The God-Dog

My friend Dan has been visiting us from Germany. Things always work out, because while Frito is missing his girl Alli (now safely in Hawaii), he gets some extra affection from Dan, his God-Dog. Or is Frito Dan's God-Dog? I can never remember. Anyway, here's the story from back in April 2004:

A week ago we set out on the same hike [Purgatory Falls]. As you might imagine, it is a big event for Allison's dog, Frito -- the highlight of his week. Last weekend was right after all the rain, so the river was a torrent. Dan worried about Frito, but I had my leash, so what could happen? Well, to get around some underbrush we had to navigate due to the swollen river, I took Frito temporarily off the leash. When we got back to the riverbank -- before the leash was reattached -- Frito spotted the world's largest beaver. And those that know Frito knows he will harass any animal, no matter the size. The beaver was unfazed, and just waddled into the river. And now the problem -- Frito follows him. The current is very strong, and Frito was struggling to get back to shore. I'm looking for a stick and then -- SPLASH! -- Dan dives in, fully clothed, cell phone and all, to rescue Frito.

You might guess that the water was a little cold. And the air was a little cold too. So we hi-tailed it out of there to avoid hypothermia. Well, obviously Frito survived. And the cell phone even survived. But we could only imagine the headlines the next day: Man beats cancer only to drown while saving dog. But fortunately that was in some other quantum universe, and not this one. In this one, everyone lives happily ever after.

And that is the story of how Frito became Dan's God-Dog (or vice versa ;-)