About two weeks ago I went to New Orleans for an Ingress Anomaly. I’d planned to stop and visit with Ranger and Halo’s breeder, but Mother Nature decided it would be better to rain on her place and make it impossible to have any real fun or allow the dogs to play around.
So instead I detoured to see a different Catahoula friend in Alabama. What was intended to be a weekend “talking dog” turned into a week with me tagging along as she did behavior consults and training sessions (having worked as an assistant dog trainer for a few years really helped).
We visited American Village, Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park, and Shelby Iron Works.
The big souvenir of the trip was a new puppy to add to my pack. He’s related to my crew (the grandson of two of Ranger’s nephews from his littermate sister and one of Halo’s paternal half-sisters). He’s not meant as a replacement for Ranger, but to help balance out the dynamic a bit and give me another trail dog to enjoy. So far he’s fitting in very well with my crew.
I’m calling him Baldr (Warrior River’s Baldr) after the Norse god of joy, light, purity, and the summer sun. When we left Alabama it was the high 60s F and when we arrived back home it was single digits (or negative, Celcius). He is unimpressed by the ice and snow, so I’m hoping he brings the summer sun as well as he’s brought us joy already.
