Rick C
July 14th, 2008, 10:14 AM
Let this tale begin at the end, after climbing a mountain yesterday and walking down the other side, with the pooches pretty bagged on a hot day . . . . . Abby and Keeper were called to action as therapy dogs.
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_1050-edit1.jpg
Above, the end of the road . . . . . Keeper and Abby back at Barrier dam after a 13 km round trip hike up to the Barrier Mountain lookout.
We were sitting on the lakeshore here, after one last dip in the lake, when a gentleman approached us from the dam behind and explained he was a volunteer for a group working with the mentally handicapped.
On the dam behind us, he said, was one such young lady.
She was obsessed with dogs, he said, and some people had come by very quickly with a black lab but didn't stop.
That caused the young lady to sit down on the dam and begin to wail and generally throw a fit, for which their experience showed there would be no end.
Would I mind, he asked, if Abby and Keeper could come by for a visit to help calm her down.
We agreed and approached her, still sitting in the middle of the gravel road on the dam, crying and wailing.
Abby and Keeper were not shy at all and as soon as she saw them coming there was some improvement.
Abby, as is her custom, was friendly and interested for only a moment, then ready to move on to the next adventure.
Keeper though, her fatigue forgotten, wound her way back and forth alongside the young lady, allowing her to pet and talk to Keeper. Keeper was in her glory, surrounded by humans (myself, three volunteers and the young lady).
After about ten minutes of attention, all was rendered right with this young lady's world, and we moved on, Keeper resuming her painfully slow but steady pace for the final kilometre under a hot sun.
And so ended their short but successful careers as therapy dogs.
Earlier, below, Abby at the summit. We ascended from the dam just out of the picture on the left and descended well out of the picture to the right, eventually walking back along the lake on the near shore:
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_0913-edit1.jpg
Below, the same summit location as Abby above, believe it or not, but that's why they call it Prairie View trail. Keeper is already a bit pooped after the steep climb from the lake dam below. The Trans-Canada highway, leading to Calgary, is visible below. Actually, I noticed later, there's a roughly 100 foot sheer drop right behind Keeper, so maybe she had vertigo (just kidding).
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_0929-edit1.jpg
Below, down at the bottom again, a nice reprieve in the lake for Keeper and Abby:
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_1041-edit1.jpg
Rick C
www.goldentales.ca
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_1050-edit1.jpg
Above, the end of the road . . . . . Keeper and Abby back at Barrier dam after a 13 km round trip hike up to the Barrier Mountain lookout.
We were sitting on the lakeshore here, after one last dip in the lake, when a gentleman approached us from the dam behind and explained he was a volunteer for a group working with the mentally handicapped.
On the dam behind us, he said, was one such young lady.
She was obsessed with dogs, he said, and some people had come by very quickly with a black lab but didn't stop.
That caused the young lady to sit down on the dam and begin to wail and generally throw a fit, for which their experience showed there would be no end.
Would I mind, he asked, if Abby and Keeper could come by for a visit to help calm her down.
We agreed and approached her, still sitting in the middle of the gravel road on the dam, crying and wailing.
Abby and Keeper were not shy at all and as soon as she saw them coming there was some improvement.
Abby, as is her custom, was friendly and interested for only a moment, then ready to move on to the next adventure.
Keeper though, her fatigue forgotten, wound her way back and forth alongside the young lady, allowing her to pet and talk to Keeper. Keeper was in her glory, surrounded by humans (myself, three volunteers and the young lady).
After about ten minutes of attention, all was rendered right with this young lady's world, and we moved on, Keeper resuming her painfully slow but steady pace for the final kilometre under a hot sun.
And so ended their short but successful careers as therapy dogs.
Earlier, below, Abby at the summit. We ascended from the dam just out of the picture on the left and descended well out of the picture to the right, eventually walking back along the lake on the near shore:
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_0913-edit1.jpg
Below, the same summit location as Abby above, believe it or not, but that's why they call it Prairie View trail. Keeper is already a bit pooped after the steep climb from the lake dam below. The Trans-Canada highway, leading to Calgary, is visible below. Actually, I noticed later, there's a roughly 100 foot sheer drop right behind Keeper, so maybe she had vertigo (just kidding).
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_0929-edit1.jpg
Below, down at the bottom again, a nice reprieve in the lake for Keeper and Abby:
http://www.goldentales.ca/DSC_1041-edit1.jpg
Rick C
www.goldentales.ca