Miss Millie and baby Paris both went to puppy sitters, as river rafting is a GDB pup no-go. They had a great time, with Millie getting a FANTASTIC report! I am so proud of my little girl, she has come such a long way and has matured into such an amazing dog!
Paris got to experience the great backyard at the home of my leader, and really enjoyed playing with our resident big dog, Bracken. She got a pretty good report, but with a couple of things to work on. She also outgrew her small gentle leader in those 5 days!
Moab was awesome! One of our friends is a professional river guide, and has his own raft set-up. This made for fun and pretty low stress outings through some pretty big rapids. We did three trips down the "daily" section of the Colorado river. This has some fun rapids that are all swimable, spaced out enough that there is not really a concern about downstream consquences if you end up in the water. That is not to say safety is still not a huge priority: someone died the day before we got there because they went down the river in a canoe without a lifejacket on. That was a sobering reminder of the importance of lifejackets for everyone: both person and canine!
Marley sporting his awesome lifejacket!
Marley, Hugo and Sterling strut their jackets.
Hugo watching as Tom jumps into the water below.
Sterling hanging out.
The first day Tom, Andrew and I went down the river in the raft with 4 dogs! Marley, my big boy; Hugo, Tom's dog; Deso, Andrew's rescued black lab; and......Sterling! He has been adopted my friend, and so all the dogs joined us on the boat. The first thing we did when we got to the river was to get the dogs out and get their lifejackets on. Marley and Hugo both have nifty Ruff Wear lifejackets....with the handle on the back it makes for a great dog control device! Now if they would just come with a handle all the time....
We did some cliff jumping where the dogs were very intent on getting us back to shore. 
Any time we jumped out of the boat, the dogs were in after us, ready to pull us back to shore/boat. Marley was really great, he would swim right to me, let me grab his handle, and then start pulling me back to the boat. It took a little longer for Sterling to figure out that I was NOT the boat: he tried to climb on me the first couple of times.
Tom jumping.
Sterling watches while Deso pulls Andrew to shore.
Deso was a great swimmer!
Our last day in Moab we went down the West Water section of the Colorado river. This is a huge rapid section where experience is a must! The dogs did not join us as the water is too high and fast this time of year. I was very sad to see another group had a dog with them, and did not even have a lifejacket for their dog. Luckily another group on the river carried a spare and loaned it to them, but we were all very concerned about their ability to make it down the river safely.
We went through the narrowest part of the Colorado, at a rapid named "Skull".
This is the "Room of Doom" a recirculating hole that can be dangerous!
Me having a good time!
Marley having fun!
Sterling and Deso, a new pair!
3 comments:
Wow, what a fun trip. I didn't even know they made dog life jackets--awesome! I love the photo of Marley in the life jacket.
Looks like an amazing time! And to be joined by your dogs! I've only gone rafting once but loved it and I know Kira would have loved it too! Too bad the people we went with aren't dog lovers /grin/ What a great post!
Steve would loved your adventure - sounds a little much for me - but glad you had fun!
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