Let's not pretend I'm the spring chicken I once was. I'm old and slow. Tinkham, on the other hand, is the model of youth and has so much energy I can't possibly hope to keep up. What's a guy to do if he wants to give his puppy a good workout?
Let slip the dogs of Yellow Dog Inn and cry, "HERE!" (And then offer treats and hope they come back.)
We've adventured with Odin and Freya before and it always goes well. When they're done, Tink collapses in an exhausted puddle of panting joy and sleeps for a day and a half. Rumor has it, the other dogs do, too.
This time we followed a very popular trail and then ducked off on a much less popular side trail when nobody was looking. With nobody else on our trail, the dogs were freed and they spent much of the hike to the mostly-frozen lake chasing each other up and down the trail. You'd think they'd be completely hammered by the time we got to the water, but...
Oh, to have that much energy. In fact, they were still going strong when we returned to the popular trail and leashed up. Over the last few miles to the trailhead, they mellowed and when they got in the trucks they were done for. Tink crashed out on the rough road and hardly lifted her head when I stopped for gas near home.
It's true there were spectacular sights along the trail and the mountain above the lake was gorgeous under a blue sky. Still, the best part was getting the dogs home and having left their puppy craziness on the trail. Never fear; by the next afternoon she was ready to get out on the trail again and had plenty of crazy to burn the next time we had puppy partners.
