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The Gang of Five on the rampage.
soon as was possible. We like our new puppy
owners to be involved in the development and
training of their new charges from as early
as possible, and to get them integrated and
moulded into their new family environment
before they start getting too used to our way of
life.
Obviously, the boy going to Germany was going
to have to wait a little longer than the others.
His new family were in the process of building a
new home and in the middle of expanding their
own brood, and it had already been planned that
they would pay a visit in May, which fitted in well
with all the necessary export requirements. And,
anyway, he would be fine with the two that were
staying, doing some basic training and getting
used to the name they had already chosen.
After all, three young Malamutes wouldn’t be a
problem together for a couple of months………!
Two of the puppies were going to local families
and they left fairly quickly, followed closely by
one going up to Scotland.
Actually, he only just made it. Because then,
before we could deal with getting the others
to their new homes, bang. It was all over.
Lockdown. And we entered a phase that was
going to prove to be the weirdest time of our
lives.
Overnight we seemed to have entered the set
of some 21st century apocalyptic science-fiction
film. A sort of cross between something written
by John Wyndham and Michael Crichton, and
K9 NEWS DIGITAL / OCTOBER 2020
adapted for real life by Steven Spielberg. All
we needed now was for the plant life to start
wandering around and the scene would be
complete!
Now, while three young Malamutes for a couple
of months wouldn’t necessarily have caused
too many problems - one-to-one training
(basic obedience, waiting at the kennel door,
etc), food manners (eating the chicken carcass
when invited and not including any fingers in the
transaction), vehicle familiarisation (learning not
to scream, or poo in the cage at every pothole),
all were possible and fairly straight-forward -
five young Malamutes, however, posed a slightly
more complex problem.
But I’ll come back to that.
As lockdown started to bite, we found that we
were probably luckier than most, and actually
coped quite well. To be honest, we already lead
fairly secluded lives and are happy with our
own company and our hidden-away world, only
emerging when necessary. So, forced isolation
brought with it no great change to our lives. But,
as I said, we were probably luckier than many.
With 20 of our own acres and surrounded by
48 acres of private woodland, and our nearest
neighbours being over a mile away, distancing
didn’t present any problems! We could get out
of the house without restriction, we could spend
even more quality time with our dogs, and we
could dedicate ourselves to getting on with all
the jobs around the place that we had neglected
for so long. Also, our local village is a great
community and our excellent selection of local
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