Fable's RoDs

I was not sure what to think, the poor little pup laying in the small doggy bed in the middle of the living room. Most of my pack was in training for shows, preparing for shows coming up, did not like pups or they had no experience with pups. Sakari sat next to the small dog bed, looking at the little bundle that was fast asleep and then she looked to me. I knew what she was asking of me, and I wanted to help, but why me? I had only ever had one litter, two of the pups still being among my pack. I guess it was because I was not much of a show tokota, being more interested in just exploring for the sake of seeing new things, I became a leisure tokota who was trained for the trails. I looked to Sakari who gave me a gentle smile, though there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. She did not want to also lose this little pup like our pack had lost it's mother. She was only with us for a short time, joining us part way through her pregnancy, and only a little over a month later she was gone. She had two pups, one that did not survive the first week, and now this little ball of fluff was all that was left, and without someone to take care of him, he might join his mother and litter-mate. Sakari had so hoped to help the young mother and her pups, despite the many problems coming up, but there was nothing she could do for our new pack-mate, nothing she could do to save her life. All she could do now was try to save the life of her only surviving pup. I hated seeing Sakari so sad, she hated losing a tokota, even though she knew there was this chance, she had so hoped she would get past the difficulties and help the new mother survive with her pups. I took a deep breathe and nodded to Sakari who smiled, some tears in her eyes. She shuffled closer to me and wrapped her arms around my neck in a thankful hug, glad I was willing to take care of the little pup. Taking care of him was not going to be easy, as winter was already upon us.
A fire was going in the fire place, and Sakari had gone to get ready for the night. I laid on the carpet and looked down at the little pup still fast asleep in the little bed. I pulled the bed close, curving myself around it as I watched the fire flicker, warming the room and keeping the little pup cozy. I heard Sakari come down the hall and I looked up to see her entering the room, looking refreshed and less stressed then she did before, but she seemed tired as she came over to sit on the couch next to me. "Thank you so much Fable. I always know I can count on you." she whispered, running her fingers through the fur of my mane. I watched as she yawned and laid down on the couch, watching the fire as well as the little sleeping pup. Her eyes closed slowly and she was soon asleep. I sat up and reached my head towards the back of the couch were a blanket sat neatly folded. I pulled it down and managed to pull it over my handler, spreading it out corner by corner until she was completely covered neck down. I laid next to the pup once again, staying awake a little longer before drifting off to the sound of the crackling fire and soothed by its warmth and light. I opened my eyes the next morning and looked down at the little dog bed. The little ball of fluff had moved, pressing himself to my side for warmth and comfort. I watched his little chest rise and fall as he peacefully slept. I looked back to the couch, seeing Sakari fast asleep under the blanket, looking much better then she had the day before.

How could I feed a pup that was not quite fully weaned, I had no milk to provide, my pups were weaned and grown now. I looked at the little pup in the blanket laid across the nest of hay. We had been moved from the house to the barn where the rest of the pack was. We had been in the house for a few nights, but we could not stay there forever. While we were in the house though, Sakari had been feeding the pups, but with her becoming more busy hunting with the rest of the pack, I had to find a way to feed the pup on my own. I looked to my meal, some cooked caribou meat, and then to the little pup who was looking up at me as if waiting for something. I went to my bowl of meat and pulled a large piece out of the bowl, but I knew it was too big for the little pup to eat on his own. I bit down on the corner and pulled off a tiny piece, small enough for the pup to eat. His teeth were coming in, and so I was sure he could chew it, but too big a piece would have been too much for him to break down. I placed the piece in front of him, and watched him sniff the meat. I nudged it closer to him, and then pulled off a small piece of the meat for myself, showing him how to tear a piece off and eat it. He reached forward and tried to pull a piece off, wrestling with the chunk of meat until he leaned too far back. He rolled backwards with a yip and landed in the hay just past the edge of the blanket, looking surprised and confused. Sakari had walked in just in time to see the small pup tumble. I turned my head to see her laughing her butt off, leaning against Legend, my brother, who was with her. They had just returned from a hunt, and they were coming into the barn to untack Legend.
I stood and picked up the pup, bringing him back to the blanket as Sakari walked Legend over to untack him. She removed his equipment as I helped tear the chunk of meat into even smaller pieces the pup could eat more easily. Sakari let Legend go, and he trotted past us and out the door, Sakari walked over to the stall where I was feeding the pup, watching as the pup ate his first piece of meat after chewing it for a while. Sakari was quiet as she sat on the edge of the blanket, watching the small pup eat and watching as I carefully made the pieces of meat small enough for the pup to eat. "Do not forget to eat as well Fable." Sakari spoke up after a bit. I looked up from the pup to look at her, then my stomach growled loudly as if agreeing with my handler. I felt embarrassed, and I could hear the pup chuckling at me. I looked from my hanlder to the pup and then back at the meat. "Didn't realize how hungry you were, did you Fable?" she laughed, reaching over and petting the pup. I leaned down and chomped down one of the larger pieces to satisfy my handler who nodded and stood, leaving the barn to let us finish our meal.

