To say that
Dynamo is the greatest dog ever would be true, but Jenn and Eric know that it
is better to share the sun with others than to take it all in and cast shadows.
Let us just say that Dynamo is in a First-Place tie with a lot of other dogs.
Dynamo left
us suddenly last Sunday. He was a good boy.
But that is
not the first time that Dynamo left us. He’s quite good at it. This is Dynamo’s
story about when he died the first time. And like all good stories, this one
has a bear in it.
To ensure
that blame is not given and fingers are not pointed, we’ve changed Eric’s name
to “Bob” to protect his identity. And since the whole “Eric” thing is out of the
bag, I’ll just call Bob, “Eric,” for clarity.
Several
years ago, and many more if you were a dog, Dynamo
adopted Jenn and Eric when he randomly followed them home one night on one of
their walks. Jenn and Eric were happy to be adopted and saw many more walks and
adventures in their future together. Dynamo was completely on board with the
taking of walks and adventuring bit.
As part of
the adventuring, Eric, his sister, and brother-in-law took Dynamo camping
in Kentucky to an area called Red River Gorge. It’s a beautiful place and
I highly recommend you go and check out the rolling hills, thick forests,
dangerous cliffs, streams, dangerously steep cliffs, wildlife, and deadly-dangerously
steep cliffs. On a large, tree
covered hill, they all camped out, went hiking, and did things that humans and a rambunctious dog on a leash can do.
Towards
evening, the adults wanted to go watch the sunset and knew the viewing area was
too steep and dangerous for adventurous dogs, so they tied Dynamo up to a tree
and walked up and around and around and up to a ledge that was perfect for
not-dogs to watch a sunset. From their spot, they could still see their
campsite across the crevice and that gave them a sense of security that they could keep their eye on Dynamo and he would be OK. And as the sun does, it started to set.
But Dynamo
missed his friends dearly. They were just across the way and he wanted to be
with them. He escaped his bonds and went tearing off in the direction of his
friends. Dogs at that age only know straight lines, and in running with
blind joy directly towards them, he fell off a 75-foot cliff.
“Dynamo!”
Eric ran to
the cliff edge. There was nothing but a huge, 75-foot drop into darkness and
silence. The cliff reversed under itself and he could not see or hear any sign of Dynamo far
below.
Dynamo had to be dead.
Eric looked for a way down,
but the cliff edge ran hundreds of feet in either direction and only got
steeper as it went in either direction. Eric and friends tried calling for Dynamo over the edge in several areas and heard nothing. With nightfall fully upon them and
with a heavy heart, they headed back to camp. There was no way down from their
location to the bottom of the cliff and he would need to come in from another area of the park to retrieve
Dynamo’s body.
Eric called
Jenn in the morning to tell her the horrible news. Such an awful thing to
deliver over the phone. The three hour drive back to Columbus had to be
difficult. (Especially since Jenn’s last
words to him leaving with Dynamo were, “Don’t let him fall off any
cliffs.”) While all three of the sad humans had to get back to Ohio that
morning, Eric explained that he would head back down to the park as soon as possible to
find Dynamo and bring him back.
In
Columbus, Eric studied the back-road maps and trails to determine his best
route to go off-path and retrieve Dynamo. (Whether or not Jenn told him not to
come back if he was without Dynamo is unknown and will not be discussed outside
of this mention.) But before he could head back down, there was a bear attack on a
hiker and the authorities announced the entire park would be closed while the
rangers attempted to “take care of” the bear. No one would be allowed
in until the park was made safer by one less bear.
Days passed.
The bear threat stayed orange or whatever bear threat level it needs to be to keep a
park shut down. And they waited.
After two weeks, they got a
call from a ranger. While searching for the bear, there had been a dog sighting
by a ranger in another area of the park. Rangers went back, searched the area,
and found a dog that had about 5” of leash still attached to his collar. The
collar had a Franklin County dog tag registered to a Jenn and Eric, who were
owned by Dynamo. The registration had a phone number, and would you like to
come down and get your extremely friendly dog?
By the time
they got down to the park, Dynamo had made a few new friends, but was not
hesitant to jump out of the ranger’s truck and immediately into their
Jeep where he was quickly wrapped in Jenn’s arms, never to be let go
again.
Dynamo was a little tattered
(some scratches here and there.) A bit hungry (he lost 15 pounds.) Somewhat
tired (he slept all three hours home.) But overall, a not dead, good boy.
And he remained a good boy. He
was a good boy for so many people for many years. So many friends. So many
walks. A new little human to take care of! So many adventures. It’s hard to
have such a good boy die once, and Dynamo died twice. But that means he got to
live twice, and that is more than we can ask of any dog.
