Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

What a great day today!  The weather was perfect for hiking and the pack had a lot of fun.  Benny had his second outing with the Adventure Pack and he was more playful with the other dogs than on Tuesday.  We also had a brand new pack member for the day - Isaac!  Isaac is an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) with lots of energy.  When I first let him off the leash my heart stopped for a second as he bolted up the trail ahead.  I worried that he wasn't as attentive as he seemed and that he had just taken off for the hills; but the moment he reached the crest of the hill ahead and was about to go out of sight, he spun around and came sprinting right back to me; I guess he just couldn't contain his enthusiasm!  He kept his attention on me through the entire hike, didn't pull at all on leash, and came straight to me without hesitation whenever I called him.  He also had a lot of playful energy that his packmates loved.  Early in the hike, he picked up a big branch off the side of the trail and Mogul had some fun trying to steal it from him.  With all of the keep-away that Coco and Rucksack regularly play with one another on the hikes, Mogul has almost never joined in; but something about Isaac's energy put an extra hop in Mogul's step.  Benny also wanted to play with Isaac and he tried nibbling at his side when they were walking on leash together.  Isaac did a very good job of firmly letting Benny know that it was on-leash time and not play time, though - much to Benny's disappointment.  Coco and Mogul played their game again where Mogul guards the trail from Coco and she tries to interrupt his post.  This time, Coco had some quick moves and Mogul was standing on very loose, sandy dirt.  When Mogul tried to make a quick spin to deflect Coco, the dirt gave way and he ended up lying down in it pretty ungracefully - embarassing for Mogul but hilarious to see it unfold!

The Play Pack

Mogul's playfulness continued at the park, where he met a Great Dane to romp with.  After a little while, a Siberian Husky joined in the mix and the three of them had a great time with one another.  A former occassional pack member - a young Alaskan Malamute named Osiris - was at the park today and Coco had a great time wrestling around with her friend.  Benny found a couple different playmates today.  Early on, he and Coco both ran around with another dog for a while.  It was funny to see Benny lagging behind in the chase, still working on mastering some of the basics of coordination.  Later on, he ran around with a Brittany Spaniel and was doing a little bit better of a job keeping up.  Oliver mostly kept to himself at the park, but that's not so unusual for a dog's first park visit with the pack.  When he wasn't sitting around just watching the other dogs, he was following his big little brother Benny around.  We'll see if Oliver gets more interested in the other dogs at the park over the next few visits.