Friday the nineteenth of February was a heavy day when we said goodbye to Bielkersmil's Artemisia of Kartman aka Arija and Bielkersmil's Deimos of Ilya aka Deimos.
They both have a special place in our hearts and the loss of them is great.
Arija was one of 5 puppies from our first litter in 2007 and has been one of our best guide dogs. Lots of mood and willingness to decide over the herd, not kind to the one who tried to put herself above her in rank but with a very good working head.
The first time she was allowed to enter as a guide dog, she was barely three years old and had never been in the lead before. It was in 2010 at the Femundrace 400km when Spira, who had his obvious place as lead, turned out to believe taht she was pregnant and did not want to lead any team at all.
Together with mother Sälka, Arija led the team through valleys and up on bare mountains. When a snowstorm, on one of the final stages of the competition, had closed the trail so that only the trail crosses were visible, she soon learned that it was the crosses she would follow.
As another competitor whos team of siberian huskies had stopped and did not want to move asked for help she without any doubt took command and safely guided them all through the storm. Arija struggled through high snowdrifts and whipping snow and showed the way for her own team and the siberian team.
Håkan started the Femund race with 8 dogs but unfortunately had to put out three of the dogs for various reasons. The last stage was heavy for the small team and without Arija they would have had a hard time reaching the finish line. Her performance was outstanding and her loyalty to Håkan immeasurable.
After Arija had shown her good leadership qualities, her place in the team was given so when we went Vita bandet (from Särna to treriksröset about 1800km in 7 weeks) in 2011 she was one of the dogs who got to go as a leader. Many competitions and training sessions, running trips, ski trips and sleigh rides have mainly been shared by Håkan and Arija. Arija was always alert to new adventures and never hesitated that her master knew the way.
Deimos was largely the opposite of Arija even though they were half-siblings with the same mother, Sälka.
Deimos accepted not to be at the top of the pack. He always followed us loose when we walked in the woods, ran before 20-25m and then always came back to see that master and mistress came. When he was barely two years old, we almost lost him due to a viral meningitis. Happily enough, he recovered after medication with cortisone.With as good a will to work as Arija and thanks to his size and strength, he then was a very good wheel dog.
