Urinary Accidents

Last weekend, my cousin Jen and her family came for a visit.  We decided to take her kids to a nearby school track for some exercise.  Her eleven year old son, Sam, is on a cross country team and had brought his running shoes.  Selah, who is seven, insisted that she did not want to run and wore her stylish, fuzzy boots to the track.  She wanted to walk Pongo while Sam and I ran.  Selah has grown up around dogs and is a budding dog trainer.  When I was single and living in Seattle, I used to leave Pongo with Jen whenever I went out of town.  Selah has been around Pongo since she was an infant.  She loves to work Pongo, having him "sit" or "lie down" for treats. 

We piled into my Saturn, Selah in charge of Pongo's leash, and drove to the middle school.  As we walked from the parking lot, Pongo stopped to mark on a bush, then we continued along the sidewalk.  Jen pointed out that Pongo left drops of urine on the cement.  I stopped to look.  I had never noticed that before.  Jen explained how her dog, Keone, had exhibited that same trait when she developed Cushing's Disease at the end of her life.  Urinary accidents are one of the telltale symptoms of Cushing's, one that becomes frequent as the disease progresses.  Jen explained that when it first started, Keone would go to the bathroom, and then have trouble turning off the flow, leaving droplets of urine as she walked away. 

Suddenly, I felt shocked and numb.  A couple weeks before, we had thunderstorms in the morning.  It was a weekday and I had to go to work.  Terrified of thunder, Pongo was shaking and on my heels as I got ready to leave. Later, Ashley told us that he had behaved the same way with her when she got ready for school, and had tried to follow her out the door.  During the day sometime, he had an accident in the basement, leaving urine all over.  It was the second time since June that he had had an accident during a thunderstorm.  Now here was another sign that he was starting to lose urinary control.

I thought of the conversation I had with Dr. Lamb on September 5th.  We have been monitoring Pongo's liver enzymes and went in for a blood draw the first week of September.  Dr. Lamb called me back to talk about the results.  His liver enzymes remained very high, but had gone down a little bit since the previous test in June.  She explained that the elevated liver enzyme could be:

• an inflammatory response to something in his body, for example the arthritis in his knees, or it could be a problems with one of his organs

or:

• it could be an endocrine disease such as Cushing's

Dr. Lamb explained that they generally don't treat Cushing's until the symptoms are really bad, so she did not recommend testing Pongo at this point.  Other symptoms for Cushing's include drinking lots of water and heavy panting.  Pongo has already started exhibiting these symptoms as well, but they are minor.  My gut feeling tells me he is probably developing Cushing's, and that his elevated liver enzymes are not due to a problem in one of his organs.  We could spend a lot of money doing testing and x-rays, but Pongo is terrified of the vet.  He is otherwise healthy and happy, and so Del and I have decided that putting him through that trauma is not worth it. Nor will we do any more surgeries.  Pongo's lump is coming back on his penis, nearby where the lump was removed sixteen months ago.  Dr. Lamb says it could be the nerve sheath tumor coming back, or it could be benign.  We have decided not to find out.  Pongo is nearing his thirteenth birthday.   We are now focusing on quality of life and enjoying every moment we have with him.  We hope it will be a couple more years.

I took off running around the track.  Pongo pulled against the leash in Selah's hands.  He is a momma's boy and wanted to be with his Momma.  Selah ran across the infield with him, catching me on the opposite side of the track.  They ran alongside me in the grass.  And so it went, Selah and Pongo sprinting back and forth across the infield to catch me, running with me for a ways, then resting.  He looked like a three year old again, pulling with boundless energy.

      Selah rests with Pongo after running more than a mile.

As I write, Pongo is laying down behind my chair, sighing.  He has his head on the floor between his paws in the way that he does when he is trying to remind me in his quiet way that he needs a walk.  In the eleven+ years that we have been together, I have learned to read his subtle, nonverbal cues.   Sorry, Pongo, I get the message.  I will draw myself away from my computer and put on some shoes.  It is time for us to go outside.  Our time.

