Maybe my little dog needed a Christmas present. It can be frustrating and expensive to bounce around with different doggie boots before you finally find something that works. Arizona might well convince you the trouble is worth it. Surprisingly my little darlin' has pretty tough feet.
We humans are so spoiled, walking around in shoes, in this gawd-forsaken wasteland. Stickers, thorns. Even the damned rocks are so sharp you wouldn't touch them without leather work gloves. How does she do as well as she does?! An Arizona dog needs hooves rather than pads.
It is almost operatic to dwell on how awful the land is here. Let it sink in. Surrender to the horror. It is quite cathartic.
The good news is that there is a way to beat it. There are two types of terrain that are kind and gentle for those doggie pads. Well-traveled two track roads are mercifully easy. But the supreme highway to heaven in the desert is the arroyo, the dry wash, where the gravel is rounded. The earth must indeed be pretty old for the gravel to be rounded by water/slurry flow in dry washes.
So we end up having a good time in the desert, either walking in the arroyos or biking on the two-track roads. Maybe it is time to show some photos of her up to her old tricks.
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| Our first arroyo of autumn, way back in northern Utah. |
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| Canyon in Nevada. |
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| Lake Mead. She is not a water dog. I wonder if she has ever swum? |
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| "It's dark and cold down here, Pops." |
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