Hank

We never thought we'd be those people that are obsessed with their dog and write about him, but here we are. Our little guy Hank officially turned 2 this past week (according to his microchip he came with) and this weekend happens to mark 1 year since we fell in love with him. We had gone to the Longmont Humane Society on the Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving to look at a 5-year-old husky because we were "thinking" of a dog and partake in our habit of playing with dogs at the humane society. Instead, this gangly, goofy, giant pup found us and we were done for. He has really seen and been through a lot for his 2 years, from being abandoned out in Mead to surviving the past summer in Colorado without AC to surviving a cross-country trek to Alaska. Here is a picture of little Hank from 1 year ago:

Just a little guy at 65 lbs.

One of his not-so-finer moments in Mead,
those WERE the living room pillows

And since I know you all miss him, here's what he's been up to in Alaska:

Practicing his contortionist skills

Chasing and eating lots and lots of sticks

Basking in the sun

Playing in our snowy backyard

Playing snowball fetch. Which he would play all day if he could

Sleeping with his Pops

Exploring the beach

We celebrated his birthday with some moose ribs a patient gave me. Since both my mom and Grant's mom make some killer ribs, I had never cooked ribs before and wasn't quite sure starting with moose was the best option. I figured you can't go wrong with bbq sauce in a crockpot. They were quite delicious and surprisingly not very gamey. We ate the meat, Hank got a bone. Win-win. 

Overall, I think Alaska has been very good for the pooch. He's made lots of friends with the neighbor dogs that run free and whoever happens to be at the beach. He goes up stairs, walks on wood floors, and gets his feet wet in the water all by himself. Those are all a pretty big deal if you'd seen him before in Colorado. One day I was at yoga and had him in the car with me. A boy there had a little boxer-mix puppy I was petting and I let him know I had a boxer/great dane mix in the car.  His reply to this was an excited "That's YOUR dog??!? I've heard of him but I've only seen him from afar on the beach! Can I meet him?" Mr. Hank the Christmas Pooch is becoming a bit of a legend around here it seems. Now, before his ego gets too inflated, we're going to stop talking about him.