Leader of the Pack

Coco had a good hike today.  She met a few friendly dogs along the trail.  I played hide-and-seek with her again and she started heading down the trail in the opposite direction from me for a second, but decided she was going the wrong way and turned back and found me - she's getting good!

We have a new Play Pack member: a 4-month old Miniature Pinscher/Chihuahua (maybe) mix named Hershey!  He met Coco first, since we picked him up right after the hike, a...

Rucksack and Coco traded off carrying a short chunk of a thick branch throughout today's hike.  Mogul took his time to smell the roses (figuratively speaking - I don't think there are any roses along the trails at Chautauqua) and I decided to take the pack at his pace for a while instead of letting him lag behind.  After a little while of that, he started just pausing and looking back at me with a grin on his face.

Rucksack hasn't been as consistent about fetc...

Today's hike was full of wildlife encounters.  Usually we just pass birds in the treetops and flying off in the distance, along with some butterflies (which Coco sometimes tries to catch) and other bugs;  About 2 minutes into today's hike, we passed a stag only 15 meters or so off of the trail.  It was standing in tall grass that came all the way up to the trail's edge.  I think the grass blocked Coco's view and the stag must have been standing downwind from us because Coc...

Coco and Toskey greeted each other with lots of enthusiasm today.  They spent today's hike trotting from shady spot to shady spot in order to keep cool.  We headed up between the 2nd and 3rd flatirons and we hung out as the two of them wandered around sniffing the whole area under some well-appreciated cloud cover.  Neither of them were quite as playful as usual, but they had no trouble keeping up.

At the park, Coco started off playing with a new dog right wh...

Coco and Rucksack shared a stick on the hike today.  They ran right alongside one another, each holding one end of the stick.  Before long, though, the stick broke in half at a weak point and they each took their respective halves.  Mogul mosied along behind.  He didn't have his usual burst of energy on the way back today.

At the park, Coco wrestled around with a sweet dog named Kora who looks like she's part English Coonhound, but with shorter ears. ...

Rucksack and Coco passed stick-carrying duty back and forth throughout the entire hike today.  Between the two of them, they carried the same stick from about 5 minutes into the hike until we got back to the car!

Coco practiced fetch at the park for a while, then became interested in a Siberian Husky named Tundra.  The two of them wreslted around and treated one another like living jungle gyms.  One of Coco's favorite moves was slipping under Tundra's belly an...

During the hike, Rucksack found a stick he liked that he carried most of the way.  At first, Coco kept trying to steal it; but she relented after a while and let Rucksack have it to himself.  Mogul had some fun chasing Coco on the way back.

At the park, Coco was immediately greeted by the fluffy black puppy that she's had fun wrestling with before.  They played for a while as Mogul made his way all about the park, sniffing and wandering around.  I followe...

Coco got very wet during the hike today.  I worked with her a bit more on her obedience training.  She hasn’t been sitting as consistently as she was a couple weeks ago, so I practiced that with her.  I also had her wait in the sitting position for a little bit.

At the park, Rucksack found a soccer ball he liked and trotted all around with it.  Coco became interested and chased him around for it.  A little while later, a one year old black dog...

Today, Coco picked up a small stick that she was happily carrying along when Toskey came up behind her and chased her for it.  Toskey eventually got it from Coco and trotted around for a minute before putting it down and letting Coco have it again.  I picked up the stick after Coco left it behind, at which point both Coco and Toskey became interested in it again and tried taking it out of my hand.  I practiced the "leave it" command with them, and once they stopped being so pus...

Coco turned the tables on Rucksack during the hike today - she was the one with the stick and Rucksack was trying to steal it from her.  On the return leg, Mogul got very playful after a quick dip in the stream we passed, and he gave Coco a good chase.  Every time he got right on her heels he let out a low growl that scared Coco off into the bushes.  After a moment, she'd peek out, see Mogul, and then run right past him again to kick off another chase.  By the end of the h...