Local motorcycle enthusiast Mark Adams can’t say enough praises about his dog Winchester, his loyal and protective hunting companion for the past 11 years.
According to Adams, whenever he went out on one of his motorcycles for a ride, something strange would happen.
“I have a couple of motorcycles and when I would leave on one, he [Winchester] would give me this look, that I was abandoning him or leaving him behind,” said Adams.
Last Friday (September 1) evening, Winchester was finally able to tag along on one of Adams’ motorcycle rides, in a specially built sidecar.
“I was thinking, ‘how am I going to get a 100-pound dog on a motorcycle?’” said Adams. “That’s when the idea of a sidecar came to me.”
Adams admits it was a challenging undertaking for the mechanic to build a sidecar, but since the spring of this year, the project was a go-ahead. With all the safety and other details finally smoothed out, last Friday was the inaugural run, with Adams and Winchester riding together.
The ride took them from their qathet region residence in Powell River's Westview neighbourhood to the viewpoint on Marine Avenue and south to Kent’s Beach, with plenty of curious onlookers snapping photos, like Winchester was a celebrity, according to Adams and his wife Sandy.
“When I first got the sidecar it came in a crate and was in a garage,” said Adams. “I explained to [Winchester] that it was his motorcycle, and he would check it out every time we went to see it. When we brought [the sidecar] home, he knew what it was and what it was for, and he jumped up into it.”
Winchester, according to Adams, was quite happy sitting beside him in the sidecar and had no reluctance whatsoever. Adams had Winchester as a pup and said the dog has done everything for him, including hunting birds, guarding and protecting, and being loyal.
“He’s an amazing dog,” said Adams.
Winchester comes from a breed that’s been bred for more than 400 years, originally for Germany royalty, and called a Weimaraner.
“As he is getting older I want to give him a good life,” said Adams. “He’s 11 years old and has impressed me since day one; maybe if I can impress him back a little bit, we will be even.”
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