Samantha is 14 Today 6/24: 6/19-20 in the Eastern Sierra

[Tony Crocker]

After skiing last Saturday I took Samantha up to Tioga Pass. Tioga Lake still has suncupped snow on the ground and some ice on the lake.

Then we did a short hike from the Saddleback trailhead, where the road is still gated. The forest hike had an occasional snow patch.

In ~20 minutes we reached a small knoll with some views. South toward Mt. Dana and the area I skied with a guide Memorial Day 2003.

North to the creek coming from Saddleback Lake with Mt. Conness in far distance.

West to mountains popular with backcountry skiers. It was about 4PM and we met several on their way down.

Zoom view of ski tracks:

Sunday we returned to Rock Creek, same as last season. If you have a dog, this place has everything. It's over 10,000 feet, so cool with a fur coat. Not too steep, lots of lakes and creeks and plenty of canine social activity on summer weekends.

Overlooking Mack Lake.

Samantha checks out Marsh Lake more closely.

Most of the social activity was around Heart Lake.

Reflection views from the far end of Heart Lake.

This time we followed a path overlooking Box Lake.

Trying to get closer, this log was too big an obstacle for Samantha at her age.

But we found an easier path to the shore of Box Lake. Samantha checked out this couple fishing with their dog Roxie.

We were along Rock Creek from 11AM to 3PM.

 

[Anonymous]

Sammie did clearly enjoy that day with us, as these pictures remind me.

 

[rfarren]

She looks happy and young for her age. A student of mine has a lab that just turned 16 and keeps kicking. His joints are a bit tight now, but he seems happy.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I've been hearing a few stories that labs are often an exception to the general rule of larger the dog, shorter average lifespan. Todd at Mt. Waterman had recently been visited by a lab that finally had to be put down at age 17. And in Santa Barbara 2+ weeks ago we were shown pics of a 16 year old lab. Samantha's twin sister Besi unfortunately got cancer and didn't quite make it to 14.

The surf was very flat that day in Santa Barbara, so Samantha was able to get out and swim in the ocean some. FYI to SoCal dog owners: Arroyo Burro Beach is a very rare official off-leash beach. Her first time at Arroyo Burro Samantha was 2 and it was totally exhausting just keeping her in sight.

 

[rfarren]

How are her joints? The big issue with a lot of my friends with older dogs are their joints get a bit cranky. By the look of the walk she seems super healthy/

I've been hearing a few stories that labs are often an exception to the general rule of larger the dog, shorter average lifespan.

If anecdotal evidence means anything, I would have to agree with that.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Samantha's major sign of age is that she's been ~95% deaf since winter 2009. She will still alert sometime if you slam a door or something hits the floor/ground.

She has some arthritis, gets up slowly when she's been sleeping awhile. Climbing power in her hind legs is much reduced. That's why I went for that service road at Waterman. The Verdugo mountain trails at the top of my block are mostly too steep for her for about a year now. At Huntington Beach a year ago she couldn't get into the ocean, as the shorebreak would knock her over. Through age 10 or so she could have gotten through that easily.

She's been more heat sensitive the past 3-4 years. Some lab owners have said you're better off with a yellow rather than black or chocolate lab if you have hot summers. Not an issue at all if you're someplace like Santa Barbara.

 

[Admin]

Just got back from 2 days in the Uintas with Zach and Buddy, along with Mrs. Admin and tcope. Will post later, but both Buddy and Zach are getting up there (Zach 11, Buddy 10) and while Zach was a bundle of energy Buddy has many of the same issues as Samantha, mostly due to being obese (thyroid). Still, Zach spent a lot of time laying around at camp last night.