Mischief Monday - The Dog and The Hill and Wildlife

 This is a story about our Sunday walk.

Whatever she says it is not true. Ok, it is true. 

It was a particularly beautiful Sunday morning, about 5 C/40F at 7 am. (Only a Canadian would say that was beautiful!) We were about 2.5 km/1.5miles from home when the incident occurred. We heard people at a house about 100 feet from the road. I decided to turn around, but not before the dog who lived  there had heard us. 

This lovely dog came running through the woods toward us, barking. It was clearly an excited and not threatening dog. We were on the road. The woods (the people's property) was down a very step drop from the road. I was doing my best to keep the dogs going forward but they were pulling me toward this step cliff. I knew if I got pulled down this hill I would be hurt so I made my least favourite decision and let go of the dogs and promptly fell hard on my butt. (I was not hurt).

Not as step as where we saw the dog but similar

Hailey ran over and was super friendly for about a minute and then with my calling, and the dog's owner (a very nice understanding guy) shoeing her toward me, came back. Phod decided this was the perfect time to poop in the woods (and yes, I left it, I was not risking breaking the neck I had just protected to go get it - sorry environment) and then couldn't decide if he needed to stay down there to protect me (the dog was with his owner on their property far from us), go see the dog or come back. Hailey and I started to walk away and he immediately came to me. So what could have been a bad incident turned out wonderfully. 

We had walked about a kilometre  back toward the house when I heard a noise. I stopped so we could hear it clearer (our feet make a lot of noise on the gravel road). Up in the mountains the coyotes were having some sort of party. They were barking and yipping and carrying on. I have never heard them like that. In the four years we have been here I have seen one once and only heard them once. The dogs listened but really wanted to keep walking so we made it home without further incident. 

No time for the coyotes - keep walking! 

It was a very eventful walk to say the least!