He's Trying to Tell You Something

Saturday, we took Elvis on his very first hike at Thunderbird Mountain Park. He loved it!

Surprisingly, his favorite part was climbing up - he loved having to lift his legs high to get them on the next rock.

When he would start to get sluggish and pant heavily...we would pull a small bowl out of our bag and give him some water. He was getting tired, but seemed to be doing fine when we passed a small clearing off to the side. While Wil was mid-stride - not pausing, not stopping, but still walking - Elvis saw the clearing, walked off to the side a bit and laid down.


He was NOT moving! In fact, we dropped his leash and he just laid there as people walked by...something that is UNHEARD of for him! We decided we would give him some more water and just wait a while until he was ready to go again.

Our favorite part was the lady who walked by and said, "I think he's trying to tell you something."

Gee, you think? Whatever could he be trying to tell us by laying down and refusing to move while hiking a mountain?!?


This is Merle...the ONLY reason Elvis got up was because he saw this beast walking up and was curious. Merle the great dane, all 170 pounds of him, was as tired as Elvis was and was excited to have an excuse to rest. He sat down right next to Elvis and decided not to budge - not sure how you would budge a 170 pound dog, even if you wanted to!

After this, we were able to coax Elvis the rest of the way up the mountain - which was only about five more minutes.

It was tons of fun! We'll have to go hiking - and take Elvis with us - more often!

***Editor's Note: This excursion brought to you by the purchase of a choke collar! By far the best dog purchase we have made! I can actually walk him now without feeling as though I'm going to lose my hand through loss of blood or by being torn off.