NiteHawk @littlewhitefeet - Tumblr Blog

NiteHawk left me early this morning in his sleep. 💔

It is The Longest Night. The night we remember Snow Dogs who have left us. We lit a candle in NiteHawk’s garden. He would have loved the snow storm today. I thanked him for sending me EisBär. Shortly after, EisBär slowly walked up behind me. He put his head under my arm and in my lap and just sat there with me, occasionally kissing my tears away. I don’t know what I would do without him.

eisbaerhund

The first few months of my happy happy boy 🤍

I didn’t think I would ever find the right dog, but he burst through the door, flopped down in my lap, and licked my face. Can’t really say no to that. Lol.

littlewhitefeet

I did this because I wanted to document Baer’s life/training and as much as I hate dogblr… well some people have better ideas than me. I’ve been reading a lot of training books and I’m trying to actually “raise” him to be a good citizen. Plus he’s a really food motivated guy, so I think he can have higher standards than I usually have for my rescue mutts with issues.

Anyway, don’t feel compelled to follow. I just wanted to dip my toes back into tumblr because honestly it’s the least problematic social media for me when I use it a certain way.

#NiteHawk was a good boy #he just had a different communication style.#I’ll never regret ecollar training NiteHawk because it absolutely was the catalyst for us bonding #but Baer just doesn’t really need the ecollar #i have one for him and I might one day use it for proofing recall but so far it’s been just sitting in the box #so idk maybe now I’m not a horrible dog abuser who tortures my pet #i still feed raw tho lmao #oh eisbaer

This is EisBär 🐻‍❄️🤍

He was an unclaimed stray in Oklahoma and sent to MN to find a new home. I actually claimed him before he even arrived…. He’s a good boy, but still learning to be a good citizen. I hope he will do okay.

I probably won’t post him online. Maybe I will cave eventually. But having a dog online isn’t the most pleasant experience for me. I just wanted to share that I have a new friend. NiteHawk was my soulmate, so in a way I’m kinda happy to have “just a dog” to train and have fun with.

#eisbär

Anesthesia hits hard when you’re an old, skinny dog.

He was given a long lasting numbing agent in his leg so he currently can’t walk. But hopefully he will figure it out. The surgeon was able to take a flap of skin from his chest and put it on his leg to cover almost all of the wound. The biggest thing will be getting him healed and getting him to gain weight. If he can do that, she got as good of margins as you can possibly get with an elbow tumor and she thinks he will be able to live out his life normally. But I have to get him healed. And there’s a lot that can go wrong before happily ever after…

#nitehawk

Also I got some very important babies and hopefully will be getting even more so I can continue a breeding project started by someone I look up to quite a bit. She has put 55 years into breeding mice and gotten amazing results. I hope to keep that legacy alive.

#mischief of mice

Lived here my whole dang life and never went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

NiteHawk is having surgery tomorrow morning to remove his tumor. I hope it’s not too little, too late. But this was the soonest the traveling surgeon could come. She will take just the tumor and not the leg. There’s a lot of risk involved and it may grow right back, which is why I pushed it off as long as I did. But we’ll try. Because the other option is saying goodbye.

#nitehawk

Here are some more cute mice being cute mice

#mischief of mice #wild turkey #firefly #Zirkova #fling #Manhattan #Nikolai #seltzer #warlock #LightSky #step 2 #fizz

I also got some very very special mice from someone I’ve looked up to for many years. I have females coming this week from the same breeder and if the stars align, I will be breeding my own mice. Not to sell. Just to replenish my own hobby and keep these genes alive.

#mischief of mice #rebel #Elijah #Sam #Todd

His tumor ruptured a few weeks ago. We bandage it multiple times a day and it’s starting to heal up finally. He hates the cone collar (who can blame him), so he gets CBD calming treats and they really do help.

He’s on a lot of supplements and a couple pain meds, but otherwise western med has run its course. He has a 2nd opinion consult with a surgeon this week because the other one won’t take the tumor off without removing his whole leg and currently I’m not interested in that option.

So we’ll see. He’s still walking long distances. Playing. Shredding toys. Howling. Eating. Being a Good Boy.

#nitehawk

A lot has happened, but he’s still going.

#nitehawk

Speaking of a good time, we did a few miles in the snow after his appointment. He hasn’t even slowed down yet. ❄️

#nitehawk

NiteHawk went to the vet today. His blood work is totally normal, but it really shouldn’t be for how bad his tumor is. He shouldn’t be feeling as well as he does, but he’s still running around like crazy. We confirmed that to remove his tumor would require an amputation, which I suspected and will not pursue for a variety of reasons. I got a script for pain meds so when he does start to go down hill, we can support him while I make plans.

NiteHawk has never been good at reading “the book” and following the rules. So we will just keep him happy and comfortable until he isn’t anymore. I know I don’t have a long time with him, but we can have a good time.

#nitehawk