Pickles!

My boy.

My love.

My soulmate.

He’s old.

He’s not quite the spring chicken that he was once.

Time.

Life.

That’s what happens.

I know that he’s been losing a little spring in his step for a while now. He’s been slow on our walks, taking his sweet time.

He’ll take his time getting up from time to time.

Jumping up in the car and sometimes my bed would present an issue.

Old.

I took him out hiking last week. We did Snoqualmie Falls and then we tried to do Rattlesnake Ridge.

He’s done Rattlesnake before and never had a problem with it. But that was back in 2013. Five years ago. 35 years ago, for him.

He was 56 back then. A relatively young man. A relatively young dog.

I watched him take his time, panting hard, struggle at times to get up the incline at Snoqualmie Falls. He was fine at the end. Tired, but still ready for more.

Rattlesnake Ridge was more of the same. He’s ready and by my side, eager to go.

But he’s slow. Taking his time up the trails. I think I was more worried about him than he was worried about what’s happening.

At no time did he stopped and didn’t want to move. At no time did he lay down.

He was ready.

I’m sure if we took our time, we would have gotten up there. I’m sure that he didn’t need any prompting or coaching or pulling to get up there. He would have been happy going wherever I was going.

I don’t think I could have pushed him. I know he’s old. I see it.

Although the hike is easy, but how would it be for an old dog like him?

I didn’t want to test it out. Seeing how slow he moved at Snoqualmie and how he was at the beginning of the trail, I decided to stop.

It was a busy trail and we’d have to stop and move to the side.

I didn’t want to push him.

I didn’t want to hurt him.

Age.

It hurt me to see him like that. He’s still so eager, but just a little bit more fragile than he used to be.

Age.

He’s still holding up and doing relatively well in his old age.

Pickles is good.

Pickles is fine.

He’s still eager to go out and play. He’s still eager to go out on his walks rather than staying inside all day.

I protect him.

I shelter him.

I do what I can to ensure that he has a few more comfortable years left.

Pickles.

My soulmate.

My love.

He’s an inspiration to me.

He’s a good dog.

I decided to turn back a third of the way up the hike. We got about half a mile up, maybe a little more and I stopped and turned back.

Pickles was just tired, but he never gave up.

I decided then that his hardcore hiking days are over. No more hikes up mountains. No more hardcore days like we once did.

What we setup to do now would be simple.

Easy.

What adventures that we’ll go on would be something a little more manageable.

It’s what he deserves after putting up with my shit for so long.

He still has adventures. I will include him in as much as I can.

Looking back, he’s been through so much with me. We’ve gone to so many awesome vacations together.

We did all those road trips back home and so much hiking up here.

We’ve gone to Vancouver together. Pickles is an INTERNATIONAL TRAVELER!

Pickles was a good copilot for our road trips and enjoyed the western route I did a few years ago driving up 1 and 101.

He was my companion and was such a trooper on our trips to the Grand Canyon.

I put him through shit, but he was always down.

We explored cities and cities. We were our own Lewis and Clark.

He’s my boy.

He’s my dog.

We’ll always be Boy and His Dog where ever we will go.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten many of our trips, but I’ll never forget how he keeps me company on every single one of them.

He’s a good one.

He’s my soulmate.

We’ll have so many more adventures together.

I can’t wait.

Pickles.

My love.