Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers: Reflections on Being Raised by a Pack of Sled Dogs Book

This book was a good story on a team of sled dogs that race in the Iditarod Trial. On this team is a vast array of smart dogs all lead by an alpha female named Cookie. She has been leading the team for many years and provides great young puppies that are bred to be leaders. Cookie is very valuable and has saved Paulsen's life on several separate occasions. The skilled litter that Cookie produces plays a vital role in how the other sled team members can train the young pups. The pups are wild and full of energy but when reprimanded they sit at attention ears up and ready to learn. One of the sled team dogs named Anthony, was a bigger sized dog with a great amount of strength and taught the pups how to get a tasty snack from a skull. Rex was one of the young males that Cookie bred and Paulsen would have normally stopped the spontaneous mating, but the first thing that he thought of was "love." For that exact reason he did not separate the two even though he would have preferred a different male with better qualities to breed with Cookie. Along the trail complications occur and this requires Paulsen to get run back home from the trail by his team and at that moment he and Cookies Iditarod Trail expeditions were over.

The main characters in the book were Paulsen and Cookie, who were together most of the time. They had a strong relationship and Cookie would so just about anything for Paulsen until she had a litter. After her litter was born she was all about protecting them and when Paulsen tried to take a dead puppy away she growls at him, baring teeth. Some secondary characters are Anthony and Rex who are dogs on the team. Anthony shows intelligence by teaching the pups things, while Rex is the father to the whole litter.

This story takes place through Alaska on the Iditarod Trail. There are many scenes from waking up early in morning and letting the puppies inside, to the day and evening where they train and race on the trail

The major themes that I think are portrayed in this story are love, friendship, and respect for nature. These themes occur within the whole story with Paulsen admiring nature, along with his total respect for the dogs and there close bonds together.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to read a good morals book that shows the beauty between man and dog. This book can be entertaining to everyone who has even a slight love for canines.