Mera – the First Dog to Ascend a 7,000 Metre High Mountain
Sometimes you encounter a story of a stray dog that joins people during their greater or smaller adventures. Mera had quite an enviable adventure. Moreover, she has become the first dog that ascended a 7,000 metre high mountain. So, it means she has been to higher spots than most of us ever will.
An inquisitive dog named Mera appears to be a cross between a Tibetan mastiff and a Himalayan sheepdog. She joined a group that was descending from Mera Peak in Nepal and she was also named after it. The expedition then continued to Baruntse, a peak in the Himalayas just south of Mount Everest, and the dog followed them.
The 20-kilogram animal became friends with the group’s leader Don Wargowsky, who shared his tent with her. She even got a sleeping pad and a jacket to use as a bed.
Such mountaineering is not only physically, but also mentally demanding. A dog companion in such situations can be a great way to relax a little and relieve stress.
However, it’s not common here for mountaineers to be friends with stray dogs due to the prevalence of rabies. Mera won over the mountaineers and accompanying sherpas with her nature and her excellent climbing skills though. Wargowsky said they had never met such dog before. He stated that Mera was special and brought luck to the expedition. Some members even thought she was blessed.
At one point Mera was unable to follow the climbers and spent two nights alone on a glacier as high winds raged. They were all convinced she would be unable to survive. However, two sherpas had to return in that direction and they saw her. They encouraged her to cross the difficult section, so she was able to follow the expedition again and continue her ascent.
When the climbers finally set out for the summit at 2am, Wargowsky left Mera sleeping in his tent. She reportedly slept until morning and then caught up with the team. She crossed terrain which had taken the mountaineers seven hours in just two.
On the final ridge the dog ran ahead of the climbers, who were moving slowly due to the rarified air at high altitude. Despite fine weather, it was around -20 °C.
Of course, after the dog leaned up against Wargowsky and wanted to be petted, he wished to adopt Mera. However, he was unable to fly the dog out of Nepal, but the dog has been adopted by the expedition’s base camp manager, Kaji Sherpa.
Christmas is coming and it’s the time we are thinking of how we can please our loved ones. Besides family and friends, we should also not forget about our loyal companions that have stood by our side through our highs and lows during the whole year....
In this article, we’ll introduce you to another discipline of Disc Dog – our focus will be on Parallel Time Trial. The most important thing in it is the time within which a dog catches a flying disc. What does this discipline look like, in what...
Coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on the lives of most people. Our travelling has been limited, we started spending most of our time at home – with our furry friends in many cases. However, it has also been a change for them. They suddenly had...
Most of us dream about having a long and happy life, and ways to ensure it have been sought for centuries. Recent scientific studies, however, suggest that the answer has been right before us all along: Our cats, in addition to being nice companions,...
Defence Training is a process in which we try to encourage and develop the predatory instinct. We differentiate between practical and sports defence. In the case of sports defence, the dog is controllable and it isn’t headless stimulation of...
This animal is a wild predator that also likes to just relax on the couch. We are, of course, talking about the American shorthair cat, which can be considered similar to its European counterpart, just on the American continent. What makes this breed...
Wolves belong to the Carnivora order, and the thought of meeting them in the wild scares many of us. It is therefore quite surprising that wolves are very shy and wary animals that will try to avoid human contact at all costs. All the more if the...
Like humans, our pets may experience adverse reactions to some food or ingredients. Whether we give them dry food or raw meat, there is always a risk that the food will not suit our pets, perhaps simply because they cannot digest it. How to recognize...
On our blog, we have already written about dogfrisbee, a sport where dogs catch flying discs. Its advantage is that both the dog and the owner play sports together. Dogfrisbee is also a great sport for its diversity – it includes various disciplines...
Sport cynology is sometimes also called the royal discipline. It is mainly because of its difficulty – very versatile skills are needed for it both from the dog handler as well as the dog. What aspects are the most difficult and what is its...
The Vizsla comes from Hungary where it arrived with nomadic tribes. The written references about this breed can be traced back to 14th century, but it started to be more significant in 18th and 19th centuries, mainly in association with races just...
As well as people, dogs are unique living beings which differ in their nature and in what they like and don’t like. A significant part of it depends on upbringing of course, but owners need to accept some characteristic features of a dog and learn...