Saturday, August 30th #2

If anyone reading these blogs hasn't figured it out yet, I take these road trips for my dogs.  Not only to treat them to the sights and smells of what seems to be an endless chain of wonderful campsites that spread out like a string of pearls across this great continent, but to give tem some time alone with me.  Of course, I derive a big benefit myself, spending time with two (now one) wonderful companions in settings that no words I might write could do justice to. And so it will be with this trip, with Erde, although the memories of Leben are sure to be at least on the edges of our days on the road.

Over the last two years since Leben's paralysis, my attention had to be focused on Leben.  He was surely my first priority, and that consumed a lot of time. But my second priority was Erde. "Don't neglect Erde," was my second mantra. I think I did a pretty good job at it, mostly because Erde is not a very demanding dog. She is far more independent than Leben ever was, and always seemed to prefer to remain on or retreat to the periphery. Some nights she would prefer to stay outside the tent for as long as I would permit her, rain or snow, tethered, of course, to a 15 foot leash so she would not wander off, as she is wont to do. Perhaps the most obvious way I did not neglect her was to take her out on walks with her alone in the morning and evening, after I tended to Leben at home. This had an added benefit of getting her used to being separated from Leben, preparing her (and Leben) for the inevitable final separation that just arrived. Those walks alone with her were hard on me because I always considered them a team, with Leben providing the serious side of it and Erde the fun part.  Their personalities were as different as night and day, but when they came together as a team, it was almost as if they were one dog.

Although I feel that I did not neglect Erde, I did miss out on one important thing.  Now that Leben is gone, I am seeing that Erde all of a sudden aged two whole years, and I missed out on her transition from the playful 11-year old puppy she was two years ago to an old dog today.  So, in a sense, I lost two dogs three weeks ago, Leben, and the Erde I knew before Leben's paralysis set in. But I can deal with this, and am.  Walks that just four weeks ago took only 10 minutes now take more than 20, as I walk slowly with Erde, letting her stop at every smell or dog she encounters along the way.  I have already told her that her days of discipline and training are over, and she gets to do whatever her heart wishes.  If I have one priority for myself involving her, it is to make up for the last two years. 

Below is a photo of the fun Erde I knew about 9 years ago, and beneath that is a photo of her on Vancouver Island last year.