Taking the ORT

Friday, September 13, 2013 - what an inauspicious date, but that was the date we were registered for Pongo's Odor Recognition Test (The ORT).  Oh, come on!, you say - surely you're not superstitious!  Well, no, of course not, but it's hard not to have that in the back of your head swimming around. Maybe that accounted for the butterflies in my stomach.  Or maybe it was my innate shyness or the anxiety that I have lived with for so many years that still rears up.  Or that we had been preparing for this all summer and the long-awaited day was finally here.

I had tried to follow our nose work instructor's advice as closely as possible.  Although we didn't practice every day, we practiced several times a week.  We concentrated very heavily on working with boxes set up like they would be at the ORT - two rows of six.  And I took him to many different locations to get him used to distractions and having to work in an unfamiliar place.  We practiced at the park, a nearby elementary school, in the Target parking lot, and at a friend's house.  Our instructor also suggested that the day of the ORT, I take boxes with me and stop along the way somewhere to practice, then make sure we ran through the practice boxes set up at the ORT. 

It was being held at Paws-Abilities Dog Training Center in Fife. I had scheduled to take the afternoon off from work, as we were supposed to arrive at 3:30 for a briefing and the testing would start at 4:00 pm.  I left school at about 11:45 and got home shortly before 12:30.  I have never been to Paws-Abilities and so I looked it up on mapquest and settled on a route. Driving to an unfamiliar place always makes me nervous, but reading through the directions, I thought I generally new where it was located. 

Next, I took Pongo for a 45 minute walk to get out some of his energy and make sure he peed and pooped.  This is a ritual of ours whenever we have to go somewhere where he will have to ride in the car a long time, has to go to the vet, or he has class.  Having a walk that gives ample time for elimination is calming for dogs.  A dog that has to poop or pee is a distracted one that won't settle down or focus on the task you are asking of them.  

At home, I started packing a bag. I cut up hot dogs to reward him with, put them on a tray and baked them in the oven at 250 for eight minutes.  This helps to dry them out a bit so they are not so slimy.  I made two ziploc bags of them, then filled a water bottle.  I brought Pongo's yellow blanket for him to lay down on, his harness, poop bags, a bottle of birch-scented Q-tips, commercial dog treats, and a peanut butter sandwich for myself. 

"I feel like I'm packing a diaper bag," I said to my husband.

"You are," he replied, "but for a dog."

"For my dog-baby," I laughed.

At 2:30, Pongo and I got in the car and set out.  That allowed us 30 minutes of travel time and 30 minutes to stop somewhere along the way and practice.  As I drove, I looked at Pongo in the rear-view mirror.  He sat happily on the backseat looking out the window.  I breathed deeply, suddenly relaxing.  He looked so calm and at peace that I couldn't help but feel the same.  It didn't matter what happened at the ORT.   It would be fun. And that was the point.  Pongo and Eva time.

I stopped in Edgewood at a city trailhead that had a parking lot, sidewalk and restroom.  I couldn't have asked for better weather.  It had cooled off to the 70s and was overcast.  I put out six boxes along the paved trail, one of which had birch.  Pongo immediately went to work.  He alerted flawlessly to the first three hides.  Then he began to show interest in his surroundings and began to get distracted.  I gave him a break to pee, and then gave him a few more practice hides. We didn't practice anise.  I didn't want to overwork him. 

Back in the car, I followed the directions, but couldn't find 26th Street East. To my surprise, it was farther away than I expected and we had dipped down from the plateau down into the valley not far from Puyallup.  I didn't see a sign for 26th and the numbers were getting higher.  At 3:25, I was at 38th Street and starting to feel panicky.  I turned around and started driving back the way I had come.  Then, seeing 24th Street, I pulled over again.  I tried to call the ORT organizer's cell phone, but she didn't answer.  I turned around again and pulled over at the next building where I saw someone in a car and asked for directions.  Thankfully, the man knew where Paws-Abilities was.  He told me that 26th was a new road - the one without a street sign! 

