The Double Life of an Alaskan Sled Dog
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How could she, how could she do this to me? I had always been her one and only. Then one horrible day she brought home this ratty, smelly, dirty ball of fur. There were two eyes deep in the fur, and there was a tail that was longer than the fur ball's entire body. What a mess this thing was! I watched as my mom bathed "it" in the kitchen sink; all the while I was secretly hoping it would disappear down the drain. After the bath and towel drying, as I listened to the cooing and aahing of my mom, I had this horrible feeling that the fur ball was going to stay in MY home. Why, especially why now? Mom put the puppy down, and she, yes it's a girl, ran right over to me and leaped onto my back. That surprised me and made me angry. I growled at her! My mom quickly said, "Now Annui, YOU BE A GOOD GIRL." I knew at that moment my leisurely life had changed drastically. But I also knew that I did NOT have to like it! Mom explained to me that she had gotten the puppy from the animal shelter. The puppy needed a good home, since the owner couldn't take care of her. She said it would be nice if I acted like a big sister to her. That meant I would have to teach her things and take care of her. What a horrible request and thought! At that moment I didn't want that ratty fur ball to even come near me, and Mom wanted me to take care of her? I did not want that "thing" to turn MY world upside down. I decided that I would ignore the horrid fur ball, distance myself from her, and growl at her if she ever came near. That worked initially. Then I realized she would be outside in the backyard playing and having lots of fun, while I would be moping in the house not having any fun at all. I began going out the doggie door to see what was going on, but as soon as the little "Brat" darted toward me I would run back inside. To top off being told I had to be nice, Mom gave her a special name too, "SootFa." This means Snow Flower. I decided to just call her Goofie Soofie because she certainly was goofie, goofie looking and goofie acting! Her tail was so much longer than her body that it acted like a rudder. Whatever direction it pointed that was the way she went. Needless to say, she went sideways most of the time and tumbled head over feet! I actually had some good snickers and snorts when I saw her stumbling and tumbling about. It didn't take long for Goofie Soofie to grow in size, and I began wondering how big she was going to get. I knew she was NOT an Alaskan sled dog like my brothers and me, but I didn't know what she was. I overheard my mom tell a friend that Goofie Soofie was a Leonberger. The Leonberger breed is a mix of Great Pyrenees, Saint Bernard, and Newfoundland, all BIG dogs. Oh MY! The days of me being the biggest dog were numbered. I began thinking that perhaps I would have to change my attitude and just accept that ragtag, bratty puppy. But I would still be the boss, the alpha. Maybe, just maybe, it would be fun to teach the pup the obedience and trail commands that I knew.
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About the Book
Annui (ah.noo.EE), an Alaskan sled dog, captivates elementary schoolchildren as she tells the remarkable story of her fun-filled and sometimes challenging double life. Annui's exciting and adventurous double life consists of classroom and canine schooling, obedience and Iditarod training, school and library presentations and Alaska, Midwest and East Coast travels. Annui's life is suddenly turned upside down when, as she says "a ratty, smelly, dirty, fur ball" causes havoc on her incredible life. Fearful that her double life will change, and wrought with jealousy, Annui struggles to accept the little "Brat"!
About the Author
Andrea Aufder Heyde has been known as "Finney" during the thirty-four years of her teaching profession. Because of her passion for teaching her students about Alaska and the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, she enthusiastically embraced her school's adoption of a program called CLASS (Connecting Learning Assures Successful Students), which focused on setting goals and using life skills to achieve the goals. In doing do she was inspired to contact the Iditarod education department and shared with them her idea of being a teacher who would go out on the Iditarod Trail and send messages back citing how life skills were being used by not only the mushers, drivers of the sleds, but the dogs to achieve their goal of going from Anchorage to Nome. After steadfastly believing in the educational value of her idea and using many of the life skills herself, the Iditarod committee finally agreed that her idea had value and she could be the first Teacher on the Trail in 1999. She was flown by bush planes as close to most of the checkpoints as possible and dropped off to hike her way to the villages. There she excitedly and passionately watched, listened, and learned the ins and outs of the race, viewed excellent dog care, and interacted with the extraordinary village natives, Iditarod volunteers, teachers and bush pilots. After her trail experience she felt she needed to teach her students about the raising and training of the sled dogs, so she asked a musher if she could work at her Iditarod kennel for a summer. That summer turned into many, many summers of constant hands-on experience with the training and running of a kennel. It was eye opening and constantly gave her more to teach her students. Annui's (ah.noo.EE) story began the first summer at the kennel when Finney met the litter of wee babies. On the flight home to Indiana with Annui in a little cat crate under the seat of the plane, Finney began to write Annui's story. It has developed over the years and Finney felt passionate about telling Annui's story as a tribute to her devotion and love.