A year of Dogs: A Small Celebration

This time, last year, I still had Budreaux, the noble, ruddy-nosed pit bull, my 14-

year, boon companion. He had an aggressive cancer, and his health was failing very fast last winter. I had to "send him on ahead" finally, on the 23rd.
Little more than a week later, Angela Stell, the Guardian Angel(a) of NMDOG www.nmdog.org/ and benefactress of the myriad abused/neglected/chained dogs all over northern NM, and whose work I have supported as much as I could/can, asked me, would I take in a hospice case: a large, elderly fixed male of indeterminate 'husky' lineage, who had been essentially chained to a tree for perhaps as long as 7 years or so. He was in shock, with some unspecified, possibly gastric ailment and they didn't have much hope, but he needed a place to spend what time he had left.
So: Enter Mr. Smokes
Aka NOBLE @ NMDOG.

When he arrived, last January, the NMDOG folks carried him in and laid him on a pad. He was lethargic, indifferent, withdrawn, apathetic, without affect of any kind. He responded to nothing but the sound of big trucks going by in the street, fireworks, thunder, and my appearance at his bunk with food.  Not a name. Not a whistle. Not a clap. Not a click. He ate, but without appetite. In about a week, he relocated into what became his lair, the library/tv room.
Amazing NMDOG rescuer/groomer Dawn Rivas (http://doggieden.biz/index.html
had shaved over 30 lbs of matted fur. He had been so matted, he couldn't raise his chin from his chest, when they rescued him. I had to lift him to his feet and lead him outside. He had no interest in human contact, at all.
Over the next several months, Mr. Smokes, as I called him--cuz he moved silently as a cloud--slowly seemed to be sort of coming around. He raised his head more often, and more alertly. He perked up when I brought him his meals. He started to be able to rise under his own power.  Progress was slow, but steady. He began to look around at his surroundings. He started to go out without urging. I had procured a collar-bell so I could track his doings at night, because he was rather catholic about where he would relieve himself. He preferred to go outside but if the door wasn't open the the need was exigent, it wasn't his fault; he doesn't haz thumbs.
Except for the matter of affect. He was still aloof, inert, and when not, then evasive to my efforts to interact.
I petted him and cosseted him as much as I could, but him being 1) aloof, and 2) on the floor, and 3) my difficulties with mobility in general, there wasn't a lot of opportunity for intimate interactions.
Then in late September, Tasha arrived, and it's like night and day. The LIGHT went on went on.
She had had some human socialization, and knew how to "dog." and she set about teaching him. He was a reluctant pupil at first, but learned fast. He noticed how much she sought out skritches and such, and it slowly was revealed to him what a pleaasant thing a human touch can be.
Tasha's been such a blessing for Smokes: They're both "fosters" (but try to take 'em!), but she'll stay with me, and when the inevitable time comes, we'll find another foster/hospice. But Smoky's a totally new dog, since she arrived. It's a night/day change., or, rather, dawn/NOON contrast, cuz he was slowly emerging.
But the change since Tasha/Buttercup/Petunia/the Blonde Bombshell entered his/our life has been significant. Tonight he's prone on a mat four feet from me, head on paws, just watching me, in the front room of the perrara... Out of his lair (for the last 11 months), and where he's been there 30 min, or so, while the tri-paw,  Tasha/Petunia/Buttercup/Blondie, curls up like in arctic fox on the black futon, six feet away. They'd move as soon as I stood up to tale the foto. She's an amazing athlete, possessing only three legs. Just as agile and active as if she had all four.
The big developments are two:
First, over the course of the last week, or so, I've become Smoky's official human/person. He's attached himself to me. He stays close. He follows me from room to room, like a puppy. He's always nearby, though he returns to his lair in the library to sleep... I have to be aware of it, cuz he's an old dog, with bad hips...
He now actively SEEKS affection and attention. Tasha taught him. He'll wander off and then wander back and stick his head in my direction for some skritches, a couple of times an hour. He responds to my voice and he now recognizes his name, in most of it's permutations.
And, as it turns out, his breed is "Wooly Malamute."
He has displayed some 'frolic' behavior, albiet limited. But the instinct seems to be returning. And Tasha would be willing, though I think she's too strong. No animosity. Pack order.
In another major development, Tasha bestowed her first and so far only Kiss-on-the-Nose on me the other evening when SHE was getting the petting session, and HE came over to horn in: In a paroxysm of jealousy, she reached up and licked my nose!
My cup runneth plenty!
May you have "Happy Holidays and Jolly Yule!~"