I've taken up mountain biking again, having recently tackled Moab and many local trails around Park City after a long hiatus from my Bellingham days. I decided it was a good idea to include Mr. Lodi this fine Saturday afternoon on Spiro trail right outside our backyard. The ascent was great - he did really well staying out of the way of my tires, other riders and disregarding other dogs as we passed them. Here is a pic about 1/3 of the way up Spiro trail:
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| Happy dog - great view |
The trail is about 9.5 miles with 1175 ft of elevation gain - no walk in the park. Once we got to the top, the decent is pretty quick, so I was stopping about every 200 yards or so to make sure Lodi was keeping up. Once we got down to our last 3 miles or so, I stopped and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. I got off my bike and started to call out his name while hiking back up the hill with no luck. I came across two guys biking the same direction, and they said he was going back up the way we had came. They tried to get him to follow them, but he ignored them continued going the wrong way.
After about 3/4 mile of hiking back up the hill and calling out for him, Lodi was nowhere to be seen. I decided it was best to finish up the trail and see if he made it back to the trailhead (it ends where it starts). No Lodi. There was a foot race going on at PCMR near the trailhead, so I biked there and asked around, but no Dobermans were loose on the grounds. Finally I decided to ride home to see if he was there, just a few blocks away. No Lodi. Now I'm starting to freak out a little. What am I going to tell Christina, 'sorry honey, went out for a bike ride with the dog and now he's lost in the woods. Oops?'.
It was time to break the news, and I knew Christina was not going to be happy. I dropped off my bike and told her what had happened - needless to say she was kinda freaking out. So Isaac, Christina and I jumped in the car and drove back to the trailhead so I could start hiking back up Spiro the way I came down. She drove around with Isaac and asked whoever she saw if they had seen a Doberman wondering around - needless to say, she got some concerned responses (although probably for different reasons than ours).
I trucked up the hill as fast as I could, legs on fire from the morning's ride. About a mile and a half in, I came across a runner. Before I could even ask, he had noticed the leash in my hand and asked me if that was my Doberman sitting near the trail about 1/2 mile up. I said 'Yes!' The runner had seen Lodi sitting in the same spot as he ran up the mountain, and again on his way back down. Apparently Lodi hadn't moved from that spot for quite some time. I was relieved to hear this news, but needed to see him with my eyes before I could truly feel better. I continued up the hill and sure enough, there he was, just off to the left of the trail in the shade, sitting bolt upright as if to say 'What took you so long?' The part that got me was that he was sitting exactly where I had originally gotten off my bike to look for him.
I called Christina to let her know I found Lodi, and we were all very relieved. We started back down the trial, and I could tell that he was completely out of gas. He was limping on all four paws, and could barely keep up with my pace down the hill. Once we got home, he did this:
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| One tired dog |
All four of his paws were chewed up by the rocks on the trail. I felt pretty bad about taking him on such a tough trail, but thought that he should be fine considering that he runs on asphalt daily. I've read about doggy boots, but never thought that they would be something that Lodi would need. After seeing how bad his paws got beat up on the trail, looks like I'm going to have to pony up for these:
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| Yes, these are really hiking boots for dogs |
We all were super relieved to have our dog back, and hope that he recovers soon. I took him out earlier today to use the doggy facilities, and had to carry him part way back because he was limping so bad and wouldn't move. Poor guy. He seems to be in good spirits, and I'm sure that overall he had a blast. My 9.5 mile ride turned into an almost 16 mile ride + hike - a bit more than I had planned on doing. Too bad it turned into a bit of a family emergency on an otherwise beautiful Saturday morning!
