Older SubZero Dogs
Our older, or more mature dogs, live out their lives happily here with us. They prove to be valuable in school and nursing home visits since they are more sedate than their younger counterparts. Although Gretta is completely retired Cadence still plays a valuable role for team SubZero.
"Gretta" (SubZero's Gretta Garbone)
Gretta is a 13 year old spayed female. She was my first pure bred Siberian rescue. Gretta was just 4 years old when I spotted her being walked around a race site by the on-site veterinarian. She had a little sign around her neck that stated "free to a good home". She was just so striking in appearance that I just had to stop the gentleman and ask her story. Gretta had belonged to a young couple that could not afford to keep up with her medical expenses. She, as many Siberians who are bored, became a rock eater. After the veterinarian had performed an exploratory surgery to remove a second large stone from her stomach, the young couple simply gave her up. Although Gretta was never the fastest dog on four paws she seemed to enjoy working for a few years. Still stunning looking for her age Gretta rather enjoys holding down the sofa to hitting the trails.
"Cadence" (SubZero's Miss Behaving)
Cadence is a 9 year old spayed female. She was also a rescue. I was working at a local vet clinic as a technician when a young woman brought in this adorable 3 week old all white Siberian puppy. The woman really did want to do the right things for the puppy. So, she requested that the pup be dewormed and vaccinated. I explained that although we could administer a very mild dewormer, we could not vaccinate a pup so young, and where was the puppy's mother anyway. The woman explained to me that she had purchased the puppy for her brother whom drove truck cross country as a traveling companion. In the kindest way I could muster, I explained that the pup was way too young to be away from its mother yet and that a Siberian would probably not make the best long distance driving companion with its amount of energy. I then made an appointment for the pup in a few weeks for vaccines and gave the woman my phone number. I explained that a pup taken from its mother so young would probably exhibit some strange behaviors in the future and prove to be too much work for an inexperianced Siberian owner. I told her to call me "when" she no longer wanted the dog. Cadence was 11 weeks old when the woman called me. Though Cadence was the cutest pup ever, I had broken my lease by getting a third dog. I soon found myself facing an eviction notice with my then 3 dogs. None the less, we found a new residence and I began training Cadence. An unbelievably intelligent and independent dog she is by far the best command leader I have ever had. Cadence can no longer keep up with my race team but is an indespensible puppy trainer and great for slower teams or the kid and mutt class. She accompanies me to every demo I do at schools and is great with kids. Who knows her lineage but she is truly a super dog.
