Category Archives: Pets

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The Man and His Dog

So, I had the nice experience of riding in the beautiful Laurel Highlands this past weekend with three good friends. John Casuccio, Jeff” The Ride King” Wuerthele, and his dog Wilson. The leaves were beautiful and the conditions on the trails were dry, and it made the rock riding a little more pleasant. And Wilson is a great trail dog. He is named after the volleyball in the Tom Hanks movie and actually had a lot of the same traits. Quiet with a nice smile on his face. He is a rescue dog which Jeff has the habit of adopting. We talked about all the dogs that Jeff has had along on rides that he adopted over the years but somehow Wilson seems to be the most pleasant one so far- at least in my mind. I am not a dog guy but have ridden with all of Jeff’s dogs in the past. But the perceived smile on Wilson’s face was heartwarming to me and his behavior on the trail was exemplary……..for a dog.

The Ride King and John Casuccio- two legends of local trails.

We like to call Jeff the Ride King because, back in the day, he was always putting on rides out of his place up in the mountains. He was one of the seminal people in mountain biking around here with his work with the iconic Dirt Rag Magazine, and also being a rep in the bicycle industry for many years. He is now retired but is still quite active in maintaining trail systems in the Laurel Highlands, playing golf, and enjoying the outdoors. No grass grows under The Ride King’s feet. And none under Wilson’s either.

Beautiful fall day at Wolf’s Rocks

I have been on many mountain bike rides with dogs in the past. Chuck Greenlee had a dog once, who we termed as a great rider. She would run up the hills ahead of us and not get in the way, and when we descended, she knew enough to go to the back of the group and follow because at that point, she was slower than the rest. Wilson has similar traits and would know enough to run either ahead of us or behind us and the only time we stopped was when Jeff wanted to make sure Wilson had something to drink out of the local streams. Wilson would drink and recover and off he would go again – with that great dog smile. He always would seem to check on us when we would stop for a break, coming up to each of us and making sure we were having a good time. He seems to be a very perceptive dog, and Jeff has trained him well.

It was great to ride with John and Jeff as they are old friends with whom I have logged a lot of miles on the trails and ski slopes over the years. The cool thing about mountain biking is that, like skiing, it is a very social sport with a lot of conversation on the rides about many topics. Riding in the Zone 2 at our age allows for conversation. I like that. And to have Wilson along was an added plus. I don’t ride with dogs all that often, but I am used to that with The Ride King. He always brings us a pleasant surprise with his dogs over the years ,and it is amazing how well they………..well, ………..ride. His dogs are good riders- like Chuck Greenlee’s dogs.

One final note about mountain biking- it brings some different characters together. John and I are rather similar in our approach to things, but The Ride King is one of my more free- spirited friends. He lives in the mountains and has that free -flowing approach to life. More spontaneity and casual attitude are good traits to have and that is why I have always liked to be in the presence of The Ride King. He keeps me loose and has a great sense of humor and frankly, he is fun to be with. And now with Wilson, the fun times are doubled. John and I enjoyed our fall ride with them and the older I get, the more I like smaller rides like this with one or two friends and ………….a dog. Here Wilson!!!!! Thanks for reading.

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“Let go of bitterness. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other.” Ephesians 4:32

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“When All Else Fails, We Still Have Trails”

Multi Use Trails

The motto above is the moniker of one of the most interesting trail systems I have seen to date. Round Valley, near Park City, Utah is a paradise for cross country skiers, fat bikers, hikers, and dog walkers. The well groomed trails encourage multi use and 25K is groomed for traditional cross country skiing and freestyle XC over 700 acres of preserve.

Perfect conditions for the Fat Bike.

This preserve was once slated for development until some of the townspeople thought better and put together a foundation- http://www.mountaintrails.com to encourage an alternate use for the land. They were successful and today, it is a very popular place for recreation. Well marked, and used for many pursuits, it shows how forward thinkers can offer an alternative to the rabid development of available land for housing or commercial pursuits. Especially in a town where recreation is king.

Tom Smiling Like a Butcher’s Dog.

Not only are the trails well marked and groomed, but there is a sense of pride that you can feel there with all the activity. Some of the different things that I noticed aside from the layout was the general health and shape of the people who regularly use the system. At altitude, it is impressive to see older people skating up a steep hill on freestyle XC skis. With a big smile on their face they greeted us as they hammered up the hill to the summit which has a breathtaking view of the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. You could see fat bikers off in the distance climbing on miles of trails and the traditional cross country skiers making good use out of the track setting- again for 25K. Gliding along they smiled and said hello as their dogs followed in hot pursuit.