Pongo and I pulled into the parking lot five minutes late.  I parked and got out to go sign in.  To my relief, people were milling around, but the briefing had not started yet.  I wrote my name down, signed a video-release form, and gave the woman at the desk my National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW) booklet.  It had Pongo's picture in it, my contact information, and his  NACSW K9 number.  The briefing didn't actually start until about ten minutes later.  They walked us through the building where the boxes were set up and told us what to expect. Then we were lead back out to the parking lot and minutes later they started the ORT.

Outside, they had a list of the order of participants (about 25), their dogs and their breeds, on a piece of paper taped to the wall.  We were seventh on the list for birch.  I went to the car and let him out to walk him around and let him sniff and pee.  They had four or five practice boxes off to one side near the sign-in desk.  A few owners were on-line waiting to practice and we joined them.  Pongo was so happy to see all the people and dogs that his tail wagged gently the whole time we were there!  When it was our turn, he alerted immediately on the correct box and I treated him.

When it was finally our turn, we followed a volunteer into the building and waited outside the door to the testing room. He went in to announce us and then opened the door and let us in.  There were about five or six people in the room. The judge, the videographer, the organizer, and several volunteers.  Surprisingly, my nervousness had left me.    I walked Pongo to the orange cones that marked the starting place. 

"Pongo, you ready to work?"  I said to him.  He nodded his head and sneezed.  This mannerism of his has always tickled me.  Pongo is the only dog I've known that uses sneezes to communicate when he is excited.  He always does it in response to a question I'm asking.  It's as if he's saying "yes." 

I let out slack on his leash, "Pongo, search!"  He shot forward and immediately got to work, following the line of boxes.  He didn't care about anyone or anything else in the room!  He quickly settled in on a box, sniffing loudly, and pawed it.  I looked up at the judge on the sideline, "Alert!" I said. 

"Yes," she confirmed.  It had taken Pongo 26 seconds!  The time limit is three minutes.  I gave him several pieces of hot dogs and we exited the building.  I was beaming.  How amazing!  We had been working for the last four months for this.  He had passed! I could relax. I didn't care what happened the rest of the evening!  We only needed to pass birch to be able to move on to NW1 trials, as anise isn't used until the second level. 

I took Pongo back to the car and gave him some water.  It was a long wait before it would be our turn again.  I took Pongo for a walk around the industrial park where Paws-Abilities was housed, then put him back in the car and went to explore the Paws-Abilities store on the other side of the building.  I spent some time talking to other owners, and said hello to some very friendly, sweet dogs.   Many of the people there seemed to be experienced in the dog competition circuit.  Many of them drove SUVs and housed their dogs in crates.  They opened the side and back doors to circulate air and draped their vehicles in reflective blankets to reflect the sun.  One woman pulled out a grooming table and gave her dog a haircut in the parking lot.   Most of the dogs were purebred and Pongo was one of the only mixed-breed dogs.

Around 5:30, they briefed us about anise.  They had moved the boxes over so that they were not in the same floor area.  Pongo and I were farther down on the anise list, so I took him for another walk to get him out of the car. When we came back, there were only two others left in front of us.  I quickly took him to the practice area, and to my dismay, he didn't alert on any of the boxes.  I turned him around and tried again. He sniffed heavily on the box next to the one with anise in it (which might have meant the odor was blowing and pooling on that box) but moved on and did not alert on the marked one.  I took him to it and rewarded him there to remind him that was the scent we were going for. 

I thought, "oh well, we didn't practice anise as much as we practiced birch.  If he doesn't get it that's okay."

Inside, I gave him the "search" command and again, he got right to work!  It's almost as if he knew what he was there to do and that it was important. He didn't care about anything else in the room.  Again, he alerted quickly on a box, but I wasn't sure.  He moved on and so did I.  I turned him around and made him go over the boxes in the second row again, then a third time.  This time, he alerted on the same box he had before, but really stuck it.  "Alert," I said.  The whole room erupted with chatter.  "Yes," the judge confirmed.  One minute and four seconds.

