Shyla - The Moose Alerter

You are used to seeing photos of Shyla galloping through the forest, looking like a perpetual motion machine.

On the day that we left for the desert, she and I were on the trails. She was a little ahead of me. I looked up, and she had planted herself in the middle of the trail in a "sit". Her ears were perked up, and she looked intently at something ahead of her. This behavior was completely novel for her.

So, I followed her gaze, and I saw a trio of moose at least 40 yards ahead of us. I quickly turned around, and Shyla and I backtracked.

I think that she'd been badly scared by two recent incidents, one of which I wrote about here. I didn't write about what happened on the very next day. I'd decided that Shyla needed to stay very close to me until the moose situation had calmed down so I had her in a "heel", which means that she was directly behind my bike on a singletrack path.

As we descended the very same route as we'd just climbed, our local mother moose barreled out of an aspen forest directly at Shyla. Shyla easily evaded her but looked terrified. I was very lucky that the mother moose didn't take out her anger on me because I couldn't have evaded her so easily. That happened the day after Shyla and I were seriously charged by the same mother moose.

I'm guessing that those two events combined to make Shyla extremely wary of moose. I would love if her "default behavior" when she senses moose in the future is to sit stationary. Only time will tell if she repeats that stellar warning system for me.

I was reminded of that event because I checked a trail camera the other day that showed the trio of moose actually fleeing! Mother moose was first.

This year's calf was not far behind.

And last year's calf, a single-antlered bull, was last in the trio.

Here's a better look at last year's calf.

I was left wondering what on Earth would cause moose to flee! They certainly don't flee when faced with me and the Duo. I wonder if they flee if they sense people before the people see them. Given the time of day in the photos above, it might have been a hiker who startled them. I am sorry to report that my trail camera gave me no insight into the cause of their flight - no one else passed it all day long.

Here's to Shyla learning to "tell" me when moose are around!

I had my test today, and I don't know the results yet. The results should help guide the next decisions. Thanks for all the great thoughts and comments. My sincerest hope is that this will somehow resolve by itself. However, after 2 months, that's starting to seem like a pipe dream. And, I must admit that it's a level of pain that I can't tolerate while remaining happy.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy our winter wonderland. I'm hoping my winter adaptation kicks in soon. I've been so cold since we arrived home that I've barely been able to enjoy the sights but they've been beautiful.