but we had a great time anyway. And I really like this park. I’ve been twice since I arrived. 🙂
And I took lots of pictures!
Lots of wide open space at this park. 3 loops of trail to walk on and it’s flat, so easy on the older dogs and older folks.
Look closely at her face…..
This is the view I had of Tasha and Shadow most of the time.
with Kota bringing up the rear.
He has a cute, fluffy rear. 🙂
We stopped and talked with Scupper and Somar’s owners. Somar is a 10 month old GSD and Scupper is a 5 year old long haired Tasha. 🙂
The two of them would wrestle and snarl and play bite at each other. I’m pretty sure that with two of mine joining in, we were the noisiest corner of the park.
Big dog, 10 months, little dog, 12 years.
Then we continued our walk and I got a little artistic.
These are the rain clouds that were moving in to ruin our otherwise beautiful weather. And because of Kota, I got pretty soaked, that’s to come.
Then back to zooming through the weeds.
This was a nice shot of Shadow, marred only by the stray grass.
They started wondering off in the wrong direction, so I called them back and here they come!
Then we entered this very cool path with these crazy lichen covered trees. Almost all trees in Oregon have lichen of some kind on them.
Getting artistic again.
This path was really nice and quiet actually. I enjoyed it immensely, despite the mud. 🙂
Then we exited for one last loop through the main park.
Did you notice who was missing? Yup, Kota.
Oh there he is. He was on the other side of that group of people, looking back towards the parking lot. I had to actually walk back and then call him. I think his hearing and eyesight is going a bit.
This guy had a whistle that he was apparently trying to train this young lab to as a recall. I heard him while we were still in the woods. At first the dog was off-leash but he soon put him on leash. Guess what he did when the dog didn’t obey the *whistle* *whistle* COME cue? Yup, yanked on the leash… sigh.
Then there were these adorable little guys. Soooo cute!! but totally not dachsund pups. Perhaps mixes, but definitely not pure based on the mom.
The mother of the pups.
By this time, rain was beginning to come down so we headed off across the park back to the cars. Now first, I realize now that *not* putting them on leash as we reached the lot was a mistake, but in my defense, my car was right up against the park. It was literally on the other side of a boulder from us. I will not make that same mistake again however.
So I had all 3 dogs with me as we reached the parking lot but when I turned around to load the dogs into the car, I had one, Shadow. Tasha was on the other side of the car next to me but Kota was no where to be found. I put the other two in the car and then started calling for him.
And calling for him.
And calling for him.
Getting louder.
Beginning to wander all over the lot calling his name loudly.
I now have another person helping me look for him because the panic is starting to show in my voice.
I walk all up and down the lot. I examine every dog I can see. I even look twice at a couple mini Aussies.
People are now asking about any smallish, brown dog with tails. I am still calling, loudly. I am about to start crying thinking someone may have taken him, either purposefully or accidentally. Oh and it’s pouring down rain!
Someone shows up at the park with two smallish, short haired dogs that look very much like Kota and I almost thought one of them was him, but then realize, no, not enough fur.
I now have about 3 or 4 people walking around in the pouring rain, looking between cars, under cars, calling for my dog.
And then he walks around from behind a boulder in front of my car.
I have no idea where he was. I swear I walked all around my car, all around cars next to me, ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!
I was so relieved I almost forgot to thank my helpers! I got him loaded into the car (he was of course soaking wet!) and then I sat in the driver seat for a minute and let the panic ebb away from my soul.
I love all my dogs so much!!!
and if you made it this far, thanks for reading!!