Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Rucksack opted for a pine cone rather than a stick today.  He did the same yesterday.  It's much lighter, but not necessarily easier to carry; it must be hard not to crush it in his mouth, especially during a challenging uphill hike.  Neither Benny nor Coco followed Rucksack's example; they just sniffed around as we went.

The Play Pack

The tennis ball did the trick again when I picked up Sage today.  At t...

The Adventure Pack

I brought a tennis ball with me to the door when I picked up Sage today and she immediately sat in place when I took it out.  Her attitude changed from, "...What are you doing here? You keep your distance..." to "You are the ball master.  I will follow you wherever you lead," in a fraction of a second!  On the trails, Benny and Oliver followed behind me, Rucksack, and Sage single file for almost the entire hike.  Benny discove...

The Adventure Pack

We took a slow pace on the trails today and everyone stayed on leash to work on walking together and following commands.  Every so often, I would stop and back down the trail and then call Benny, Rucksack, and Coco to me.  The majority of the time, they promptly turned around and followed me back; however, there were a few times when either Rucksack or Coco would be interested in something up ahead and tried to ignore me.  Repeated gentle tugs ev...

The Adventure Pack

Benny and Oliver took their own paths on today's hike, each following different scents as we went.  Oliver mostly stayed near the trail, as usual; Benny wandered off the trail a lot, exploring whatever caught his nose.

The Play Pack

As we walked around the perimeter of the park, Coco play-bowed in front of Oscar and got him to chase her around.  Maverick joined in the chase on and off; when they weren't running, Maveric...

The Adventure Pack

The pups all got very wet during today's hike!  There were surprisingly few shake-offs; Coco, Benny, and Toskey each only shook off two or three times in the entire time out.  Toskey ran up ahead pretty far every so often but was very good about waiting when I called to her.  She and Benny romped together through the tall, wet grass during the last stretch of the hike.  Coco got spooked by a jogger who came up from behind us, probably becaus...

The Adventure Pack

It was a hot day on the trails.  We started off with everyone sniffing around in different directions and Benny stopping in place every so often.  Wesley was apparently feeling sick and vomited a few minutes into the walk, but then seemed like his normal self for the rest of the time.  We took a slower pace than usual and lingered in shady spots.  Everyone enjoyed a pit stop at the stream by the Gregory Canyon trailhead.  Coco...

The Adventure Pack

Sage was a bit timid when I picked her up again today, but once we we out of the house she was much more relaxed.  She hopped right into the packmobile without hesitation and she hung out right behind me as we drove around to pick up her packmates, instead of hanging out in the far back corner.  She also made some progress with drinking from the Camelbak!  Instead of shying away, she sniffed at it and took a few licks.  She also enjoyed lyin...

The Adventure Pack

Wesley tried to keep up with Coco today instead of just following along behind me.  Coco likes to run a bit up the trail to scout out the way and then sniff around a bit as she circles back to the pack, and Wesley followed at her heels (well, a little further back than that) the whole time.  On our way back down, Benny and Rucksack had a good romp in the fields as Benny ran in circles and dodged around with Rucksack right next to him, keeping up ...

The Adventure Pack

Rucksack found a nice, hefty log about 3 1/2' long to carry up and all the way back down the trail today.  Oliver had to keep his eye on Rucksack because Rucksack kept dropping the log right next to his little packmate.  While Rucksack has always been the most stick-crazy of the dogs I take out, all of them have at least occasionally carried a stick along or at least tried to steal it from a packmate - all except Oliver.  Oliver has never sh...

The Adventure Pack

A new pack member joined us on today's hike: Sage!  Sage is a Border Collie/German Shepherd mix.  She met Coco first and the two of them sniffed each other politely then hopped into the car together.  Sage was a little more timid when we picked up Rucksack and she stayed sitting at the back of the pack mobile while Rucksack happily greeted Coco and sniffed his new packmate.  On the trails, Coco and Rucksack found an interesting spot to ...