They Called Her Alaska
My fiancé Eliet needed to tell me something. The look on her face was grave. I just hoped it wasn’t her family. A friend had messaged her that they found three puppies abandoned in the garbage.
Within hours a box would arrive that would change our lives forever. We peered inside and nested in pee pee soaked newspaper three shivering puppies were huddled together in a ball. No sign of a nose or a tail as they burrowed into one another hoping to return to the safety of their mother’s womb. So far, the world was not only too cold for them it also had flatly told them that nobody wanted them.
We bundled the bewildered puppies in a blanket and used a space heater to warm their cardboard home. Just days old and unable to open their eyes, these precious pups needed to be nursed every two hours. Eliet would wake up to their sweet helpless cries and hand feed them with a tiny bottle. The next day she put the word out to find a substitute dog mom. The following day she was told there was an abandoned husky roaming the streets that had milk. They called her Alaska.
When Alaska arrived we went straight to the groomer. Her matted fur was filthy and flea infested. She was in no condition to care for three puppies clinging onto dear life. It was immediately obvious to me that the dog we had hoped would help us nurse and rescue the abandoned puppies needed to be nursed and rescued herself. What was not obvious was that the universe had just sent me the greatest teacher I’ve ever known.
Here are five lessons Alaska taught me:
Do the things that scare you, and the things that have to be done.
As the groomer wrestled the matted fur and scrubbed a million fleas out of Alaska’s scalp, she was not thrilled. She knew it had to be done. She squinted and set her jaw as the ordeal unfolded.
Next stop, the elevator to our apartment. Apparently the first one Alaska had encountered. She didn’t trust it and was scared to get in. She resisted the pull of the leash. When I went to pick her up and push her in she snarled and stood straight up. I got the hint.
As I was contemplating going up and down 12 flights of steps three times a day, Alaska shook her fur out and with an abundance of caution crept her way into the elevator carriage. A welcome miracle. She would get in, she knew she had to, but it would be on her terms. As we rose, the floor wobbled ever so slightly as elevator floors are known to do. Alaska couldn’t wait to get out. By the third trip the next day she was an old pro and her not so irrational fear of standing on a levitating floor was banished to the past.
Watching her break down the resistance from fear, the invisible obstruction that keeps hearts from doing what they know they should was pure liberation. Alaska was just getting started showing me how it was done.
2. Caring for others rejuvenates your soul.
We took Alaska inside and showed her the puppies. She had a look of concern. She also had that look that a deer has in your headlights. She didn’t know what to do. Her sadness took her to the bathroom to curl up in a ball.
It took us a handful more times of introducing the pups for Alaska to warm up to them. Once she did, she was all in. Still there was a look of sadness and discomfort though. She didn’t have much milk to give, but she let them suckle as much as they could get while they were waiting for their turn with the bountiful hand held milk bottle.
Alaska didn’t go to the bathroom for almost the first 24 hours we had her. It was strange, but I assumed she was just dehydrated. When she did finally let go of some urine, blood stained the long white fur between her legs. What I had mistaken for sadness from being abandoned, separated from her own children, and being absconded by strangers into a new home was also her being gravely ill. The sonogram the next day revealed that she had retained placenta in her uterus and that her spleen was swollen about five times the normal size.
After the surgery to remove her uterus and spleen Alaska was mostly sleepy for the next day. As she became more lucid she grew more and more attentive of the puppies. She couldn’t give them milk, but she could let them burrow into her neck to keep them warm. She could lick them clean after their pee pees and poo poos. As they grew she would show them how to play. As they grew so did Alaska’s smile.
By the time her stitches were out, Alaska was a new dog. A new mom again, a new soul.
3. Relentlessly seek new ground.
With her new found energy Alaska needed to get out for long walks. We would go to the park and walk along the seaside cliffs near our home in Barranco, Perú. Each day we would go farther and farther. When I wanted to turn around and go home, Alaska wanted to keep going and see what was next.
Dogs have always loved their routines. They don’t follow the beaten path, they make their own beaten path relentlessly retracing the same route. Alaska did that too, but with voracious curiosity to make the path longer. I will never forget the first time with her tongue wagging, she lowered her shoulders and tugged me to the next adventure. I was her sled. She was taking her sled somewhere incredible.
Because everywhere Alaska ever went was incredible.
4. Always chase the birds, you might learn how to fly.
Then there was the time she almost tugged us off a cliff trying to catch a bird. When Alaska saw this bird she was no longer confined by the laws of physics, space, or time. This would not be the last time Alaska would chase birds. Though my favorite was the first time she chased them at the beach. Watching her cruise over the sand and shallow tide keeping pace with the gulls gliding along the shore was pure magic.
I pictured her running just fast enough to spring wings like Pegasus and take flight. Again and again she would chase them back and forth. Each time I was sure her paw prints in the wet sand were going to turn into streaks of flames, she would disappear Back to the Future, and I would scream like Doc Brown, “88 miles per hour!”
It never occurred to Alaska that she couldn’t fly because she was just a dog. And you know what? She was right.
5. Being different makes you desirable.
Alaska never met a stranger. After meeting and greeting a new furry friend she would want to cozy up to their human. Her sweetness would win over even the most disinterested and gruff. Alaska had a secret weapon. She just had to look up at them with her one brown eye and her one blue eye.
Mesmerized by the grizzly bear on the left and the sapphire and diamond ghost on the right they’d say, “Wow! Incredible! Amazing! Is that real?!” Suddenly no one was too busy or in a bad mood, they’d do whatever it takes to stare into those eyes a little longer.
I would too.