First American Holiday - Hope, Idaho

Well, it was a great holiday - 7.5 hrs in the truck there and back - 16 days in a place that was bliss! We had a couple of minor mishaps - lost Bronson for 5 minutes when he decided to chase a deer. He was so good; learning to play frisbee for a good 15-20 minutes. We knew that he would be excited to see a deer so we put him back on his leash. We figured he would forget about it having not seen it for a good 10 minutes. "NO!" Here I was thinking he had been such a good dog in the trailer, campsite with other dogs and now I have lost my dog. I really didn't think we would find him seeing he ran into the brush after the deer - all I recall is seeing this Berner butt running as fast as his legs could take him after this deer. It's not like he could ever catch it. Ended up we only lost him for 5 minutes. The other mishap was Bronson dragging my poor Dawson for about 3 seconds. Of course, he saw a
deer
and just needed a closer look. Dawson had the leash on like I do - the harness. We were not walking far but it was far enough for Dawson to get some pretty nice road rash to go with his other scars. It seems the right side of his body is clean of scratches but the left side has taken a beating with learning how to ride a bike and seeing the other boys riding over jumps - yikes. I guess live and learn.

We met some great people while we were away. Catherine and Bruce missed their puppies so they had no lack of company with Bronson and Dawson wanting to invade their space every time we walked by their campsite. They were the sweetest though and didn't seem to mind.

We also had a brief meeting with another Berner friend. We met Webster - a 6 year old Berner. The poor guy wanted to play with a little bear cub the previous day, probably thinking it was another Berner so his family brought him out of their truck to meet Bronson after we finished up at the Sam Owen Fire Station pancake breakfast fundraiser.

Overall, it was a grand holiday. Nice to take a break from city living and the chaos that you experience in everyday life. We loved seeing Bronson in his new life jacket and his new ski rope leash. He did look like he could pass as a boat when Dawson had the leash - supervised closely but far enough for me to get a cute photo. One other thing we learned is that Berners are not natural swimmers but I guess I have to give the guy a chance before I panic he is going to sink like a stone but he sure does look like it.