The Retired Life- by Mandy

You can’t train a dog to pull a sled—they either have the drive or they don’t. This goes hand-in-hand with retirement... they let you know when they don’t want to pull anymore or at least desire less intense miles.

And sometimes, an injury will lead to early retirement. This happened to the lovely Perm when her Achilles’ tendon never quite returned to normal. She is staying at my (Mandy) handler’s cabin for the season to get extra love and care... before she gets adopted by my partner and I :P

What’s retirement like for a sled dog, such as Perm?

Let me tell you, she can hold down a dog bed as well as she ran 1,000 Mile races. She was smart then and still is now. Every trait that made her a great sled dog has transferred to pet life. Here’s some stories of her figuring everything out:

At 7 years old, Perm learned the command Sit. Good girl! She quickly made the connection that she receives treats when she sits. On walks, she often randomly sits in front of you and stares intensely for her treat. I fall for it every time.

A couple weeks back, I decided it’d be fun to let Perm run around off-leash while I loaded up on firewood. The pile is next to Ryne’s house across the yard so we head over together. She sniffs a few pieces of wood and then moseys off. I’m not worried about it until I hear a door open and sudden laughter. I turn around to see that Perm let herself into Ryne’s!!!! The door has a long handle that when Perm paws at it, she can click open. It goes to show that, Perm adores any opportunity given to be inside... even if she has to create it herself.

She knows when to bed down but also when to get going. As soon as the second alarm goes off in the morning, a yawn comes from her dog bed that sounds more pterodactyl than wolf. Then she worms her nose to the closest face in hopes of a good morning ear scratch.

Perm is a good eater and knows the drill when it comes to meat soup and kibble. What I adore though is watching her try new treats, such as human food. She likes cheese but not yet peanut butter. Often times she just smells it before looking up with a “what do I do with this weird item?” expression. Don’t offer her toothpaste, she hates the smell.

Just like in the dog yard, these intelligent beasts need their minds stimulated or they get bored. When bored, they chew up their dog houses. We had a busy week and didn’t get much exercise for Perm one day. So, she began chewing the wooden frame of our bed instead!

While retired sled dogs desire a break from racing, they are typically still energetic. We take Perm on long walks, hikes, and bikejoring. The first time was weird for her but she crushed it. Now, she’s lining out and barking her head off to get going! My partner likes to bikejore with Perm and my dog Midnight—their favorite loop being to the local post office and back.

We can’t help it. We LOVE that Perm howls back as soon as you do. So, we regularly start a howl off for every family member we FaceTime... which causes the dog yard to howl too! Sorry Ryno Kennel when we do that at 8 in the morning.
Lastly, I have a 2 year old German Shepard-Husky. He’s an absolute goofball but does have a strong guarding trait. Luckily, Perm steals all hearts around her and broke him down. Now they run around together, marking up and down the trails of Two Rivers! It’s been incredible to watch him open up and a friendship starting to form. Good girl, Perm!