In Memorium

Can/Int'l CH Maharaja Rose Piccolo Pete, Am/Can/UKC CD, WWPD, WTD, JHDs, CGC

"PETE"

May 18, 1995 - December 31, 2007

Pete and my nephew, Wil

My best friend left me at the end of 2007.  It was a short fight, but one he could not ever win no matter how hard I wanted Pete to live forever.  Squamous Cell Carcinoma, otherwise known as bone cancer, was too much.  I guess in a way, Pete left me in the best way he could.  The diagnosis came only 2 months before he was gone.  I didn't have to agonize for months or even years.  But I will never, ever forget him as he was unique.  The best dog in the world, the best friend I've ever had.  I'm writing this almost 9 months later and his loss is nigh impossible to comprehend even now.  I love you Petey - I always will.

Pete is simply put, the coolest dog in the world.  He's my best friend and steady as a rock.  Okay, so he's definitely a butt-head but that comes with the territory of the Alaskan Malamute.  This breed is NOT for everybody!  They are smart, strong, and extremely independent.  If you aren't ready to deal with a stubborn partner in your life, don't even think about this breed!  Pete is considered quite tractable for a malabutt but that certainly doesn't make him milque toast or anything.  He does what he wants most days, especially since he's getting older.  Once thing he definitely learned from Nicky was that old dogs don't need no stinkin' rules!

Some words about Pete written about 6 years ago...

What can I say about Pete?  He’s my best friend, a dog in a million (if that many).  Petey and I were clearly destined for each other only I was too stupid to know it at first.  You see, in the summer of 1995, over the Fourth of July weekend, I went to look at a litter of pups in just north of Spokane.  I wanted a girl but there were only two in that litter and neither one of them was telling me she was my dog.  I stayed most of the weekend at the breeder’s place, trying to decide on the right puppy for me, but just couldn’t do it.  The ones I was intellectually considering just weren’t ‘right’ some how.

With only a few hours before I was to return home to Seattle, I decided to see how “little Pokey” fared in my rather unique temperament test.  (It included finding out how easily I could make the puppy howl, which mostly resulted in setting off the adults in the kennel and making Sharie’s neighbors really annoyed.)  Well, it was about time I pulled him out from the litter other than walking with the pups down to the creek, which earned this pup the name of Pokey.  He just was taking his own sweet time about cutting through the brush, holding the rest of the pack up.

Little Pokey picked me.  Plain and simple.  I didn’t have any choice in the matter.  At one point, this little pup climbed into the lap of my friend who came with me, only to look at me, look up at Sandi to tell her he’d go the wrong lap, and left to clamber into my lap only to refuse to leave.  This was Mom, even if she was a real dolt about figuring it out!  Not one to refuse providence, I took the puppy home.  Nicky was disgusted.  He couldn’t believe I wanted one of those icky puppy-things.  On the drive home, I looked deeply into the eyes of my new best friend and asked him what his name was.  He told me “Pete.”

That’s the beginning of my time with Maharaja Rose Piccolo Pete, named in part to commemorate the Fourth of July - the day I brought him home, for Rose of Sharon kennels where he is from, and combining this very regal puppy with a tribute to my first Alaskan Malamute, Aja.