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o/a: Bored Panda

Avid hikers Cynthia Bennett and her boyfriend adopted their dog Henry back in 2014. At first, Bennett was going to pick a golden retriever mix, but then she came across Henry at an adoption event. He was only 14 weeks old, but already five times bigger than the other puppies of the same age. When she entered Henry’s pen he just curled up in her lap, went belly up and flipped his head over her arm. That was when she knew he was the one.

“I think we only had him for three days when we took him on our first hike,” Bennett told The Dodo. “He found the steepest, tallest rock around, and he ran up to the top of it to look over the edge.” That’s why they started calling him their “little mountain goat.”

A few months ago the couple decided that they’d like to have another pet in their family. Bennett really wanted a rescue kitten, and after five months of searching the shelters, they finally found a Siamese kitten mix named Baloo. They introduced the kitten to their dog and Baloo just fell in love with Henry – all he wanted was to play and snuggle with him.

It wasn’t long until Baloo started going on their first trips together. “I get a lot of questions about how we got him used to it. But he really loves it. He really wants to go outside,” Bennett said. “If I touch Henry’s leash, [Baloo] will start screaming at the door.”

See more of their adventures on Instagram

Alissa Wild

Alissa Wild

Alissa is a wild woman introvert who loves wandering through the forest trails of her local woodlands seeking birdsong and keepsakes. She founded We Are Wildness in an effort to help people by inspiring them to get outside and reconnect with the wild world. She's a naturalist, eco-feminist, and feels an ardent connection to those feathered, finned, and furred. She relishes regular time in solitude to nourish spirit and feels most at home in the rivers and forests of the Pacific Northwest.