wanderCRAFT

We call her...

Kaia
Puppers
Pupper Pup
Kaia Girl
Muffin
Kaia Muffin
Muffin Girl
Miss K
Miss Kaia
Muchacha
Huntress
Monster
Beast
Beastie

Matt and I often joke about how funny it is to us that we keep this beast in our house and take her for walks around the neighborhood on a string. Like we're keeping a wild animal captive and promonading her for our own pleasure.

She surely would run away if we let her off the leash, as huskies are known to do and as she did before we learned better. In her early years we tempted fate a few times, hopeful that we could somehow train her to come back to us despite her genetics. She'd take off on wild chases through the brambles and we'd have to trampse through the woods hoping she'd come back to us after she ran her heart out.

When she was still quite young, I spent a month working with her on coming back when called. She made good progress so when I took her for a hike in the woods, I let her off leash and gave her treats for staying by my side. She complied for about five minutes, then realized she could go ahead without me, full speed down the trail. I stood on a hill in the darkening woods and watched black flashes of fur run circles around me in the distance until I couldn't see or hear her anymore. I called Matt and asked him to drive down to look for her with me. I imagined hanging lost puppy posters around town and admonished myself for being such a bad dog owner. After about 45 minutes, she wandered slowly back to me, totally spent, and we went home.

After that, we settled for dog parks. One was very large and surrounded by water on three sides. After a disappearing act there, I found her curled up in the salt marsh. Another time Matt caught her by the tail after she and he jumped two fences. On her last adventure, she chased rabbits for an hour and a half on a lovely spring morning while we chased her. After that, we finally gave in to the leash. There are days when she's tracking the scent of a rabbit and I wish I could let her go for a chase. She would be so happy. But, we like our beast and intend to keep her.

With some dogs, they stick to you like glue. This one has a wild heart. And for that, I'm thankful.