Well Behaved and Trail Saavy Dogs

Speaking of dogs, I was amazed at how many of them were along with the hikers, skiers, and riders . At no time did they interfere with activity and they seemed to know to get to the side when going downhill so as not to impede the progress of their owners. All off leash, they seemed to have a sense of how to move with the flow of traffic and at no time did they seem like a menace to anyone on the trails. My friend’s dog always wanted to avoid the hill to the finish and tried to make her way to the short cut. Only to be encouraged to do the hill by my friend Tom. Even the dogs are welcomed to get into shape and never avoid a hill for fitness . But their sense of the trail layout and the difficulty of some trails and the gentle grade of others showed me that man’s best friends are more aware than I thought.

Just Smiling and Rolling Along

I always say when I venture west how impressed I am with the fitness of people out there. Even “older” folks seem to be in great shape and don’t let their advancing age hinder their pursuit for outdoor activities and the great visuals of the Wasatch. I suppose if you have over 300 days of sunshine, world class skiing, water sports, and multi use trail systems like Round Valley, you really have no excuse not to take advantage of the great outdoors. They have a great life out there. Again- for more information on a really well thought out recreation area, check out http://www.mountaintrails.org and see for yourself how active people can make a difference to better their lives and other lives as well. Thanks for reading.

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A River Runs Through It.

My son Jack brought home his new golden retriever puppy “River” back to see us this past week. She is an active, friendly, but rambunctious little gal to say the least, and it was an unusual experience for me- a non- dog person. You see, I have always had this thing with dogs. I kid my friends and say dogs like me- I taste like chicken. I have been bitten more times than most people and I believe it is because they sense something about me. I can be at a party of 50 people and the dog of the house always comes up to me and sniffs me in a personal area. My wife laughs because she has had experience with dogs as a pet. I have not. My experiences have been less than positive.

Years ago, when I was a kid, I used to make my way home from the back neighborhood and try to sneak through the Forrest’s yard without their boxer, Buster, hearing me. It always failed because I heard the harried breath of a running dog behind me and I took off like a shot yelling for my mom to open the screen door to the kitchen. I dove into the kitchen and Buster always banged his head off the screen door. A harrowing experience for young Patrick -every day, every month.

Moving forward- riding road bikes through the country was always a challenge. From a huge St. Bernard that would come inquisitively into the road and knock me off my bike just for kicks, to the Doberman who would head me off at the pass going up a steep hill by the farm where he resided. Every ride it seemed he would go higher and higher to cut off the angle until one day, he was waiting for me and all I could do was to make a run for it back down the hill- sprinting like wild man. I had to find another route or risk carnage.

More recently I was bitten by a Rottweiler on a winter run on a golf course. The owner wrestled the dog to the ground and basically said nothing and moved on. I was in shock as he drew blood on my well clothed left arm. More recently, I came upon a friend in the woods on a mountain bike ride. I moved close to him and asked him to take a picture of all of us riding and his little dog of some kind firmly and decidedly locked on to my right ankle growling and cutting flesh. I looked at the owner who said, ” Oh Pat- he won’t hurt you. Where are you guys riding?” Say whaaaaaat???????

So when my son came with River who you see above as a puppy, I was not sure how it would go. Last week River had grown and is now about 5 months old. I was encouraged by my friends who said that golden retrievers were friendly and River is that. She is almost too friendly and she does indeed run through everything like the movie title. Having a puppy in the house is kind of like running after a toddler. They get into everything and my son is much more laid back in his response than Janet and me. Janet bought her a harness which she seems to like and walked her quite a bit while she was visiting. I was left outside with her a couple of times while Jack and Janet had to do some chore and I engaged in kind of a dog charades when trying to get her to do her business. My neighbors laughed when they saw me engaging in showing her how to lift her leg and uttering a “psssssssssssss” phrase to encourage her. River looked at me as if to say, ” what are you doing, human?” I was confounded and soon the rightful caregivers came to my rescue. Dog charades= a dismal failure.

I have always been amazed at some dogs though. Like Chuck Greenlee’s old dog who would go on mountain bike rides with us. I always said she was a good rider in that she ran up the hills ahead of us and stayed back on the descents knowing somehow that she could not keep up going downhill. Amazingly good partner on rides.

As the week went by and we had our experiences with the little girl River, believe it or not, I became a little attached to her. My friend Hutch in Vermont says ,” Pat- a dog is the best friend you will ever have.” I was amazed at the loyalty and the attachment to me even though River didn’t know me that well. Something attracted her to me and it was not the tasty smell of my leg. As they pulled out of the driveway to head back to Michigan, she looked at me quizzically like” Aren’t you coming?” No River, I am not coming and it was nice to spend time with you but still of the mindset that I am really not a dog person. But she had softened me a bit and River and Jack have taught me a few things about dogs that I never would have known. Thanks for reading and remember- dog charades don’t work.