Aliy recently posted a couple of photos and a little write up about her visit to Badger Elementary School in North Pole, Alaska. There's a little more to the story that I think you will enjoy, so here goes...
As Aliy and I were getting ready to leave the Kennel for the drive to the school, I asked her what she had in mind for her presentation to third graders. She said, "Well, first I'll talk a little about the dogs, the Iditarod and all that stuff, then I'll bring in a dog for them to meet." I asked, "Who are you going to bring?" She replied, "I usually bring Stormy because she's always so mellow around all the kids. Why? Who do you think I should bring?"
I figured that since she asked me I should go ahead and say it: "I think you should bring Happy."
Aliy laughed out loud and said, "You're kidding, right? Happy will totally freak out with all those kids around! Don't you think?"
"Nope," I said, "I think Happy will be great."
And so it came to pass that we loaded two dogs in the truck and drove down to North Pole: Stormy the mellow pet dog and Happy the unlikely star of the Iditarod. Although Stormy got to be the dog who went inside to visit the kids in their classroom, I think you will see in this video that Happy was fantastic.
Happy just amazes me. First she runs the Iditarod as her first race and finishes, then here she is "Happy Dancing" her way through another difficult first experience around a lot of kids. When you see how she handles their "up close and personal attention" at the end of the video, I think you'll be amazed, too!