[noreptiles_]

Baltic Winters Sled Dog Association: Rescue Round Up

This poor guy was found covered in oil and tar. Do to this, he has gone blind in one eye and is very shy do to the previous owner abusing him as a pup.

owner;; allerleirauh.
full name;; The Day the Music Died
call name;; Hunter
age;; 2 years old
gender;; Male
colour;; Brown Shaded Sable
genotype;; kk/AyAy/bbDd/ee/gg/ii/mm/sm/tt
have all the tasks been completed?;; yes

No posting until DarkestWerewolf has posted their claim! You have until April 8th, 2016.

[gently]

I am claiming my Baltic Husky!
full name;; the day the music died
call name;; hunter

tasks;;
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Task 1 - Welcoming your new dog home
Incomplete/Complete [544 words]
if eyes truly are the windows to the soul then i dreaded to imagine the tragedies that this poor soul had lived through. when we first met at the shelter the dog with the rusty coloured fur stared blankly back at me, one of his eyes was a clear brown that had long lost it's lively sparkle while the other was foggy and glazed over. i was told he'd gone blind due in one eye due to it being exposed to oil and tar, which he was found covered in. his ragged pelt had been cleaned up a bit but was still tarnished and stained in places - wondered quietly if it would ever clean up completely. the dog flinched with any sudden movement and shied back further into his cage if i got too close, but he seemed to have no trouble making eye contact. he stared back at me endearingly without looking away, like he was trying to figure out what i was thinking. the choice was made the second we'd looked at each other - this dog was coming home with me.

he stared blankly out the window from the passenger seat for most of the drive home, not making a sound to the point where i almost forgot he was there for a few seconds. every time i looked over at him he seemed to know and he'd look over for a moment, those eyes boring into my own with emotion i couldn't read. it was far too quiet, even with the truck's engine rumbling around us. "what's your name?" i mumbled, mostly to myself as i scanned the husky once again. i guess that was up to me to decide now, but i couldn't think of anything that suited him. i sighed and turned the radio on, american pie coming through the speakers and lifting the mood a little. the dog's ears swerved a little and he looked at the radio curiously, i wondered if he'd ever heard music before. "do you like that, boy?" i turned the volume a little and the music got louder. he seemed pleased as he tilted his head from side to side and continued staring out the window at the passing landscape. i mused the lyrics i could remember quietly and tapped on the steering wheel as we made our way home.

we were met at the gate to the house by an excited storm, eager to meet her new friend. seeing her wagging tail and sparkling blue eyes gave me hope for the new fella. she'd come so far from the skittish girl she'd used to be and i just knew that he would someday be happy and healthy too. storm warily approached the new dog, sniffing at him cautiously. he stepped back as she got too close and whipped his tail uneasily. i gave her a gentle pat. "let's give him some time, yeah?" i told her quietly and she trotted off into the snow to play on her own. i beckoned the skinny dog to follow me to the house. though he kept his distance and still jumped a bit when i moved to quickly he had no problem coming along. i think he was excited to have a good life here, he just wasn't sure if he could believe it yet.
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Task 2 - Bonding
Incomplete/Complete [472 words]
surprisingly enough it didn't take the mangy-looking dog (hunter, i'd taken to calling him) very long to get used to his new living conditions. he didn't like it when i turned the tv up too loud and every time a big truck drove past and honked it's horn he'd dash out of the room and hide somewhere - but he was slowly getting better. i was thinking that storm's presence was definitely helping since he seemed to warm up to her so quickly and he liked to follow her around sometimes when she played in the snow outside. i still wanted to improve my own relationship with him so i decided one day to take him out ice-fishing; not a wildly exciting experience but it was something.

hunter jumped into the cabin of the truck, no problem. he seemed to like travelling which was a bonus. i tossed our gear onto the back and we made our way out to the spot where i often went ice-fishing with a friend. the dog watched intently with his mismatched eyes as i drilled a hole through the ice and chiseled away at it to make it bigger - he trotted over when it was all done and sniffed at the water below before hopping up next to me on the crate i was sitting on. i'd brought a little radio with us and switched it on a low volume, more for him than for me. music was another thing that he seemed to have taken a liking to. he lay his head down beside me and watched the hole with the fishing line in it, perking his head up and wagging his tail excitedly whenever something was reeled in and occasionally getting up to stretch his legs for a bit. i laughed as i watched him scamper across the ice, shaking the little flecks of snow from his felt with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. we were out there until the sky started to darken slightly and i figured it was about time to head on home.

to my surprise, hunter seemed almost reluctant to leave - taking a moment before he finally jumped back into the truck when it was time to go. his fur was a little bit damp and there were still stray snowflakes peppered through it but he seemed pleased with today's experience. he lay down in the passenger seat as we started to drive, making a strange whining noise which i soon realized meant "turn on the radio, please". the music filled the cabin for the rest of the drive and i had one hand on the wheel and the other idly running through hunter's soft fur. i looked forward to getting home and curling up in front of the tv with a thick blanket and my two amazing dogs.
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Task 3 - Gaining Confidence
Incomplete/Complete [543 words]
hunter's progress had really taken me by surprise. it wasn't long at all before i started taking him on long walks - at first in quiet places like through the forest or down near the lake - but as time went by and he grew more accustomed to the idea of being out and about, we started to go down into the town. i tried to take him either early in the morning or later on in the evening when there would be less people on the streets and fewer vehicles zooming past on the road. his skittish reactions to sudden movements or noises had calmed a little bit but they were still there. i had to remember that he'd been abused as a pup, that was what i'd been told the day i adopted him. something like that would probably linger in the back of his mind for a long time, even when he was well-aware that he was in a safe place where no one would hurt him anymore.