"I'm sorry, I didn't believe him!"  I remarked, bending over to give Pongo pieces of hot dog.  Everyone was talking and laughing.  I went to the judge's table to retrieve my NACSW book.

As I exited with the volunteer escort, he said, "we were all holding our breath!"

Pongo knew exactly what he was doing and I doubted him!  But he had done his job and passed both birch and anise!  I beamed with pride.  Amazing.  Simply amazing. 

"We did it!"  I pumped my fist in the air in the parking lot and trotted Pongo to the car.

On the way home, we stopped in Sumner at Mud Bay, a pet supply specialty shop.  Pongo loves to go through the store and sniff all the wonderful smells. We like to go to the bins where there are baked treats, various kinds of rawhide, bones, and dried animal parts that are heaven to a dog.  I wanted to buy Pongo a big pig's ear - one of his favorite treats.  But they had only a few left and those were small and funny-shaped.  Pongo deserved something big for his stellar performance.  I saw a container of cow tracheas which I had never noticed before.  "Dogs love them," the salesperson told me. 

"Pongo, what do you think?"  I said, holding it out in front of his nose.  "Do you want to get this one?" Though it was wrapped in plastic, he sniffed loudly along its length.  A resounding "yes!"

 

Here Pongo settles in to enjoy his reward - a dried cow trachea.

 

What a good boy!

 

It's a new beginning for us - nose work trials here we come!

End of Summer

Labor Day is coming to a close . . . night has fallen and the temperature has dropped.  The forecast is for rain the rest of the week.  In the Pacific Northwest, that is a sure sign of fall.  So is the start of school. 

Tomorrow I start work full-time again with all day meetings and then the first day of school is on Wednesday.  As a school-based speech language pathologist, I get the summer off.  It is time I cherish with Pongo, devoting as much time as possible to the outdoors.  This has been a very busy one, full of nose work training, private nose work lessons, lots of hiking, travel to Eastern Washington, trips to the dog park and daily walks.  We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather this summer.  We had lots of blue skies and 80 degree weather, something that can't be taken for granted in the Northwest. 

Somehow, I am not as excited as I have been in past years about going back to school.  I am not looking forward to leaving Pongo at home tomorrow.  All summer, he has met me in the morning with that quizzical look of "what are we doing today?"  And waited in anticipation of a walk or hike.  Pongo is always eager, at my side. 

During the school year, hikes become fewer and are relegated to the weekends.  Weather sometimes makes our walks shorter, especially when I come home late, my energy is sapped, and family needs my attention.  But my committment to Pongo is always in the forefront of my mind, pushing me out the door for a walk even if it is late, or to do at least a few minutes of training or "work." 

This evening, we went to the nearest elementary school and did twenty minutes of nose work training in the parking lot.  Pongo never ceases to amaze me with his innate scent abilities and his intelligence - he has always been so easy to train, eager to please.   Dogs are incredible.  I feel so blessed to share my life with these incredible creatures, and am humbled by the responsiblity of being steward to these amazing souls. 

As I get ready to call it a night, Pongo is stretched out behind my chair in my home office, dozing on and off. I am dragging my feet about going to bed, postponing the inevitable: tomorrow's dawn.




Sigh . . .there goes another summer, Pongo!

Getting Ready For The ORT

Pongo is scheduled to take his Odor Recognition Test (ORT) on September 13th.  This is the first step we have to pass in order to compete and earn titles in National Association of Canine Scent Work events, and we have been working very hard toward this goal.   All summer, we have been preparing by taking private lessons at It's A Dog's World training facility. 

I became interested in nose work last spring when I was looking for a new way to keep Pongo active, but for something that would be gentle on his aging body.  At twelve years old, Pongo has had two torn ACLs and has arthritis in both knees.  His left knee, the one that was repaired by surgery in 2005, has very little mobility now and at times, he walks very stiffly because he has trouble bending it.  For this reason, he can no longer go jogging with me. Yet Pongo has always had a high level of energy and need for exercise.  Now that his body can no longer perform at the athletic ability that it once did, I chose nose work as a new way to challenge his mind and wear him out.  We took an Intro to Nose Work class in the spring, and Pongo immediately took to it.  It is so fun to see how much he likes doing this work.  He gets excited whenever I bring out boxes, or we drive to the training facility.  It's like he's thinking, "oh yea, I get to work!"

