I’d had a miserable night with my bladder. Up every hour or so and feeling pain each time I had to go was getting very old. I headed to church, but couldn’t sit through the service without making a trip to the bathroom. I returned home and laid down; the only thing that seemed to relieve the constant urge. Copper needed constant attention and Savannah had been called into work. I decided it was time to introduce her to the North Chagrin Reservation.
I put her in the back seat of the Toyota and Dakota assumed her normal perch in the front passenger seat. Copper was having none of it and tried to climb into the front with Dakota, which surprisingly, she tolerated. Finally, she ended up in my lap, which I allowed.
We parked close to Clear Creek as I wanted to keep the walk to something a seven-week old puppy could handle. I’d done the same with Dakota as a puppy, introducing her to the trails early and often with the hope that she’d love it as much as I. It had worked with her, so why not Copper? She followed directly on my heels, though managed to run ahead in an effort to follow Dakota. She was clearly taking Q’s from Dakota, which is exactly what I wanted since she was so well trained and never strayed too far from me. Copper struggled but climbed over logs that crossed the path, but when we reached the creek, I thought the water was running a little too high to let her try and cross. She, on the other hand, was completely unintimidated and plunged forward.
After tumbling twice from the river bank the three feet to the water below, she became slightly more cautious, but remained unafraid. She seemed to enjoy the water and the park, though was beginning to drag on the return trip to the car and completely collapsed once inside. I hadn’t gotten much of a hike, but had begun the important process of indoctrinating the newest family member to the beauty of the park and being outside.
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