Mountain Hike

My husband and I have a greyhound.

I’ve mentioned that before, haven’t I? She’s crazy and energetic and HUGE and loving and not-the-brightest, which I blame more on being a puppy and having a puppy brain than an actual lack of intelligence. She’s the kind of dog who learned immediately to sit and go to her kennel when told and wait by the door when it was time to go out, but also periodically runs into walls or bites her own foot so hard she yelps.

We love her a lot.

She’s very exasperating.

Recently, we had the chance—since the weather is thawing and things are starting to get slightly warmer—to take her up into the mountains for a hike.

Since she’s still a puppy, she gets a little carsick.

We’re working on finding the right medicine.

It’s a little rough.

But we did actually make it up to the trail in one piece, and the moment she was out of the car, she was in puppy heaven. There were new trees to smell and other dogs on the trail and dog tracks in the mud and people she’d never met before. Her tail didn’t stop wagging the whole hike, and we had to forcibly restrain her to keep her from leaping on our fellow hikers.

She really, really likes to meet new people. It’s her favorite thing.

Halfway through our hike, we reached a snowy patch on the trail, and her excitement got a little—over the top—shall we say. Which means she yanked really hard just when my husband stepped on a slippery spot in the snow and knocked him over. He’s a sturdy guy, thankfully, and he managed to hang onto her and land in such a way so as not to break half his bones.

I was thankful for that.

Carrying him back down the trail would not have been my idea of a good time.

Unfortunately, we didn’t realize until we’d reached the end of our hike and gone all the way back to our car that, in the process of being knocked over, my husband’s keys had fallen out of his pocket. And were allllll the way back up the trail where he’d fallen.

Puppy was wildly excited that we got to start the walk all over again. My husband and I were less so.
Still, she slept all the way home and was drowsy the rest of the day, so I’d call it a win. Anything to tire out the dog, right?

Do you have any ‘crazy puppy’ stories? Tell me about them in the comments!