14ers.com

Josh,

Best of luck to you and Soy now and in the future. Hopefully he taught my young pup a thing or two when we all hiked Culebra. He is a wonderful dog and I'm sure you guys will enjoy every day together, 14ers or not.

ezsuperkev wrote:Thanks for making me nearly lose my sh*t at my desk. That was beautiful. Dogs are the greatest animal !!!!

Me too, man. Funny, I can listen to the news talking about people getting killed here, there and everywhere, and it doesn't affect me. But hear about a dog getting hurt and I just cant take it.

I similarly had a great dog that passed on, unfortunately in the press of my life (job, kids) I didn't get to do as much with him as you did with Samyer. The most difficult thing about a good dog is that their life cycle is different than ours: It was easy to assume 'Bear-man' would still be snuggling up to strangers for more 20 years, but his body just didn't let him. He ran with me anytime I could get out, but I wasn't able to be with him at the end. Thanks for the various 'Ten commandments'; they're a good reflection on what sustains our lives.

Josh,

I have followed your post for the past few years....I have always had respect for what you had to say. I had to put one of my hiking partners down last year...it was by far a very sad time...I hope Sawyer and you will share many more memories together even if they are not on approaches to our highest peaks in our beautiful state. Thanks for sharing your guys journey with us.

Very touching post.. As someone who had to retire my dog from hiking last year I know how you feel. Bobo is 15 now, and doesn't hike with me anymore. Stay open to the idea of a new hiking partner tho! Bo's brother Gunner has started right where he left off. Let us know when you book comes out, I would really love to read it!

Josh and Sawyer -- You may remember that I had a police K9 - Magnum - who was my partner on the street for almost 9 years. He came to me on his first birthday and I had to put him down a few months following his 11th. He was incredibly loyal to me -- protecting me more times than I can remember. I was accused of loving him more than anyone else in my life. That's not true -- but damn close. He went everywhere with me -- much like you two. I understand the bond created between both of you. I can understand how difficult it would be for you to finish the 14ers without him. I'm not ashamed to say publicly that when I put Magnum down I cried for two days straight -- one of the most heart wrenching things I've ever experienced.

Cherish your memories of the climbs with him -- honor him with your book. I wish you both all the best.

Be safe,

Lance

Excellent series of posts. I got my first dog when living in the hills outside of Durango in 1977. Despite later moves to Buffalo, then NYC after a year in the mountains she was always a 'rock dog'. Must be something in the blood of a high altitude dog. Never had another one like her.

I wanted to again thank everyone that posted here. I've been checking this thread over the past week and it means a great deal so many climbers wrote so many nice things. I remember the climbs Soy and I did with some of you and it brought a smile to my face when I read your posts.

When my book about Sawyer is complete, I will let you all know. This has been almost a nine year project now. I documented everyone of our climbs and will include these among the other masses of information the book has. It is a project I am excited to share with the climbing community, dog lovers and people who love Colorado. If you are passionate about any of these things as much as I am, I really think you will enjoy the book. I will finish the book in 2009 and hope to have it released in 2010.

Josh

Great post, Josh, about your golden. We lost our golden quite a few years ago. She was 14 1/2 and brought in the newspaper up until her last day. If our paper wasn't in the driveway she would just go to the neighbors and get theirs. She ran with me almost every day until she was around 12 but then started to really show down. I rescued a wonderful greyhound from the track fearing I would loose our golden and the new dog would keep her company, it worked because she lived another 2 1/2 years. By the way she was a rescued dog someone apparently dumped along the highway and some lady picked her up, took her to the animal shelter in Pueblo, drove back down and adopted her, and ran an ad for a "free dog". Goldens are true to their name. Sawyer must be too.

Joey wrote:
That made me laugh!! How'd the neighbors handle that event, or respond when their paper was taken?! Did they know how theirs disappeared?

Our paper usually came in an orange wrapper and our neighbor's was blue. So when a blue one showed up in Sienna's mouth I had to return it to the neighbor's driveway and wrap up an old paper as a decoy, place it our driveway and send her out again. She would have collected everyones paper if given the chance.