After Juno’s passing, I reached out to the kind heart whose Kijiji ad led me to her. She had met Juno, originally named Qimmiq (like the Inuit breed, which also means “dog” in Inuktitut), at the shelter in Nunavut, where she was brought after being found alone in the snow. She fostered her on Baffin Island, where Juno was born, before eventually bringing her to British Columbia. Qimmiq’s story, typed into a ‘Inuit sled dog cross looking for a good home’ ad, became the final link in a beautiful chain of events that gave me the most wholesome years of my life. I am forever grateful to her.

In response to my message, she shared this first photo with me—Juno at just a few weeks old, taken a month before we met, standing before the mountains of the Arctic island where her life began. It feels only fitting that I was able to give her the life she was destined for, one filled with open spaces to roam and to grow. To become Juno.

In honour of a life well-lived, here is a photo for each of her years. From orphaned pup to Queen of the North. Her life in full. A lifetime of Juno.