‘Special’ Dog Was Everyone’s Best Friend

The graveside service for Teton, the Anderson family dog, was weeks ago, but his family hasn’t been able to get the word of his passing out to his many friends.

Pickup drivers still cruise by the Andersons’ Hauser Lake home hunting for the energetic 3-year-old Saint Bernard who chased them from his side of the fence. Motorcyclists do the same.

Even schoolchildren look longingly into the Andersons’ yard for a glimpse of raccoon-eyed Teton.

“Teton was a special dog,” says Necia Anderson, a model of control after unleashing her grief in writing. “I really think he was Hauser Lake’s best known dog.”

He replaced an aloof Akita/Samoyed mix, Shogun, with which Necia had grown up. Shogun didn’t need Necia’s affection to be happy. Teton did, and it was obvious the first day they met three years ago at a kennel in Garwood.

“He nuzzled us and climbed into our laps,” she says. “He bit at our hands. He had the most personality and he was the biggest.”

He was so big, the Andersons named him after a mountain. Necia was 16. Her only sister was leaving for college. Teton filled Necia’s emptiness.

“He was like my brother,” she says. “I spent hours in the yard with him in the summer. I could talk to him about anything and he didn’t care.”

Teton grew until his head reached Necia’s waist. He slobbered from his droopy lips and penned Necia in her car until she petted him when she came home.

He hiked with the family and carried his food and water in his own backpack. He batted a soccer ball with his club-like paws. He befriended everyone who passed.

Teton had just reached full-fledged adulthood when his stomach twisted and cut off circulation to his other organs - twisted gut syndrome. It hit suddenly, this bane of big dogs with extra room in their hindquarters.

Necia felt the same twisting in her heart when the veterinarian told her Teton had died. She buried her friend under the pine tree in her back yard where he laid last.

“He gave me someone to talk to, to hold and feel,” she says. “I graduated and all my friends moved away. But Teton was still there. I’m not going to have that friend anymore.”

The Andersons bought Teton’s younger brother, Livingstone, last week. He looks just like Teton.

Breakfast out

Every year, the Post Falls Fire Protection District throws a huge breakfast to raise money to help a sick child. It began 11 years ago for a firefighter’s daughter, Shalena, who had cancer.

She lost the fight, but the money raised from the breakfast helped her family pay medical bills. The firefighters decided to make the breakfast a tradition in her memory.

From 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Sunday at the Hauser Lake Fire Station, sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, coffee and orange juice will cost $3 per person or $10 per family.

The money raised will help Michele, a 9-year-old girl firefighters will identify only as local. She has leukemia. Dig deep and eat well.

Hot spot

I asked for your favorite getaways in the Panhandle and heard this gem from Jesse Hamilton of Seattle. He stayed at the Country Ranch Bed and Breakfast above Cougar Gulch earlier this fall and raved about the hospitality and food.

Turns out owner Ann Holmberg’s baking is so good that Sunset Magazine printed her recipe for orange yogurt scones in its November 1996 issue.

Her cookies have won prizes in local contests.

Jesse had such a great time on the Holmbergs’ 29 acres that he bought his dad and new bride a weekend there.

Thinking of a taste test?

What do you think is North Idaho’s best kept secret? If it tastes good, send it quickly to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; FAX to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo