Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Rucksack found another hefty stick today and carried it for the entire hike - from a few minutes in, all the way back to the car.  This one was thicker than yesterday's, though shorter, so I didn't have to keep calling him to the side of the trail to avoid him accidentally taking people out at the knees.  Benny thought I was very tasty today and licked my hand for a good minute.  I had just used that hand to refill my treat pouch from the reserves, so it's not that surprising.  Oliver trotted along at the head of the pack for most of the hike.  He's gotten comfortable on the trails and doesn't stick so close to me like he used to.

The Play Pack

Coco and Oscar are becoming best friends.  They wanted to start playing the moment they were in the car together but I had to have them settle down until we got to the park.  Once there, they went separate ways for a bit - Oscar went to say hello to all of the unfamiliar dogs while Coco ran across the park to greet the regulars who she's always excited to see - but we all convened by Maverick's tree stumps a little bit later.  The two of them played great together.  Oscar is vocal and growly when he gets excited and I think that put Coco off when they first met and made her think he was trying to attack her, but now she doesn't mind his noises as she bows, dodges, and paws at him, and he throws himself at her and nibbles on her ears.  When they started playing tug-of-war with a stick, Benny joined in and they had a three-way tug-of-war that lasted for many minutes.  Meanwhile, Maverick was sniffing around and occasionally popping in and out from under the tree stump.  He trotted over to get a closer look what had all his packmates' attention when they were all tugging on the stick, but he didn't get involved.