Mushing Bulletin # 203 – Trevor
All: Our first morning here, that would be Tuesday, I open the door to the bunkhouse and a black shape runs across the room toward me. I’m about to meet Trevor, Gino’s latest rescue. He jumps up and puts his front paws on my chest. His nose is about two inches from mine. This is a big dog, probably 70-75 pounds. Give him some time to grow into those large white paws and he’ll be a really big dog. I hear Gino say: “Trevor, Get back over here!” and ‘Trevor’s nose descends to its normal altitude, he bolts toward Gino, and curls up next to him on the couch. Gino has been working with him. He responds to commands such as “sit’, “stay”, “heel”, “come”, and my favorite, “high five” where he lifts him right front paw and slaps your hand. Gino says that he’ll have him signing his own name is a few weeks.
As I mentioned, Trevor is the latest in a long line of dogs Gino has rescued. The family that owned him lives “two valleys over”. I guess as he grew bigger and started bowling over their small kids, they kept him in a pen and he grew more and more isolated and, when they let him out, more and more unmanageable. So Gino, the dog-rescuer, got a telephone call and ventured over to see him. When he got there they let the dog out of his pen and he charged across the lawn right at Gino. Gino, in his most authoritative voice, pointed his finger at the dog and yelled “Sit!” the dog screeched to a halt, surprised at the tone and volume of Gino’s voice, and sat down. Gino looked at the owner and said: “OK, I’ll take him!”
That was three months ago. As Gino says, “He’s still a work in progress.” Yesterday, Trevor ran in the wheel position (the spot closest to the sled) and did 17 miles. Gino says that he was only giving about 60% effort. We’ll see what happens when he gets the knack of this mushing stuff. There’s a certain amount of intensity in those eyes…
He’s a friendly guy who leans up against you when you pet him. He also plants his left front paw on your foot to make sure you stay put. With the Head Musher and me around he gets added attention… This would have been a great photo if those leggings the Head Musher is wearing hadn’t caused the camera’s laser focusing device to go all out of whack…
The first couple of hours every morning are spent in the bunkhouse near the wood-burning stove having coffee, or chaga tea (more about the tea later), and shooting the bull about a variety of topics. This morning, we covered ISIS in Libya, Gino’s efforts to help Canadian veterans returning from the Middle East, the finish of the Yukon Quest, the state of the Canadian and U.S. economies (it takes $0.80 to buy a Canadian dollar), and, of course, the proposed mushing trails to be covered today.
And Trevor was there taking it all in and probably saying to himself “Is this a great life, or what? I’m one lucky guy to have been rescued by this guy they call Gino.” Indeed he was. Trevor even let me share his cushion on the couch and plunked his head down in my lap. Scratch him under the chin or behind the ears and he zones out! This is the beginning of a great friendship.
Heading out to the trail head to launch the Head Musher on her daily run. It’s a beautiful day. Temperature is in the single digits with just a little bit of wind. The trails, thanks to Gino’s grooming efforts are, according to the Head Musher, “in perfect condition”. She’ll be out for about two and a half hours and will text me from the half way point, an initial test of the “Canada Plan”. What are the odds that this’ll work?
Later, The One-Man Pit Crew
