Amazing Dog rescue on Mt. Bierstadt! Must read.

You know what I took away from reading that thread? How judgmental and unforgiving people can be on an online forum when they don't have all the facts or make assumptions. Who'd'a thunk?

It's his dog, he will get her back. Yes, he made a mistake in taking her up there in the first place, but it sounds like he wasn't well-informed: either before or afterwards as to the terrain, wasn't properly equipped for a difficult climb with an animal, what resources were available at his disposal, how best to adequately handle the situation/what decisions to make (and tried very hard to bring her down and stopped only when he realized he was hurting her more in the attempt - and I can only go by his account since I wasn't there so who knows what really transpired), and to continue pushing to ask for help after he got back (he sounded to me like a person who isn't a go-getter), and circumstances prevented him from going back out to look (with having to travel out of town for work) even if he'd thought that it would do any good. It sounds like he's learned his lesson, and I respect his decision to post there and maintain his positive focus throughout being bashed.

I agree that he shouldn't have assumed that she was already dead. I think he does love her, but he's a personality type that leans more toward being reactive than proactive - a follower rather than a leader (so he was going to sit around and cry/be a victim, rather than go out and look for her or spend extra effort to find help). He definitely didn't make the right decision there, but it sounded like he wasn't even sure whom to turn to for help (ie, he didn't even know about the 14ers.com forum - I know I didn't, but I'm not a climber either). I know what it's like to live here and not have a lot of family or friends available to call upon because you didn't grow up here and you don't know who to ask that can help (for instance, if he was my friend, I couldn't have volunteered to climb and look for her b/c I've never climbed a 14'er and would be more likely to get in trouble myself than find her and help her). This seemed to be a situation full of unfortunate variables that all compounded into one fortunately good outcome for the pooch. For him to continue to thank those who did rescue her, and apologize for his actions rather than make a ton of excuses says a lot to me about how he feels about her and I think he deserves a second chance, but that's just my opinion.