06.01.12

morning run:
Ginger
Eve
Godzilla
Chester
Rufus
Elewah
Jack
(7)

Long and winding road backwards: ~10k. Rufus was so fired up that I had to physically restrain him for a full 5min at the gate before he calmed down to an acceptable level. We left with him on the hook and I managed to keep him on it while closing the gate. It was early and cold outside; I could barely feel my feet for the first couple of km's. We kept a brisk pace throughout partly due to the cold and partly due to Elewah, who is out of her tiny little mind; she kicked my ass the entire 10k. Once we were out of the yard everyone was excellent until we were just arriving home. The fisherman who walks frequently happened to be about 30m north of us on doce as we were crossing. For some reason that I cannot fathom Rufus decided it would be a fine idea to charge off north in his direction and dragged nearly everyone with him; the fellow naturally grabbed a stick as I yelled for my dogs - I was plenty angry with them and apologised to him at a distance. The dogs realised the error of their ways within a few seconds and ran back to me but the fact that they did it at all really irked me. Rufus is never aggressive or even interested in people normally; we frequently run across gaggles of salt workers who yell stuff and whistle and he doesn't flinch. He wasn't really aggressive but he was overly interested and behaving stupidly and I can see how if you didn't know him you would find it off-putting. The actual run was beautiful and fine; there was nobody out there and the cold made the air feel brilliant all around us. They were all so engaged and we ran like blazes. It sucked to have it all come crashing down to reality in such a stupid way.
GRADE: C

mid-day walk:
Frankie
Stella
(2)

Mark and Lin took the trouble twins out for a long walk on the beach. Everyone was good.
GRADE: A

afternoon walk:
Bette
Archie
(2)

Mark and Lin took them for a long one again... it's nice that they get rewarded sometimes just for being good.
GRADE: A