Last fall, we took the puppers on a hike to a gorgeous mountain lake. The trail was busy with people and their dogs that day. On our way up, we passed a couple of girls with a large golden retriever that had torn his pads walking on the rough rocks. We checked our packs for
vet wrap, but realized that we had used it all up when our
spaz dog tore her toenail off a few months earlier. Note to self: reload pet first aid.
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We made it to the lake and I decided to hang back with
Happy while my Sweetpea took the other two dogs to play in the snow on the other side.
Watermelon snow. Sky returned looking like she had been attacked by an orange highlighter. She can't resist rolling and sliding down the snow, no matter how little snow there is. Happy didn't go because the trail to the snow was rocky and I wasn't sure she could safely navigate the rough path. The rest of the hike should be easy though - it was mostly downhill back to the car.
When the furmily was reunited, we started back down the trail. Happy seemed to be slowing down. My Sweetpea commented that she would probably get a second wind if she saw a deer she wanted to chase. We had just reached the scree field, where the trail is cut into the side of the mountain. An adorable
pika popped up from the rocks and let out a loud squeak. That was all Happy needed. Second wind had arrived and she took off after the pika. Her bumbling feet started sliding down the loose rocks. Then, she started tumbling down - rolling on her side as she bounced off the rocks for 50 to 100 feet down the mountain.
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| The last picture I took, as we reached the scree field |
Needless to say, I was a total wreck. Sweetpea and I went down the mountain after her, while some other hikers held on to Jack and Sky's leashes on the trail. Happy's front pads had been completely scraped off, but nothing seemed to be broken. We hoisted her back up to the trail a few inches at a time. Since we already knew that we were out of vet wrap, we had to improvise. Her feet were bandaged up with gauze, my socks, and medical tape.
With the combination of wet trail, poor bandaging, and hurting feet, we didn't make it very far. We tried to make a sling out of our rain pants to assist Happy, but the trail wasn't really wide enough to make that work. She laid down on the trail and rolled onto her back, signaling that she was done. Out of options and still 2 1/2 miles and 1500' of elevation from the parking lot, there was only one solution. We took turns carrying her 70 pounds of dead weight on our shoulders.
Three days later, Happy (thought she) was ready to hike again. I think she recovered faster than Sweetpea and I did.
