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THE BASIL BOYS |
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| The sons of Basil were the core of our 1995
winning team. They were all unassuming, hard working dogs. |
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Spooky
Spooky is renowned for his "last hurrah." At
age 12, he developed cancer. It was first diagnosed as
a torn anterior cruciate ligament, then as cancer, and
the only option was an amputation of his back left leg.
We hoped to give him another lease on life, and did –
in more ways than we anticipated. When he finally made
it back out to the yard, after a couple of months recuperating
in the house, we worried about him a lot. When the dogs
erupted in a flurry of barking one day, we rushed out
thinking we'd need to rescue Wally. No problem –
he had found Blaize in heat and somehow managed to mount
her (amazing considering had had lost a back leg). Wally
died a week before the pups arrived, so his extra time
was short, but we were left with a supberb litter from
that "last hurrah." In his honour, we gave them
"spooky" names: Eyrie, Ichabod, Caspar, Marley
and Banshee. |
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Riley
Riley, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2001, was shy
with visitors, but very affectionate with us. He was well
known as the official beard-cleaner during the Quest (he's
pulling ice off Frank's beard in the picture to the left
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Wally
Wally was the main cheerleader in Frank's 1995 Quest team,
and for several years after that. He was always the first
one up and barking to go after a rest in a checkpoint.
A bit, affectionate goofy dog, Wally loved to sprawl on
his doghouse, waiting for someone to come over and give
him a good rub.
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Other Retired Quest Dogs |
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 Jazz
Jazz was one of Frank's favourite dogs of all time. She
loved to sleep on the sled, right in the basket, forcing
Frank to curl up in the brush bow. |
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Frodo
Frodo was a Quest dog for several year. Although not a
leader, Frodo was a valuable member of the team, and always
ran beside his best buddy, Duke. One year, we thought
he would miss the Quests, as he came up lame the day before
the race. A Fairbanks vet checked him out and determined
that he had carpal tunnel syndrome in one wrist. She showed
Frank how to manipulate the tendon, and Frodo made it
all the way to Whitehorse that year. Frodo probably developed
carpal tunnel syndrome while digging hole; he used to
dig a maze of tunnels around his house, making it a real
challenge to feed him! |
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Tinker
Tinker liked to curl up with one of our cats, Cato, on
the sofa. That was "HER" place, and woe betide
anyone who tried to sit down there. Tinker was a gentle,
sweet tempered dog and remained cheerful right to the
end. She was a bit of a comedian, and always made us smile.
Here spirit lives on in several dogs in the yard.
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Latte
Latte, on of our beautiful "coffee litter" dogs,
died suddenly of liver cancer, far too young. He was a
favourite of many of our visitors, and was fine Quest
dog for several years. |
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