I live on a property outside of town here in Nevada. The owner has a dog, Dingo, which is
a mix of mainly Australian Healer. He is a tough dog, but he is old, 13 years. Recently,
he has gone both deaf and blind. It breaks my heart. Dingo and I have gone on walks nearly
everyday in the last 4 years. Sometimes I would take him on extended hikes in the high desert.
My last big hike took us to a canyon about 2 miles away. We crossed it at a relatively easy
spot and climbed up the opposite canyon wall to peak overlooking Washoe and Paradise valleys
near Reno. This rough and rocky terrain, difficult for me in boots and even tougher on
dog paws. But Dingo stuck with me. We rested at the top and I gave him some of my water.

We started back taking an alternate route back farther up the canyon. I had never been in
to this area but it looked OK from the top. We slowly made our way down the side of the
canyon working west, up the canyon. We got to the bottom where an old mine road existed
and had an easy walk farther into the canyon. We got to the end of the road. I decided
to cross the stream and head up the opposite canyon wall where there was an easier ascent up.
To my surprise the stream was guarded by very thick brush. I pushed into it, crawling in
some spots, Dingo was not able to follow me, so I had to drag him a long. We got to the stream
only to find it deep and running hard with spring run-off. I pushed to a spot where
I could wade across and before I could grab Dingo he jumped in. He turned upstream and started
swimming, so I just crossed as fast as I could to get a hold of brush on the opposite side.
I turned and here was Dingo slowly losing the race to stay near me in the water. I tossed my
pack and half swung, half jumped from a limb into the water and grabbed his collar. Then
pulled him back up the stream then nearly lifting him, with his collar, onto a small hunk
of bank where he gather himself. We both struggled up the brush infested stream bank and
took a long break.

We finally walked up the very steep canyon wall and back home, dirty, limping, banged up
but with our tails waging.

Jim from Nevada