The next morning we woke up around 6:30, and as soon as Dakota sensed we were awake, he got up and eagerly walked to the door with the "walk, plz" look on his face. He looked like he meant it this time, and I got my shoes and sweatshirt on again, and took him out, doggy waste bags in hand. It was a brisk 36 degrees or so, cold enough to see Dakota's breath as we walked. As a husky built to survive in temperatures as severe as 70 degrees below zero, he was loving it. He did his normal sniffing and peeing routine, and finally did the ol' number two. At last I was convinced that he wasn't going to explode after all. I picked it up, and we finished our walk and went back to the hotel. We got cleaned up, got some breakfast, packed up, checked out and were on our way back to Dogtown HQ.

We left Dakota in the car temporarily as we went into HQ to sign up for volunteering and to turn in the sleepover bag and hand in Dakota's sleepover evaluation form. I was as honest as I could be on the form, even including the cat incident, but clearly I like to write and I didn't really have enough room on the form to write everything. So if you guys at Dogtown HQ are reading, this is my extended evaluation, and I hope it helps.

People were asking me how Dakota was on the sleepover, and I could honestly say he was awesome. He behaved so well among other people, strangers, children, and with Kief and I too. Not one sign of aggression at any point (aside from the cat incident) and lots of affection towards both of us. Eileen was there in HQ, and I assured her that Dakota was great. I think she was a little worried, because Dakota is her boyfriend after all. But Dakota was really good, and his evaluation spoke for itself. I was very happy to have spent that time with him, as it gave me a much better idea of what his personality was like outside of Best Friends.

Kief and I signed up to work in the Deja lodges, and we went back out to collect Dakota and walk him back up to Conrad's. I liked Dakota so much it was hard for me to put him back in his run. I wanted to take him home right then. I wanted to come home from work to his happy face, I wanted him to sit on the couch with me and watch TV, I wanted to take him to parks and on walks and on runs, I wanted him to be a part of my life. I felt really good about Dakota after the sleepover and I was looking forward to getting my house inspected for the adoption process.

Pacer walks me through the process of putting his harness on

We said goodbye to Dakota and met up with Jeanne near Dogtown HQ. We all walked up to New Friends to get our dog walking assignments for the morning. Kief had done some walking yesterday but I hadn't, and I was looking forward to getting back on the trails with some of my favorite lodge pups. Because Kief and I were a pair, we agreed to walk the lodge pairs that were walkable together; Lola and Pacer, Mr. Chips and Cinderella, Miss Heidi and Woody. By this time I was an old hand at walking these guys, with the caveat that I still did not possess the ability to decipher the spatial mechanics necessary to put a harness on a dog. We left New Friends and went to get Cinderella and Chips first.

It was easy to get Chips leashed up, but Cinderella is shy and she didn't know us. I tried to get a leash on her, but she didn't trust me and ran away to the other end of her run. After a few attempts I had to wait until she saw some caregivers in another run head towards the indoor section of the lodge, and she ran through her dog door to see them. Bingo! I carefully entered the indoor section of her run and now that she had nowhere to go she let me put a leash on her. I brought her out, and Kief and I went up the road to the trail on the left side that winds around back behind Deja side. I was walking Cindy so Kief could experience first hand the poop-eating dynamo that is Mr. Chips. Oh yes. Luckily there wasn't a lot of poop on the trail so Kief didn't have to do a lot of monitoring.

The walk went well, and we dropped Cindy and Chips back in their run when it was over. Then we went to the other side of the lodge to pick up Pacer and Lola. They were ecstatic to see us, and after petting them for a few minutes it was time to get Pacer's harness on. This time I remembered doing it from last time, and I was able to get it on him with a minimum of fuss. Hooray! Off we went up the road, and onto the right side trail that wound up and over a hill, and down the other side. As always, Pacer and Lola were great to walk and they loved the affection when we stopped for a break at one of the benches lining the trails. After a good forty minutes or so we had Pacer and Lola back in their run, and we were ready to take on the next pair.

Miss Heidi and Woody both need to wear harnesses, so their run is like my Waterloo. I love those guys, especially Miss Heidi, but their harnesses are my bane. Kief managed to get one of them figured out and got it on Woody, and then while we were both poring over Heidi's harness one of the caregivers stopped outside the run (Amy I think?) and showed us how to put it on correctly. Kief might have been able to figure it out on his own, but not me. We took Miss Heidi and Woody out on the right side trail, and we took them on a very long walk, way past where I usually turn around. We were out walking them for almost an hour by the time we got back, and Heidi seemed to be moving pretty slowly on the last stretch. We got them back into their run, de-harnessed them and said our goodbyes.

Kief and Annie are both leaners

Back at New Friends, we had time to walk one more pair before lunch, but all the pairs had been walked already so we decided to walk a couple of singles on our own. I chose Orlando, and I suggested Annie for Kief because he like Rotties. When we met up afterwards, Kief told me that Annie was his favorite dog so far. He took pictures of himself with Annie on their walk, and it was obvious that he had a great time walking her. As the caregivers will tell you, Annie is a leaner. When you stop to rest at a bench, she'll sit down and lean against you, and it's just the most endearing thing. She loves it when you pet her as she's leaning, she can't get enough of it.

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“Miss Heidi and Woody both need to wear harnesses, so their run is like my Waterloo.”