How Pence Became Part of Our Family

Last week’s blast from the past newsletter talked about Boo officially retiring from long distance mushing in December of 2022. Like I (Hannah) mentioned before, a lot of people suspected it was coming, and several people joked that we would soon have our own kennel. At the time, I thought “no way, one dog is plenty”. Well, that didn’t last long lol.

Going into that winter with Boo in Indiana full time meant that the weather was ideal for us to bikejor and scooterjor with him. Riley and I were really getting into running dogs and took Boo on many runs, which sometimes yielded interesting results. He wasn’t a lead dog and didn’t know the commands to turn very well. Sometimes, he would abruptly stop in mid sprint to sniff a mailbox.

We talked to Blair and Q for advice on how to keep him focused and teach him how to lead on his own. At some point over the winter, the idea was brought up that maybe Boo would do better with a running partner, especially for training up before dryland races the following fall.

The conversation came up off and on the next few months, but nothing was ever seriously discussed as we weren’t sure if we were ready to add a second dog at that point. But Q did mention there was a very sweet, amazing lead dog, Pence, that had been spending time with him and he thought she would be a great running partner for Boo.

Over the summer, talks about fall training and races became more prevalent, and thoughts about adding a lead dog to our family were being thrown around. We had briefly met her at Doty the fall before, but didn’t know her personality, how she and Boo would get along, or how she would adjust to house life.

In July of 2023, Riley and I went on vacation in northern Minnesota. Flight prices and times were not ideal, so we drove. Also, I hate flying and have the whole midwest mentality of “it’s only 12 hours, let’s just drive” lol. On our way to Minnesota, we made a quick pit stop at musher friend Melissa Mendelson’s house to cuddle her new sled dog puppies!

While in Minnesota, we continued chatting with Q about the lead dog potential. We decided we were going to give her a try. And since we were going to be driving back through Wisconsin on our way home from vacation like 3 days later, we set up a meet to pick her up. It all happened so quickly!

We had definitely not planned on bringing a new dog home with us from the trip. We didn’t have a leash or anything with us. On the way to the meeting point, Blair and Q told us everything they knew about her, including the fact that she would like a dog bed. Personally, I’ve never had a dog bed for any of my dogs, but we were happy to do whatever we needed to make her more comfortable, because her life was about to be flipped upside down. We stopped at a Walmart somewhere in Wisconsin to pick up a dog bed.

When we arrived to the meeting point, Q opened the door and Pence was nervous and excited at the same time. It seems like when sled dogs are singled out and in a different vehicle than they’re used to, they get nervous. They’re pack dogs after all.

We were at a park, so we let her free run. We didn’t get a lot of pets in as she was very interested in sniffing everything. Q was very excited to show us how easy it is to cut her nails, which was a big relief lol. He did mention that she wasn’t spayed, but that she hadn’t gone into heat during the year or so he had her. After a while, she jumped into our car and we headed toward home.

We could immediately tell how sweet she was. She was still nervous though, refusing to lay her head down and sleep. She was exhausted by the time we got home. We had taken Boo to Beth’s house before vacation and decided to have him stay there for a week or so while Pence settled in.

We arrived home pretty late, maybe 11 pm or so. She was very skeptical walking into the house. The slick hardwood floors were definitely weird to her. We brought her dog bed inside hoping she would relax and lay in it. Nope.

She paced around the house for nearly two hours, constantly wanting out the back door. We tried everything we could to calm her down. I knew it would be a rough night for her, because this is exactly how Boo acted when he first came to Indiana. After about 2 hours, she finally sat in her dog bed. She was still on edge though, ears perked up to every little sound.

We put her in a crate for the night and went to bed. The next day, she was a little more comfortable, but still paced around and wanted outside a lot. It wasn’t until we showed her Boo’s couch when she finally settled in. Once she knew where “her spot” was, she was right at home.

The next day, she received her inaugural Meteorology Camp bath.

About a week later, we wanted to introduce her to Boo to see how they would get along. After all, we were looking for a good partner for him, so his opinion weighed heavily on if we could keep her or not. We set the meet up at a neutral location, a local park. We walked Boo up to Pence, and it was like they both immediately knew the other one was a sled dog! Boo had never cared for any other dogs in Indiana, never wanted anything to do with them, but he wanted to play with her immediately. Maybe she smelled like the kennel?

After a while, they seemed to hit it off and we decided to take them home together. They started play fighting and chasing each other in the house and in the back yard. I had never seen Boo play with another dog like this before! It was so cute.

Soon after, I called the dogs into the kitchen to give them a treat. Of course Boo knew what that meant, but Pence did not. I tossed a treat up in the air for Boo, and he jumped and chomped at it like he always does. This scared the crap out of Pence! She freaked out and tried to take off running, but slipped and fell on the hardwood floor in the process. When she got up, she limped away.

I felt SO BAD. We had a new dog for a week and she was already injured! I found her on the couch and tried to figure out where the pain was. When I lifted her front left paw up, she screamed in my face...almost human-like. I was not expecting it at all, and it freaked me out. I thought I was about to get bitten or something. But no, sweet angel girl was just letting me know that’s where it hurt. I gently touched the outside of her shoulder muscle and she screamed again.

I wasn’t sure what to do to help, so I tried holding ice packs and heat on her shoulder to see if anything made her feel better. She didn’t seem to care either way. Boo had just made a new friend, but now we were telling him to leave her alone so she could rest up and her shoulder could heal.

Her shoulder took 2 or 3 weeks to completely heal, with another tweak in the middle. She and Boo were then back to chasing each other and wrestling. It wasn’t long before Boo was trying to hump her, all the time. We had to keep yelling at him to get off of her. Yes, he’s fixed, but she was clearly annoyed by it. Eventually, we let her handle the situation. Whenever it was too much, she barked and bit at him, and he learned to back off.

Well, we figured out why a couple weeks later. Despite not going into heat for the last year or so, Pence went into heat within a month of being at our house. And with our white carpets, that was going to be an issue. We didn’t want to keep her outside, so our solution was to get doggy diapers for her.

Pence was not pleased with the situation. Trust me girl, we weren’t either lol. She ended up having to wear doggy diapers for almost 3 weeks and we sent Boo back to Beth’s house so he would leave her alone during that time. Soon after, we talked to musher friends and veterinarians about getting her spayed, but due to the recovery time, we decided to wait until after dryland season. We were able to get her spayed last month, and talked about that in a past newsletter.

We had a few cooler nights in August when we could finally run them together to see how they do. They did FANTASTIC. Pence was definitely unsure about some of the neighborhood noises and people, but Boo knew the route and showed her the way. He tried to stop and sniff a mailbox a couple times, but she kept him focused and pulled him back into the road. This was exactly what we had hoped for!

Clearly, Pence had a very eventful first couple months in Indiana, but we have thoroughly enjoyed having her in our family! She has settled in very well and like Boo, seems to enjoy time on the couch and time running around the neighborhood.