July 2018 Newsletter

This is Maui, posing nicely for the photo and sporting the Skull & Crossbones Jewelry Tag. 

Thank you to Rachel of Guelph, Ontario for this great photo!

And this is Radagast, the Holstein. The Jumbo Bone pet tag seems to fit him quite well! 

Thanks to Trista from northwestern Ontario for this cute pic.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted pictures of their pets! If you have a great picture of your pet (showing off our tag would be nice!), you can submit it here.

If you haven't seen your picture submission in our newsletter, check out our facebook page. Once there, you can see lots of pet pics, submit more and chat with us or other pet fans!

Amelia Milling is a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. But really, she's a southern girl from Tennessee. An avid hiker, she'd hiked long sections of the Appalachian Trail, much for the sheer enjoyment of hiking but also in preparation for her adventure in Alaska just last month.

Her goal was to hike the Crow Pass Trail near Anchorage through the Chugach Mountains. A section of the trail is part of the famous Iditarod course. It's a tough hike that roughly follows the Eagle River. Milling was going to do the 23 mile trail alone, in three days.

On the first day, she accomplished much of the strenuous uphill part of the trail but was a bit surprised at the amount of snow; she admits to not really thinking about the snow. She decided to set up camp and get an early start in the morning.

The morning hike didn't go well. She somehow lost her trekking poles and then found herself at the top of a slippery, narrow downhill section. She decided to glissade down, basically, a controlled slide. It was working as planned until she hit a big bump in the snow. She had too much speed and was launched.

“I felt like I was flying,” she said. After she landed, she slid another 200-300 feet. Bruised and somewhat in shock, she laid still to assess the situation. Out of nowhere, a large white husky was over her, checking her out. Milling looked around for an owner thinking there's no way this dog is out here alone. Then she noticed his tag; it said Crow Pass Guide. He was there to help. She got herself back together and tried to regain her bearings. Nanook was already heading back up to the trail and waiting to lead her out.

Nanook stayed with her the rest of the day and then curled up to sleep outside her tent. Milling eagerly checked in the morning and was happy to see he was still there. They continued along the trail and Milling began to prepare mentally, for the day's challenge, crossing the Eagle River. As they got to the crossing, Milling started to second guess her guide notes. This spot looked too deep and swift - and other places looked easier. She decided to try a different place to cross. Big mistake.

The spot she picked looked calmer because it was deeper, much too deep to walk across. She lost her footing and was soon being carried downsteam, clutching her backpack, unable to swim or make any progress across the freezing, glacier fed river. Again out of nowhere, Nanook was there. He bit onto the backpack and swam hard enough to tow Milling to the shore. He likely saved her life.

Milling knew she was in trouble and so did Nanook. He licked her face. She tried to warm up in her sleeping bag but she knew she'd lost too much heat to recover. She found her emergency beacon and hit the button.

In less than 45 minutes, the troopers arrived by helicopter and found Milling and Nanook. They got Milling stabilized and ready to airlift to an Anchorage hospital. They assumed that Nanook was her dog and loaded him up too. Halfway through the flight, they looked at his tag and figured it out.

It turns out that Nanook lives with Scott Swift, near one end of the trail. He adopted the 7 year old husky 6 years ago. He said Nanook never had any training but spends most of his time patrolling the length of the trail. This is the second time (that Swift is aware of) that Nanook has pulled someone from the river. Last time was a young girl who was certainly in trouble. Milling was just glad Nanook was there for her.

“I believe the dog is a guardian angel,” she said. “I told him several times that I love him and I’ll never forget him.

Read more on the AlaskaStar.com website.

Andrew and Christine Steelsmith recently got back home from an epic roadtrip- from Seattle, Washington to Dallas, Texas and then back. They now have a great story and even brought back an unexpected souvenir.

The couple was in Dallas at the end of June to attend a wedding. But it was at the very start of their trip back that things got weird. They'd packed up their Honda Accord, gassed up and pulled onto I-635 ready for a day of driving. As they accelerated to freeway speed on the onramp, they heard howling. Then howling and meowing... and then screaming. Trying to make sense of what was going on, they'd briefly considered that the cat sounds were coming through the car's speakers. But no, it seemed to be coming through the heater vents in the dash. Steelsmith quickly got to the median to stop the car and try to save the cat that was apparently trapped somewhere in the engine. They pictured the cat injured by the hot engine. Now stopped on the side of the freeway, they opened the hood... and didn't see anything. But the cat continued to meow from somewhere inside. The Steelsmiths called for help.

The Dallas Fire Department arrived. They were able to see that it was a kitten who had tucked himself deep down in the engine compartment but luckily not on the hot or moving parts of the engine. After several unsuccessful attempts, the firemen came up with a new plan. They used their truck to shield the Steelsmiths' car and escorted them slowly down the freeway to a nearby Chevrolet dealership.

Despite their busy schedule, several mechanics at Dallas Chevorlet jumped right in to help free the furry stowaway. It took about 90 minutes to remove enough parts to finally reach and grab the scared little kitten. He had a hurt leg, a few scrapes, and a broken tail.

So there they were, 2,000 miles from home, standing by their disassembled car, holding the hurt little kitten, not quite sure what to do next. But by the time the mechanics buttoned up the car, the Steelsmiths had decided that they really had no other choice but to adopt "Dallas".

Much of the day's adventure was recorded and Andrew edited an eight minute clip of highlights including the rescue. They've also set up a gofundme page to raise enough money to cover the kitten's medical bills. See the video and read more by going to the DallasNews website.

Called the "fluff challenge" or blanket trick, there are lots and lots of videos of funny pet reactions. This is one of my favorites, by a couple cute dogs when their human disappears. (20 sec)
Imgur

Let's say you're a Polish political science expert. And you're going to be interviewed in your home, live on Dutch television. Would having your overly affectionate cat in the room be a good idea? Watch. (41 sec)
YouTube

Wanna play? Do you? Do you?.... (20 sec)
Gfycat

You may also call 1-800-543-TAGS and mention the coupon code; one of our happy, helpful customer service representatives will gladly give you the discount.