(Several years before Snow buddies)
(I know for a dog a year would mean they're fully grown but in the Air buddies universe it seems like they age differently, so I'm sticking with that pattern)
Shasta was a young Siberian husky puppy that belonged to a man called Joe, who also had several other huskies in his possession including Shasta's father, Nanook, and his mother. The man also had a young boy, Adam, who Shasta would play for most of the time, since he was a very energetic puppy and needed someone equally as free-spirited as him to keep up. Shasta was only six weeks old at this point.
One day, he was running around the shed playing with the other members of Joe's sled team: Growl, Snow and Hunter, while his parents watched over him.
"Dad, can I go with you guys this afternoon?" the puppy asked.
"I'm sorry, Shasta, you're too young to go outside, you haven't been vaccinated yet" refused his father. Joe was going to take his team to an area where most sled owners go to practise to race. Shasta loved sled racing, it was his favourite sport, and his father was well known as perhaps one of the best lead dogs in town.
"Whoa he sure is excited today. The little guys been running around driving us crazy" said Hunter.
"Yeah, it's Adam's birthday, I gotta be prepared in case he wants to play or something!" cried Shasta.
"Does he know?" Hunter whispered to Nanook.
"Not yet" he chortled.
After Adam came in, and the husky's all decided to wish him a happy birthday by licking him, he poured them some food in their separate bowls. Joe came in a few minutes later.
"Ah, feeding the team, eh?" he smiled. "Well...er as a little birthday present, I've decided that, instead of giving Shasta to a different family, I would let you keep him, since you've already bonded so well with the little guy".
"What seriously?!" cried Adam. "Thanks, dad!"
"Your welcome, now get your bag while I start up the car, you don't want to be late for school" his dad replied, leaving.
Shasta stopped eating and widened his eyes, just as his ears perked when he heard what Joe said. He excitedly turned to his parents.
"Wait, I get to stay with Adam?!" he exclaimed.
His mother smiled and nodded. "Yes, dear you can".
When Joe's car drove off, with Adam in it, three other husky's stood atop a snowy hill, watching the small house down below.
"Seriously?!" exclaimed a large brownish husky, Baron. "I-I thought they were gonna give the pup to us!"
"Yes, well it seems his owner has changed his mind and given it to his kid instead" hissed a slender husky, Echo, who was also a lead dog but of a different, incomplete team. But he was possibly the only other lead dog in town who's skills rivalled Nanook's.
"So, what you're just gonna steal him?" questioned Baron.
"Why steal, when you can negotiate?" said Echo. "I have very keen persuasive skills".
"Um..." began the white female husky, Alpine.
"Alright let's go" ordered Echo, as they headed down towards the shed.
Hound, the strongest husky on Joe's team entered the shed, while Shasta was playing with his mother.
"Um, Nanook, you two have some visitors, they say they want to talk to you" he told them.
"Ok, can you guys look after Shasta while we're gone?" Nanook said to the others. The two left the four other husky's to 'look after' Shasta.
"Should be easy taking care of a puppy" gestured Growl.
"Ha, for you, remember the last time you watched over him?" laughed Snow.
"Ok then why don't you play with him first?" challenged Growl.
"You're on" accepted the female husky. "How hard can taking care of a pup be?"
Nanook and his mate went outside to see the three husky's standing before them. Echo walked forward, while the other two remained behind.
"You're a difficult dog to get a hold of, Nanook" began Echo. "Congratulations to you both, I know it's a little late but what with your tough schedule and all..."
"Thank you, Echo, but I'm sure that's not all you came for" guessed Nanook, who had known Echo since he first moved into town with his Russian owner.
"Oh I should have known you would guess that" sighed Echo. "Even thought I am incredibly sad upon hearing the news that my team would not be receiving a new member, I have come to offer an alternative."
"We're all part of Joe's team, we're not gonna leave him" said Shasta's mother.
"No, no of course not!" Echo strongly rejected that thought. "I was hoping Shasta would still be part of our team. Our owner used to live in Siberia, he's an expert in dog sled racing, knows all the techniques and I'm sure in a year or two, he can make your pup an official member of our team".
"Yeah, rules don't say nothing about the age of the dog" added Baron.
"Your asking us to give you our pup?" gasped Shasta's mother.
"No, you can still see him all the time, this is just like...a school" Alpine chimed in.
"We're on the verge of greatness, we are this close to finally becoming forming a full team" urged Echo.
"Humans aren't even allowed to take puppies until there eight weeks old and you want him at six!" cried Nanook.
"So you're saying we can take him at 8 weeks then?" asked Baron.
