North of the Rainbow Bridge 

revised for all sled dogs by Stephen Peters 

The time comes. A sled dog lifts up its head. There is an untested adventure beyond. Time to go. Across the Rainbow Bridge is a place for all dogs. A river runs wide and shallow with tennis balls that fly with their own wings; that is the place for a Labrador or Golden to await its master’s arrival. A sled dog is not content here. Northward is its trail… There are soft pastures for Aussies and Border Collies, with sheep and geese to pen. Agility equipment grows like trees amid Frisbees and fly balls. But the North continues its sure wild call, and the sled dog’s journey continues…Now the air is colder. Now the moon is always full. Now the light is silver and it breaks and shimmers on fields of bright snow. Now there are no roads, no walls, no pens, just endless space to run. This is where the sled dogs – Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds, Siberian Huskies and other – gather, North of the Rainbow Bridge. They wait in this beautiful place, happy, but no complete. Suddenly, a howl begins, as one dog senses someone coming, soneone very special. All the sled dogs raise their heads and join in the ancient chorus. They dance like moonbeams and sing like winter winds. There are red ones like dawn streaks, black ones, and silver ones like the first strange hour before light. They line up as if in harness and run together, in a scintillating, many-colored streak. The leader of the team guides the others past the fields and river, with racing feet and racing hearts. They rush to greet the new arrival at the Rainbow Bridge.  The glory of the reunion is celebrated by all the sled dogs dwelling beyond the bridge, a shimmering, multicolored team leaping and whirling with joy. The light from that scene is what we see on magical evenings in the northmost parts of this Earth: The Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights beyond the Rainbow Bridge. 

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our beloved: 

A/C CH Shelaskan’s Gonna Naukemoff 

“Tenauka” Feb 19,1997 – June 24, 2010