Project RePaw: Nooa - From nervous sled dog to soulmate
My name is Yana Petiet, and I own 3 dogs that have their origin story at Bearhill Husky. I met them there when I worked for Bearhill, and as I have moved on to new endeavours they have moved with me. I would love to share with you our story, which will be told in 3 parts.
I’m originally from the Netherlands, the “Achterhoek” (translated “the back corner”) , a countryside area in the east. When I was 18 and in my last year of school I needed to find a place to do an international internship. I was learning to be an animal caretaker and had quite a bit of experience around dogs, working in dog boarding and being around puppies a lot. Bearhill Husky responded to my email and in those 5 weeks, I fell in love with this job. Being outside, Finnish nature, the crew and of course, the dogs. I finished school and came back straight away. First as a volunteer puppy trainer, and in that time I got hired as a worker for the season. Mainly I was doing dog yard work, as I was very young and had no experience guiding.
That is when I met Nooa. I know it sounds corny, but I’m pretty sure he is my soulmate. It’s difficult for me to imagine ever having a dog again that I will be as close with as I am with him.
Nooa had been bought together with some other dogs from southern Finland. To keep the story short; it seems like they had not been treated very well there. Skinny, some had health issues and they were afraid of people, mostly men. I first met Nooa while I was cleaning up dog poop in the yard. I came across a dog on a chain place, in the back of the kennel. He had been put there because he was really nervous in a fence and was often limping. The hope was that this place was more quiet and that he would calm down. He intrigued me, as he was always super happy to see me and wanted lots of cuddles. His eyes were so captivating, I felt as though he could look straight through me, and there was something there that suggested that he was smarter than people knew.
The decision was made to see if he could be a pet dog, since his situation as a working dog wasn’t improving. Immediately, I volunteered to get him acquainted with the house. There were some issues to figure out though. He was very anxious, and his limping had not completely disappeared. I clearly remember the first time he came inside. He was cautious, and I knew he was very likely to try and pee on something. I kept a close eye on him and when he aimed for the corner of the garbage bin I was there straight away to tell him that was not allowed. The look he gave me as if he was saying “Aha, so this lady is telling me the do’s and don’ts”. I will never forget it and it still makes me chuckle. He pretty quickly discovered the couch and didn’t come off for 3 days. He loved the attention from all the visitors, but he was scared of some guys.
An experienced sled dog vet suggested that the limping could be from a sprained iliopsoas muscle, a common injury in sled dogs that with a lot of rest and careful training can be fixed. His nervous demeanor in the kennel contributed to this injury, but now that he lived in the house that had gotten better. Now a new problem popped up: separation anxiety. His anxiety had now also attached itself to me. I think in the end the key to improving this has been that Nooa needed a leader. Someone to tell him this is what we do, and how we’re going to do it. We’re going to do this together and we’re going to be safe. Going through difficult situations with him and showing him the way grew his confidence in himself and in me, which built trust. At the end of that first winter season together he was back in front of the sled, and we worked on his leader skills to put his brain to work. But I would say it took about 2-3 years to lose most of his nerves and today at 8 years old he is a very different dog, but he still prefers to be by my side.
At the moment we work at a kennel called Pinewoods Huskies where he gets to free run most of the time in the 2 hectare yard with the other dogs. He helps me to train pups and young dogs and he saves the day on tours as well. He loves to say hi to the customers in the yurt and score some cookies.
Since I adopted Nooa we have traveled to different countries, been on boats, done bikejoring together, hiked a 500km trail through the Netherlands, trained puppies and added more members to the pack. Now Nooa is not perfect. No dog is. He has a big prey drive and likes to chase reindeer, moose and rabbits. There is a speck in there of that husky stubbornness that is just enough to give me a challenge from time to time. But I think he comes damn close.
If you are interested in how the RePaw project started and would like to read more stories about dogs that have found new homes, you can visit the links below:
