your yard, it gives ALL mushers a bad name. it makes it harder to convince people that we love our dogs. you can not let dogs starve to death (or near death) in your yard, that is not love, that is cruelty in it's purest form. i do not know why the animal control has not been called. i suspect tough, it is the same reason i have never called animal control on you, IT MAKES US ALL LOOK BAD! if they come out and see your dogs, and they are not familiar with other mushers, what do you think they will believe? mushers are bad? yep, they will, then they will try to get more laws for us to follow, maybe outlaw mushing all together. all because of a few bad apples.
i am not sure why the dogs in the back are skinny, but i suspect you feed out of a bucket with kibble and water, and by the time you get to the back, there is very little kibble left in the water. maybe soak the food for an hour, or do like i do, one bucket of kibble and one bucket of water, each dog gets a measured amount of food, then i pour water on top of that. that way i am sure every dog gets the correct amount of food.
i have many more things i need to say. but i will leave it at this..... something needs to be done about the condition of those dogs in the back (i know there are dogs in the front that look great) i will not sit by and see them suffer. if they are not on your team, not getting run on a regular basis, then find them homes. it is cruel to sit on a chain starving, and see the other dogs getting to run. you can not sit there and tell me you love your dogs, and yet let them get in the condition they are in.
i hope you do not take too much offense to this letter. someone needed to say something, and i do not care if the whole community thinks i am an asshole because i spoke up. at this point, i do not care, the dogs are the innocent ones, and the only ones that matter.

here are a few journal entries i kept while the dog gained weight. now you have to understand when i say 2 cups of dog food, i mean that exactly, i use a plastic measuring cup that is one cup, this dog got 2 meals a day, 2 cups each, which is about a lb of kibble per day.

nov1- 24.4lb-first day-dehydrated, thirsty, very hungry. fed 2cup kibble with lots water 8pm, took outside midnight, pee very dark, back inside, drank lots more clear plain water. his penis was completely unsheathed when i picked him up, (it has been -20F the last week)apparently it had been stuck hanging out for awhile. took a good look at it, it does not appear to be damaged. i had to "lube" it with vasaline to get it back in, it was dried out and swollen.

nov2-fed 2cup kibble for breakfast soaked overnight in water, added more water, pee still a bit dark. good news, the penis is all the way retracted. fed 2cup kibble and more water in eve. gave a small piece of north country frozen meat, almost swollowed my hand.

nov3-fed breakfast-2cup kibble, lunch 2cup kibble, dinner small piece fish

nov4 28.8 lbs A 4.2LB INCREASE IN 4 DAYS! yeah right this dog had "something wrong with him" as previous owner stated. he was simply starved!!

nov12- 37.2lbs that is 12.8lbs in 12 days! he is gaining a pound a day, he is eating little more than a pound a day, this damn dog was just not getting fed. i have not even dewormed him yet!!i want to wait till he gets a little weight on and gains some strength before putting dewormer in him.

nov13- 38.8lbs very happy, pulling on leahs, jumped up on me, gaining strength every day.

nov17- 41.6lbs he is a different dog, still bony/skinny, but pulls hard on leash instead of weakly wobbling along like when he first came. dewormed him on the 15th-he had some roundworms, not a lot, but some. it was not the worms causing him to be skinny, because he was gaining a lb a day before i dewormed him.

here is a picture after three weeks with me.

today this dog weighs almost 50lbs. he is looking for an adoptive home if you know anyone interested.