Leader of the Pack

It was a hot day today and the couple creeks we passed by seemed to again be the highlight of the hike for Mogul, Rucksack, and Coco.  Rucskack and Coco also enjoyed carrying sticks; they passed one back and forth at the beginning of the hike and then each found one of their own later on.  At one point, Rucksack and Coco came around a big rock with me to get some shade up at the third flatiron.  Mogul was only about 10 feet behind but he must have gotten distracted by a passing hiker because a moment later I heard his tags jangling as he went racing ahead down the trail - I think the poor boy thought we had gone on ahead without him!  I called and whistled when I realized what must have just happened, but he must have been a bit frazzled since he didn't come (which is really out of character for Mogul).  I was a bit worried so we hustled down the trail ahead to find Mogul waiting a little ways up ahead, peeking out at us from behind a tree.

Coco immediately started playing with a young pup named Louie at the park today.  They wrestled around and played tug-of-war with a rope toy until Louie had to leave; but shortly after another occassional playmate of hers named Zeus showed up and the two of them had fun.  Rucksack was back to playing fetch with me for a while today, but after about a dozen throws he noticed his trusty yellow soccerball and that kept his attention for the rest of the visit.  Mogul lied in the shade and I found a new spot on his neck that he liked having scratched.  It was on his left side, a little way back, and it had him holding his head low and slightly cocked with his eyes closed and mouth open in satisfaction.