Babocomari with Hansel, Fritz and Gretchen

 I bowed out of a hike up Thompson Peak because of fresh snow and ice from Wednesday. There is one steep section that would take someone over the edge if they slipped.

The morning started out breezy in the upper 30s.  It warmed up to the 50s by the afternoon.  I didn't want to waste the day so I took Hansel, Fritz and Gretchen to the Babocomari river.  I like that area and its secludedness.

Despite recent rains, the water table was down from my last visit in early January, with algae now growing in the shallow river.  Parts of the dirt road were muddy and still had some water in the deeper depressions, so it was surprising to see the water table down.

I did the short cut route, cutting across the desert via a cattle trail and turning this into a 4.4-mile walk.  The dogs ran down to the river when they spotted cows, but then came back up to the path I was on.  All was well on this hike until the return walk, when all three dogs took off after something (cow, deer, rabbit?) and then didn't come back.  Hansel came when I called, but Fritz and Gretchen remained missing.

This area is not a place I want to lose a pet.  Lots of wildlife wander through here that could potentially attack a domesticated dog.  State Road 82 is a busy highway at night, with its many curves and dips in the road.

I had an hour of daylight left.  I placed Hansel in the truck, then walked the last mile back to where I lost them.  I called their names, but they didn't come back.  Crestfallen, I walked back to the truck and called out their names.  Still nothing.  I drove down SR82 to the San Pedro River to see if anyone there spotted two dogs, again nothing. I drove around the Tombstone Territories RV park twice and no sign of them.  I even drove down some of the dark dirt roads off Saunders road but turned around.  The roads there are soft dirt and heavily eroded. Hungry dogs will be attracted to houselights in the distance.

I called SteveT to cancel our trip tomorrow to Tucson since now my priority was finding my two dogs.  Every time I lose a dog, Gretchen is one of them so she is the problem.  She has no recall and darts away when feeling stressed.

I posed a lost dog post on Facebook that evening and got slammed for being negligent, for letting a dog run off leash that is known to have no recall.  I agree with that.  Gretchen may never know what it's like to run free going forward as I'll always have to keep her on leash.

But why didn't Fritz come back?  I had high hopes for him always listening to me.