So, we adopted a dog!!!!!!!!!! It was a bit of a world wind trip for us but hang on and I’ll tell you all about it.

We wanted to do something really epic for Canada’s 150th birthday, so we decided to drive half way across Canada to Ontario (we live in Nova Scotia) and adopt a dog. Well, it kinda went that way! He is an eight year old Alaskan husky with a little German Sheppard and Collie in him. He is named after a village in the Yukon. The village of Carmacks is one of the checkpoints in the Yukon Quest (major dog sledding race).

Carmacks

Photo credit: Snow Forest Adventures

We’ve been wanting another dog after losing Maclean last year suddenly but it just never seemed like the right time. We had originally adopted Maclean in 2007 at the age of 6 from the company my husband worked for dog sledding. She was 14 when she died. So when the opportunity came up to adopt another dog from the same company we kinda jumped at this chance. Early June, we decided to drive 19+ hours on Canada weekend, meet Carmacks and bring him back if everyone got along.

Yes, we did this WITH the girls. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy trip with two kids and it wasn’t but we made the best of it. Canada Day weekend happened to be the only weekend we had free as a family and luckily, Saï was approved for two days off. Having those two days off meant he actually had a week off work (shift work).

We packed up and left right after Lilly’s last day of school, drove all night (yup, crazy!) and got to Ontario mid morning. We stopped in Algonquin Park at their visitor’s information centre, which I’ve been to many times before when we lived in Ontario. Poor Hilary got sick everywhere but was so happy and relieved to feel better. We ate out A LOT, played at a school playground, celebrated Canada Day, slept in our car, slept in two hotels and talked about the Provinces we drove through (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario) to the girls.

Despite the challenges of a sick kid, little sleep and adopting a dog that had lived his life as a sled dog, we had a great and quick trip. He is settling in as a house dog but sure loves his walks. He is a very routine dog so change is stressful for him. He is also great with the girls and they love him. He didn’t like our stairs at first and hates loud noises but he’s working on it and zooms up the stairs with no hesitation now.

I almost didn’t want to share this story as I feel like it was a really crazy thing for us to do. Drive half way across Canada to adopt a dog when we could have adopted a dog here. BUT, we did it and don’t regret it at all. You’ll start seeing a few more dog pictures on here and Instagram. An attempt at a family photo was taken on my birthday last week:

I’m really looking forward to running this fall and winter with him. Since he was a working dog pulling sleds, he’ll be pumped to get running again. He loves walks, squirrels and cats, LOTS of attention, freeze-dried treats and follows us around like he is our shadow. He is a quick learner and an amazing addition to our family.

Have you ever adopted a dog?

When was the last time you drove half way across your country?