Do you know this puppy?

We had a great day yesterday, long but fun. First, Narra took third in obedience (Open B) at the Five Valley Kennel Club Show in Missoula! (The previous day's performance was nothing to write about. Let's just say agility nightmares of knocked over jumps invaded the obedience ring!) So the human was in a good mood--he does call obedience "our" self-esteem builder. :) Anyway, we finished early, so the rest of the day was for exploring. We headed south into the Bitterroot National Forest and found ourselves on Lost Horse Road, heading to the Twin Lakes. The map showed a little trail that winds between the lakes (which are tiny), around the western one, and then splits: west to the Wahoo Pass in Idaho and north to the Lost Horse Pass. Looked good to the human, he figured we could swing back at the fork, and even the boys would like to come along. The boys just want to know why, why, why??? The trail was short, yes, but it went up and down, was almost entirely wet and muddy, littered with rocks, boulders, and tons of fallen trees. It was an obstacle course! The girl went nuts--we want to know why she can leap effortlessly over four-foot trunks but cannot clear a 20-inch agility jump?! The boys' small gift through the ordeal was encountering little patches of snow. By that point, however, Buko was pretty much looking for a couch.

Okay, so there was this Australian Shepherd puppy hiding under a maroon pickup in the parking area. We figure it got separated from its people. Little thing was scared, very young--eight months at most--and the human didn't let us visit with him. Narra poked around his truck, but he was hiding way underneath. After putting us in the van, the human went to visit. The puppy was friendly with him (of course, he came bearing beef jerky)! Then--of all things--he tested the puppy's obedience training: sit, down, stay, come. All of which seemed familiar to the little guy. He even did a nice, little front. Attention was great. Egad, the human was in love! As much as he wanted to abscond with the aussie, we figured the pup's humans would be back soon enough. And the van was crowded enough! (But the human did alert the ranger station to the puppy's presence.) Whew, a narrow escape--must our human be so easy?!