How is Shadow getting along in his new home?

PaddlingPitt said:

Here’s our dog Shadow on his daily walk to Thieves Bay Marina and park.

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I wondered about Shadow after I heard you had moved.

How is he adjusting? Do all the extra people bother him? And extra dogs? What does he think of the water? Is it hard to get him the exercise he's used to? Does he get as much off-leash time?

Not that I don't care about you and Kathleen as well but, you know.....dogs.

Alan

Those questions require several answers, and a couple of pictures. I don’t want to sidetrack the thread. Perhaps I should DM you. What do people think?

PaddlingPitt said:

Those questions require several answers, and a couple of pictures. I don’t want to sidetrack the thread. Perhaps I should DM you. What do people think?

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Well, I took those responses from the other thread and started a new one here so you don't have to worry about derailing anything.

Alan

Shadow likes his new life very much. Our previous property in Saskatchewan was 565 acres, more than half of which was forested. We had 8 km (5 miles) of trails where we walked him nearly every day, always on a 30-foot line. He was happy enough being on the line. At the end of the walk we generally let him off the line to let him run between us standing about 200 yards (200 m) apart. We both had a dog whistle to call him for treats. He ran like a bullet. It was beautiful to see.

Every once in a while though, Shadow changed the game. Sometimes to chase deer, or coyotes, or foxes. He was often gone for 2 or 3 hours, even after dark. Very worrisome. He looks like a wolf. Neighbouring ranchers might have shot him if he started chasing cattle. Even if he had to go out at night to pee or poop, we always attached him to a line.

Many properties on Pender Island, including ours, are fully fenced to keep out Columbian Black-tailed Deer. When home, Shadow is never on a leash. He just cruises and enjoys his property. Thieves Bay Marina is about a mile (1.7 km) from our house. We go at 9:00 am. At 8.55 Shadow begins jumping and pawing at the sliding glass door. He’s definitely telling us “Time to go!” He’s on leash while walking on the road to the marina. Once there, we let him off the leash to play with his new doggy friends. He loves to run and play. He’s even getting more comfortable around people. It’s beautiful to see.

Happy Shadow



Shadow With His Doggy Friends



Mocha in front. Flora to the left. Shadow in the back.

How did a white dog get the name Shadow? Did he ever go in your canoe? At the risk of derailing Alan's derailing, did you end up bringing your canoe (back to) to Pender Island?

Shadow is a rescue dog. He and his brother and a cat were abandoned at a somewhat nearby farm 7 years ago. Owner just drove off and left them. Brother dog and cat were eventually rescued; but, Shadow wouldn’t be caught. Our understanding is that he was wild for a month or more. Finally, a lady sat out in the field for at least a week, encouraging him with food, to come close enough to grab him. As she told us, “Once I got him home, he never left my side. It was like he was my shadow.”

I'm happy to hear Shadow is adjusting well. He certainly seems to be enjoying himself. It's good that he gets along well with other dogs, I've know a few Huskies that didn't.

I had assumed he spent most of his time off leash in SK but I hadn't thought about him running off on a whim. Good reason to keep him close. It must be kind of nice to be able to just let him run off leash with other dogs so he can entertain himself while you relax in the sun and watch.

I looked up your island on a map and was surprised how small it was. It looks like it's just 7 miles long and about 2.5 miles wide. On the map I see quite a few large clearings in the forest that look like pasture but I can hardly believe livestock could be profitable on a small island where I assume land prices are quite high.

What is life like on the island? Are there very many large areas of public land or is it mostly private? I imagine there are lots of tourists in the summer? South Pender Island looks like it's less populated with more "wild" land.

I've been to the PNW a few times and it's on my short list of places I daydream about moving to. So much variety!

Alan

Glenn MacGrady said:

How did a white dog get the name Shadow? Did he ever go in your canoe? At the risk of derailing Alan's derailing, did you end up bringing your canoe (back to) to Pender Island?

