Leader of the Pack

You know those flowers that look like huge dandelions when they go to seed?  They're all over Chautauqua.  On today's hike, Coco nosed one of them, scattering the seeds into the air.  She then proceded to hop around and bite at them, trying to catch them before the wind carried them away.

At the park, Coco spent most of her time wrestling with a few other dogs - especially a young, fluffy, black-coated puppy.  Rucksack was more interested in fetch, althou...

Toskey had a warm welcome back to the Adventure Pack from Coco this week.  Since Coco was recovering from being spayed two weeks ago and Toskey took last week off, it had been a while since the two saw each other.  Coco wiggled all around Toskey when they greeted each other in the packmobile.  When I let them off leash to begin the hike, the two of them chased and rolled around in the grass together for a long while.  They both have a lot of energy and it's great how much ...

It's good to see the hair on Coco's head is nearly fully grown back again, and she's grown noticeably since I saw her just last Friday.  She and Rucksack took turns carrying a stick during part of our hike today.  Rucksack carried it most of the time but he left it for Coco a couple times after she kept bugging him for it, and then she carried it a short way before it tired her out and she let Rucksack take it back.  Mogul followed his usual M.O. of lagging behind during the be...

It was another hot day today.  During the hike, we came across a shaded, muddy spot that Finn decided to stomp around in, getting his white paws nice and dirty.  It was funny that of the three dogs, the one on whom it would show up the most was the one who was drawn to it.  Finn and Rucksack had fun running side-by-side on the trails; Coco preferred to employ tackling maneuvers on her packmates.

At the park, Coco was immediately greeted by Keeyush and the two ...

The skies were completely blue and the sun was hot today.  Both Mogul and Coco's favorite part of the hike was the break we took by a small creek.  Mogul lied down in the water and Coco splashed around a bit.  When we started to move on again, the two of them dashed up ahead together with newfound vigor that lasted all of 2 minutes.  Coco had a few other bursts of energy that resulted in enthusiastic stick play.

At the park, Mogul was only interested in l...

Rucksack and Finn joined Coco for today's Adventure Pack.  They all enjoyed one another.  Coco loved having a new Labradoodle to harass into playing with her.  Rucksack found a long stick early in the hike that Finn tried taking and later in the hike Rucksack had a shorter, thicker piece of wood that Coco was interested in stealing, but Rucksack the loyal stick carrier was steadfast in his duties (well, except for the fact that he eventually left that first stick behind after F...

Coco had a great time bounding through tall grass on today's hike.  She disappears off the side of the trail and all you see is the swaying of the grass above her, until a few moments later she reappears - hopping out of the grass and onto the trail ahead.

At the park, Coco ran around with an Australian Shepherd for a while, and then found a young black Lab to wrestle around with for the rest of the visit.  She also fetched a few balls.  I'm glad to see the ha...

Mogul greeted some kids who were hiking in a group this morning.  He was very calm and gentle with them, and the kids thought he was cute.  Coco was curious about the kids too, but she kept a little distance.  She tends to be a little skittish around strangers on the trail, unless they're walking in the same direction as us and she can come up behind them and get a good sniff first.  At the park, though, she approaches strangers without hesitation.  She must just feel...

Rucksack brought a stick back to the car during yesterday's hike.  When I picked up Coco for the hike this morning, she immediately went to work chewing on it.  During the hike, I found a big boulder to hide behind for hide-and-seek with Coco.  She actually went past me this time, but stopped only about 10 yards down the trail to look all around.  She started making her way back where she last saw me (on the trail next to the boulder) when she finally saw me and came runni...

Mogul was in a playful mood today.  Unfortunately, his playful mood led him to begin our hike by rolling in poop.  Needless to say, he was more thrilled about the situation than was I.  Rucksack was also pretty excited about that poop, but thankfully I was able to distract him before he followed suit with Mogul.  Later in the hike, Mogul washed some of it off when he decided to lie down in a creek.  Rucksack found a stick (only an average-sized one this time) and teas...