Sierra the Wonderdog

The dog wanted out early and we helped her out, then the wife wanted back to bed so I told her I'd stay up and wait for the dog. The dog roamed the yard and smelled all the smells; she looked longingly both ways down the street for anyone happening to pass by who might offer an affectionate pet or conversation. She sniffed the garbage neatly piled by the road and then swished through the wet grass back to the steps leading up to the deck. She looked at the steps - up, down, left, right. She shifted her weight nervously a few times and then began that high-pitched squealing that no dog so great or beautiful should ever be allowed to make. As if caught in a trap and in excruciating pain, she's made that sound ever since she was a pup 14 years ago. If her lead would get wrapped around a tree and she wasn't able to undo herself, she would let us know with that squeal. Never a growl, or a bark (she has only ever barked at deer nearby), or even a howl; always the high-pitched incessant squeal, until she was freed.
So the noise she made this morning we are used to. It's the fact that she can't get herself to climb the three little steps up to the deck to get in the house that's a concern. The fact that she has a hard time now even rising up to walk after hours of lying in the house makes us sad. I help get up, but she majorly favors that passenger-side rear leg, and it takes her longer and longer to begin to move around.
She's the most beautiful dog with the sweetest temperament. Being Malamute, she loves people - all people - and will be your friend no matter your sin. We've taken her almost everywhere we've gone; she sits in the truck just like a person, not dangerously in the bed of a pickup, like other dogs ride.
And she doesn't stick her head out of the window and allow her tongue to flap all willy-nilly in the breeze while salivating on every windshield that passes, like other dogs do. She sits in the seat and pants and looks at the scenery (especially if there's people around) and enjoys the trip as much as her people do.
Recently though, the trips have been rare. To the vet for shots, to the groomer for a makeover. We last took her camping in 2010, to the Big Lake, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and several State Parks. We traveled that year in our P.T. Cruiser because it's low to the ground and easy for her to get in and out of.

Leeland MI, August 2010, with Sierra the Malamte

Sierra the Wonderdog