Then An and I left Lodge #8 and went back to New Friends to see what else we could help with before lunch. It was about 11:30, and Terri had finished with the dishes. There wasn't really enough time to do anything else before the sanctuary was going to close for lunch at noon, so we decided to take a walk around the lodges. I wanted to see Dakota, a black and white Siberian Husky living in Conrad's Corner, but I didn't know where to find Conrad's. Luckily for us, we saw Jean again outside New Friends and she offered to show us where Conrad's and Leopold's were.

Conrad's and Leopold's are two dog octagons right next to each other that house a combination of different dogs, from red collars to green collars. Jean walked us over there and we met with Eileen, one of the caregivers. I mentioned to An that Cammi, a white husky mix, was over in Leopold's, and Eileen asked "Do you want to meet her?"

I said sure, and we went over to Leopold's. Cammi was sitting just behind the gate, on a bed in the corner. Cammi is very shy and it's hard for anybody to approach her, so a caregiver was in the run with her, working to develop trust by encouraging her to take food from her hand as she sat with her back to her. She asked if I'd like to give her some treats and I said I'd like that. To actually try to help a dog get over her shyness around people was an opportunity I couldn't turn down, and I liked Cammi anyway.

I entered the run and sat down on a bed near to Cammi, with my back to her. I chatted with the caregiver as I began to hold out treats for Cammi without turning towards her or looking at her. She gently took them from me as long as I was holding them far enough away from me, so I began to hold them closer to me to see if she would move to get them. At first she didn't, but after a few tries she actually moved forward a half step to reach the treat I had in my hand.

Cammi in her run

It sounds like such a simple thing, but it really made me happy. This poor girl was so shy, it just felt good to see that maybe with some more time and patience, she might trust me at some point. To see her make that little bit of extra effort after such a short time was very rewarding for me.

After that, we went across the street to Conrad's Corner, where we were introduced to Dakota. He was gorgeous, and very friendly. He was at the gate to his run, wagging his tail and checking us out. We observed him for a bit, and then Eileen offered to take him outside so we could get a better look at him. Since he was a red collar dog we weren't allowed to touch or handle him, but Eileen was one of his regular handlers and she brought him outside and held onto him so we could get a better look at him.

Gorgeous. I'll admit I have a bias towards huskies to begin with, but Dakota really is a handsome dog. He was submissive and relaxed, he wanted to come over and sniff us a couple times but Eileen made sure he didn't go too far. He was happy, ears back, and calm. For me, just looking at him was a treat. We admired him a little longer, then Eileen put him back in his run. We thanked her for accommodating us like that, and we left to go get lunch at the cafeteria.

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“I’ll admit I have a bias towards huskies to begin with, but Dakota really is a handsome dog.”