Uh Oh ... the Dog Police ....

We have been traveling for weeks now, miles and miles in the car and miles on our feet. She loves to be outside, although it scares her. We camp in a tent in the desert. During the day it is 55 degrees, hot for Her and for me. At night it gets cold. 10 degrees. She put up the tent by herself. I tried to help. She didn’t want my help. She kept saying in her mad voice “Charlie GET OFF” Jeez! I just wanted to smell it. This is not a good smell!

Her arm muscles are shaking. It was hard for her paws to bend the poles. She is tired and a little *scared* (nervous) <excited> -determined- *proud*  I want to play play play RUN! what’s that smell?

I follow my nose straight to the showers and bath house and there is the POLICE. He has a badge and a gun and he bends down and says “Come here buddy-boy, why aren’t you on a leash?” What a nice man petting me and looking at the tingling metal on my neck. I sit down, like I am supposed to when a person stands in front of me with their hands like that. “Good boy” the policeman says.  “Whose dog is this?” he thinks and then he sees Her struggling with the stakes for the tent.

Her face is red and sweaty and She looks like she does when she is doing a puzzle *focused* (confused) <determined> .purposeful.  and the POLICE man feels sorry for Her but knows he is going to yell at Her anyway. I MUST BE ON A LEASH - It is part of THE RULES, even though there is no one else around.

“I’m so sorry” She says, slightly annoyed and mildly embarrassed. She looks at me and says inside Her head “Charlie! You are supposed to stay close!!” and then she says in her nice, let’s be friends voice to the POLICE ….. “I am having a little trouble here, I can’t seem to get these stakes in the ground. I want to get set up before dark oh!  I see you met Charlie, he really needed to stretch his legs”. Uh Oh Mr. POLICE … I know this trick, talk and talk and talk with words that make you confused about why you were mad to begin with.  She learned this trick from working at The New York State Supreme Court. She talks about that sometimes too. Dogs don’t love something and hate something at the same time. She does. She did.

She re-directs the POLICE with Her words and Her smile that says “Thank you for helping me, for understanding.”  That’s what She does when She wants me to do something else. Words and smiles and slight of hand. But She didn’t throw a ball for him to chase.

Amazing, no ball but he walks away from Her, from US, just like She wanted. “Oh, yeah”  he turns around, remembering why he approached Her to begin with “You have to keep your dog on a leash. It’s THE RULE. Stay warm now, ya’ hear?” and he turned around and walked away from us, slightly confused, slightly sad, slightly smiling.

You keep walking !  I’ll keep her warm. You go away! GGGGGRRRRRR – ruff!

Lost in the Desert

"One wrong turn and you could be out here for days" She said

I kept trying to get Her to turn around. She was going off trail. Ruff! Wag wag! Stop! I circled her feet a few times, ran in front of Her, stopped, ran behind Her, and stopped. I kept looking over my shoulder. But She wasn’t paying attention.  She was looking at me, but She wasn’t seeing me. She didn’t see the signs, or the markers.  She was looking at other things. Footprints, bicycle tracks, scraggly pine and prickly pear. And holes. She keeps thinking “Snakes”.   They are not snake holes, I could tell her. It is too cold for snakes. December in Sedona is almost snake free. Snakes don’t like 40 degrees and She doesn’t like snakes.

But She is not listening to me or seeing me.  She sees a horse hoof print and now She stops. She misses her horses.  It took that hoof print to make Her look around. “I didn’t see this on the way out” She says out loud. “Hmmmm, I better pay attention. The trail marker should be right around here” Nope. You passed it a MILE ago!  We keep walking. She has a silly soft hat on. That’s good. Because she is going to be sunburned.

Now I stay close, She doesn’t have to tell me. There are no people out here, in the desert.  But if there were, She thinks “They could be hiding in the brush, waiting to grab me!”  She is more alert now and walks faster.  My girl. She is now TALLER and STRONGER and BRIGHTER. Ha! She is angry? Yes.  And FOCUSED. This feels like hunting time or chasing time. Wag, wag, wag, Let’s go!  Out in front of Her. I come to a paved road. Let’s Go!

“We are lost Charlie. What the heck? Did a miss a sign?” She asks me and herself. Yes! I tried to tell you! She takes the bag off her back and shoulders. Yippee! My treats are in there! And water bowl!  She uncaps the last water bottle. It is half full. She takes a small drink and pours the rest in my bowl. No! Don’t! I can go longer than you without water! This is my girl. She thinks of my comfort and needs. She treats me like I am a “people”. I love her.

She pulls out and unfolds a big piece of paper. She’s always reading paper. “Oh no!” Yup. I tried to tell you.  She is thinking, thinking, thinking words “Time, water, sunlight, paved road?”  She folds her paper and puts it away. Picks up my bowl and starts walking. Walking TALL and STRONG. But now She has a before-fear smell. “No wonder they call it Deadman’s Pass. One wrong turn and you could be out here for days” She says “Thank goodness we brought water” She says.

This was a long walk. We walked until the sun started to go down. We walked through the desert for 5 hours. We see the trail head and her car. “We made it Charlie. Just in time”