words by Anon.
GET THE PRINT
photo taken December 2015

Charlie definitely smelled “wild” when he was a baby – his scent was very strong and, forgive my indecency, he smelled like sex. That’s all I can compare it to. Within months his smell faded, and now his natural scent is quite subtle. I was just sniffing him and and have to say he smells like roasted hazelnuts.

Charlie has two layers of fur. The outer, longer layer, called guard hairs, is the black and silver fur you see in pictures. It is somewhat coarse but not wirey – it’s similar to the texture of a black lab if a lab’s hair was three inches long. Then he has underfur, which is red and gray. It is shorter, denser, and thinner, and unbelievably soft. It’s as soft as puppy fur. That’s also the fur he has on the top of his head between his ears, and I am still blown away that it has remained so silky and soft. My face fits perfectly between his ears and it is the most delectable spot to nuzzle.

Not at all from June to March, not even a hair.  In the spring, though… he sheds TONS.

Ha! I love this question. Nubule is not in the dictionary because it’s an invented word. I’ve been using it for years, and so I forget it’s not an actual word. To me, it means a small, tiny, cute, little blob. The word nub (an actual word) means a small lump. Nubule is the personified, cuter version of that.

Yes. He gnaws on them and then buries them and then other animals dig them up and gnaw on them and bury them somewhere else and then Charlie finds them, and unburies them, and gnaws on them, and buries them somewhere else.
When I saw how much Charlie loved them, I stockpiled elk legs in my freezer to give as special treats and now there are elk legs in various stages of gnawedness scattered all across the land around here.