Princess Buttercup aka Zoe

A puppy! How I love puppies. I've never met this one though. She lives with my friend in Igloolik which is up just west of Baffin Island and close to the Melville peninsula within the Arctic Circle. The average temperature in the dead of winter is -42 Celsius. They experience months of night - my goodness. But of course that doesn't stop puppies from being born.

So about Princess Buttercup - whose real name is Zoe - She is one of several puppies that were born to a German Shepherd who went walkabout with a Inuit sled dog. My friend adopted her as a companion for her dog Keller  shown here snoozing away an afternoon.

Several of Zoe's siblings wandered off in a storm one day and returned a week or more later to the village in a another blinding storm. The whole village which includes Inuit families and many other nationalities who work there at a national research centre, was completely amazed that the pups returned safe and sound. They followed an older dog who had gone walkabout I believe, onto the frozen tundra of Igloolik island. (More about Igloolik in a future post - it's a fascinating place.)

So Zoe now reigns in her new family. Keller has developed a moderate tolerance for her puppy ways and only lets my friend know if she is REALLY naughty. Zoe's siblings at least many of them were sent to Ottawa to find new homes and a completely different life from what they would have lived in the far north.

Zoe and Keller are lucky dogs - they live with my friend who adores them, loves their antics and is a great story teller as well - you may have read a bit about her first experience in this blog much earlier. I'll try and post the link tomorrow.

Hope you have as calm a day as these two pups are showing here, though not a snoozy one unless that's waht you want.