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Glenn,

Our property in Saskatchewan was essentially at the headwaters of the Assiniboine River, which for about 3-4 weeks had enough water to paddle, but never enough current to teach even introductory moving water strokes. We went twice wth friends, early on, but never again. This was years before we had Shadow. The lake on our property was shallow, and suffered from algae outbreaks in the summer. Before we had Shadow, we paddled it a couple of times. But we are not fans of flat water paddling. Shadow has never been in our canoe.

Image of lake on our property in Saskatchewan. Our shoreline is on the left. Only four other properties on the lake.

Glenn,

We left our home in Saskatchewan because we were no longer physically able to manage and care for the property. For example the disks in my lower spine had deteriorated to the point where I could no longer bend over to clear trail with my chainsaw. The pain was too much. Just one of our several afflictions. I didn’t want to bring the canoe, knowing that we would no longer use it on Pender Island. But Kathleen said,”We just can’t leave behind everything from our previous life.” So we brought it, and all of our canoeing stuff.


The move was horrendous. When the moving company reached Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, they called us to say that they would have to deliver our stuff in two trips because the main van was too big for the ferry. We said that we were happy with two separate deliveries. Then we got another call to say that they were able to get all our stuff on the smaller van, except our canoe, which we would have to come get on our own.

When the smaller van was unloaded, 80% of our antique furniture, carvings, and and sculptures had been damaged or outright broken. They had packed everything too tightly, without proper wrapping. They also said that they didn’t have time to fulfill their obligations for room to room delivery. “Havve to catch the ferry back to Vancouver.” We had to hire two young Pender Island guys to complete the move for us.

I called a fellow canoe club member in Vancouver. He bought our canoe, and picked it up. We will be going to Vancouver next month, and will take a lot of our canoeing gear to give/sell to people who might want it.

Biological decay is unstoppable, constant and everlasting.

Don't be sad about it - look forward to the beautiful, past times with your whife and your canoe.
Who knows, maybe there will be people who will make good use of your things and have a great time with them.
Maybe even sooo long until it's no longer possible!
... and then they will pass it on again - to the next ones - and remember the great time!


Best regards
Michael

Glenn MacGrady said:

How did a white dog get the name Shadow? Did he ever go in your canoe? At the risk of derailing Alan's derailing, did you end up bringing your canoe (back to) to Pender Island?

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My youngest daughter got a white cat when she was 4, which she promptly named “Color.” We thought of it as hugely creative, artistic; she was destined to be an artist.

PaddlingPitt said:

80% of our antique furniture, carvings, and and sculptures had been damaged or outright broken.

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That's intolerable. We were professionally moved eight times, from coast-to-coast and top-to-bottom around the USA, when I worked for the IBM Corporation, and don't recall any significant damage. You may not be able to fully replace broken heirlooms or memories, but it sounds as if you should have a strong financial and legal claim against the moving company.

I googled Pender Island, while sitting here amidst the misery of never ending winter. My new snowblower has been tasked with Herculean feats of strength this winter. Every second morning I am outside at 6:30 AM for two hours, Sisyphus himself would not have switched places with me, pointlessly rolling a rock being preferable to pointlessly moving snow around.

I read that the climate of Pender Island is "Mediterranean", and that there is even an olive grove on your new island. I imagine that your Saskatchewan digs were not that different from life in G-Town, and I confess that my former love of the winter wonderland has evaporated, and Mediterranean weather sure sounds enticing.

So is google right, and is my envy justified, or is it just another dose of fake news? Can I happily continue to aggravate my carpal tunnel syndrome with endless snowblowing, but with a smile on my face, knowing that Pender Island is indeed just another frozen Canadian H@ll Hole, the only difference being there are a lot more hippies?

Just kiddin', congratulations on the next chapter, not kidd'n about the envy though, sort of.

Alan,

As you noted, Pender Island is small. But still somewhat rural. After my retirement, we moved to South Pender Island in 2003. We had ocean front property, 1 acre, and had switchbacking stairs built 65 vertical feet down to the beach. Kept our canoe down there. Paddled to Hope Bay for coffee and scones. Paddled to the pub in Bedwell Harbour for beer and burgers. Paddled to Medicine Beach for coffee. Paddled to Poets Cove for fine dining. Paddled over to Saturna Island’s winery. Paddled to Saltspring Island for the challenge. Circumnavigated South Pender many times. Circumnavigated the entire island a few times. People (i.e., kayakers) said it couldn’t be done in a canoe. But they didn’t know any better. They were kayakers.

