Dear Friend,

This subject matter, of course, has nothing to do with nature travel… but, like many of you, I am a dog lover.

In Boulder, Colorado, as an “animal-loving nature guy” it’s pretty normal that I have a couple of dogs—a typically friendly but somewhat loud golden retriever and a caramel-colored, short-haired, snub-nosed chubby mutt with a turned up tail. Their names are Jo Jo and Lucy (Beatles references) and they ruin my life.

In truth, I love them. But there are many times I want to kill them.

I know I shouldn’t, and I am 99.99% sure I’ll not do it, but nights like last night, when they went off barking relentlessly at 3 a.m. at a raccoon or a bear or a bird or the garbage can in the driveway, or who knows what, can drive a man to actions beyond comprehension. And it does not happen occasionally—it is pretty much a nightly occurrence, making me wonder why I really need to have dogs (my children—two teenage boys—present a similar quandary at times, but that is another story and even mentioning relieving them of their final breath will have social workers knocking on my door within minutes). I know it’s wrong to kill your own dogs, but, my thinking sometimes goes, when I explain myself fully, any court in the land will exonerate me for my understandable actions.

Of course, this morning I am a new man… as I drink my coffee and eat my daily bran muffin, with Jo Jo lying on our once-expensive but now torn up couch, his big eyes begging for one small bite (and a small string of drool hanging from his droopy lips onto the upholstery), and with Lucy running circles around the living room in the excitement of her “brothers” getting ready for school, I realize that they, too, are part of my family and, no matter that they have prevented me from sleeping through the night since last spring, I really cannot murder them… as much as I may want to.

I hope to see you out there!

Ben
Founder & Director (and dog lover)
Natural Habitat Adventures