The Story of the OP Pack and a Shopping Spree

Before we begin our story, we wanted to ask you all to cross your paws and call upon the power of the paws to help Scuby find his way back home to Butchy, Katie, and the Cats of Mutton Hollow. He has been missing for several days now and his family is very sad. Please help him find his way home.



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After our first fiasco with blogger eating our post, we convinced the Momster to try again to tell the story of how each of us came to be a part of The OP Pack and what we would like to get our Mom and Dad for Christmas. We want to thank Minna K and Frankie Furter for two great blogging topics.

Flashback to the year 1997 - this is sweet Muffin, the little raggedy girl from the SPCA who lived to be almost 16 years old. Mom tells us she was a very special girl. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge in the summer of 1997.

We really need to get better pictures of her scanned, but for purposes of our story this one will do fine. She is probably about 14 in this photo.

Meanwhile, our Dad was recovering from some very serious eye problems that developed following what was supposed to be a simple cataract operation. Without going into lots of detail, he had a very bad year with his eyes and was unable to work for several months. He became very depressed and sad. A few months after Muffin died, he asked Mom what ever happened to the idea of getting a husky pup. Dad had always wanted an all-white blue-eyed Siberian Husky. Hard as it may be to believe, our Mom wanted no part of any husky in her house. Our human brother and sisters suggested that maybe this was just what Dad needed to perk him up. So Mom relented and began to search for that special pup.

And here she is - Princess Dakota on her first day with Dad and one of our human sisters in October of 1997. She was about 10 weeks old.


Even at a young age, the husky in her wanted to get off leash. Here she is with Lucky, Mom's cockapoo who lost both of his eyes to severe glaucoma.


And another great pic of her sharing a crate with the other resident cockapoo Shamrock. Please excuse the eyes - these are scanned photos and Mom didn't try to correct them at all.



And a fun shot of the princess when she was still a young pup.

So the family canines numbered three - Lucky, Shamrock, and Dakota. The Momster had one of those milestone birthdays approaching, and the big question was what to get her for her special day.

Ta da - why not get her another Siberian Husky - hence, the arrival in February 1999 of Phantom - see that mask that gave him his name.



From the very beginning, he and Dakota were the best of pals.



They would play and play and play all day.


The years went by, Mom and Dad moved from Connecticut back to Kansas - this was their second time living in Overland Park (OP). And with them came the pack of four: Lucky, Shamrock, Dakota, and Phantom. Lucky and Shamrock both enjoyed a few years here in OP before crossing the bridge at the ages of 12 and 15.

We remained a pack of two for a while. Mom had been teaching but quit her job in 2005 when the first grandchild came along so that she could take care of her while her parents worked. Another grandson arrived that same year, but he lives in southern California. A few years after that, a new grandchild was on the way. It was the summer of 2006. Mom and Dad had been wanting to get a new puppy, and they thought it would be good if they did that before the next grandbaby came along. That way the puppy would be well on the way to being trained before Mom was caring for two babies.

And so the search began. They found a wonderful breeder who had puppies on the way that summer. Mom and Dad were third on the list, but only two puppies arrived. This very nice breeder tried to help us find another puppy. There was a beautiful sibe in St. Louis who was about to deliver what was expected to be a litter of 8 or 9 pups. Our Mom and Dad were so excited. But sadly it wasn't to be. The mother dog had a massive aneurysm just days before delivery, and they were not able to save either her or any of the pups. They were about to give up on getting a puppy when Mom got a call about a great breeder in Iowa who had a silver and white male puppy. Mom really wanted a red and white girl, but decided to have them send a photo anyway.

Here is the photo that came:

Now who could resist that face? Yes, that is Thunder Dunder at about 6 or 7 weeks old. He was supposed to be the breeder's show puppy but she was a little worried about his front paws - you can see how they turn outwards in the photo. She was going to keep him anyway as a pet, but after talking to Mom and learning about Dakota and Phantom, she decided to let him come to live with us. He was almost five months old by the time he and Mom met on the first Sunday in August of 2006. (And two days later Mom learned that the "baby" on the way in January was actually two babies - hence the twins you have seen here recently. If Mom had known that two days earlier, she isn't sure she would have been taking on a puppy too. Not to mention the fact that our other human sister had a baby boy a few months after the twins - so Mom was now caring for four grandkids and three sibes.)

Here are a couple of pics of Thunder meeting Dakota and Phantom.





And those famous ears:)



Just so darn cute!

Fast forward to the sad summer of 2009 when we had to say good-bye to our sweet Princess Dakota - our first Siberian Husky who managed to change the Momster into a sibe-lover.

And so it appeared that the OP Pack would be remaining a pack of two. The humans talked about getting a puppy but Dad wasn't sure he was ready - he was really missing his special girl. Mom didn't push, but then along came a surprise e-mail in January from Thunder's breeder wanting to know if Mom knew anyone who might be interested in a nice red and white male pup. What a temptation! Thunder is such a wonderful dog, he has the nicest disposition, he is so handsome, could another pup from the same breeder AND the same sire be as wonderful? But then, they really didn't want a pup in the middle of the winter AND they really didn't want another male. So Mom wrote back and told the nice breeder lady just that. Of course, Mom had to go and take a peek at the rest of the litter and saw a very cute little girl. So she showed this photo to Dad:

This lovely little girl was just four weeks old in this photo. BUT the breeder was keeping her as a show dog. Mom wrote again and said she really wasn't interested in the male but would love to have her keep her in mind for a girl if another litter came along. And you all know the rest of the story. Nice breeder lady wrote back and said we could have the girl and she would keep one of the other boys for show.

Miss Ciara Puppypants at six weeks of age. (Ignore the date, camera was not set properly.) Dad was hoping for another blue-eyed girl, but it was not to be. Instead we got two gorgeous golden brown ones.



Resting on her ride home from Iowa in February 2010.



Getting comfy with the toys.


And the new wubba - that no longer exists.



Sizing up her future garden.



And so that's the story of how we all came to be part of our wonderful family. We hope you enjoyed it and we hope that it really did publish this time:)

What to get our parents for Christmas - now that's a tough one. For Dad, we would love to find him a way to make all of his eye problems go away. And for Mom, she never really wants anything for herself. But we think she would want some special things, like good health and happiness for all of her family, human and canine, and for all of her true and loyal friends.

Now there is one present we would really love to get for both of them - can you guess what it is?

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Princess Dakota