Pongo's trainer recommended that we video some of our training sessions so that I can go back and review them.  She suggests that this way I can learn to better read his signals, and tell when he is "in odor," as the scent will actually move and flow on the air and the dog has to learn to follow it to its source.  Last weekend, I roped my husband into taking some video for me.  Here, I explain about getting ready for the ORT. If you look at the way Pongo is sitting at the beginning of this video, you can see how he holds his leg out to the side. This is his modified sit that he has done since his ACL surgery.  For this reason, we can't do competition obedience - it's not considered a "proper sit."

Of course, Dewey has to come along and video bomb us! He likes to be in the middle of everything. 

Remember, there is one box that is dedicated to odor.  You always place the odor in the same box and mark the box so you know which one it is.  I marked my odor box with an "O." Odor is placed on Q-tips that are cut in half by putting them in a few drops of essential oil of the desired scent.  I keep the Q-tips in a baby food jar until we are ready to work.  Then I take a few out with tweezers so I don't contaminate them with my own scent and place them in the odor box, or whichever container we are working with.

Pongo will be testing for both birch and anise. When we registered for the test, we had to pay $25 for each scent we would be testing.  There are only three scents in nose work, but I thought that would be a little ambitious for us to train for this summer.  So I only registered for two.  I typically work with birch first, then switch it out for anise later in our training session.  On this particular day, though, we only worked with anise.  It was about one in the afternoon and about 75 degrees and humid outside.  Pongo was distracted by cars and people passing, and adopted a rather laissez-faire attitude which is not typical of his nose work sessions.  When we first started, he just walked through the boxes and didn't work.  I went back and paired food with the odor box, and on the second trial, he began to work.  Then on subsequent trials, I removed the food and he was only rewarded on finding the correct box.

Here's a video which shows Pongo working.

Notice that Pongo does a good job of working the first line of boxes, but then stops working when we walk back along the second row.  I turn him around and have him work that line of boxes again and he identifies the odor by stopping and pawing at the box a couple times.  That is Pongo's way of alerting to the odor - which I love because it's so obvious!  I didn't teach him that, he started doing that on his own.  You see that he actually kind of paws a couple other boxes in the video, but he keeps on going.  On the odor box, he actually stops and sniffs longer, pawing the box twice.  This is why they tell you it's important to learn how to read your dog.  Sometimes, Pongo's signs are really clear and he very quickly identifies where the odor is accurately.  Other times, he gives me some false alerts (like that light paw tap in this video) and I'm afraid I won't read him correctly when we actually do the test.

At the ORT, we will be doing blind hides - that is, I won't know which box contains the odor.  I will have to say "alert" to identify when I think Pongo has found it.  We have practiced this in our private lessons at It's A Dog World, and though we get it right most of the time, occasionally, I'm wrong.  Our goal for training right now is to practice in different locations as much as possible before the test to give Pongo practice in new environments with distractions.  Today, we went to the park and had a great session working on the sidewalk by the parking lot - until our session was cut short by pouring rain! 

I can't believe the ORT is two weeks away!  We are counting down!  And yes, Mommy is a little nervous.   Wish us good luck!

Pongo's Kitties

Pongo had separation anxiety when I first adopted him from the Washington Animal Rescue League in 2002.  Having spent six months in a cage, he was desperate for exercise, mental stimulation, and human companionship.  I lived in an apartment in Washington, DC at the time, and tried very hard to make sure all of Pongo's needs were met.  I used to walk him for two hours a day - an hour in the morning before I left for work and an hour when I came home.  Still, when I tried to leave, he would try to get out the door with me, and I felt guilty leaving him home alone. 

