Hawkeye, wheel/team dog, 2007-2021
Hawkeye, my fluffy boy
Certain dogs mark certain chapters in your life. This is common knowledge among all dog lovers. Hawkeye marked the beginning of my journey back into dog mushing. He came along to my parents with Petunia in 2013, and as many of you know, was first of the four loving dogs that hailed from the Porters. I had my eyes set on Petunia that first day at their kennel, and wasn’t really aware of Hawkeye until he started rubbing up against my then boyfriend who came along. “You should take this one home!” he exclaimed. It was an easy sell. Hawkeye was a joyful and affectionate fluffy gray and white husky with black guard hairs that gave his coat a great texture, with dark brown eyes. He usually worked in team or wheel. To me, he had a very doughy expression, but to others he was deemed handsome. He was easy going with not a single mean bone in his body. The only time he might have expressed discomfort was when he would bark at Timber (a good pal of his who joined us just a couple months later) when she would accidentally step on him when she wasn’t minding his space.
I wasn’t sure of his exact lineage or breeding, but he exhibited some very familiar Siberian traits right off the bat. It wasn’t until a couple years later did I learn he was in fact a registered Siberian Husky. He fit right in with a team of same-aged Alaskans, so I didn’t mind one bit. When we first moved him to the kennel, he would pull back the front chainlink panel with his jaws. He also had very selective hearing to the point we would sometimes question whether or not he was deaf. When I was at work one day, I received a very frantic call from my mom alerting me he had gotten loose. She called every shelter in Skagit County including the local sherif. After driving around calling for him, three hours later she found him laying on his side wagging his tail, inside the dog run. One day we came back from a run and I took him out of the dog box. Instead of running straight to the kennel like he and the other dogs did, he decided it would be a great day to run down the driveway and down the road. I quickly got Timber on a leash and ran down to the road to see if the both of us could attract him. He saw us, ran past us, and as he approached our driveway, I yelled out “gee!” I knew that doofus knew his commands from when he did a bikejor race with my dad, and he took that gee up the driveway like a seasoned lead dog. Go figure. Knowing that him being on on our property wasn’t going to solve the issue, I yelled out “Truck! Truck!” as he approached the dog truck. Responsive to that command, he stopped at the truck and start bouncing on his hind quarters to get into his box. I grabbed him immediately and marched him back to the kennel. Me - 1, Hawkeye - 0. Despite his appetite for wandering the neighborhood, I did enjoy a brief period where he was able to free run with the rest of pack. Given that he was unpredictable, that period was very short-lived, and that’s why you might notice him always on a leash in our free run pictures. In 2019, he darted off down a very remote logging road, and managed to out run me despite his slowed pace, so I jumped in my truck and drove after him. Much to my relief, and with thanks to pure luck, a family in a pick-up truck managed to apprehend him at a three-way intersection. Without them there to distract him who knows which way he would’ve gone. Nice try, Hawkeye.
Hawkeye and Timber
During runs, as soon as I hooked up him up to the gangline, he would be do his usual pull back the team in front him by his neckline and lunge forward with all he could. That said, he was luckily never a chewer. He would find ways to entertain himself on the trail. On dryland runs, the ATV headlights would illuminate moths and bugs that he was eager to jump at. On snow runs, it was pinecones on the trail or the occasional squirrel. He had a knack for snatching up fledgeling robins in the spring time that fell from their nests into the dog yard. More than once I’ve had to pry slobbery birds from his mouth — some alive, some not. As much as he did mischievous things, he of course had very redeemable qualities that certainly outweighed his shenanigans — one of which was doing all of the things mentioned above with a huge smile on his face. No one could never be upset at him when the expression is of pure glee. And for a Siberian, he was remarkably quiet and really only howled during hook up. He was a very huggable sweet boy, and it only improved with age. He was fairly mellow in his overall temperament, and I enjoyed his cheerful attitude in contrast to his more serious counterparts (Timber and Stinky to name a few).
I retired him from running at the end of 2019. He wasn’t the greatest sled bag passenger when compared to Timber. I laugh as I recall him rocking the sled side to side, dipping for snow on either side of the sled when he was in the basket. I would grab snow in my palm and present it to him, but he would always refuse. On the other hand, he was a great truck copilot, and always sat upright in the passenger seat, facing forward enjoying the views. Even as his arthritis in his hind quarters worsened, he would always do his goofy butt-tucking run around the yard as the other dogs sped past him. After Timber and Stinky passed away, he had a brief bout of depression, but his mood improved eventually and it was amazing to see such a cheerful disposition out of a dog approaching 15 years of age. He was a great companion in the dog yard, and he would always trot up, and in a very unimposing way would sit right beside me, making himself available for hugs. That trait is what I’ll miss the most about him. He was a dog that could easily make you forget whatever ailment you were feeling, and honestly, I’m sad to lose that.
Hawkeye was in great spirits up until his last two days. Bloodwork revealed probable kidney failure. I soon realized that his overnight stay for pancreatitis in March bought us four more months. At 10:38 AM on Friday, July 30th, he passed at 14/15 years old. He was ready to reunite with Petunia, Timber, and Stinky in heaven, and I only hope when I go, they will be able to greet me as well.
As the chapter of the four Porter dogs ends, a new one begins. With the remaining three dogs — Wicked, Idol, and Tank — we are off to explore new trails, sights, sounds, and smells in North Central Washington. With this move, it will close the gap between myself and the kennel. I will be able to train year round from my house. New dogs with be introduced to the kennel, and I hope they possess the same traits as each of those special dogs that came before. I have always valued a sled dog that is companion-first, a dog I can trust and confide in. While I am sad Hawkeye won’t be there to claim his spot on the dog bed in the living room, I reflect on our eight years together, and who I was as a 25 year-old absent of goals, no vision of my future, to who I am now. I only wish to provide the best lives for my canine family. Thank you, Hawkeye, for helping me become a better person.
