What's Up, Dog? Dachshund Takes Part in Skydive From 13,000 Feet
While most dogs are content to cover, at most, a couple thousand feet on a walk, Riley the dachshund is gaining international fame for traversing 13,000 — vertically. Riley's owner, Nathan Batiste, is a photographer from San Francisco, Calif., who has some experience with skydiving. He has more than 400 jumps under his belt, but he had always wanted to bring the dachshund he and his girlfriend adopted in 2009 along for one of them.
The two frequently brought Riley to the drop zone for walks, and he became fast friends with many of the frequent skydivers. Recently, Nathan made Riley's first jump a reality. He had a friend craft a special harness and "doggles" for the 4-year-old dachshund, and all that was left was to take to the sky.
For those who might be concerned about whether falling out of the sky is the best activity for a dog, the dive went off without a hitch, and Nathan says that Riley had a blast. He told the Daily Mail, "Riley is very calm and very trusting when he's with me, and everybody got a kick out of it," adding, "It really was great fun, and the footage of Riley looking around once I'd opened the chute is awesome. It's been one of the best decisions of my life to get involved in skydiving, and I'm looking forward to more jumps with Riley." Riley really is what's up, dog.
