niko and the marmot

niko and i went for a run this morning. running has been one of those things i've wanted to fit into the routine, but since my first month here there was no real routine, it's kind of been shelved up until now. so this morning, finally, niko and i went for a run. the first quarter in we dodged the cranky man who's dog niko wanted to play with, the second quarter we made it through with no bear sighting, however, the third quarter took a slight twist in activity. i rounder the corner and saw niko facing down with some small creature on the road. when i say 'small' i don't mean 'mouse-small' or 'squirell-small', i mean more like a larger 'marmot-small', as in niko was facing down with a marmot.

the marmot was chomping his teeth and spinning in circles while niko pranced around him not really sure what to do. had the marmot tried to run, i think niko would've considered him prey, but since this is a hardy northern marmot, he stood his ground and niko was more curious than anything. my favorite part of the showdown was when niko towered over the little guy and sniffed his head. i'm sure niko would have licked his face for a few seconds if the marmot had let him. eventually i walked over, took niko by the collar and led him away, giving the marmot some peace and quiet to still his rapidly racing heart.

i'd like to say that we continued on our run with no further excitement, however, when niko is involved in the equation, you know that is never the case. as soon as niko realized we had hit the 'turn-around' point of the run, he made sure i wasn't looking and took off back to the marmot spot. by the time i caught up to him there was no sight of marmot, however i took that there was no blood on niko, and that niko was looking a little bored as a good sign. i'm going to assume that the marmot had taken off shortly after we left him the first time and that niko's second foray had been to sniff the patch of road he had once inhabited and nothing more than that. knowing niko, there's no way he would have come back that quickly had it been otherwise. always a source of entertainment that dog is.