“Food!” All the dogs bark as a few get so excited they spin around in tight circles.
“Hush you silly dogs. You would think no one ever feeds you with all the noise being made.” The musher chuckles good humorly as he carries his pail of meat slops. Stopping at his lead dog Keula’s pen first he greets his two breeders. “Hello Amber dear! And what a pretty mother to be you are today.” Amber not able to resist pushes her mate aside in her rush to greet the pack leader. Jumping up she puts fore paws to his shoulders and tries to warmly lick the human’s face. “My what a friendly and sweet tempered bitch you have become Amber.” The musher tells his malamute bitch while with his free hand checks the size of each of Amber’s teats taking care to not miss any or cause his bitch discomfort. Amber over joyed at being allowed to lick the muzzle of her leader wags her tail. Her teats having gotten more sensitive she accepts the slight discomfort of human handling as the shared dog pack joy of the moment almost over whelms her. “Your teats are all ready starting to fill with milk Amber. Your time to whelp beautiful puppies for the pack will be upon us soon.” Well in truth the musher is not exactly sure how long her gesturation cycle will last. The switch from human to canine cycle making the whelp date more guess work then an exact science.
Keula himself holds back knowing it’s important for his mate’s canine development to form a bond with the musher. The stronger the canine to human bond the less chance a sled dog will question a musher’s commands. And the team working as one means life or death out on the trail Keula knows from experice. Listening to his leader Keula wonders too when his mate will drop her litter. Padding over to Amber he noses under her tail taking a good sniff of her then a quick lick as he saviors her taste. Finding her to be in good health and condition he smiles up at the human as he too begins begging for the attention of the pack leader. Amber by this time well use to being sniffed and licked barely flicks an ear at the actions of her mate, as after all she gets to be around him all the time but the pack leader only comes to the pen once in a while. Does he mean to take the team out on another run she wonders finding herself growing even more excited at the idea of being back in harness before the dog sled.