Puppy's First Hike

I'm a little late getting this posted... and it's our first post!  I hope I'm not setting a bad precedent. Maybe I can make up for it with some cute pictures. In the coming posts we'll introduce ourselves and tell you our story. For now here's the basics. I'm Kathy, and my mini dachshund puppy Athena is almost 4 months old. Egan is my best friend and his pup, Maru, is a Pitt Bull-Border Collie mix. We're adventuring buddies. We're training for bigger and longer hiking trips but speaking for myself, I'm in terrible shape. So, we're starting with baby steps and baby hikes.

Speaking of babies and hikes. This past Sunday was Athena's first hike.  The week before I had an epiphany. We were at my other best friend, Pony's house. The stairs up to his bedroom are very steep and I'd been too afraid to let Athena climb them by herself. Now, I don't mean unsupervised. I wouldn't let her climb them at all. I was afraid she'd fall. Pony had been giving me a hard time about babying her so much. As I explained to him, when I got her she was about 8 weeks old and she was so tiny and seemed so fragile to me. The more we grow together the more we both see how much she is capable of. She took after one of his Pitt Bulls and tried to climb the stairs when it occurred to me... If I'm terrified of her climbing stairs, indoors, and with me right there then how on earth are we ever going to hike to the top of mountains together?  That's when I realized I needed to let her do this.  She whined a little on the first few steps but eventually made it slow and steady up the rest of the stairs.

On her very first hike my little girl decided that she was the Trail Boss. We hiked around Holiday Park here in Indianapolis, IN. There are lots of stairs. Every time we stopped to decide which way to go at a fork in the trail Athena tried to pull us in the direction of stairs in her stubborn dachshund way. She lost the battle every time but she still got to do lots of Stairs. I only got one, not too terrible picture of the little Stair Master. It's hard snapping a picture of a puppy running up stairs when you're trying to chase her up those stairs yourself.

They weren't big stairs for the most part, except for one.  I was just about to lead Athena to a lower part of the step when I noticed her trying to jump up on a step that was at least 8 inches high on one side. Before I could help her she scrambled right up there. I was so proud of her.  I guess I didn't need to worry about her so much after all.

The first time I walked both dogs by myself I had a heck of a time with Maru. She needed a harness and Egan thought so too. Before we set off on our hike we took a trip to the pet store and spent quite a bit of time trying different harnesses on Maru before we found one that was just right. We also got her a backpack that will go well with her harness so she can get used to it for longer trips in the future. 

Here's Maru with her pretty (and handy) new harness.  She was sooooo much easier to handle.

After we came back Egan was trying to relax but two wild pups kept bouncing all over him while they were wrestling around with each other. Since three of Athena's dog cousins, including Maru, are at least part Pitt Bull, she thinks of herself as a some kind of Tea Cup Pitt Bull.  She'll figure it out after she spends more time with her three Dachshund friends. I snapped pictures while they played and got this adorable shot of the three of them. It would have been perfect if Athena's ear wasn't flipped back... but what can ya do with a floppy eared puppy.

 The doggy girls were finally tired enough from all the hiking and playing to allow me to get the one shot I'd been trying to get all day, both pups in one picture actually looking at the camera.  I love this picture.

Well that's all for now.  More soon.

- Kathy