Savage lost a good friend last week. My parents' springer spaniel/husky mix, Brisco, passed away after a long and happy life with them. Brisco, or "Biscuit", was a quiet, good-natured boy whom my mom called "a perfect gentleman". In his younger days he loved nothing better than leaping off their dock and paddling around in the lake, biting at the waves. He followed my parents when they went trapping, cutting firewood, and visiting other homeowners on the lake. Brisco was a favorite of the neighbor's children, who he grudgingly allowed to dress him up in shirts and a sun bonnet.
In the summer Brisco rode in the bow of the boat, his velvety black ears flapping in the wind, and in the winter he sat contentedly in the box my dad built for him on the back of his snowmobile. As he grew older, they towed a plastic sled behind the snowmobile so he could comfortably go out ice-fishing with us.
Biscuit was more than a pet; he was a constant companion to my mom and dad, and friend to all. He was laid to rest in the forest on the island near our family's other beloved pets that have made their last journey.
Run free and in peace, little "cow-colored" dog. We will always remember your life with us as a beautiful gift.

This was once a pillow...

Spring has sprung! It's been a mild winter and an early spring in Northeastern Minnesota. The snow has all but completely disappeared, and the ice on the area lakes is getting thinner every day. Still, we are finding opportunities to go ice-fishing, and Savage finds it fun to run alongside the snowmobile, though the fishing itself doesn't impress him much. He licks the freshly caught trout and eelpout, but will only eat them if they are filleted and preferably lightly steamed. He does enjoy being around my family, where I spend most of my ice-fishing time, and climbing on me and Randy if he thinks we're not paying enough attention to our Baby Dog.

It's been a lazy couple of months for Savage. Between his owner being quite busy at work, and the occasional below freezing temperatures, he hasn't gotten as much exercise and attention as I intended. On days when the temps are above 10 degrees we go for walks along our road, but when it gets colder than that we are both content to stay inside. I try to keep him entertained with his stuffed animals and discovered he loves to shred newspapers during playtime (which is fine, as long as he doesn't do it when we're not playing). His "daddy", Randy, has been laid off from his job on and off this winter so at least Sav has someone around during the day. When I come home from work they are usually both stretched out on the couch together. In January I started taking him for runs alongside my snowmobile and my puppy seemed to be doing great, not biting at the skis, or generally freaking out. After the snow melted off the road a little and it rained for a day, the road turned slick and icy. With his long legs I'm afraid Savvy will slip and hurt himself running, so no more snowmobiling until we get more snow!
I've been trying to keep his unknown allergies under control by giving him fish oil with his meals. I first noticed his scratching and ear infections last summer, and treated the problem with Benadryl, and later, Temaril-P. The ear infections eventually disappeared, and I am keeping up with a routine of cleaning his ears with Mal-Otic ointment once a week. Savvy still scratches his ears occasionally, and licks his feet a lot, so I'm sure he's still dealing his the allergies. He's only been on the fish oil regimen for a month or so and I'm hoping things will improve. I started giving him fish oil capsules but he's an expert at finding pills hidden in treats. The emulsified omega-3 fish oil that I'm giving him now is in liquid form and he actually doesn't mind it when I pour a tablespoon of it over his regular meal.
Nevertheless, my Great Dane is doing all right this winter. His weight is pretty stabilized because I have not been over-feeding him like I used to do, and trying to get him out running as much as possible in the cold. He's still kind of crabby around other male dogs, but I've pretty much decided to keep him on leash when we're around them just in case. On the weekends we've been doing some ice-fishing, which requires 165 lb. Savage to ride on the front of the snowmobile seat while Randy reaches around the dog to drive. Me, I'm sitting in the sled. When we're fishing Savage goes minnow hunting, searching around the ice for unused minnows discarded by other fishermen. He digs them out of the ice and eats them, and if I leave our minnow bag open he has been known to knock it over to get to the little fishies inside. We have to be careful to unhook our bait as soon as we reel in lines because I know Sav would attempt to eat the hooked minnows, too. If we are fishing with friends I'm constantly warning them about this, which doesn't make me the most popular ice fishing partner.
I don't mind. It's all about Savvy.

Generally when I take him grouse hunting, it's just an excuse to walk around with my doggy in the woods. He is usually off-leash, and it's difficult to calm him down if I were to raise the shotgun to actually shoot something. When Randy is with us it's easier because one of us can hold his collar while the other shoots. He'll go in the brush to retrieve the bird, but instead of bringing it to us, he'd rather play "keep-away". Still, I'd rather have him with me. Whenever I'm out alone in the woods I feel guilty if I leave Savage home, anyway.
He wears his blaze orange collar during deer hunting season (which happens during the middle of grouse season), but I put the orange camo hood on him in the truck just because it was cute. He's such a good big huntin' dog.

originally uploaded by Paula.

A little grayer around the muzzle, one less tooth, many more hugs received, countless cases of raw chicken devoured, a few more pounds added (162lb right now), and he still acts like a silly little puppy. Here's to another year, my beautiful Baby Dog.

Savage received his new log bed as a gift from Randy's daughter and her husband. It was custom-made to fit in a corner of the living room in the new house by an Amish furniture maker from southern Minnesota. The only problem is that my puppy's old twin-size mattress didn't fit in the frame, so we got him a new mattress and then split open the end, cut and twisted the wire springs to fit, and then stitched the end closed again. I would love to say that Savage absolutely adores it, but at the same time we also got a new living room couch, so he spends most of his nap time on that. True to his Great Dane nature, he always wants to be right next to (or preferably sitting ON) his people.