Happy Husky Day - a year with TJ

When I opened Facebook this morning I was greeted with a Facebook memory, the picture on the left was the first picture I had seen of TJ. This picture was posted by one of the HOWS Project volunteers announcing that we had agreed to take him in as a foster. TJ had been surrendered to them unexpectedly and they took him on the spot, not knowing where he was going. He came here, obviously, and he never left.

This was the first picture I saw of the famous
TJ smile. It was taken in a small car with four
women who had freed him from the chain.

My first impression of TJ was that he was in pretty good shape, and compared to a lot of dogs kept on chains he was, but on closer inspection he was rather thin, his coat was ragged, and he was lacking muscle tone. Good food and exercise sorted out all of that and otherwise he's been healthy as a horse, particularly for a 12, going on 13, year old dog. He's put on some good solid muscle weight and he's grown an incredibly thick, long, and luxurious coat.

This was TJ when he first arrived at our house.
He was looking a little rough.

His new coat grew in darker and much thicker.

We celebrated TJ's anniversary by doing what he likes best - hiking. It was cloudy, foggy, and chilly starting out. I was wearing shorts, but was actually wishing I had worn some gloves and I pulled up the hood on my sweatshirt occasionally. We went five miles for the first time in a while and by the time we finished the sun was out and it was turning into a beautiful day. Happy Husky Day.

He's a handsome dog, and look at that tail!