sunday's meant market days in the town i lived in and i wanted to test the waters with hunter being somewhere with a few more people than he was used to. i often took storm down to see the stands and by now she really enjoyed going but i could never know exactly how it would go down the the male dog. he wagged his tail happily as i clipped his lead onto the collar he wore. i decided to bring storm along too and we headed out into the snow and onto the road. the town was just a short walk away so we'd be there in little time. hunter seemed to know that something was different about today's outing, his ears swerved with curiosity and he stopped every now and again to look back at where we'd come from. i was a little nervous that he'd freak out to be completely honest.

when we made it to the bustling town square with it's little stands set up under brightly coloured tents hunter definitely showed some reluctance at getting too close. there were kids running about with candy apples in their hands and people behind their tables calling out to get the attention of others walking by. storm wagged her tail excitedly and looked around at the place she loved to visit. some of the kids came up and asked if they could pet her and she enthusiastically nuzzled at their hands as they scratched behind her ears. when they made their way over to hunter he backed up a bit but leaned forward to sniff at the new people anyway. he timidly accepted a few gentle rubs before the strangers ran off to look at something else. the one thing that really caught hunter's attention was a young man playing his guitar for tips near the water fountain. the rusty-coloured dog looked sat as we watched him play for a while, his fluffy tail swaying a little bit. i laughed to myself - of course if anything would make him warm up to the idea it would be the music. the young man smiled at hunter and played louder, earning back an excited bark from the husky like they were singing a duet.
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Task 4 - Training
Incomplete/Complete [402 words]
the choice to train hunter into sledding sort of came out of the blue. when i adopted storm i knew at once that she'd just love it but this dog was much different than she was so i couldn't be sure that he'd act the same. one morning i got up early and took hunter out to the same spot where i'd started storm's training all that time ago. he'd first have to learn the verbal commands before we went anywhere near an actual sled so i dug up my old training notebook and got to it. hunter took a while longer to learn than storm had. i quickly learned that he was very easily distracted and while it seemed like he was trying hard to stay focused and learn, any little thing that caught his attention for even a moment would see him wandering off to investigate. it was impossible to get frustrated with him when he came straight back when he was called with an innocent glint in this mismatched eyes and his fluffy tail wagging idly. a couple of weeks had passed by the time he'd learned all the commands but i was simply pleased that we could move on to something he'd find a little more exciting.

the second i got the harnesses out of the shed both dogs came bolting out of the house - storm excited to go for a run and hunter just excited for the sake of being excited. hunter's harness fir perfectly to my relief and when they were both hooked up to the kicksled it was actually a breeze to get into the actual sledding. by now storm and i had gone out sledding so many times she knew what to do automatically and while hunter was a little confused at first he caught on at an impressive rate. having his best friend there to show him the ropes would definitely have been helpful. they dashed through the powdery snow with the wind pelting through their thick coats. i called out directional commands over the sound of the sled and they obeyed perfectly (though hunter occasionally tried to turn the wrong way - storm corrected him easily enough). it crossed my mind that sledding was something that they both enjoyed so much and i did too. we could make something of ourselves with it and if we kept working hard we could be unforgettable.
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Task 5 - One Year Later
Incomplete/Complete [454 words]
the air outside had started to get warmer once again - even in the constant state of snow in which we lived. i was tossing the last couple of bags onto the deck of my truck while hunter and storm chased each other about the front yard. we were going on a little road trip to kick off the summer, away from the constant state of winter to somewhere where you could actually see the grass beneath your feet. i almost forgot to pack the acoustic guitar i'd been learning to play. i was still a little rusty but hunter seemed to like it. i called the dogs to climb into the cabin of the truck since it was finally time to go. they bounded over and jumped up one by one and i had to admire just how different hunter looked in comparison to when i'd first laid eyes on him. his thick coat was clean and soft and he'd put on weight so his ribs were no longer visible. his one blind eye was foggy as it would always be but it still seemed to shine a little bit when he was happy. i gave him a scratch behind his ears and he tried to lick my face. i was so grateful for these dogs and everything they'd brought to my life.

we set off on the road with the radio blasting songs from the eighties. as we drove through our town people who we'd come to know so well waved at me and the dogs. we were driving pretty much all day with loads of pit-stops for food and leg-stretches but when we finally made it to the little seaside town where my parents had a holiday home the first place i wanted to stop was the beach. the sun was setting over the water, painting it the most beautiful vibrant orange. the dogs practically bolted to the water's edge to investigate and splashed around in the shallow parts. i grabbed the guitar from the back of the truck and sat down on an old log, keeping a watchful eye on the dogs as i started to play the one song i'd been working so hard to learn. american pie reminded me of hunter whenever i heard it now - it was a long song but well-worth it. i played it to myself but as soon as hunter heard music he came dashing over to listen. he plopped down in the sand in front of me, soon followed by storm, and the two of them watched with water flecking their fur. i sang the lyrics and they howled at the sky and in that moment everything was different but everything was good.
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this is the form i would like to be used for the judging.
my other one is here [x]

[gently]

all tasks complete! thanks again for this pretty boy <33
i had a lot of fun writing these.
harness color here [x]

[Venatici]

hello there! I am just hopping in very quickly to say there was a big numbering issue. this dog is now #61 instead of #71! thank you <3