"No!"
"Nine weeks?"
"No, no!"
"Ten weeks, that's my final offer!"
"NO!"
Back inside the shed, Shasta was tiring out Snow and the others.
"See...not so easy is it?" panted Growl.
"Should've listened to you" regretted Snow.
"Hey, Shasta, we're all tired how about you take a little nap and Snow will watch over you?" wheezed Hound.
"...Ok" Shasta reluctantly agreed.
However, it was Snow herself who fell asleep, while Shasta just sat by her, still fully awake. The others had also fallen asleep, thinking they would finally have a moments peace and Snow would be watching him anyway.
Shasta spied something interesting on top of the large, old wardrobe that was stationed in the corner of the shed directly next to a desk that was loaded with papers and small boxes. The item in question was a small brown book at the top. He looked around at the sleepy elders and decided to go check it out. Carefully, he climbed on the chair beside the desk and then on top of the desk, before climbing up the boxes that were piled up and leapt onto the top of the wardrobe. He examined the dusty journal and saw words written on it "SLEDGING GUIDE".
A few of the boxes then tumbled over, destroying Shasta's only way of getting down, and waking Growl.
"But it's Saturday" he lazily said, before noticing Shasta stuck on top of the wardrobe with no way down. He let out a cry, waking the others, and then ran over to Snow. "You idiot!"
"Nice babysitter" snickered Hunter, sarcastically.
"Shh you're gonna wake up the pup" hissed Snow.
"The pup's up there!" yelled Growl, pointing up.
They sprinted over to the desk and thought of what to do.
"Quickly! Go, go!" urged an impatient Snow.
Hound climbed up the chair before slipping on the papers on the desk and falling right on top of Hunter, squashing him.
"Snow, I can't get down" whimpered Shasta.
"He asked for you, Snow" Growl nervously grinned.
"He's not thinking straight, get back up there!" she ordered.
Hound helped Hunter up and he got to the edge of the desk, where the knocked over boxes were.
"Now what" he muttered to himself. "Shasta how'd you get there?"
Shasta pointed to the pile of scattered boxes and Hunter looked at them, dismayed.
"I take it you won't be joining us?" questioned Growl, as he followed Hunter.
"No, I'll be ready to catch him if he falls" Snow ran over to the front of the wardrobe.
"I'm a bit scared of heights" confessed Hunter.
"Oh never mind, you stay were you are I'll get him" snapped Growl, pushing Hunter out the way. "Oh boy..."
Stretching out his legs, Growl leapt as far as he could and grabbed the edge of the wardrobe, making it wobble.
"Uh-oh this was a bad idea..." he immediately regretted.
"Shasta, crawl down Growl and let go I'll catch you!" instructed Snow.
"Ok" he nervously agreed.
He crawled down Growl's back, accidentally hitting his head with his small legs and then let go, being caught by Snow.
"Mission accomplished!" praised Hound.
"WHAT ABOUT ME!?" screamed Growl. "Oh boy, think positive. I'm gonna be fine." The wardrobe began wobbling and leaning forward slightly. "I'm dead".
"You two have a lot of hard work to do can you really be a professional race dog and a parent?" asked Alpine. "We can do both for you".
"We'll always have time for Shasta" disagreed Nanook.
"Come on think about it, we could make him something great, like you" continued Echo.
"He already is" replied his mother, sharply.
"Typical mum-like thing to say, you don't actually mean it" snorted Baron.
"Enough, look we've told you the answer is no, now please go!" declared Nanook.
A loud crash was heard coming from the shed.
"Fine, it sounds like your parenting has already worked" decided Echo, sarcastically.
Nanook and his mate rushed back into the shed to see it messed up, with the wardrobe and desk on the floor and papers and boxes scattered everywhere.
"We watched him, for you" groaned Growl, before falling back onto the floor.
Shasta grinned nervously, moving his paw up and down, realising he was in trouble.
Later, at night, Shasta's parents had told him off for the incident and Joe and Adam's mum weren't to happy cleaning up the mess.
"If you keep making mess Shasta, Joe might give you to another family anyway!" shouted Nanook, not wanting him to go with Echo.
"But humans' jobs are to clean" argued the puppy.
"It's good enough that they feed us and take care of us" said his mum.
"But I don't want to clean, I want to race like you" said Shasta, rather arrogantly.
"I know but right now your just a pup, you don't magically become good at sport like that".
"But Air bud just had five pup's who can all play sport".
"Try to get some sleep, Shasta, we'll continue this in the morning" his mother said softly, kissing him on the head.
"...Yes mum" Shasta tiredly agreed.