Companions

I used to be the first one to keep dogs off the ski trails. I guess it was when we were grooming with an Alpine and the trails were nominally 1 meter wide. Everything changed when we started pulling steel with the Gator. It all changed again when the world got shut down and our dogs became even better of the best companions. They are so happy out there with us! They inherently find the hardest part of the trail (the Gator tracks on either side) and rarely touch the tracks. My favorite is getting down to their level while in a tuck, free-sliding all out and catch a side-eye from them while they’re in full stride.

They’re the ones patrolling with us in the fall and spring while we look for deadfall and other obstacles. Yeah, they roll in some of the funkiest things and have been porkied and skunked out there; but most of our best patrols have been with these four-pawed-drive companions.

Researchers say our dogs are only loaned to us for a decade or so by our proto-lithic ancestors. Those ancestors were the ones who were allowed to create the miracle of our inter-genus relationship. I still can’t comprehend how it could have ever happened.

Today we had to say goodbye to a true Ranger. Whether on the trail or in the Gator, Maud was always 100% focused on what was getting done.

We’ll find a little place for her out on Stanley’s or in the Pines where she was always happy.

My advice to all of you: let your dog take you for a walk out on some trail, any trail. Consider yourself lucky to be a part of one of the true miracles in this world.

I’m sure glad we had Maud as a companion these past few years.