Project RePaw: Mikki’s journey from sleds to an office dog
My name is Esa, and I heard about RePaw from my sister Taru, who works at Bearhill Husky. I had been thinking about getting a puppy for a while, and I’m still on a waiting list. My sister told me about the rehoming project, but at that time I was hard set on getting a Samoyed puppy.
Some time later I bought train tickets for my trip to Rovaniemi during November. I joked that I only got a pet cabin for the return trip on my visit, and that my sister needs to find me something to do while I wait in Rovaniemi. Taru then asked me if I wanted to meet some dogs who are looking for a new home and maybe take one home.
One condition for me getting a dog from Bearhill Husky was that it needs to get along with Taru’s dog Pablo. Pablo is a mini husky, and compared to most dogs at Bearhill Husky, very small. So, it was important that whichever dog ends up with me gets along with Pablo.
A few messages later (including pictures and videos) and also Taru introducing Mikki and Pablo to each other (and it going well), I had signed the papers for Mikki to be my dog. Then we had to figure out how to get him to me in south Finland. I asked VR (the Finnish railway company) if for my November trip I could change also the cabin on my arrival train ride to a pet cabin, which I was able to do. And because Taru had a trip planned to come visit me, we decided that she would already bring Mikki to me then, 2 months earlier than my planned trip to the north.
Mikki and I live in a one-bedroom apartment here in Vantaa, close to Helsinki, which has been surprisingly easy for him. Mikki mainly sleeps all day, except when we go out, where he goes where he pleases. We have woods and parks literally on the other side of the road, which we use regularly, where there is wild life: squirrels, rabbits and a couple of foxes. Wildlife is always something Mikki would like to chase, if he wasn’t attached to a leash. The only time we’ve seen the foxes though, he just stared at them, until they were deep in the woods.
My parents live in Nuuksio national park, and there we have built a dog house and a small fence for Mikki and my sister’s dog. We often visit there and Mikki gets to reminisce about the old life and (hopefully) realize that the new one is pretty wonderful. Also in there we have quite nice forests and trails to wander around! I’ve tried only once to have Mikki off-leash, he had a harness on and I was watching him like a hawk. Mikki never went more than 2 meters away from me!
He doesn’t care that much about other dogs nor people, but when given attention, he enjoys it. But he doesn’t seek attention. He’s well mannered, barks very seldomly, mostly when I’m not fast enough with putting the leash on. Whenever he gets the leash on and we go out, he still needs to be reminded to not pull on it.
My co-workers have taken their dogs to work sometimes, some of them being full of energy, and not coming again to the office. I was hesitant to take Mikki with me to work, but during the night-shift he just slept, he barely even wanted to go out for a walk. All my coworkers are amazed how a former sled dog can be so calm. The few people who wander around the office during the night don’t bother Mikki at all, he barely wakes up. So yeah, he is not a guard dog. Luckily, I’m not working in security! During any other shift, mostly on weekends, when he comes to work with me, he sleeps less, but is still quite calm.
Mikki has acclimated wonderfully to city living. He jumps to the car joyfully, most of the time, once even when I didn’t even open the trunk (he’s okay and he learned on the first try). The one trip we took to Ullanlinna, Helsinki, to visit my friend and their dog, he didn’t enjoy the train nor the tram we took, but when it was time to go home, we happily skipped the tram and walked straight to the railway station.
In summary, I got myself the calmest and the bestest office-dog!
– Esa Lehtinen
