Boo's Search for Alternative Water Sources

Hey friends!

First and foremost, we are SO EXCITED to cheer on our friend Q as he competes in Iditarod over the next couple weeks! We are bummed we can’t be there in person, but we know he and the doggos will do great! For those who are in Alaska, we can’t wait to see your photos and hear your stories!

Speaking of Iditarod, Boo and Pence may be doing a virtual presentation with a classroom next week to talk about sled dogs and racing! Hopefully they’ll cooperate. We’ll let you know how it goes!

As for this week’s story…it’s an odd one. Those following me on Twitter/Bluesky may have heard snippets of this.

Boo is interested in alternative sources of water lately. He just has to keep us on our toes!

A couple weeks ago, I was sitting at the dining room table working on a puzzle. The dogs’ water bowls are near the table. Boo came over for a drink while I was working. Super normal. After a few seconds, he wanders off. I figured he went back to the couch.

Then I hear an odd sound. First, the clank of metal (his dog tag) hitting porcelain. The loud gulping. I jumped up out of my chair and ran to the bathroom. Boo was slurping out of the toilet! He had apparently finished his dog bowl of water, and was still thirsty. 0.3 seconds without water was apparently too long.

A couple days after the toilet incident, Boo found his second alternative water source. This was despite having two full bowls of water in the house. It had been raining, and Boo was freaking out. Typical.

He acted like he was wanting outside while it was raining though, which was odd. I finally let him out in the rain and he ran straight over to an upside-down five gallon bucket, and drank all the water that had pooled on top of it.

Backstory. Several months ago during a thunderstorm, this bucket blew into our yard. Five gallon buckets can be handy to have around, so I kept it. It was pretty dirty though, and I never washed it.

A couple weeks ago, I took it outside to catch snowflakes on to try to photograph them. Unfortunately, the snowflakes at the moment were not ideal for photographing, so I left the bucket out for a few days to try a couple more times.

Every single time Boo went outside after that, he would immediately check the bucket and lick the water contents off the top. He’s so strange.

Boo’s third alternative water source lately - fresh snow. Now, this is definitely in his genetics and I am not at all surprised when he does this. When we had snow on the ground, every time he went outside he would run out and grab a few mouthfuls of snow.

Even when we went on walks, he would stop and grab a mouthful of snow out of a snow pile in someone’s yard. If you watched the video of me mushing on a sled with Boo, you probably saw him eating snow along the run in a similar manner. Pence, too, enjoys a snow snack every once in a while.

That’s all for today, talk to you soon!

-Hannah, Riley, Boo, and Pence