So yesterday I took Asha on a hike. To walk the trail I wanted to do we go down the dirt road where private property area goes back to Nat'l Forest. A cattle guard is there with a walk through gate next to it. We've been through there a hundred times, Asha is always off leash and always waits at the gate for me to catch up and open it. Which she did on the way out. For whatever reason, on the way back she just decided to jump the cattle guard. Which is about a 5 - 6 foot broad jump. I didn't even see it, I was only about 20 feet behind, but it's down a hill from it and out of sight - and heard a "clang" of metal, ran up to see and she's on the other side of the cattle guard holding a back leg up. Talk about panic - I ran to catch up, and she's trotting off not putting any weight on that leg, holding it in the air as she trotted. I yelled WAIT - another great command to teach! - and she stopped. I leashed her up and felt her all over, a tiny bit of hair off over her stifle is all. I walked her for about 50 feet and she went from 3 legged to gimping to OK to fine. I took the leash off and she trotted away from me perfectly sound. Whew. We were only about 1/4 mile from the house so not far to go. Watched her like a hawk and no signs of lameness. I guess like us hitting our knee on a table - think we're going to die for about 3 minutes but then it's just fine. Guess I'll be leashing up every time we get close to the cattle guard now.
