A giant, woolly, all-white Alaskan malamute makes winter more enjoyable for his Michigan family with his unparalleled love for snow.
Three-and-a-half-year-old Storm was welcomed into Stephanie Larson’s house in Grand Rapids at 12 weeks old. Originally from a small rural Michigan town, media coordinator Stephanie, 34, says Storm loved snow from the start.
“We brought him home in January,” she told The Epoch Times. “Even as a small puppy, he would run and dive nose-first into deep snow, and make ’snow angels’ by rubbing his face in the snow and flopping over on his side.”
In recognition of Storm’s great love for snow, his family began building him a huge snow pile on their deck each winter. As his responses to the gradual melting of the pile each spring became more and more dramatic, Stephanie filmed him. One video went viral.
“That particular day, you could tell Storm was becoming increasingly listless due to the temperature and was doing his best to hold on to that last bit of snow,” said Stephanie. “He continued to lay on that ’snow pile,' which was basically a huge chunk of ice, until his 150 pounds and body heat broke it into several pieces. Then he spent the evening kicking around the pieces of ice, trying his best to lay on them.”
The fluffy pup’s “conservative following” exploded overnight. Funny comments suggested everything from starting a fundraiser to buying a snow machine to demanding Stephanie move to a permanently cold climate, like Antarctica.
“I think if Storm could talk, he would take great joy in knowing he makes so many people smile and laugh,” Stephanie told The Epoch Times. “So I take it as an honor to help share our happiness because of him with the world.”
Storm’s bond with Stephanie is especially close owing to a brain injury he sustained at birth, and the struggles he has suffered since. Diagnosed with hydrocephalus and a lesion on his right forebrain, he once suffered aggressive seizures, needing a harness to help him walk during the roughest patch.
He is now on controlled medication but still has a slight, permanent head tilt.
Stephanie said: “Malamutes are innately stubborn, so him allowing me to help him was a big deal. Due to COVID, I was home with him 24/7, working and taking care of him full time ... I would take a bullet for that sweet boy.”
Despite his health issues, Storm finds his happiest place, each and every year, in the snow. Michigan typically gets its first snowfall in late November, and the dog’s demeanor shifts, said Stephanie, but it is not until January’s heavy snowfall that Storm truly finds his “new zest for life.”
The joy is heightened by the company of Storm’s best furry friends: a fellow giant malamute named Bok Choy, and his two cat brothers.
Stephanie is still exploring ways to placate her pup when the hot weather returns. He doesn’t like ice cubes, but he does have a giant-sized kiddie pool filled with ice water, and always enjoys the “cool 65 degrees” of the indoors.
“Once warmer weather hits, the cool hardwood floor becomes his friend versus the warm planks of the deck. Although, we were recently gifted a cooling mat!” she said, adding that her sweet pup is always playful, social, and “very, very goofy.”
“He takes advantage of every car ride, every snack opportunity, every second of playtime, the smells of a strong breeze, a fresh snowfall, the muddiest of puddles, and meeting each person and creature as his new best friend,” she marveled. “He lives life as it should be: carefree and to the fullest.”