He learned to love running, as well as the snow, so it was only natural for playing and running in the snow to become one of his favorite activities. Even though he did not know what summer was like, he kept saying over and over again that playing in the snow was his favorite thing to do and always will be. He was getting much larger in size by now, looking like a big chub, and with enough of a run he could knock over a grown person. I walked out of the barn with him following clumsily behind me and Sakari beside me. Sakari was wearing her thick winter coat and was getting the pup to run circles around me. "Mommy! Look at all the fresh snow!" he yelled as he finally took notice that it has snowed that night. He bolted forward and leaped into the snow, vanishing beneath the blanket of white as he jumped into a pile too deep for him. Sakari burst out laughing as the little fluffy head peaked out of the top of the snow before vanishing beneath it again. "Now where did he go?" she asked teasingly, passing me and chasing the puppy through the snow. He burst out of the snow pile and ran circles around Sakari who was trying to chase him. He stopped for a moment, his back end facing Sakari and me, and he flung up a spray of snow into our faces. Sakari covered her face while I turned my head away from the spray, closing my eyes. I gave the puppy a side glance, making him look worried for a moment. "Don't get mad Fable, he is just a puppy." I walked up to him, looking down at the chubby puppy who looked a little scared. I dipped my paw into the snow beside and with a quick flick of my paw I covered the puppy with a pile of snow. He vanished under the white powder, reappearing a few moments later laughing with a huge grin on his face. Sakari laughed and fell back in the snow, and the pup bolted past me and pounced on her. "Oof!" she had the wind knocked out of her by the growing chubby pup. I laughed as I watched the scene, grateful for the little pup that wiggled its way into my heart. I rushed in to join the dog pile, wrapping my front legs around them both and rolling over into the snow, pulling them with me as they squealed in surprise so they laid on the chest. They both laughed and Sakari looked at me. "This is not like you. I'm glad you are having fun though." she chuckled and found my ticklish spot, making me jump up with a yip, knocking them both into the snow around us. I gave her a look as they both laughed at me, and I saw the evil glint in the eyes of the pup. Great, he now knows I'm ticklish.

He did become a trouble maker the more he could move around. He was always getting into some sort of trouble when I turned my back. Especially when he was cooped up inside the barn, which was often due to it being winter and the weather seemed especially horrible this year. With multiple storms passing through, preventing us from going outside for longs period of time, and sometimes not at all. He resorted to bugging the other pack members, and with everyone being cooped in, bored, and somewhat hungry, they were easily annoyed by the playful pup. I knew I would have my paws full, but I did not realize he would be this much of a trouble maker when he grew up. "Why you!" I could hear Fudo yell from across the barn. I sighed as I knew it was my little pup. I could only wonder why the pup was not dead yet with the amount of time they spent harassing one of the most vicious tokotas in our pack. Fudo was not friendly at all. I got up from where I had been dozing off and I trotted down the center isle to where Fudo was standing over the little pup who stood in defiance against the larger albino tokota. He stuck his tongue out at Fudo and spun around to bolt for it, but he clearly did not hear me coming. He ran into my legs, nearly knocking me off balance, but it knocked him back and off his paws. He landed on his butt, stunned by the sudden obstacle in his way. "Hey!..." he was going to stay more, but stopped as soon as he looked upwards at me, realizing who it was. "How many time must I tell you to leave Fudo and the other alone when they don't want to play with you?" I asked with a stern tone and glance at the little pup. "Lots..." he mumbled back. I reached down and picked him up, nodding an apology to Fudo and trotting off before my fellow pack member could rage at me and the pup. Fudo was not the only one he liked to bug, Shaka was another, though none were as bad to deal with as Fudo. He especially loved to make fun of Shaka's tack which was bright purple and gold with silk hanging from the sides. Most of the tack Sakari used was simple tack and when it was adorned it was adorned with furs, feathers and other such things, so Shaka's tack stuck out like a sort thumb. One thing that bugged Shaka the most was when he was ignored by the pup. My pup did not like to take order, let alone from Shaka, so he constantly ignored the orders and corrections from the black tokota, even going as far as to do the opposite.

I never stopped being his mother, though I never gave birth to him, I raised him all that winter and onwards. I felt it was my task to see all the way through. Things got easier in the spring as the snow started to melt, the plants started to grow, and the animals of the wild started to pass by in greater numbers. Hunting became more bountiful and boy did he start getting chubbier after that. I watched him grow that spring and he found more ways to entertain himself besides bugging the others, though he never seemed to grow out of that as he stilled loved to harass Fudo and bug Shaka. His first spring though, I remember him jumping in all the puddles, he leaped from one to the other, sending up sprays of water around him. Sakari even joined in on occasion, leaping from puddle to puddle and splashing each other with the cold water. This was also the pups second ever cold. He sat in front of the fire the next day, wrapped in a blanket and sneezing. Sakari was not much better off, sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and also sneezing. I sat with them inside and just shook my head at the two of them. There was still snow on the ground, indicating it was cold, and so they should have known better. I was not as worried though. He had grown strong and healthy, and I was glad for that. He was my son, I raised him, and one harsh winter was only the beginning of our relationship, he would forever be my son.