How Boone Stole my Sleeping Bag

I mentioned in an earlier post that Andy Kunkle's dog, Boone, had stolen my sleeping bag during the night. How could this happen? I'll explain.

This is Boone:

He's a spoiled puppy dog, about two years old. Full blooded Weimeraner. He goes everywhere with Andy and Christy, lives in the house, etc. He probably thinks he's a person (which he is).

This is the shelter where we stayed the last night we were on the trail.

Boone started the evening appropriately curled up next to Andy. I was the next closest human to where they were sleeping. During the night, after it actually began to get cold, Boone tried to get into Andy's sleeping bag. This was not possible, apparently. So Boone looked for other options. Since I was the closest human around, he walked over to me.

Because the night had started out a bit warm, I had my feet inside my bag and had it open so that I could fold it back or over to suit my comfort level. When Boone got up, I had the bag pulled back so Boone decided to put his head into the foot of my bag. I was so tired I didn't mind and went back to sleep. A bit later I woke up when Boone had encroached even more into my personal space by sticking his entire head and shoulders into the sleeping bag. He was pretty cold, and I was plenty tired so I just let the big puppy rest.

Sometime after this, I awoke. I was awake because I was suddenly cold myself. I was cold because my sleeping bag was gone--it was just me sleeping on top of my air mattress. The moon was out and I looked to my left to see Boone curled up...under my sleeping bag which he had managed to entirely take from me.

That was a bit too much, even for me. So I took my sleeping bag away from the galoot. But since I knew he was really cold, I stuck my feet into the bottom of the mummy bag and laid it over me like a big blanket. That way, Boone was able to curl up next to me, under the bag, and stay warm. That's pretty much how we spent the rest of the night.

Postscript: Recall the bad water I mentioned that was our so-called water source at Symmes Field? Andy tells me that Boone got a stomach infection from drinking the water untreated there. If you're hiking through that part of the AT, I repeat the warning about the vile quality of the H2O at that location. Avoid it!