Thursday my husband Jason and I were on the trail with our two husky mixes, Catori and Takoda. It was an extra exciting day for the dogs. Takoda pulled me along on the dog scooter and Catori ran along beside Jason's bike. Takoda nearly lost her nose to a very angry snapping turtle, and Catori enjoyed chasing a possum. It was a very wet, muddy ride. Check out the mud on the bike tires!
When we returned to the Jeep, the dogs were clearly not ready to go! Everything was loaded up... but Catori, who pancaked himself to the asphalt parking lot.
What I failed to think about is what this might look like to someone passing by on the road. I continued to snap photographs as a mini van pulled into the bike trail parking lot.
So there I was, crouching on the pavement next to my motionless dog, who apparently appeared to be dead, or close to it.
I look up and see that a concerned woman in a maroon mini van is leaning out the window telling me they're animal lovers and asking me if he is OK. Surprised, I assure her yes he is fine but she is not easily convinced and follows with a series of questions.
"Do you know where the nearest vet is?"
"Are you sure he's OK?"
"Can I help you somehow?"
"Do you want some water?"
"Are you SURE he's ok?"
Finally, rather reluctantly, she drove away as I thanked her for stopping and maintained that he was hydrated, happy, and healthy. Then I kindly asked Catori to please get in the Jeep and he hopped in. I hoped he understood the situation and felt slightly embarrassed.
And me, well yes I was sort of embarrassed. However it's nice to see that there are caring people out there who would take a moment out of their busy day to help a dog!
Sleepy puppy is long gone! Today Catori turned 5. In dog years. Which makes him 40 in human years if you use this chart, which factors in size, rather than the typical 1 dog year = 7 human years calculation. Tough luck for 51 pound dogs whose age faster than their 49 pound pup pals. Bring on the diet foods!
Catori is a skinny 60ish pounds, so he is stuck with 40 years. Maybe that is why he goes on food strike once a month or so... refusing meals and literally throwing his food bowl across the house... a simple effort to add 2 years to his expected lifespan.
Catori's Birthday #5 morning included a private hike (no fur siblings) and some paw dipping in Beaver Creek.
Like many of the trails around Des Moines, the Trestle to Trestle trail that we were on is technically closed due to flooding earlier this year. Still it was packed with bike riders, runners, and dog walkers on this Saturday morning. But you have to keep your eye out for things like this:
"What the heck happened here?", Catori howled.
And then Catori realized that repeatedly jumping on and off the washed out trail was way more fun than carefully walking on it!
Checking out the edge of the washed out trail from below... that's a lot of missing earth!
All worth it for views like this!
Climbing high.
Cloud butt!
Happy dog!
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