Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Early on during today's hike we came by a large group of Indians who appeared to be on a guided tour of the Chautauqua.  One of them requested to take a picture of the pack and a few others got photos snapped while they stood with the dogs.  Benny was his usual nosey self.  He tried to reach up to the face of one of the girls who came up to pet him but she was wary of his wet, wandering nose and kept her distance.  Wesley got pets from a few people.  Rucksack drew some giggles for the stick he was carrying.  Coco was a little overwhelmed with the attention and stood behind me and grumbled.  She settled down for a minute but then started grumbling again.  Later on, she was much more friendly with some other hikers we passed and she walked right up and sniffed them.

The Play Pack

Benny had a great time with an Anatolian Shepherd/St. Bernard mix who was about the same size as him, named Xander.  Xander and Benny had very similar play styles and kept mouthing each other's faces, pawing at each other's sides, and just leaning in and throwing their weight against each other while swinging their heads around.  I noticed Benny trying to use Coco's tactics to get Xander to chase him for a tennis ball; after picking up the ball, Benny chewed it right in front of Xander's face and kept inching it out to the edge of his mouth to tease him.  When that didn't work, he started pressing the ball right against Xander's face.  Xander just picked up another nearby tennis ball and then they stood opposite one another, each trying to tease the other to chase them.