so we did this

You may have noticed that the Monday and Tuesday of our last trip to Moab seemed a little light on activities.  That's because we spent Monday late afternoon/early evening and Tuesday with our new dog.  His name is Milton, he's a rescue and here's his story - as far as we know it.

Barry is the one in the upper right corner

When we were in Moab the first time in October, we checked in to the motel and found a whole bunch of office dogs.  There was Jasper and Lumen, both owned by young women who work for the Kokopelli organization, Ladybug, a bite-y puppy up for adoption, and Barry, a quiet young dog, rescued from a local reservation, also up for adoption.  When H sat down on the floor to give Barry some pats, he [Barry] just leaned in close and stared straight into H's eyes, intently and intensely.  We saw Barry again on our last night as he was leaving the motel office with Katy, the motel owner and founder/head of Underdog Animal Rescue and Rehab; Barry didn't do well with the ruckus out at the dog ranch, so she was fostering him at her house with her own dogs.  Over the years of staying at the Kokopelli Lodge, we've talked dogs with Katy and she asked us again if we'd gotten one yet.  We said no, not yet, and then H, half-kidding, added that we were coming back to Moab in three weeks and we'd see if Barry was still available then.

His go-to move

Three weeks later, the night before we left SLC for Moab, I got an email from Katy saying that Barry was still looking for a home and, if we wanted, she would connect us with his current foster mom Amy for a meet-and-greet.  Monday evening we walked to Amy's house after our early dinner at the Moab Brewery.  She lives not too far from Milt's Stop N' Eat and as soon as we showed up, she offered us beers as we sat in her garden with her and Barry.  She was calling him "Chester," although he showed no name recognition to either name at that point.  He was sweet and calm, going from person to person looking for belly-rubs, and at one point climbing into H's lap.  Amy told us all she knew about him and, even though she'd only had him a week, it was clear that she was very, very fond of him.  She couldn't keep him due to family commitments and she was sad about that.  She liked and trusted us, however, and after an hour or so, we were walking back to the motel with Barry/Chester on a leash and a big bag of dog food in H's arms.

One of the young women working at the motel, Jules (Lumen's mom), also works for the dog rescue and as soon as she saw us, she recognized Barry.  She got us his paperwork and gave him his last vaccination and lo and behold, we had a dog again.  We sat out front of the motel room until after dark, walking him around the block several times, and then he slept on the bed with us, soundly, all through the night.

The boys

In the morning, we stopped by the MOAB Brand Trails.  The reason I walked while H got on his MTB was so I could wear the dog out a bit in advance of our four hour drive home.  Amy and Katy had both told us that the only issue with Barry/Chester was that he was nervous in the car.  He didn't pant or cry or whine; he just drooled like crazy, like opening a faucet levels of wet.  He and I walked (and he nearly pulled my arm out of its socket); H rode; we hung out and had parking lot beers; and then we drove home.  Barry/Chester sat in front with us, mostly on my lap, and when he relaxed enough to lie down, the drool wasn't bad.  But when he stood up to see out the windows ... wow, that was a lot of drool.  We soaked two towels and a washcloth but made it home safely.

The boys at Glenwild

We've now had him for two weeks and so far, he's been great.  After much, much, much discussion, we renamed him Milton, as a connection to Moab and tribute to his foster mom.  We're all figuring out the routine; we are able to leave him alone in the house while we are at work.  He is calm and sweet and a bit needy; he'd rather have affection than food, which I've never had in a dog before.  His go-to move is to sit down and put a paw up so you can scratch his chest.  He is friendly and interested in the people and dogs we meet; everyone is amazed that he's so polite.  He's still a good sleeper and, hilariously, stands up around 8 p.m., when we are watching t.v., stares at us for a moment and then walks into the bedroom because it's time for bed.

Ears up!

The first weekend we had him was rainy, so we didn't do much.  This past weekend, we drove to Park City (only one towel drool-drenched) to walk the Glenwild trails [4.40 miles, 660' climbing, 1:37 hours total].  It was sunny, breezy and cool and we saw a number of MTBers, walkers and trail runners, many with dogs.  Afterwards, we stopped by the Park City Brewery taproom.  Their patio is dog-friendly although the inside room is not, but they had the bay door open and we were able to sit at a picnic table with Milton.  He was very well-behaved, neither impatient nor begging, watching the goings-on with wary interest.  We all got a little chilled - it is November, after all - but we were pleased that he did so well.  He's a good boy, little Milton is.  We're awfully glad to have him with us - four years is a long time to be dog-less.

Keeping an eye (and ear) on things at the brewery