Well, Muskwa my husband bought from a breeder before we met. He waited for two years for the right pup.
Earle is Muskwa's son, as was Hoodoo. Muskwa's breeder borrowed him for one litter--part of the sale contract. Instead of stud fees, we took Earle. Hoodoo was adopted, but we took him back at 9months of age. He passed away last February.
Sleet and Paxil both came from the same musher. Sleet was my first real sled dog. The musher was looking for somewhere for Sleet to retire as she had younger, faster dogs and Sleet wasn't happy in a dog yard. So she told my husband she was going to shoot Sleet!He loaded her into our truck two seconds later. Now that we know this lady much better, it is very clear that it was an idle threat. She never would have shot Sleet, but she knew a sucker when she saw one! She laughs herself sick every time she tells that story!
Paxil was in the same situation--ready for semi-retirement and not happy being left behind when the team went out. The very first time I ever drove a dog team, Paxil was my leader. I told her musher that day that if she ever wanted to get rid of Paxil, I wanted her. Four years later, I got that call and Paxil came to live with us.
Pingo came from another musher. Similar situation though. She was one of his first dogs when he started getting seriously competitive about racing. Over a couple years, she got bumped from his A team and was spending most of her time on a stake-out. She wasn't happy, but she wasn't ready to be retired either. So my musher friend started nagging me to come meet her. He started in July, in December I finally relented and went over. Pingo came home that night.
Preacher, Franklin, Delta, Antare, Goldie, Mac, Ozzy, Founder, Chase, Raven, Pacer, all came from the local humane society. They had all been there for over 9 months, most of them had been there well over a year. Goldie holds the record as longest shelter resident ever--over two years! They all started as fosters. I failed at fostering all of them.
Kayleigh also came from the shelter. She'd only been there for a few days. I was just walking through the dog kennels. She jumped up on her cage gate and as clear as day, I heard her tell me to "get me out of here". she left with me that afternoon. Looking back there was clearly a reason--if the shelter had time to get to know Kayleigh better and all of her issues, there is a good chance she would be dead!
Chum came from the same place. I was supposed to be hiding him from an abusive owner. I guess, a year later, I still am!
I basically stole Bandit from a former neighbor. Bandit was being abused. He frequently slipped off his chain and came to our place. One time, I just kept him. His "owner" knew where he was and never tried to reclaim him. A couple weeks later, I found a bag full of leashes and his AKC papers hanging on my door.
Heyoka is also a shelter dog. He had spent three weeks at the Pound--a kill facility. The officer there just couldn't euth him so they held him until a spot was open at the no-kill shelter. We adopted him a few days later from there. He didn't fit our usual adoption pattern--he was highly adoptable and would have been gone in no time, but my husband fell in love and decided that we deserved an easy one!
Hobo, well most of you know Hobo's story. I was caring for his entire dog team while their owner was hospitalized, wolf attacked him and one other dog. Both survived. Hobo saved the entire team. Owner tried to pay the huge vet bill, I wouldn't take his money. He offered me Hobo instead. I accepted that payment! At the time, it was doubtful that Hobo would ever be a sled dog again, so he wasn't going to get what he needed in a competitive dog yard! I'm eternally grateful that he stayed. He brings us much joy and I'm not sure how I would have gotten through the first few weeks after Hoodoo died without Hobo. He still needed intensive care at that time and caring for him helped my mangled heart heal.
I think that's all of them!
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so we started looking, we found an add at the same store we found the add for Happys breeder, called them, and after much confusion we were able to go meet the pups when they were 4 weeks old. so we drove all the way to weybern to see the pups, and Misty happend to have every charicteristic we wanted, plus she wanted to be with me, she fell aleep in my arms and tried to follow me when we went home, we put a deposit on her, and came back on christmas eve when she was 7 1/2 weeks old, when we got there all the pups had been bathed, brushed, and each had there own little home made christmas bandana 
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