On a Wednesday in early November of 2006, we received a phone call from the Humane Society of Kent County shelter informing us that they had an owner-released two year old female husky.  Shelter staff knew that my husband David and I love our male husky and might be interested in adding another husky to our family.  We already had two dogs, Blitzer the husky, and Maxi, our aging and blind yellow lab as well as two cats, Chessie and Tabby.  The call was a surprise and we were not sure if we were ready to take on the care of another dog.  We discussed the pros and cons of another adoption and finally settled on offering foster services for the shelter dog since the shelter was close to capacity at that time.  Thus, when I came home from work on Friday, I was greeted by a tail-wagging, bouncy “lady” husky with a beautiful red and white fur coat.  I call her a “lady” husky because of her gentle demeanor, careful fashion in which she took treats out of our hands,  and her loving gazes at David as she gently put her muzzle on his thigh.  Blaze was a hit.  She seemed to be immediately accepted by our other two dogs and cats.  We spent a calm and uneventful night.  Blaze followed us upstairs and snuggled up on the rug on my side of the bed for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning we made the decision to adopt this young “lady.”  I went to the shelter to complete the paperwork and came home an hour later with Blaze in tow.  We decided to name her Blaze because of her reddish coat and spark.  It also sounded nice:  Blaze and Blitzer, our two huskies.  At the shelter I learned that Blaze had been surrendered by her owner because he lived in town and she was a “runner;” i.e. she escaped to roam the neighborhood and was not controllable.  We had an invisible fence and trained our other two dogs on it without a problem, so we felt that we would be able to get her trained as well.  Additionally, we live out in the country surrounded by a 250 acre farm, not ours, but owned by an understanding neighbor.  So, David marked our property lines and walked Blaze to teach her the boundaries.  She was eager and bright and seemed to understand the limits very quickly.

By Thanksgiving we allowed her to roam with Blitzer and Maxi freely about our property.  Things were great until she got a whiff of her first deer and sighted her first fox.  Our lady turned into a tramp.  She ran across the invisible fence yelping and howling to chase after the wild animals.  We were stunned.  The only positive turn of events was that Blaze felt close enough to her dog brothers and maybe even us, that she also came running home across the fence, again yelping and howling as she approached.  We went back to the training routine for Blaze.  David walked her day and night in snow and rain in an effort to teach her the boundaries.  But Blaze remained stubbornly determined to do what she wanted to do.  We ran after her, we drove after her; we bought her a kennel and locked her in, walked her, leashed her and mostly kept her in the house where instantaneously she once again acted like a lady.  Whenever she escaped, we thought that we lost her for sure, only to hear her come home after three to four hours of chasing.

Now she has been with us for four and a half years.  She has calmed down as she has aged and there are weeks and even months that she does not run away….then, once again, she loses control.  We love her dearly; this wild canine child of ours.  We would not want to be without her but she was a challenge and will probably remain a challenge to the end.  Over the years she has taken on the alpha dog role in the household, controlling Blitzer, the cats and I fear even us.  She is charming and gentle in the house when she curls up on the couch, on our bed or on a rug with her head on one of her toys, mostly her fox but sometimes her bear or her sheep.  Blaze can be wild and wonderful; docile and obedient.  Once she is gone, we will always have another husky as long as we can take care of one.