my walks consist of milo grabbing his leash and running through the house, me catching him and wrestling the leash out of his mouth, trapping him between my legs to get the collar on, and heading for the door, then feeling bad cause my mom's dogs look at me like "what about us" so i have to get their collars on with milo jumping all over them, then we start walking, the puppies leashes get tangled, milo chokes himself (i recently got him a harness and am soon going to try a head halter), the other puppy gets tired and lies down in the middle of the street, they see a bird and go nuts, and god help us if we run into another dog.
this thanksgiving i'm going to be thankful for having a decent sized backyard.
I don't know what to say except I love your post. Its sort of
Norman Rockwell...a real domestic scene.
My walks are four dogs in the back of my Subaru and off down the road for about 2 miles or maybe its a bit more. And then we park near a trail head and go for it. Today, about 3 or 3-1/2 miles. The dogs all
"dominante" me and roar up ahead, off leash of course. When they first get out of the car, its the distinct sound of thundering hooves....sounds like a Thoroughbred race track, a fast track. Today Toker and Lyric showered me with rocks and dirt. I mean they went from 0-35 in about 3 strides.
Today I worked on training Toker, my newest addition, to do the "check in" like my other three dogs do. Yesterday, she disappeared..this same trail. I didn't know what happened. I was looking off to the left at all the beauty of the forest and when I turned my head back, she was no where to be seen. I called and called. Absolute silence. She usually comes very well. I was getting very nervous. Lyric was getting nervous and the Chihuahuas couldn't care less. So we headed back down the trail....about a mile and here she was coming toward us. Somehow she managed to go back toward where the car was parked on this dirt road which is hardly used. She looked rather alarmed too. So, I decided we need to beef up the
stick around closer and you'll get lots of treats trick. As long as she's in my sight, if I call her, she comes.
They get a lot of fun and mental stimulation chasing squirrels and sniffing all over the place. They run many times the distance that I travel which is about 3 miles because of this check in policy I have. Lyric is very good and if there is a bend in the trail, he may go past it just a tad, but then I see him peeking around the corner, watching and waiting for me to catch up. Or he'll run all the way back to me and then dart back up the hill again. Toker will get so she will check in too without my having to call her. But for now, its treats often and calling her before she gets out of my sight, treat, then releasing her again. The Chi's stay very close most of time anyhow.
Today it was a little cloudy, a little breezy and quite warm compared to what it has been. The trees which are half fallen and leaning into another tree were making that hideous rubbing, squeeking noise. That freaks me out. I always wonder when one is going to come crashing down. Besides an occasional sound like that, the woods were eerily quiet. I thought I heard a bear growl, but it was.....again one of those rubbing branches or trees. (I think) Its just about time for them to hybernate, but not quite.
Anyhow, that's our typical walk....a walk through the forest on a trail or an old logging road or along the lake on a trail. This one climbed high, way up and you can look down on the lake. Very pretty and the Tamarack trees are turning yellow. They're very cool trees. I sat down on a log to shake the rocks out of my shoe and just sat there for a minute and listened to the breeze and the quiet. What a treat. Its like its always a vacation here. And its dog heaven on earth.
