Remembering one evening in Lapland a number of years ago…Leia and I were snuggling up on the couch after an eventful run with the sled in heavy snowfall. It was late in March and the snow was already mushy and the ice on lakes and rivers was starting to open up. When we crossed Lake Ounasjärvi on our way home from the fells, I stepped through the ice up to my hips. The water was painfully cold and when the ice was beginning to break up around the dogs in front of me, I knew that we had to make a fast move and go back the same way we had come before we plunged any deeper. Luckily, when the other dogs pulled desperately in every direction, clever-girl Leia listened to my “turn around” command and managed to pull the team safely back to the shore.
Leia has always been reliable that way – a dog who knows when it’s time to work and when it’s time to play. She hasn’t exactly been the kind of Malamute who jumps with joy at the sight of her harness, however. On more than one occasion she has tried to escape the task by hiding in the back of her dog house! But once hooked up to the team, Leia runs like a locomotive and she always puts in a higher gear on the way home