After six months, I ended up adopting a cat named Henri to keep him company.  It worked beautifully and they were friends long before she bonded with me. When Henri was killed by raccoons in 2008, we were both devastated.  I had never seen an animal grieve before, but Pongo did.  He missed her. 

Although I vowed I would not get another cat, one of my coworker's kept texting me pictures of a kitten at an adoption event at PETCO a couple months later.  I decided to go take a look.  The kitten she had been sending me pictures of had already been adopted by the time I got there, and so I asked staff to point out a cat they thought would be good with a dog.  They suggested a young, long-haired black and white cat that had been found on the streets of Kent with a litter of kittens.  All of her kittens had already been adopted, but she still awaited a home. When I picked her up to hold her, she started playing with my hair!  I was instantly smitten.  And so Bella came to live with Pongo and I in Seattle. 

I had met my husband earlier that year, but we didn't get serious until a few months after I adopted Bella.  My husband loved cats but had never owned a dog.  He had two cats when I met him - a long- haired calico named Cindy and a skinny, short-haired grey tabby named Zoumie.  Cindy was the matriarch and was clearly in charge.  She let Pongo know it the first time he came to visit, swatting him on the nose when he got too close.  Pongo had a little scratch on his nose from the incident, but it wounded his feelings more.  To this day, he won't walk past her if she is sitting on the stairs or in the middle of a hallway.  He will bark or cry to let me know if she is blocking his pathway to me.  He will only pass her if I put myself between them.

My husband and I were married in 2010, merging our pets in his home.  His daughter, Ashley, from a previous marriage also came to live with us full-time. About a year later, Ashley's mom gave her Dewey, a long-haired orange tabby as a gift.  Ashley saw him at her mom's every-other-weekend.  However, when her mom moved and couldn't take him to the new apartment, she asked us if we could take him.  What initially was a temporary arrangement turned into a permanent one. 

If someone had ever told me that one day I would end up with four cats, I never would have believed it!  But there you have it.  For Pongo, it has been heaven.  He has never been alone again.  Dewey, who was still a kitten when he came to live with us, is Pongo's favorite playmate.  Dewey will roll over on his back when Pongo approaches and bat at him with his paws. 

Pongo gets excited when the cats gather in the kitchen for treats or when we feed them wet food.  The only way to keep him out of the middle of the cat chaos is to have him do a down-stay in the entrance to the kitchen.  Of course, he gets rewarded with a treat too!

Here Pongo waits for the kitties to finish so he can lick their bowls.

Life at the Wulff house is always busy with furry four-footed activity!  And Pongo is happy with his job of guarding the house and his kitties when Mommy is away.

Mt. Peak

Pinnacle Peak Park is located in Enumclaw a short 25 minutes from our home.  Called "Mt. Peak" by the locals, it is a popular hike in South King County, especially for those who are training to climb Mt. Rainier.  Pongo and I discovered this trail four years ago, and it has become a favorite since it is an easy one to fit into a busy weekend.  We often hike it year round, even in the winter when the trail is covered with snow.  Last summer, we regularly climbed it 1-2 times a week.  However, this year, we hadn't been there since March and we missed it.

On Tuesday, it was my wedding anniversary and my husband and I were planning to spend the day together.  But I wanted to get a quick hike in with Pongo in the morning, so we headed to Mt. Peak.  The mountain is a 256-acre of volcanic rock that juts out of the surrounding farmland.  We got there around 7:30 am and there were already seven or eight cars parked on the side of the road.  We said good morning to two women who were just finishing their hike, having already been to the top and come back down.  I turned the stop watch on on my runner's watch.  Pongo and I used to hike Mt. Peak with a friend of mine whose husband would run up the trail while we hiked.  Then we would run on the way down, trying to make the round trip in an hour.  I knew I wouldn't be able to make it in an hour today, but I wanted to see how long it would take. 

