Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Wesley and Coco started off today's hike romping together.  After he tired himself out a bit, Wesley stuck right behind me for the rest of the hike.  Coco found a big branch to carry and then she and Rucksack stole it back and forth until they both lost interest.  Meanwhile, Benny got very excited watching his packmates play and he kept dropping into play-bows as we walked.  He didn't get to play with them on the trails, but he did roll arou...

The Adventure Pack

The day started off cold and windy, and that's apparently exactly how Mogul likes it.  He was very playful again on our hike today!  Rucksack started right off by finding a good big stick to carry and before long Mogul came running toward him in arch-backed leaps.  Mogul's size and the direction and purpose with which he ran was enough to make Rucksack drop his stick and flee.  Later on in the hike, when Coco and Fletcher were off leash toge...

The Adventure Pack

Benny and Coco had a low-key hike today.  Coco has been developing a bad habit of pulling on the leash, and I want to establish the right habits with Benny to start with, so we spent a lot of the time working on that.  They were both really interested in sniffing just about every inch of ground we covered today, which makes me wonder whether the moisture brings out more scents.  In the car, the two of them wrestled around with one another a bit.&...

The Adventure Pack

What a great day today!  The weather was perfect for hiking and the pack had a lot of fun.  Benny had his second outing with the Adventure Pack and he was more playful with the other dogs than on Tuesday.  We also had a brand new pack member for the day - Isaac!  Isaac is an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) with lots of energy.  When I first let him off the leash my heart stopped for a second as he bolted up the trail ahead.  I ...

The Adventure Pack

Coco and Wesley had fun running together right off the bat again today while Toskey started the hike on leash.  A lot of the Adventure Pack dogs have been getting a bit less attentive and have been pulling more lately, so I'm making a deliberate point to work on that with them.  The method I'm using is to notice when the dogs on leash start to pull ahead of me, and then to give a gentle verbal "shhh" to indicate that they need to slow down.  If t...

The Adventure Pack

We had a new pack member today - Benny!  Benny is a 5 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback, and he and Coco were playful with one another within seconds of meeting.  They're just about exactly the same size right now even though Coco is 9 1/2 months old, so Benny is going to be a big boy when he grows up.  When the hike started, Coco and Wesley romped off leash together.  Wesley is really enjoying getting off leash during the hike now.  Benny ...

The Adventure Pack

Mogul was very playful with Coco today.  On the hike, they played a game where he guarded the trail up ahead from her and she tried to bully him from his post.  She hid in the brush and then would come bounding out toward him, but Mogul stood firm and deflected her approach.  They went on like that for a little while at one spot while Fletcher and I worked on heeling while on leash.  Fletcher is great off leash and is very responsive, but he...

The Adventure Pack

It's been over two weeks since the Mountain Lion sightings at Sanitas and the warning sign is gone, so the pack got to move on to new terrain today.  Coco and Wesley ran around with one another for a few minutes at the beginning of the hike; but after that, they and Rucksack were too busy exploring the scenery and weren't interested in playing with one another.  Wesley and Rucksack both gathered a lot of botanical specimens along the way and will sure...

The Adventure Pack

Since Coco and Rucksack both have a tendency to pull a bit on leash, I spent some time working on that with each of them during today's hike.  They were both pretty good at it for a while, but I've noticed their attention slacking lately and their leash-pulling increasing, so I used the technique of turning around and walking the other way whenever they started to pull ahead.  After walking back a bit and turning back around, I had them stop and wait ...

The Adventure Pack

Coco and Wesley started today's hike off leash together and Wesley really had a good time with the pack's energizer puppy.  At first, Wesley and Coco just wandered around sniffing the area and doing their own things, but then Coco started jumping around Wesley and nibbling his ears until he chased her up the trail.  The two of them ran side by sideup and down the trail for a while after that before Wesley got tired took up position right behind me at ...