The Day I Adopted My Dog.
The first picture I took of River.
As we close in on Rivers' first birthday, I find myself reflecting on what is still one of the best days of my life. Growing up there were always friends and family members that had dogs, but I never had one of my own and was ready to change that. I cleared it with my boss and landlord, and was ready for the added responsibility. But I was still a bit uncertain of exactly what I wanted in a dog, the only thing set in stone was to adopt. I know it’s not the best option for everyone but for me, it was, and is, the only way to go. I had been planning to hike Humphreys Peak, Arizona's highest point, for quite awhile and decided to make an appointment with the local shelter for that afternoon. After looking online and “picking” a dog to meet, I got some rest for what would be one of the hardest hikes I’ve done to date. After a 1:30am wake up call, it was a 3 hour drive to the trailhead, and at 5am I set off on what should’ve been about 13 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing. Well, I parked at the wrong trailhead and instead totaled out at almost 20 miles and 5,000 feet of climbing, a whole lot more than I bargained for!
Humphreys peak summit, 12,637’.
After running the 9.5 miles back to the trailhead in an attempt to still make my appointment, I came up about an hour late, and the dog I had picked to meet was already adopted. Feeling a bit discouraged I asked to sit with a few other puppies they had for a few minutes and almost immediately, this tiny white and tan puppy crawled into my lap and started snoring away. It took all of 30 seconds and she had won my heart, I just had to sign a few things and that perfect ball of joy was all mine. I’ve seen and heard of so many puppies getting car sick easily, so I wanted to test that out right away. It was late afternoon so I took her down a short and bumpy dirt road with a nice camp spot and let her run around for a bit while waiting for a buddy to go out for dinner. After dinner I took her back to that camp spot and we slept in the back of my car before it was a camper, not the comfiest or warmest thing ever.
The stellar accommodations for our first night together.
As with any morning I spend in the mountains, coffee was a top priority, and now I had a little pal to join me for a quick walk. I decided right away that I wanted River to be off leash as much as possible and we started with that first walk. She’s not the greatest listener but I’ve yet to have a problem with her off leash, of course I make sure to use one in popular areas, but in the mountains away from people she’s free to run around as she pleases. After coffee we pointed the car north and made our way up to the north rim of The Grand Canyon. This was my first time going to that side and I was absolutely blown away! Maybe it was the lack of crowds, maybe it was the higher elevation and cooler temps, or just having a puppy with me, whatever it was, that is still one of my favorite experiences with River. We walked down a bit of the bright angel trail, walked around the rim, and even got in a nice nap in the hammock. Overall I couldn’t have been happier with my decision to adopt this pupper!
1 mile of walking is very tiring at 8 weeks old’
We now had nearly 500 miles to drive home and to my surprise, River did incredible. To this day she has only gotten car sick once. She has been such an incredible addition to my life and I can’t imagine a day without her. She’s so great at going with the flow and making even the worst days enjoyable. To date her longest ride without stopping in a vehicle was about 18 hours(mostly overnight) and she didn’t complain a bit. I drive for a living so she regularly spends 8-10 hours snoozing away, checking in with me occasionally to get some pets and then it’s back to sleep. It’s hard to imagine being without her for a full work day, you always hear about pets having separation anxiety but I have it just as bad! She’s been there for every adventure and I can’t wait to share many more with her over the next decade or two.