Year-round population is 2,500; 6,500 in the summer. We liked our time here, but it still rained too much, which is why we moved to east-central Saskatchewan in 2008.

A lot of farms are owned by multi-generational families raising sheep and goats. A lot of private land, but quite a few small parks and trails. It still rains too much for me, but we still have friends on Pender, and 6 of Kathleen’s brothers and sisters still live in the general Vancouver area. One of her brothers, with his wife, will be visiting in early April. None of them ever came to see us in Preecevile. There is a real snobbishness, and a feeling of superiority regarding Saskatchewan among west coast people. Kathleen and I were on the Executive of the garden club. At our last AGM, the president said, “We need to say goodbye to Michael and Kathleen, as they are moving to Saskatchewan.” The entire crowd broke out in laughter, at the mere absurdity of such an idea.

Mem,

Pender Island, with a climate much like Victoria, is technically a Mediterranean Climate. See below.



The two major Canadian cities that fall outside the continental climate schema are Vancouver and Victoria. Vancouver experiences an oceanic climate, bordering warm-summer mediterranean with a marked summer dry season. Victoria, BC is the only major Canadian city entirely in a warm-summer mediterranean climate.

However, Pender Island should not be confused with Rome or Nice. It is dryish in the summer, and cool and very rainy in the winter. You would, however, not need your snow blower. Kathleen and I arrived on October 20. Since then we we've had one snowfall, which melted away in two days. We just stayed home. I sold my snowmobile and two snow throwers before leaving Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan is likely the most conservative region in Canada. Southwest British Columbia,, including Pender Island, is likely the most liberal region in Canada. In Preeceville, SK, all the guys wore ball caps, even when eating breakfast and supper. No one here on Pender Island wears ball caps. A lot of older men sport long pony tails. Very different. As Dorothy might remark to Toto, a few minutes after getting off the ferry to Pender Island, “I don’t think we’re in Saskatchewan anymore.”

Well, that confirms I'm a moderate, I have a ponytail and wear a ball cap.

Good luck to you and Kathleen in your new home Michael. I'm sorry to hear that you gave up your canoe. I understand why a flatwater paddle would not be satisfying after all the high quality adventures you've done, but it's never too late to reinvent yourself as a paddler. A better paddling boat than the royalex ones you're used to would help. Wood canvas would be good, but a light weight composite would be more practical. I love paddling my Seliga and my Malicite too. It's a different pleasure then tripping, but there is a lot of pleasure there.

Thanks for the chuckle this morning Mr. Pitt! I am currently living in ball cap central, indeed, I even own a couple. I wonder what it would be like to move to a pony tail bro neighbourhood. I'm probably one of the most liberal minded fellas in the area, and yet the pony tail bros would probably consider me a gun toting cousin dating red neck. Fortunately, I'm an equal opportunity avoidant, and try not to associate with anyone, regardless of hairstyle or cap preference.

The paddling lifestyle you described sounds absolutely perfect, I would love to be able to paddle for a coffee or fine dining. Have you considered shifting to the dark side, and getting a motorized watercraft? A 20 foot freighter canoe with a small four stroke motor sounds about right, you could motor around very quietly, sneak up on the pony tail yakkers and then blow by them, and get the best table at the fancy dining place.

I forgot to thank you for the map, and the somewhat depressing reminder that I am living in the sub arctic, ha ha.

lowangle,

Perhaps I have not been paying close enough attention, but I never noticed anyone with a ponytail also wearing a ball cap. I do have ball caps, but all of them were given to me after purchasing some item or attending some event. To try to fit in, I sometimes wore them in Preeceville. But usually I wore my Tilley hat, a true outlier in the sea of green John Deere ball caps.