If one thing had become clear in the first year of Tinkham's life, it's that she loves getting outside and double loves when she gets to be on the trail. Another thing we've learned is that we infinite love when she's tired from an adventure and is less of a one year old tornado of energy in the house. In other words, it was a long six weeks off the trail.
Her last adventure was a doozy and a normal dog might have used the time to reconsider the whole going outside thing, but she used the break to refine her ability to chew on things, sit on our feet, and generally want to go outside and chase the ball.
Meantime, the kids and I did SCIENCE! and went backpacking. Right when she would have been back at it, she showed a bit of a limp that the vet advised be given a few days to chill. So I celebrated the end of summer alone and checked out an abandoned trail for WTA because they need love, too.
And poor Tink hung out at home. Each time we walked out the door she watched us go with those sad puppy dog eyes. Dang you, canine evolution! I blame you for my stretched out heart strings.
Finally, it was her turn to get back on trail. She was feeling great, the vet couldn't find anything wrong, and the schedule called for a mellow trip to one of our favorite places.
The only thing that wasn't great was the weather. Instead of beautiful blue skies, we had overly dramatic clouds and a wind that blew Tink's ears back at times. Not bad.
She didn't care a bit. Her grin was fixed and she made the most of the off-trail destination to enjoy time free to sprint through meadows and climb rocks without a leash. It was just what she needed.
Once we got home she lazed about for a day. Suddenly, she remembered her training and followed directions. She was back to being our good little puppy. And that's just what we all needed.
