Solo's one of the arboreal dogs. About eight years ago, we got three dogs from a woman musher who needed to cut down on dogs. She had so many that most of them were tied to trees. She talked about raising them to run the Iditarod, or maybe the Quest, I forget, but never had the time to actually train any of them. So Solo, who was about three, had never been in harness. That first winter was a struggle, teaching older dogs to run in the team, since we normally start training pups at 4-5 months. But by the time spring came around, Solo was becoming a decent sled dog. He eventually became a regular member of the team, but it wasn't until we got Polar that he found his real calling. Polar was a pound dog who was vetted by a local dog musher's rescue group. They posted on their web site that there was this great dog at the pound, a real hard worker who was just a little slow. So I took a chance and brought him home. He was a little shy, but I figured he'd come around and besides, he's a real hard worker. Well it turned out they were half right; he sure is slow. But he soon bonded with Solo, who had been aggressive towards all the other males, and they began to play together. Their play evolved into the extended skirmishes that we documented in the video (Dec 5, 2012). But as always happens, Solo got older and not too long after we made the video, he struggled to keep up with the team. Surprisingly, he also quit playing with Polar. We're not quite sure what the problem is, but other than no longer acting like a wild dog, he seems to be doing fine as a retired sled dog.
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