Colin and I decided to make an effort to do some of Gizmo’s favorite things. The beach trip a few weeks ago was easy since it’s been a beautiful summer. But Gizmo is a Berner and Berners are primarily snow dogs. What if Gizmo won’t make it to another winter? Will he ever get to be in the snow again? That would be so sad! Well, it turns out that the determined can still find snow on the mountain peaks outside of Seattle even in early July. The trick for us was to find someplace we could drive him to. We know you can find snow if you hike up, but Gizmo has never been a hiker and isn’t even walking on his own right now. We can’t carry him a mile up a trail. He’s over 90lb (40kg). Thanks to an IG post by WSDOT we found the answer: Artists Point at Mount Baker had only had the road opened a couple of weeks earlier due to the significant amount of plowing that had to be done. It’s not fresh or the best snow, but it’s still cold. We loaded him up in the car and drove nearly 4 hours in traffic each way. We had a lovely stop at a small town bbq saloon with an outdoor patio, but Gizmo wouldn’t eat the food we offered him from the table. He was enjoying the people watching and sniffing a couple of other dogs that walked by him. We spent about 2 hours in the snow at Artists Point, encouraging him to get up and move around to different spots with a lot of support walking on the unsteady ground. He enjoyed laying in the cold and people watching and, of course, demanded some snow cuddles. It was a more stimulating and positive day than he’s had in some time. It was nice to see him happy. But also sad to see that he couldn’t really get up and move around on his own and to know he wasn’t feeling well enough to want to eat. I’ve come to realize that he isn’t nearly as much the derpy goofball he used to be. He feels more like an old dog now. I ended up having to give him an appetite stimulant when we got home, and then he finally ate before bed (he picked the cooked chicken off the kibble, but it’s something). Even though he’s in remission, we’re feeling like he won’t last another year. All his issues are compounding, and his body is going to give out at some point. All we can do is keep making time for the things he likes and hope the good days outweigh the bad. Nearly 8 hours of driving for 2 hours of laying in the snow? Completely worth it to be able to call this a good day.
