Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

We took an easy pace along the Boulder Creek Path today because I didn't want to exert ourselves too much with the smoke from the High Park fire causing the air quality to be less than great.  Benny kept stopping in place as he sometimes tends to do, but when I changed positions so that Rucksack, Chelsea, and Toskey were all on one side of me and Benny was on the other, he kept up just fine.  He seems to be very sensitive to giving other dogs the right of way ahead of him.  We made a few stops along the way for everyone to sniff at some points of interest, and we also practiced sitting and waiting patiently for approaching dogs to pass by us.

The Play Pack

I tried holding onto the tennis ball for a while to try to encourage Sage to play with the other dogs at the park but after a while she just went and got another ball to place at my feet.  When I ignored her for a bit, it became clear that she was just going to stare at me until I played with her, and she wasn't going to turn her attention to the other dogs around (unless they had tennis balls she wanted).  Meanwhile, Benny found a stick to chew on for a minute before Oscar swooped in and stole it from him.  Benny proceeded to follow Oscar around and stare at him while Oscar dodged around with the stick.  Maverick has gotten very comfortable with lying down and letting down his guard to let me scratch his side.  He mouthed at my hand playfully when I found a particular spot on his lower left side.