Friday, February 24, 2017

Bridge of Adventure



This is an image of a peaceful river with a bridge from one side to the other. Pictures like this give me a sense of adventure. I was not much of an adventurous person before I had Zeplin. Now all I can think of is the next adventure I can go on with my dog.

I would like to believe that this image is one taken of a hiking trail because that is the main focus of our adventures when Zeplin and I go on them. Ever since I was fortunate enough to adopt Zeplin I wanted to take him hiking as much as we could. We spend the summers going to state parks and walking the trails as much as we can. Our most common spots would be PotatoCreek State Park in North Liberty, Indiana and Rum Village in South Bend, Indiana.

One adventure that I remember most was a fun, scary, and messy time. It had been raining for days. Finally there was a break in the bad weather. Since I started feeling the cabin fever kicking in and Zeplin was dying to go for a walk I decide that we needed to go hiking. At the time we were in Muncie, Indiana for a few weeks visiting a friend. Being in an area we didn't quite know I did a quick google search of the nearest state park and found one.

On their website they said that the trails were wet, but they were still open for hiking. So Zeplin and I went. Half way through the hike we ran into a part of the trail that had been flooded due to the rain and the water levels in the river being too high. Like a normal person I decided to turn around and go back to the open field to play fetch with Zeplin.

Since I was playing fetch with Zeplin I let him off the leash. He normally sticks by my side where ever I go. So I didn't worry about him running off. This time was different. A rabbit caught his eye and he sprinted after it. They both ran right back down the trail that we had just came from.

Worried that I had lost Zeplin I started to search the trails. After searching for a few minutes I finally found him rolling in the mud that I had tried so hard to keep him away from. When I first saw him rolling in the mud I was furious. I didn't have any towels in my car to clean him off and there are no seat covers in my car.

After failing to get him to come to me for a few minutes I realized the only way I could get him was if I went to him. Now I had walked through ankle deep mud to get to Zeplin and decide to let the anger go. We ended up playing in the mud for about half an hour. It was one of the most fun times I had on a hiking trip with Zeplin.


I ended up having to take my car to get the inside cleaned out because it was too muddy after this trip. After all the costs I still wouldn't trade that adventure for anything. The photo at the beginning of this post reminded me of adventure and that all of the adventures you take are something to remember.

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/darwishh/57956597/

Monday, February 20, 2017

About this blog

In this blog you will be reading about my life since I have had my Labrador Retriever. The life of have any dog breed is always an adventure, but having a Labrador as your best friend is at another level. My Labrador's name is Zeplin. No, he is not named after Led Zeppelin. His name actually came from another dog that I was intending to adopt but he had been adopted before I had the chance. 

Zeplin has given me many good times throughout the five years of having him. Through this blog I plan on sharing these experiences with you. Some of them will be full of joy, others will be full of fear and anger. These emotions are all things that come of having a Labrador as your best friend. On top of the funny and adventurous stories that will be told here, I hope that you will find out how much love a dog can bring to your life.

Zeplin is a unique dog with a personality that I have never seen in a dog before. He is smart most of the time, but sometimes he does odd things that make me question is intelligence. Here is a photo of one of these times:
In this photo it shows how goofy he can be. This is a common thing for Zeplin. He finds himself in these awkward situations and does not care. You as a reader can expect pictures and stories that are similar to this picture. I have very many. 

This blog is for anyone that wants to know the stories created by a Labrador Retriever. You may be a dog owner looking for someone to relate to or a person looking to learn about having a dog as your best friend. It doesn't matter who you are this blog will provide entertainment and maybe even help you. Maybe this blog will help you make the decision to get a best friend like Zeplin for yourself. I encourage questions and comments on my blog. I will answer and comment back.