Dyno's 1st Birthday

Dyno has taught me so much about life in general, he loves everybody, he wants to meet every one. Even though he is generally wary and skeptical of new things, he still finds the courage to face his fears...and sometimes his fears can be something as stupid a blanket that is not at its usual place. The other day, I waited a good 20 minutes for him to walk pass the blanket that fell on the floor. He probably thinks there is a monster under or something. I was so proud of him even for something simple like that.

Most importantly, he has taught me to be more patient. I'm the type of person that can do some outrageous things when I'm mad. There were 2 times that I lashed out on him. The first time was 2-3 weeks after I got him, I locked him in the bathroom inside his carrier where he could not stand or sit because he still cried in his crate at night. The next day, my mom told me that he looked retarded and got dumber than before, and he is not peeing on the pad. Then I learned something, dogs can only strive with love.

The second time was after 3-4 months, he kept barking at another dog in the hallway which got me very mad. As soon as I got home, I started throwing things, even threw my keys at him and I yelled at him. I cried after because I'm afraid that he will be scared of me and will not trust me anymore. Some things cannot be repaired when damage is done, and it's never worth it for a moment of anger. I've decided then that I will never ever act that way again no matter how mad I am.

Today is Dyno's birthday and I wanted to spend all day with him. I even baked him a cake that is safe for dogs and humans. To him, today is just like any other day though. He doesn't think about yesterday or what's to come tomorrow, he just lives in the moment. He doesn't know what I've done or what I will become, but he definitely knows me better that I do, he can feel things and notices every small gestures and the world around him...unlike me who usually avoids eye contact and don't really try to observe strangers. Because of him, I get to connect with people more. He is just a happy dog living his best life. I love him so much and I can never get tired of talking about him <3

Canoe-Camping, part 2

There is something I did not mention about the canoe-camping trip, but I actually left the day before I was supposed to leave.

Here is what happened.

I was relaxing on my the beach and I wasn't really looking at Dyno. He can't really do much nasty stuff, or can he? He was just sitting next to the cooler and 2 bags containing food. Everytime I turned my head, he would be just sitting there and looking at me innocently.  

Then I went to check on him, and saw some sort of foil papers on the sand, and I thought it was probably the wrap used to bake potatoes last night which I was just left in the fire ring. Later, I went to take a nap in the tent, and he slept next to me, but then he vomited twice shortly after. Dyno has a fragile stomach so I don't worry much when he vomits. I cleaned up his vomit and decided to go grab snack. I looked for my chocolate in the bag and could not find it anywhere, even though I'm sure I've left it there.

...and then I clicked. The foil looking paper was not aluminium foil but the chocolate wrap. 

I was like...crap. Chocolate is toxic for dogs and can kill them. I was on an island, far from civilization so there wasn't much I could do. So I googled a calculator to calculate the risk level depending on the type of chocolate, quantity and weight of the dog. He had milk chocolate which is the least toxic, and the calculator said the risks are low. Then I googled what to do, and it said to have him vomit. He already did, great. 

At this point, it was around 6pm...and there was 1 hour left before sunset. Dyno wasn't feeling well, he seemed low in energy and he was shaking because of the cold and probably because he wasn't feeling great, and I was worried about him although logically, I knew he should be fine. There was rain forecasted for the morning when I planned to leave...and I debated for a while...is it better to leave in the rain or in the dark? And I think it's probably better to leave tonight considering the situation. 

I packed up my stuff fast, because my island is quite far and I don't want to struggle with directions in the dark. I left at 6:36pm and sunset was a few minutes before 7pm. It took me a good hour and a half to get to the island, so even if I paddle non-stop, I estimate I would make it in an hour which would already be past sunset. I left the island and started paddling, the waves crashing agaisnt my canoe was pretty scary and I thought to myself, even if it gets dark, as long as I stay in my canoe, I should survive, and apparently canoes are stable.

First, I had to reach the big islands but there is quite a bit of distance not to mention it was windy that evening. It was probably the roughest part as there was nothing to protect us from the wind, but at least there was still day light and it was manageable. There was brief rain, which is fine. I was tired but I kept going. I wanted to take off my jacket because I was hot, but I didn't even want to waste time doing it. I was racing against time and every second counted. It seemed never ending as the current kept pushing me back.

Once I finally reached the big islands, I tried to stay close so I won't be hit by the wind. Also, I think that was not the route I used at the beginning which worried me. At this point, there was probably 30% of sunlight left. I crashed into an island because I was going too fast and I could not stop the canoe. There was still wind, just a bit less terrible.

It was getting darker by the second. I made a turn somewhere and I recognized a tree that I have seen at the beginning and I remember it because I thought it looked like a statue. At this point, it was all dark but I remember the dock was diagonally ahead from that statue-looking tree. There were 3 lights that I could see and probably one of them was the dock. I went towards the brightest, not realizing that the brightest was actually on the opposite side of the river, but it was already pitch black and I could not distinguish dimensions anymore. Lights on both sides seemed like they were on the same side.

I could not see the dock until I was 2 meters from it, and struggled a bit to tie the canoe to the dock but that was the easy part. It was definitely scary but I'm so happy. The drive back was scary too but less scary than being in the water.

I monitored Dyno for the next couple of days and he is fine now.