who says I’m not a sled dog

My immediate family consists of my wonderful husband, Bob, and 19 sled dogs. The dogs range in age from 2 to 14 years old.  

4 are litter mates (the 4 year olds): Copper (the puppy in the sled) is one of this group. The rest of her litter mates are Carbon, Zinc, and Cobalt. When you have a litter of puppies it can be hard to select names. If you pick a category that has many members, it is easy – this litter is the Periodic Table of Elements – thanks to my friend Isabelle who was in the 7th grade and studying the Periodic Table when I needed names.

The mother is Betelgeuse and their father is Buster. They have a maternal aunt (Rigel) and a paternal uncle (Sparky) in the dog yard. The extended family almost makes a sled dog team. Grandpups arrived almost 2 years ago (Carbon – mom; Blizzard – dad: pups Kitchener and Purl). The other dogs in the yard are Sunny, Pippi, Q, Varden, Blizzard, Scratch, Chugie, J.J. and Whimsy.