No Puppies Were Harmed in the Making of This Post

We came upon this scene a couple of houses down from Irene's piano lesson. This sled dog team in the making remained conked out for the duration of the half hour lesson, during which time the hippie dude who owns them cheerfully recounted his tale to at least a dozen surprised/enchanted/perplexed passersby. No, they were not the victims of a tragic roadside accident, nor were they for sale. They were just tuckered out from walking in the afternoon heat. Apparently the mother, a mix of many breeds including akita, dingo and pitbull, ran off during the "snow days" (everyone in Portland knows exactly what that means, as there were only the ten of them this year) and was impregnated by what his friend reported as a malemute-husky type. As she was "a good towing dog" and pop was a fortuitous breed, Hippie Dude took it as a sign that he should train them as a dog team (regardless of the fact that he lives in a Volkswagen bus). The plan is to train them to walk in formation, and then as they grow to pull a skateboarder in pairs. At some point he will undoubtedly hook up with the frankenbikers around town to create a dog chariot. So look for that on Hawthorne in the next year. Aside from the generally preposterous display, the funniest thing was that they were petted, scratched and belly-rubbed intermittently for 30 or 40 minutes without ever waking up.