I am so tired. Beyond tired.
You see, on Sunday I lost my dog up in the national forest in the snow. He went after a deer and got lost. I spent the rest of Sunday hiking around (and snowshoeing) in the snow trying to track and find him. I didn't.
I spent all day Monday doing the same thing. I hiked over 7 miles through the snow, down ravines, over ridges, etc. on Monday. I eventually did find him thanks to a few really good people, his Fi collar, and sheer luck. But it was stressful.
I almost gave up for the day. I had gone home and gotten my ATV, driven it back to where I knew he was hanging out and laid out a bunch of dirty clothes and sheets, some food, a couple of game cameras, and started cooking bacon on my camp stove. Somebody saw him up at their house (a very remote house off grid in the middle of fucking nowhere) and pushed him down the hill to me.
The thing is, he was running scared and went into wild dog mode. I had seen him twice on Sunday and both times he ran away from me. But this time I just stood quietly and when he ran by me on the fire road, I called his name (Fox) and his hackles went up and he almost took off. I then very calmly called his nickname (Boopie) and his head turned. He slowly approached me and then recognized me. He was so happy to see me he couldn't contain himself. I fed him some bacon, packed all of my gear back up, and rode the two miles out to my truck with him leashed and running next to me.
We are both completely exhausted. I was sore and tired yesterday and very dehydrated. Today I am less sore but more tired. I also was so busy tracking him and stressed I didn't eat for two days. Literally the only thing I had in two days was a bagel each morning.
But he's home. And he's safe.
Here is him about ten minutes before he ran off after the deer.
