The summer of Cedar

Silver Star Mountain

In March I adopted an underweight, stubborn, wild but very loving German Shorthaired Pointer named Cedar. Very quickly everything in my life seemed to be about the dog, especially my running. Luckily, he loves to run long distances as much as Susan and I do, and also gets antsy if he hasn't gone on a run in a few days. His longest run to date is 20 miles. 

Girls and Dog Gone Wildwood

I wish I could say it was easy running with Cedar from day one, but it wasn't. He is 5 years old and has never been leashed trained and pulls like crazy. He is also a bird dog and is obsessed with small animals, which includes small dogs. So, he is never going to be the dog that I can run with off leash with and pass people with other (smaller) dogs and say, "oh don't worry he is friendly". 

Cedar and his cousin dogs Ash and Sofie

Cedar and Bear

Over the last several months he has gotten better on a leash, but not great. He has had the chance to hang out with other dogs his size and he doesn't mind them, he mostly ignores them. When people with small dogs approach us and say their dogs are nice, I say mine isn't. He adapted to camping in the van quickly and loves it. We are adjusting to each other and for the most part it is working out. 

#vanlife dog

Cedar and one of the Three Sisters

Susan and I are also adapting our running and routes to accommodate Cedar. We run on the less crowded end of Forest Park on nice weekend days, when we know more people will be out with smaller dogs. We run more on Leif Erikson with Cedar because there is more room when we pass other dogs. We shorten our routes or don't take him on hot days. The few times we have take him on runs outside of Forest Park, we have picked routes where we knew there would be enough water along the way for him. We also had to make sure these routes didn't include any crazy creek/river crossings or lots of volcanic rock. This summer Cedar has been on trails around Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, Silver Star Mountain and the Three Sisters. 

Cedar and Mt. Jefferson

Cedar and Mt. Adams

Cedar owns his own trail running pack, water bottles and bowl, cream for his paws, a puffy jacket and a bed for the car/van. He even has his own instagram account. He quickly stole our hearts and became a dirt bag running dog. He is now officially Dog Gone Wildwood. 

Me and Cedar running on the beach

We are looking forward to winter running with Cedar with snow and less dogs and people on the trails. 

Cedar and his new winter puffy - Winter is coming