14ers.com

j2theZ, you have a gorgeous dog. How long have you had her, we're thinking of picking up a Siberian!

Thank you much, she will appreciate the compliment :D Anywho, I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. It's actually a decent story how I came to have her. I was out apartment hunting and stumbled upon a cute little furball with those crazy (at the time white) eyes. She was outside in about 90 deg. temps with no water or food tied to a bench. I pet her and went inside. The leasing agent asked me if I wanted another dog. I said I wanted a great dane eventually and she said ohh.... And begin to explain that she had bought the "little crapper" (referencing the puppy outside) for her daughter and that her daughter hated her. She went on to say that she also hated her, that she wouldn't shut up and was continually pissing in her house. She wanted to "cut her losses" and get rid of her for $100. I didn't want a husky at the time so I told her she would have no problem finding a home for her for $100. I proceeded with looking at the apartments and went to leave when the cracked out (literally) leasing agent chased me to my car and asked if I would take her for free because she wanted to be rid of her. I of course said yes, that I would find a good home for her. I went up to the lady's apartment to grab the dog's stuff. I met "the daughter" who was about 16 with two kids... Anyway, I was feeling better about bringing home a strange dog to my wife without permission in order to rescue her from the conditions she had been living in. I really intended on finding her another home but she found quite a special place in my heart so she stayed. She is almost 3 years old now and probably the coolest dog you could ask for. I know this is way more than you asked for so I will stop. I get a little passionate about some things and my dogs are one of those things. Anywho, thanks again and have a good one.
John

That is a cool story!!! I have two Siberians and they are great. One we got as a puppy and the first two years are hell!!! But then she became a wonderful dog!!! She has climbed 21 peaks with me to date. The other we just rescued at the age of 5. He is not as attached yet, but he is still a good dog.

I would warn you about the puppy years, they are hell on wheels, but they turn out pretty good after the first two years. They will never really listen to you as much as you might want them too, like a lab or retriever, and you will rarely be able to take them off leash, but I love them to death!!! With any dog, just know what you are getting into.

My beagle-mix Okie has summitted 27 14ers now with 31 total summits. I won't take him on class 3 or above, and he seems a bit more tired after hikes than he was the last couple of years -- so he's probably closing in on (14er) retirement. He never has had any problems with his pads, though. He's not so great in a tent, but he's a great hiking companion. I just wish I didn't need to keep him on leash (he'd run after a bear if we encountered one).

He appears in several of my trip reports. Here he is on the descent of Columbia via Three Elk Creek last weekend:

Great idea to write this book, Josh, and I also can't wait to read it. Good luck!

Interesting about the dog shoes... I didn't think about the pad issue and needing shoes until reading this.

Todd

This forum is years old....does anyone know what became of the book? or sawyer's journey? i would love to hear more about this...

Inky gave an update from August here.

For anyone interested in the progress of the book, it is coming along really well. Putting a book together is a monumental task that probably rivals nearly any of the difficulties that Soy and I encountered on the mountain. Creating this book, in many ways, hindered our progress on the peaks over the years because we had to get the best photos and often had to reclimb peaks just to get them. It would have been unacceptable to place photos in a book that looked amateur. Had we just marched up summits without any intent to document it for a book, we could have potentially finished years ago. Twice in our journey to climb all the 14ers, we had to start all over from square one (going back to the first mountain) solely because the way the book was going with photos was not working. Both times it was a major setback that in the end, I believe, is well worth it.

As far as how the book itself is going, I'm doing this in a way that totally goes against the grain. Most folks write everything and hand off their story to a publisher who then tweaks, edits and designs their book. In many cases the author/writer has limited input on the layout and design. In my case I'm a professional graphic designer, and this whole thing is being created on my home computer. I have written, designed, illustrated and photographed nearly everything in the book. The section "The History of 14er Dogs" is really the only section that others have contributed photos and information.

I am working on this about 3 or 4 days per week for several hours at a time. Some days I spend up to 8 hours. It is hard working all day at work (10 hour days) as a designer, staring at computer screen, to come home and do it again. My goal is to have my end of things done by June 2012. This means the book (hopefully) will be print ready by then. At that point I can decide if I can come up with the funds to self publish or if I will go the traditional route and let a publisher print it. Again, that may delay things substantially. I do not know though.

Right now the design aspect is about 90% done. I'm about 85% done color correcting, resizing and pulling in of the photos. The illustrating part is completely done. Writing is only 40% there but I want to get the photos and design aspects done first. Then I can write and pay people to edit. The most challenging part is "The History of 14er Dogs" section because it is more difficult to write about dogs and people you do not know. Plus, writing is not my strength and I already understand my book is not going to be some major award winner that wows the masses. I'm just a regular guy that's trying to do my best. In many ways, it reflects how Soy and I were when we climbed. Just a regular man and a normal dog. I was never at a greater climbing skill than Sawyer and that is what I think is the most impressive part of our story.

Josh

Great to hear the update, Josh! I truly cannot wait to see the final product. Doing all of your own editing, graphics, & publishing is unfathomable, at least for me. I am sure it will be a work of art and something to cherish forever by you and every mountain-loving & dog-loving person out there. All my best to you and Soy.

Brandon

Just to be pretentious, I'd suggest you include my wife's dog (when the dog behaves, she is mine when she doesn't).
Kya may be the first dog to have ski joured a 14er. She is close to retirement and currently goes by the name "Cowya"
We'll see if she gets back in shape for winter.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser

Edited - the dogs name is spelled Kya, not Kia.

This is my dog Sundance on top of Grays. He has done Grays and Torreys thus far, and some more to come. He is a 3 year old Golden Retriever, small and wiry (65 pounds and is a ball of energy!) I just started getting him into it.

I don't think he's been mentioned before, but Dave Hale of Colorado Springs (AFA) had a couple of high-personality dogs (Scooby and Shep) that must have climbed most of the 14ers.