This picture is from 2005. We were driving from Tennessee to
Spokane, Washington to visit my parents. Ian was probably at least 13 years old, I think closer to 15. I always forget how much he looked like a wolf. I don't know exactly how much wolf he had in him but it was plenty. He was a very well mannered dog and he was loved by everyone that met him. I think the heat of the journey led to him having a stroke as his health deteriorated rapidly on the trip.
We got him while we were stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska. I was in B Co 1-501st Airborne Infantry Battalion. The cat that owned him was in Charlie Company. I remember seeing a picture of him at the shopette when they were trying to give him away. I thought he might have been too much for us so I never called. Our unit went to the Joint Readiness Training Center, then recently relocated to Fort Polk, Louisianna in Septemper, 1995. When we returned I noticed the ad was still on the bulletin board. I mentioned it to my family and they had seen it to. We called and they still had him. Someone else had tried him but they couldn't handle him. We could.
He was a social beast. He always slept at the foot of our bed. I guess the people that tried him previously didn't like beasts in their room so he wasn't happy. It took some time to train him to walk on a leash. Fortunately my bulk exceeded his and after a while he learned he couldn't out pull my pace. There was some trixie husky neighbor dog that could lure our boy away but other than that he was near the perfect pet.
In his prime he was about 140 pounds. As an elderly gentleman I think he was around 70-80 pounds. We put him to rest in Spokane, Washington fourteen years ago. We opted not to keep any ashes but asked to cut one tuft of hair from his mane. When we left the vet I put that tuft in the center console of our now weathered and beaten '96 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I actually only removed it from there within the last couple years.
Since Ian we have always had a dog and each of them have had a very high bar to live up to. In their own ways, they all have.