Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

We had a new pack member today: Sputnik!  Sputnik is a very cute, 19-week old Rottweiler/Australian Cattle Dog(?) mix.  Sputnik is from the same family as our former packmate Mogul, who passed away earlier this year.  Mogul was an amazing dog who helped me teach many of our current pack members the ropes when they were just pups, so Sputnik has some big paws to fill.  When he and Benny met this morning, they instantly hit it off.  Sputnik gave Benny kisses and Benny kept play-bowing for Sputnik until they started rolling around together in the back of the packmobile.  On the trails, Sputnik had no trouble keeping up with his packmates.  He was very curious about Oliver, but Oliver didn't return the sentiment.  Whenever Sputnik started sniffing him, Oliver gave a little grumble and Sputnik backed off for a moment before trying to sniff him again, only to get the same response.  Eventually Sputnik decided to do his sniffing from about a foot away instead of poking Oliver with his nose every time.  Rucksack was almost as excited to meet Sputnik as Benny had been, and kept hopping in front of him playfully as we made our way up the trail.

The Play Pack

Coco was more interested in greeting other dogs today than usual, which was really nice to see.  There was one Australian Shepherd who she really wanted to befriend and she kept running by him and giving him kisses on the fly.  Benny was pretty tired after his morning getting to know Sputnik and he just followed me around the park at an easy-going pace.  Maebe loves to fetch.  If I stop throwing the ball for 10 seconds she runs off and finds the next nearest person with a Chuck-it.  Other visitors have been happy to throw for her and some have commented on how nice it is that she actually brings the ball back (which apparently isn't the case with their own dogs).