Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

In preparaion for letting the dogs off leash again in the near future, we did a test today.  I had Benny, Rucksack, Coco, and Oliver all sit at the side of the trail, facing me, backs to the trail, at a busy part of the Chautauqua Trail.  There were a lot of passers-by in both directions and on the whole the pack did very well.  The toughest times were after a long silence without anyone coming through.  The next time a jogger or someone with a dog came by, Coco and Oliver were both hyper-alert and hopped up to address the intrusion.  I think we got some good work done, though, by quickly catching them and making them sit back down and wait patiently.  Hopefully this sort of practice will pay off with the way they greet strangers in the future, because they can both be a bit tense and sometimes bark (Oliver more with other dogs and Coco more with people).

The Play Pack

Maebe and Coco are a lot of fun to watch playing fetch side-by-side.  Coco has started to get into the habit of letting Maebe get more balls, but she still goes for them herself if she has a clear lead.  The whole pack found a damp spot next to a boulder in the sandy ground at the park and they all decided to have a digging party.  Oscar occasionally gnawed playfully at the legs of his packmates (especially Benn) as they dug out a cool pit to lie in.