14 DAY TRIAL // Here's this Wednesday's “two more days until the weekend, I sure could use something happy to think about” piece of news: a rescue pup has recently climbed Mount Everest, and, according to his owner, utterly adored the experience.
When Joanne first laid eyes on Rupee, the latter was hanging around a dumpsite in Ladakh, northern India. He was pretty much starving, and was severely dehydrated.
“When I saw him on that dumpsite he couldn't have had more than an hour to live. He couldn't even walk ten metres without collapsing.”
“The little fellow had heart, I could tell that but he was very weak from having no food and water for days, perhaps weeks,” Joanne recollects.
All it took was loads of TLC, and the 8-month-old pooch soon got back on its paws. When Joanne's former dog, Oscar, passed away, she decided to have Rupee join her on her expedition to Mount Everest.
The pair trekked to 17,000 feet (5,181 meters) above sea level, and the rescue dog simply fell in love with the local snows.
“A memorable part of the trip was seeing Rupee touch and walk on snow for the first time, he loved it. He played in it at every opportunity, chased it and even tried to chew it at times.”
“There were many tourists climbing the mountain at the time and they couldn't believe that a dog was heading to Base Camp. They were jealous they hadn't brought their dogs with them for walkies too,” Joanne says, as cited by Daily Mail.
By the looks of it, Rupee is the first dog ever to climb Mount Everest, and have his achievement officially recorded. Well, I hope he'll enjoy many other such extended walkies in the years to come.