Sunday, May 4, 2014

Buddy goes MISSING - Duke to the Rescue!

Camp Creek State Park.. Lost Buddy & Duke Rescued HIM!

We hiked the first morning, none of us could sleep. So we hit the trails at 6:30am. We didn't see anyone. We did a most difficult and more difficult trail.  The most difficult was easy peasy coming back downhill. MANY trails to choose from.. We were in HEAVEN! Buddy and Duke were staying with me and being VERY well behaved. I had them on Leash most of the time, except those passes that were too narrow and steep. Even then they were on invisible leashes.  

It was beautiful. Waterfalls, leaves just coming in, everything fresh and alive. 5,300 acres to roam.




Our third hike had some drama to it.. We were on what they classify as their MOST DIFFICULT trail. So, very steep, many switch back, so minimal distance visibility and BIG winds. So, I had them off leash so we didn't kill each other, but, had them healing very close ahead of me, with their invisible leashes on. All of a sudden Buddy took off after something I didn't see.  Duke followed. I tapped them both with the invisible leash, Duke came back right away, ALONE.
I kept calling for Buddy and tapped him through the invisible leash, nothing. First time every he didn't respond. Yelled for at least 5mins, tapped for part if it and then stopped tapping, as after a while you know he just doesn't know where you are anymore, so using the invisible leash won't work as he won't know which way to go.  It was SO windy up on the mountain that he couldn't hear me much and our scent would be difficult to find too. 

Finally, I asked DUKE, where’s Buddy? Duke stood really still and tall for a few long moments. Then, he looked at me and turned and walked off the trail 90 degrees into the woods, and he looked back for me to follow.  I followed, whistling and callng the whole time. 

Duke lead me right to Buddy after 20 or 30 very long minutes! Buddy finally came back over a ridge right to us.. he was definitely out the way Duke was leading me.  Duke's amazing. 

So, Buddy was breathing hard, tongue hanging way down, panting, breathing really crazy heavy.  He circled us then ran to a stream 12 feet away from us and drank deeply and then laid in the stream for a while. We all just hung out there until he was breathing normal.




Then I asked Duke to find the path, as I was now lost, and he did that too. We continued our trek.  He stayed very close after that.


Duke was very proud of himself for finding Buddy. He too seemed exhausted afterwards. Duke and Buddy crashed hard when we got back to our campsite.  Buddy was panting even when he was sleeping.

Buddy came to first and kind of climbed up on Jerry as though to share with him what just happened.. He kept looking back at where Duke found him.



Buddy's been great on the camp site, he's pretty good at NOT barking at other dogs, he slips 20% of the time, we're working on it. But, he's sleeping all through the night, so, that part is wonderful. Duke's a veteran at this. .

I am hoping this is going to be the only drama we encounter.   

For our next day's walk we added a red Bear Bell to Buddy for an extra measure of safety in the mountain treks. WORK's GREAT! The combination of the invisible leash and the Bear Bell is perfect for our curious one year old Belgian Shepherd in these steep wild hikes. 

  

2 comments:

  1. I'll tell Ray that he should be a little more respectful the next time he encounters Duke.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll tell Ray that he should be a little more respectful the next time he encounters Duke.

    ReplyDelete