Every Dog Deserves to have Adventures

It's hard sometimes not to overcoddle your small dog. There's so many dangers out there: hawks, coyotes, careless children (Mr. N had a leg fracture from a kid stepping on him in his previous life), aggressive dogs.
 

Sometimes you feel like putting them in a giant bubble and never letting them out. And there are small dog people who do that whose dogs are exercised indoors and their feet barely touch the ground outdoors. 

And I've been tempted. Mr. N has almost been attacked twice by aggressive dogs while out on a walk. But he would hate it. And so despite my fear, I try to give Mr. N a variety of experiences and let him explore.

Because every dog deserves to have adventures (thanks to Pamela for the phrase). And Mr. N doesn't believe in limits.

So earlier this week, we met up with Sage, a lovely Border Collie/Kelpie to go for a hike at Thousand Acres. It was really windy when we got there so we headed for the wooded area to escape the wind.They got along pretty well which meant that Sage didn't try to herd him and Mr. N enjoyed chasing after Sage. He was thrilled to have a new playmate that had no trouble keeping up with him.

Sage is a mud and water aficionado which Mr. N is not. She jumped into every mud puddle and body of water we came across. Mr. N went exploring instead.

She clearly thought Mr. N was crazy for not wanting to come into the water so Sage kindly shared the water and mud experience and he got a little wet and muddy as well (baths for everyone!). Luckily, she did not transfer the green "fragrance" that she found in a mud puddle to Mr. N. Sage's human and I took turns telling her not to come too close.

Later on, Sage got entangled with a thorny branch and Mr. N helped get it off her. Although honestly, I'm still not sure if he thought it was a game or if he sensed that it hurt and she needed help.

Whatever the reason, he looks so proud of himself in this picture.

And then Sage found a stray ball and it was time for river fetch.


After about two hours, we said our goodbyes and headed home so the dogs could get baths. They both really needed them! Mr. N and I both enjoyed ourselves (he had a good nap in the car but was perky again afterwards lol) and we hope to meet up with Sage and her human again soon.