Page

Sponsored By Sheridan and Deb Brown (and Victor!)

Page’s slow but persistent rise to leadership and her place in the team is a reminder of patience for the trust and confidence to develop. Originally one of the most stubborn puppies, Page has quietly evolved to one of the most disciplined and consistent dogs in the team.

When on walks, as a tiny puppy or even as a small dog, Page is always in-orbit but never fully understood why she would come to me for hugs, preferring her own choices. At dog camp, where the houses are on platforms, Page persistently got herself wrapped around one of the legs, almost daily. As an incredibly intelligent dog, my guess as to why this kept happening was that she refused to accept the rules of the world. As a yearling, this ‘the universe is against me’ has continued, as she regularly found turned around at the end of the run refusing to fix the tangle she’s created, or knocked her house over from tangling in it.

In December 2020, Page had an accidental litter of four pups (first accident in the 11 years of having my own dogs!). Brianna anticipated that Page would be a ‘fun’ mom (‘fun’ intentionally in quotes), and she definitely was: bored easily, partially attached to her pups, and eager to leave them the second they grew teeth. Weaning them was probably her favorite part, as she roughhoused with them. Oh, Pagey.

It’s a little bit spooky to see the 69-pound stature of Hawkeye represented in 40 pounds of puppy, but of the four siblings Page inherited an array of Hawkeye micro-personality traits. Things like how he used to lick his lips when I’d come through his circle after feeding for attention, how he’d place his paws on my leg, and, of course, his steely-cold stare from this blue eyes and standing absolutely still even if he was in a slightly awkward position. As she gets older, Page is growing more and more into her Hawkeye-ness, calm and respectful of all dogs and non-reactive to the nonsense around her.

Page is a tough little dog. With each run, with each mile, Page has grown to understand and trust the teamwork, and trust me. Hawkeye took two full years to turn into the devoted beast he became, and Page is slowly developing that same trust. Page is a reminder that even when a pup is born, raised and trained here for life, that trust is not a given.

Page started leading after weaning her pups, running endless 7 mile runs in single lead as ‘Team Pagey.’ Prior to her solo leading, she had run a few runs in lead, I paired her with Gemma and she held her own against one of the bossiest co-leaders As a two year old, Page has developed an eagerness to please and is learning her commands.

In contrast to the surrounding mountain ranges, the Mahoosucs are full of ponds. Ponds, and bogs, and streams. It is a wet place, a product of glacial carving and geology, hosting a significant amount of boot-sucking (but also ecologically rare) waist-deep bogs. A fair number of these ponds are clustered in the middle of the mountain range, the transition point between the hardwood forests of beeches and birches and oak to the high elevation spruce-fir forests. Most of these ponds can be reached via a convenient loop, except for one solitary outlier: Page Pond. 

Page Pond is, like her neighboring Wocket Ledge, tough to get to. It requires 7 miles of elevation along the ridgeline, a hike that takes most of the day. It is a tiny wilderness pond, completely forested and nestled in a narrow cleft between two knobs, the topography blocking the sounds of the valley below and offering an auditory and visual field of complete silence. A decade ago, when I was working in the Mahoosucs, maintaining trails and campsites and boundary lines, Page Pond was a gift to myself during long days. ‘Paid in sunsets’ was a saying used about that kind of work, but I preferred to be paid in silence.

Born: 6/24/2019

Fanzine (Tremblay) x Hawkeye (Mackey) (Mahoosucs litter)

Page is also the mom of the 2020 litter: Fauci, Shucker, AB and Kamala