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As most of you, I used to despise little dogs and to some extent I still do. There was however one little dog that pound for pound has got to be the toughest dog to ever live. Her name was Zoe and she was a jack russel terrier abomination in a beagle coat. She was ugly as sin with a gnarly under bite and teeth that made a gelgameks vagina look like childs play.
She was terrible. She would run away from the camp for hours at a time. To our amazement she would always return. Never once did she become a cougar snack which seemed inevitable. I cant tell you how many times she would follow her little hound dog nose to god knows where only to return unscathed ripe with puppy adventures to dream about.
Her and I developed a bond after our first backcountry trip. My brother and I were climbing Mt Bailey in central Oregon. It was my first climb. We summit the mountain, drink our victory beers and pee on the top for good measure. After relishing in our own glory we began our descent. Everything seemed fine for the first few turns then BAMMMM....I ran right over little dog. She was behind me running in a straight line and ran right through my turn. I was certain she was dead, sliced completely in half by my edges. By the grace of god she managed to make it out with nothing more than a hitch in her step. The snow was soft and I ended up pushing her down into it rather than blowing her up entirely.
Fast forward a few years and she is still bombing up mountains like a bat outta hell. Her last climb was up Mt McLaughlin in southern Oregon. A daunting mountain at 9500 feet. we had submitted it before several times but this time it was to much for her little dog paws. I waited about 1000 feet from the summit with her while my brother finished the hike. You could see her day was done and I wasnt gonna make her go any further so her and I ate lunch over looking the Klamath basin. On the ski down she did fine until it got flat...little girl was so tired her I carried her the final 2 or 3 miles in my arms like a football.
This was the last I ever got to ski with her. She bailed out of my brother pick up a few weeks later and finally lost a battle. I miss this little dog. I see a lot of myself in her and we had a bond I dont think I will ever have with another dog.
She was either the worst good dog or the best bad dog. Either way she was a champ
Some photos from our last climb
Mt McLoughlin
Zoe and I
The angle just shows how gnarly she was to run straight up that shit
