Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Coco was feeling playful from the moment she got off leash on the trails today.  She flailed a twig all over the place and rolled around on her back until she enticed Wesley into chasing her.  Later on, Benny and Rucksack had a good chase together as we crossed a bridge coming down from the 3rd Flatiron.  The bridge goes over a small creek that's dried up right now, and they seemed to be playing a form of king-of-the-mountain, with the bridg...

The Adventure Pack

Early in the hike, Rucksack grabbed a stick that was little more than a twig.  I was surprised that such a meager specimen caught his interest.  I wasn't surprised when he dropped it about 5 seconds later without a second thought.  There were a lot of people and dogs on the trails today and Oliver got attention from most of them, especially the humans.  Benny also got attention from a few friendly hikers who were amused by his mellow demeano...

The Adventure Pack

Benny is starting to take after his packmates with the stick carrying.  Usually, he just nibbles at the sticks his packmates find, bt today he grabbed one for himself right at the beginning of the hike and carried it along for a good stretch.  Coco and Rucksack each tried to steal it from him, but I had them leave it to him because he seemed proud to be doing a job.  Later in the hike, Toskey discovered a small patch of snow at the base...

The Adventure Pack

The trails were full of both dogs and people today.  The pack members were all very friendly with everyone we encountered.  Wesley sat down in front of a couple strangers to be pet; Rucksack leaned against a few; Benny just stopped in front of one person and looked up at him, sniffing; Coco wasn't as direct as her packmates but she passed by people with a friendly, fleeting sniff and got a few pets.

The Play Pack

C...

The Adventure Pack

Coco and Rucksack have such a competitive spirit with one another. When they went off leash today, they immediately started racing around together. Coco was in the lead most of the time, with Rucksack close at her heels as they ran in big circles around me, Benny, and Oliver. Later, when Benny was chasing Rucksack around in circles, Coco made a big fuss about being left out. Oliver was content to just trot along. He likes exploring the trails but he’s not...

The Adventure Pack

The pups were all on different pages today and wanted to pull me in all different directions from the moment we got out to the trail.  Coco kept veering off the side of the trail to sniff around.  Benny was back at his habit of stopping suddenly in place.  Rucksack wanted to rush ahead at every chance he got.  Wesley was the only one who stayed at my side pretty consistently, though he sometimes vied for the lead with Rucksack.  As a re...

The Adventure Pack

Rucksack was very good about staying close by when he was off leash today - something he's been having some trouble with lately.  Today, he mostly stayed right on the trail as he carried his stick up ahead then stopped, turned back to watch me and his packmates, and waited until we caught up before trotting up ahead a bit again.  Oliver was more interested in sniffing spots alongside Rucksack and Benny today, whereas he often hangs back while his pack...

The Adventure Pack

Benny was on the lookout for sticks on today's hike.  There were a couple that he held onto for a short while.  Each time he dropped one, Rucksack dove in to grab it up.  Toskey stayed close today and didn't get involved with the sticks.  Coco was energetic and ran up and down the trail with Rucksack a bit later on, and then found a big stick that she tossed all around to get Rucksack's attention when he stopped playing with her.  ...

The Adventure Pack

At the start of the hike, we passed a 10-yard stretch where Coco, Benny, Wesley, and Rucksack all had their noses glued to the ground and each one of them thoroughly sniffed every inch, only taking one step every few seconds.  They ended up at a big rock that had them all sniffing for another minute.  Wesley peed on it and then everyone felt comfortable moving on.  Wesley followed Coco around, up and down the sides of the trail.  After a whi...

The Adventure Pack

Benny found a small stick that he carried for the first stretch of today's hike.  When he left it on the trail, Coco went over and gave it a sniff and decided it wasn't worth carrying.  I encouraged Benny to pick it up again but he just sniffed it and then gave me a blank look.  Oliver led the way for most of the hike.  We came by a couple moms with 3 young girls who all said hello to the pack and pet the pups nicely.

T...