The big scare

I met up with Kerry for a trail run this morning, and brough karma along.4:30 came early today, and it was tougher than usual to get out of bed. As the commute to the trail entrance is 13 minutes shorter than driving to meet people downtown, I had one extra snooze allowed!
The weather was better than it's been recently, as it was only 70 with 75% humidity, instead of 80 with 90% humidity as it had been the prior 5 days.

Karma was really excited this morning when he realized he was coming along! (pretty safe bet when i put his leash and reflective bandana on him 30 minutes before departure!)



We took the long road down to the water, and at one point Karma disappeared. We stopped and figured he was just lagging as usual, but there were no Ewok eyes comig towards us. Eventually we heard him coming through the brush, panting heavily. Obviously, he had smelled some animal (rabbit, armadillo, deer, oppossum?) and had gone on a chase.

We continued on down the path, at a nice pace. When we almost reached the water, there was no Karma. I shined my light back up the path and this time I could see his eyes, and his reflective bandana up there. He was not moving towards us, but you could see the bandana moving ever so slightly.
I ran back up there and found him panting big time, his mouth open way wide, sitting in an uncomfortable position. His entire body was shaking and he clearly was not doing good. I honestly thought this might be the end f the road for my little buddy. I really did. He was not doing well at all.

About a minute in, he finally drank water out of my hand/Kerry's water bottle, as if he hadn't drank for days. He then agreed to stand up, and slowly make his way down the trail the remaining 50 or so yards to the creek at the dam. He went straight into the water, drank a gallon, and just stoo in there.
I walked in after him and encouraged him to first just sit his ass down in the water, which he clearly agreed to. I then managed to ge him to come over to shallower water where i got him to lie down in the water. He sat/layed there for a good 10 minutes drinking, and slowly started panting less and less.

A clear case of overdoing it on his chase, then running in the new heat, and humidity. Karma had bonked and overheated. I poured water on the parts that weren't submersed and eventually went and sat down next to Kerry. He'd attempt to walk around, but his back feet were wobbly, so I'd get him back in the water.

But, within about 20 minutes, Karma was eventually walking around, and even went to pee off a bush. When done, he scratched up the ground like a bull and bounced off the ground like a rodeo bull. Hey! He's alive and has some pep!

We decided to head back letting him lead the way. It was a slow run/walk back of about 30 minutes (vs. the usual 18 or so) back to the car where we walked most of the up hills, and took our time on the flats and downs. Upon our return, I fed him a half ration of his daily food, so he gets some energy back. I'm happy to report that he's feeling plenty fine now; just chillin' with his tennis ball and slowly getting more and more tired.
I'm thinking a long nap is in his near future! I'm so jealous.