Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

I Know You’re a Lab

By

Thank you all for the suggestions you left in the comments regarding how to handle the situation with the dogs (mostly Sampson) and the new puppy.  Besides asking for your thoughts, I reached out to a fellow blogger experienced in fostering and introducing new dogs.  I will write more about this in my Follow-Up Friday post, but I will tell you we are managing with crates and gates. 🙂

Back before Delilah joined our pack, Hubby, Sampson and I hiked together every weekend.  One of our favorite spots was the local reservoir.  You may remember I posted some beautiful foliage pictures from it back in October.

Our local reservoir.

Our local reservoir.

 

To take the dog’s minds off the puppy invading their territory, Hubby and I decided to take them to the reservoir as there are some really nice hiking trails over there.

I had Delilah on the long leash to start, as the reservoir is bordered on the front side by a very busy road.  There are also some houses along one side and I wanted to make sure we were past a trouble spot before I turned her loose.

Delilah hadn’t been down to this spot in years so she was pulling me like crazy.  Once we reached the spot where we had to cross a stream I knew it was time to let her off.

I didn't feel like starting the walk with a dip in the water.

I didn’t feel like starting the walk with a dip in the water.

 

The pond was off to our left and it was protected by some downed trees and some shrubs, I didn’t think she could manage to get in although as soon as she SAW the pond she did try.  Hubby and I kept walking though and called her to us and she came a running.

Back when it was just the three of us, I managed to snag one of my favorite pictures of Sampson.  He had run ahead of us on the trail and when we rounded the corner, there he was.

One of my favorite photos of Sampson.

Already posing.

 

We kept our eyes peeled for the rock and thought we’d stage a little reenactment.

Delilah wasn't quite as comfortable posing on the rock as Sampson was.

Delilah wasn’t quite as comfortable posing on the rock as Sampson was.

 

There was a tree that had fallen across the path, it had two branches that were about 1 1/2 to 2 feet high and about 3 to 5 feet apart.

The dogs were running ahead and my jaw dropped as Delilah cleared the tree.  Notice that Sampson jumps, landing between the two branches but Delilah doesn’t.

We hiked in about twenty minutes or so before turning around.

The dogs were having a blast, at one point they found a small puddle and got their zoomies on, so they were both muddy.

Delilah was off-leash for almost the entire walk, she ran back and was treated so often, that I ran out of treats.

I was leery about the pond on the way out, I knew she wanted in, so as soon as it came into my sight, I leashed her up.  Truthfully she probably could have stayed off-leash for a couple of minutes longer, but I wanted to err on the side of caution.

I forgot about crossing the stream though, as soon as I unclipped her….she found her way into the pond

She’s a Lab, through and through.

The Fog Was Freaky

By

It was super foggy here yesterday morning.

I was on the fence about walking the dogs in the woods in the fog, so I thought we’d head up to the field, so they could at least stretch their legs.

The field was shrouded in fog.

 

You could probably see clearly 50 feet in front of you, but beyond that it was sketchy.

We walked into the field and I worked Delilah with a couple of long recalls, so she could run a bit and tire herself out. 🙂

From the field looking back at the path we came in on.

 

I looked at my watch, we’d burned five minutes.  I thought to myself, how many times can they walk around this field before Delilah gets bored and takes off?

I looked at the woods, they beckoned yet repelled me.

Should we? Shouldn’t we? Come on, the trees said. You know you want to.

 

I gave in, but proceeded cautiously.  It was a foggy day like this on New Year’s eve when I took a fall coming down that very trail.  I didn’t want to spend another night in the emergency room.

Plus for some reason I was pretty freaked walking in the fog, maybe the dogs sensed my unease or maybe they were a little freaked too, because they stayed really close.

I kept to the trails I was comfortable with and we enjoyed a half hour walk.

That’s Sampson running ahead, Delilah was right by my side.

 

After about a half hour, we headed home and while I was changing my clothes the dogs got their zoomies on, after which Sampson took a nap.

I’m trying to sleep here.

 

With his vest on. 🙂

I love this dog.

What kind of things does your dog do that makes you smile?

What Do You Think?

By

A couple of weekends ago Hubby and I took Sampson and Delilah up to the field/trails at the top of the street.

As we entered the field we noticed a bone. Not an animal bone, one of those white bones that are stuffed with processed peanut butter or cheese.  (I fill these with pumpkin and applesauce and freeze them for treats for the dogs.)

A small stuffed bone to keep Delilah occupied while Sampson goes to the vet.

 

The discovery caused me to stop and think for a minute, Delilah had discovered a bone in the field a week or so before.

This particular bone still had stuff inside it.

I can’t imagine what’s inside it.

 

Hubby picked it up and tossed it into the woods.  We continued our walk

I said, I wouldn’t have tossed it, I would have taken it to the garbage can and thrown it out.

Why? He asked.

It makes me suspicious, who would let their dog bring a bone to the field, and a stuffed bone at that?  What if it’s been poisoned?   There are supposedly coyotes and fisher cats in these woods, maybe someone is trying to get rid of them.  There are certainly people in this world that are capable of that.

You’re right, Hubby said.

When we got back to the field he went into the woods and found the bone, he threw it in the trash can on our way out of the park.

This past weekend during our walk on the trails, Hubby and Sampson were in front of Delilah and me.  I saw Sampson deviate slightly into the woods and heard Hubby say, Leave it.

What is it? I asked.

Part of a stuffed toy, but it could be bait, you never know.  There are some sick people in this world.

Do you notice things like this?  Do they make you suspicious, or is it just me with my writer’s imagination?

Have you ordered your Dogs of Blogville Calendar yet?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...