What Do You Do When Your Human First-Aid Kit Is Barely Enough to Help Your Dog?

Back in the day when I wanted to go mountain biking or hiking for the day all I had to do was roll out of bed, fill up my CamelBak® and I was on my way.

But as life has progressed there have been additions to my life and the amount of preparation has increased accordingly.

The most notable addition, for the purpose of this pose is my Australian Sherpherd, Tacoma. He’s a great dog. He loves to hike and loves to swim in any water that finds. Above all, he is incredibly agreeable and never complains.

So about a week ago I took Tacoma for a hike in a canyon nearby my house. It was still spring so it was not too hot yet. We hiked about two hours in and then he found a nice swimming spot and jumped right in.

After swimming he decided he wanted to go off-trail and continue climbing rocks and exploring. In all, it was a great day. After we finished lunch we started on our way back.

It was on the way back that I noticed Tacoma was walking gingerly on his hind legs. I stopped him and made him lay down and roll over.

Assuming that he had a sticker in between his pads, I started to look around when I realized it was much worse. See, Tacoma had hiked over so much hot ground and climbed over so many rough rocks that he had blistered his pads and they were starting to tear. Without being too gross, the poor guy was walking on the raw pad skin that had been exposed.

Having spent my fair amount of time outdoors I knew to never go adventuring without a little kit. Therefore, I pulled out my first-aid kit. I always had thought that my kit was rather thorough for a day kit. However, by the time I had bandaged up three dog paws the kit was worn down to nothing.

In hindsight, I’m glad that I had that first-aid kit. Had I not had that kit I would have had to carry my 55 pound dog on my shoulder for the two hour hike out.

If you’re thinking about going hiking, and you should since it is such a beautiful experience, I suggest you take a look at our “How To” on Planning a Day Hike. Even if you are an experienced hiker you might find some helpful reminders.

Enjoy,

-NineHats.com Adminstrator

p.s. Here is what Tacoma now wears to avoid this problem in the future.

Today we went to a bookstore to purchase a book that we needed really quickly. Honestly, had we not been up a creek, we would have ordered it off the internet and waited.

The most interesting experience of all was that when we purchased the book the price was significantly different. The book on the internet was about $39.99 with free shipping and no sales tax. However, when we purchased it from the brick and mortar bookstore we paid just under $60.00.

We mentioned the disparity in price to the nice gentleman who was ringing up the purchase and he inquired further. He offered to order the book from the internet and have it shipped to a location of our choice (home, business, school, etc.) for free and we would get it at the internet price within a week.  We asked if they could just honor the internet price and they apologetically said, “No.”

The store explained that the company has to make up the cost of doing business (essentially the cost of keeping the lights on and paying the help). Because we were up a creek, we cringed, and bought the book.

It is still hard to believe that there is a 50% markup when you buy something from a brick and mortar joint instead of getting it off the Internet.

Now, were not going to sit here and tell you that there going to be no stores in the near future; its simply not realistic. However, what does seem abundantly clear is the fact that the brick and mortar retail industry is going to see some serious contraction over the next few years.

The storefront retailers who don’t get killed in this economic downturn are going to have to face a second wave of destruction as Internet retail expands further into their bottom line.

We’d like to hear what you all have to say because we’re sure we missed some very salient points in this issue.

Sincerely,

-NineHats.com Staff