Leader of the Pack

The Adventure Pack

Coco carried a pretty big stick around for a brief while early during today's hike.  Later on, I noticed a good, short carrying stick and told her to pick it up.  She carried it for almost the entire rest of the hike and then dropped it off right before we rejoined the Chautauqua trail.  Benny sniffed at it occassionally but didn't try to steal it from her.  Oliver wasn't interested in Coco's stick; he just wanted to sniff and leave scent marks.  We met another small dog named Oliver along the trails who apparently couldn't keep up with his family and had to be carried.  Our Oliver had no such trouble - he's got plenty of energy to keep up with his packmates during the hike and even makes the leap up into the back of the car by himself at the end of it.

The Play Pack

Today was Maverick's first day out with the pack!  Maverick was a little shy at first but as the visit went on he got more and more playful.  Coco and Charlie chased each other around as they often do and Maverick came running over to join them for brief spurts every now and then.  Benny was in a playful mood today and also ran with his packmates.  After a bit, Benny and Maverick broke off and had their own fun with one another.  The contrast between Maverick's compact body and Benny's lanky, only-semi-coordinated limbs was amusing.  They had brief standoffs during which they just stared at each other; then, Maverick's slightest move would send Benny scrambling and running in circles while Maverick ran off in the other direction.  After a moment Benny realized he wasn't being chased and then he'd run back over to Maverick for another standoff.  Later on, Coco played some fetch and I found that Maverick gets really playful with tennis balls but not when there's competition.  After throwing one ball long for Coco to fetch, I bounced another one in front of Maverick and he dove for it and started batting it around and growling playfully at it.  Meanwhile, Charlie actually spent some time just lying down - a strange sight for the most wound-up, fun-loving member of the pack!

Maverick was a lot of fun and already makes a great addition to the pack!