Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Mogul and Coco played with each other at the beginning of today's hike.  It's fun seeing Mogul so playful again, and he and Coco definitely had a good time together.  Later on, Rucksack found a stick he liked but got mugged by Coco and the two of them ran around a bit.  At one point, they came right up next to me with Mogul and Benny on leash, and Benny took his chance to get in on the stick.  He started gnawing on a small off-shoot while Rucksack and Coco tugged back and forth, until Coco came away with the stick and left Rucksack and Benny in the dust.  On our way back down, Rucksack started heading going on the trail we took up instead of following the rest of the pack down.  I was sruprised because Rucksack is usually very good about sticking with me and taking direction.  A moment later, I realized what was going on: he headed up the trail just a little way because that's where Coco had left the stick!  He came running back down with it this time Coco was on leash so she couldn't steal it from him.

The Play Pack

Benny and Coco played together a lot at the park.  Coco dug up a stick that was partially buried in the dirt and then Benny finally had his chance to really play tug-of-war with her.  Molly, a Shiba Inu who's a regular at the park, got a big group of dogs to chase her around at high speed for a while.  Coco, Benny, and Mogul were among her pursuers.  Mogul's strategy was to stand and wait until Molly came running his way, then to pounce and try to catch her when she came near; the other dogs all just followed behind her.  After all the good things I've said about Brady fetching the ball and dropping it for me lately, he was all about playing keep-away today.  He was a lot less responsive to me telling him to come and sit; he decided that he would rather lie down with the ball and grab it up and run whenever I was anywhere near him.  Oliver was a little more adventurous in going up to other dogs at the park to greet them today, though he still hasn't found anyone to bring out the playful side that I'm sure is in there.  He followed his brother around for some of the time again.