The forested trail is one-mile long, climbing 1000 vertical feet to an 1800-foot knob. Near the top you see some columnar basalt.  It is well-traveled - a popular family trail where you will encounter hikers with dogs or trail runners.  Half-way up, there is a bench to rest on, courtesy of the local Boy Scouts Troop. 

When we started up, it was overcast and cool. I put on my pack - more for added weight than anything else - and used the trekking poles my husband bought me one Christmas.  I enjoy using the poles for added balance and for the added arm workout. They have proved to be helpful when I have, at times, slipped on the way down.

 Pongo pauses on the trail ahead of me.  Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed as though we were both moving a lot slower up the hill than normal.  Maybe I am more aware of him slowing down with age, but he seemed to walk or trot, instead of bounding up the side of the mountain.

 The first half of the trail is always difficult for me because of the swift climb in elevation. But it is worth it once you get to the top.

  

There are benches at the top in a small alcove in the trees.  You can sit to rest, drink some water, or eat a snack. We never linger here long.  In Pongo's younger years, he would have jumped up on this bench, but he was posed for this picture and is contemplating getting down.

 After a water break and a few pictures, we headed down the hill at a trot.  We stopped to look out between the foliage where you can see views of the White River Valley. 

Then phone in my pocket, I started running again. Pongo seems to love it when I begin to run - he likes the faster pace.  He will stop to sniff and fall behind, then have to run to catch up. 

We made it off the mountain in an hour and twenty-five minutes - not bad considering I was taking pictures for the blog.

Here is a blissfully happy Pongo on the car ride home!  This is what it's all about!  Now with a tired dog at home, I could enjoy the rest of the day with my husband!

Happy Hiking!

Greenwater Lakes

The thing I love about working for the public schools is that I get school holidays.  I cherish the summertime when I get to spend lots of time with Pongo.  Although I do work a second job at a nursing care facility, I generally get to work as much or as little as I want.  Usually, I work a couple weeks in the summer, a few days here and there spread out over ten weeks, covering vacations for other speech pathologists.  There is always lots of time for doggie adventure.

We explored yet another new hike yesterday, called the Greenwater Lakes. I met one of the teachers from my school at Wally's Drive-In in Buckley.  She brought her golden retriever, Bella, and we all piled into my car.  To reach this trailhead, we drove on Hwy 410 to the little town of Greenwater, just as we did a week ago for our hike to Snoquera Falls.  But this time, we turned left onto Forest Road 70 about a mile past town.  The trailhead is about 9 miles from there and is clearly marked by a large sign. 

It was a cloudy, cool day and to my surprise, was threatening to rain. I was unprepared for cold, wet weather and had forgotten to bring a jacket.  Luckily, the entire trail was forested and protected us from rain.  Pongo and Bella immediately charged off into the forest and we followed at a good clip to stay warm. 




We followed the Greenwater River upstream.  The trail crosses the river three or four times before it reaches Greenwater Lake, a long, shallow lake, after 2 miles.  This part of the hike is easy and quiet and we didn't encounter any other hikers on the way up.  This proved to be a good hike for late summer, as there was plenty of water for the dogs to drink and cool down in. 



     Greenwater River



Pongo enjoys getting his feet wet, and lapping up the cool, clear water.



We crossed the river on narrow log bridges where we had to walk single file.



Here Pongo climbs up the steps to cross one of the log bridges.

After a couple hours, we decided to take a break and sat down to eat the peanut butter sandwiches we had brought.  Pongo and Bella begged for bites and we rested on logs in the lush, old-growth forest. 

If you continue on, you eventually will reach Echo Lake, which is a seven mile hike from the trailhead.  We decided to save that for another day, and headed back down after going only a few miles.  I had goosebumps on my arms and had gotten chilled while we sat to eat.  I wanted to get going, and it would only get colder if we continued up the trail.

On the way back, we encountered a couple of hikers with big packs who were headed to Echo Lake to camp overnight.  I felt a little pang of jealousy, but did not envy the weight they were carrying.  Maybe one of these days we'll do an overnight hiking/camping trip.  It's certainly on Pongo and my bucket list!!