What we miss

Koa flushed a grouse-like bird in the woods today (I didn’t get a good enough look for better identification). Then both dogs spent some time sniffing around where the bird had been.

Walking in the woods with the dogs—especially the first walk of the day—is often a slow process. They sniff every branch, twig, and leaf, sometimes backtracking or following a trail along a route indiscernible to us.

We are excluded from the wealth of information gleaned by the dogs about the comings and going in our woods. With their keen noses, they keep track of creatures we will probably never see.