Heart Like a Dog

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

Dodge Dog

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One of the things I’ve been struggling with regarding Sampson’s ACL injury is trying to give him the care he needs, while not letting Delilah feel too neglected.  Many is the time I’ve had to push her away to insure she doesn’t step on Sampson’s bad leg.   Or I’ve been busy with him and can’t give her the attention she’s been seeking.  And that makes me feel very badly.

Luckily I think spring has finally made her way to the northeast, and I’ve been trying to take advantage of the nicer weather to get Delilah out for a walk.

Yesterday my mom came and sat with Sampson so Delilah and I could get out and enjoy almost 60 degree weather.   Typically I let Delilah choose our walk.  We start out with her in the lead and whichever way she turns, I follow.  Of course there are times when I encourage her away from a situation I’m uncertain of, which is how we found ourselves playing Dodge Dog yesterday.

As we were making our way into our favorite park, I noticed an animal moving in the distance.   I pulled my camera out just in case it was a deer, but upon closer inspection it looked like a black lab.  I could hear a woman shouting for it, so I directed Delilah onto one of the side trails.

As I huffed and puffed behind her up the hill, my eyes kept straying to the path I’d seen the dog on.  Within a minute the off-leash dog was joined by another off-leash dog and shortly after that a woman followed.  They headed into the soccer field.  I knew I’d have to keep my eyes sharp if I was going to prevent my leashed dog from encountering the off-leash dogs.

The good thing was, Delilah had not seen the dogs so she wasn’t on the lookout for them.  But I was.  And not being able to anticipate which trail (if any) they would choose, I kept my eyes sharp.  Sure enough as we approached the field from the other direction, I noticed the black dog, in the field.   I contemplated a trail that would take us along side the field, but thought that might be pushing my luck.  So we turned around and headed back the way we had come.

As it turned out, our walk was a bit longer than I had planned, but it was a nice day and we managed to avoid an encounter with the off-leash dogs.

What is Dodge Dog? Are you setting me up for something? Is that why you are making me sit, in the dirt no less?

What is Dodge Dog? Are you setting me up for something? Is that why you are making me sit in the dirt?  You have no Dogcorum, dirt is not for sitting, it’s for digging.  Sheesh Mama.

Winter Wonderland

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Last week Sampson, Delilah and I were lucky enough to take a walk during a snowfall.  I love walking with my dogs in the woods when it’s snowing.  There is something so peaceful and beautiful about falling snow.

Winter Walk 1 The trees are blanketed in winter white and the outside world is muffled to our ears.

Winter Walk 2

I love watching the dogs enjoy the snow.  Because all of the good smells aren’t right on the surface, they have a tendency to bury their noses, which makes for some really cute photos.

Like this one.

Winter Walk 3 Sampson with a ‘soul patch.’

Or this one.

Winter Walk 4 Delilah with a frosted nose.

The only thing about freshly fallen snow I don’t like, is that it fades too fast.  Within a day the snow is all marked up with foot prints and dirt.

Snow is best enjoyed fresh.  Have you ever had the wonderful experience of walking in freshly fallen snow?  Those of you who get snow, do your dogs like it or not?  For those of you who don’t what types of walks do your dogs prefer?

A Visit to Risley Park

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Hubby and I had lots of time off over the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.  (I hope you did as well.)  Because of all the time off I was able to coerce Hubby into exploring a number of hiking areas all within a five minute drive from our house.

One of these places was a local reservoir that I refer to as Risley Pond, apparently it has been renamed Risley Park but it’s still got some nice trails that meander around the reservoir and there is a trail that leads up the mountain to a tower.

Risley Pond 6

During this particular visit we decided to stay on the lower trails and not attempt the tower paths.

Risley pond 1

Delilah of course had to be on leash, but Sampson was able to be a trail blazer.  A role he has relished from his very first hike.  He absolutely adores being outside running through the woods.

Risley Pond 2

We encountered a small group of men and teenagers who were working on building some bridges over areas where little streams run down from the mountains and feed the reservoir.  Sampson had to greet them and practically dragged Hubby through the stream, but Delilah could have cared less.  Of course it was impossible to get a photo of both dogs looking at the camera.  The small bridges are a great improvement, the last time we hiked here there were only rocks that were used as stepping stones to cross the brooks.

The trails start off on one side of the reservoir and wind their way behind it, when you come out on the other side, you need to navigate a small stream with rocks.  Delilah proved she was up for the job.

Risley Pond 3

Once we crossed the stream and climbed a small hill the reservoir was in plain view.  It had small bits of ice on the surface of the water, but Delilah didn’t care.  She wanted in!

Risley Pond 4

She saw a stick out in the water and was determined to retrieve it, but sadly dogs are not allowed in the water. 🙁  I’m not sure I would have let her in anyway because it was really cold!

Risley Pond 5

She had to be content with walking along the retaining wall which holds the reservoir back.

Many people use this park to walk, jog, snow shoe, cross country ski, fish, ice skate etc.  There are few benches scattered about the park for the fishermen, or the people who just want to sit and grab a bit of the wild beauty that exists there.

Risley Pond 7

And some dogs like it too.

Do you have a favorite park that offers all these recreational activities?  Do you have a Daring Delilah who likes to rock the boat?

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