I dearly love my little doggie, Cassie , a Papillion, which means “butterfly” (in French) named for her big ears, but she’s over 15 years old now, and slowing down quite a bit.
A few years ago, we began taking her on our hikes into the foothills and Rocky Mountains. She absolutely Loved hiking. Who’d a thunk? With those short little legs, long distances must be difficult, but she seemed to enjoy every minute of our hikes. We took her everywhere, on hikes over 5 miles long and up to 11,500 feet. No problem.
Until last year, when on a hike, she suddenly became ill.
Fortunately, we live near one of the finest Vet schools in the USA, Colorado State University. After an extensive evaluation, we were told she had pulmonary hypertension; prescribed medication, and the prognosis was she only had a few months to live.
And she would not be able to hike, or even go to altitude.
What did we do? We gave her the medication, and she perked up.
Not completely back to normal, but enough to allow her to run around the yard.
But every time we took the packs out, or whenever I put on my hiking boots, she was there, wagging her little tail in eager anticipation. But we couldn’t take her.
Until this summer, when my husband said “Let’s take Cassie on a hike; we can carry her, and I’ll bet she’ll have some fun.” It was an easy hike; we took turns carrying her and she did seem to enjoy herself. (You can read more about that in my earlier blog post, “Cassie’s Last Hike?“)
Then we discovered Rocky Mountain National Park; only a few miles away.
Only one caveat, NO DOGS ALLOWED. We understand the reasoning, dogs ( even on a leash) would interfere with the wild creatures, and could cause damage.
So we began hiking RMNP, leaving Cassie at home.
A few weeks ago, Colorado suffered the worst flooding anyone could remember; washing out the road to RMNP in several places. It is not known how long it will take to repair this road.
After we scheduled an easy hike for our friends who are new to hiking. My husband asked, “Why not take Cassie? We can carry her, and I’m sure she’ll enjoy it.”
So we did ( take her) and she did (enjoy it). Check out the pics,
I think you’ll agree she had fun.
Was that Cassie’s last hike? Right now, it’s very hard to say.
But come back to this blog and I’ll promise to let you know about the further adventures of Cassie.
