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morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Eve
Posey
Chester
Elewah
Stella
(7)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. I miscounted and thought I had eight when I only had seven; right out of the gate we ran into people on doce (construction workers and their extended family walking south to town) so it probably wasn't a terrible coincidence that I had less dogs than usual. In the case of the people on the road our dogs just ran by them (Ginger thought about barking at them); Stella was on the leash the entire way so I didn't have to worry about her. When I got to the shrimpery and realized I only had seven I felt bad that I hadn't thrown Archie or someone else in but by the end of the run I was glad I hadn't. I was considering running the hidden trail but by the time we got to the turn north of the swimming hole it was getting hot and late and I thought it was a better idea to head for the beach. At the tortuga sign we ran into a loose dog; I'm not sure if it was a stray or not because it looked in good shape. Three of mine gave chase and said hi over in the brush but there were no hostilities and the other dog obviously made off east into the monte. I gathered mine together and we headed off cautiously, only to find two more strays on the other side of doce near the first charco just to the south of the road. They took off and this time I kept mine close to me verbally; Ginger followed them the farthest but one of them took off in the woods and the other swam away in the charco so I got us together and was now not so unhappy about only having seven. We got home without further incident. Just as we came in the gate Roni told me there were several dogs on the beach right in front of the house heading south and I'm sure the dogs we saw were with them. They all look well fed and reasonably cared for so it seems unlikely they are just strays but neither of us saw any people in attendance so who knows. We kept a high pace and everyone acquitted themselves fairly well.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Osita
Tuesday
Gowron
Lily
Daisy
Linda
Luna
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. Tuesday was off the hook at the swimming hole and environs but otherwise I left her on. I started to notice her giving me that paranoid look as we began to head north from the Au Soleil Couchant road so that nixed any ideas of letting her off the leash from that point on. Still she was a good girl and it doesn't seem as bad as it used to be; she definitely ran with a will and had a good time. Linda had an incredible number of xmuls in her coat when we got home and a couple flamingos did take off when we got near but other than that no missteps - I didn't have to put anyone on the other end of the leash. The bugs were not as bad as I thought they'd be today.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Blue
Molly
Monkey
Lex
Amber
Petey
Steve McQueen
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~5k. I took the short route again with Petey and so far it seems to have worked out. We kept a very high pace and I had Molly on the hook the majority of the time with Amber on the second leash almost as much. I let them off when we were nearing the beach and put them on at the tortuga sign but they both gave me trouble doing so - shying away, not listening, etc. It was a bit of a pain to get them both on the leash and get everyone moving in the same direction once we came off of the beach but finally we did and all was well. There were lots of flamingos but I kept the ones off of the leash in check with my voice and everyone behaved themselves.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Reggie
Linda
(7)
Roni took this crew down to the usual spot during flamingo season. There was a lot of larking around in the charcos and Linda swore she could catch a flamingo but nobody believed her (including the flamingos). Miles kept a good pace, Reggie was his usual angelic self and Linda has a bunch of that nasty, sticky plant wedged in her fur. Zasu rolled in the mud a lot. Everyone was happy.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Bette
Greta
(2)
Both angels.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Rita
George
Ernie
Frankie
Maggie
Ziggy
Twiggy
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. In light of his most recent outing Ernie left on the leash and was only off of it from the swimming hole to the tortuga sign, where there's almost no chance of seeing flamingos. He was a good boy throughout but I really didn't give him any other options. Frankie ran off to investigate some salt workers as we were heading home on the tortuga road and was a lot later getting back to me than her companions, who just sniffed around and ran back. I was irritated enough with her that I put her on the other end of the leash from there until we got home. I let Ernie off when we had already crossed doce and were only 50m from home and put Twigs on instead so she wasn't tempted to check out the construction site. There were a lot of flamingos in the near charcos and out to the east past the intersection; none were harassed by us. Alice and George lagged a little at times but Maggie (sporting her crazy new hair-do) was really up for it and didn't lag at all.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Posey
Gowron
Rufus
Lily
Jack
Mo
Xmul
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. To avoid flamingos and their haunts we took the extra-long way out the parallel access road and then east into the monte on the Au Soleil Couchant access road instead of going to the swimming hole; even so we saw a lot of flamingos in all the charcos we passed by and everyone was good for the most part. Posey and Lily do tend to run ahead but they didn't harass so I just kept them with me verbally and didn't use the leash. As it was leaving with Xmul and Rufus on the leash is trying enough - I am getting better at managing it but it requires a lot of concentration. I let Rufus off at the tortuga crossroads but Xmul was on all the way until we crossed doce and got onto the hidden trail proper; I let her off briefly on the trail that cuts north to get to the hidden trail but then I remembered she's a jerk about flamingos so I put her right back on. She was off on the beach and she was a good girl throughout. It was overcast and mercifully cool this morning but there were still a lot of bugs in parts of the monte; we had some light rain yesterday so I expect it will be that way for a while yet. Good, high-paced run.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Eve
Osita
Truman
Chester
Archie
Elewah
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. I decided not to go the extra ~1km to the hidden trail because it was getting late; nobody seemed to mind. I didn't have to use the leash once in spite of there being a lot of flamingos in the nearby charcos. We went to the swimming hole the long way and there were flamingos in every charco along the way. The monte is starting to dry out a little since we haven't had a serious rain in at least a week; the swimming hole is still deep enough to swim in and everyone enjoyed it. We kept a high pace and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Blue
Frijolita
Linda
(8)
Roni took this crew almost to the alt. land bridge but turned around when she saw flamingos right there. Roni kept everyone moving and unaware of the flamingos and everyone also behaved well when they did see them. For the most part everyone is more into jumping into the various swimming holes / mud puddles and sniffing around for wild poo anyway. The bugs were not as bad as they have been but the heat was getting up there by the time they made it back. Linda had a bunch of that sticky plant on her face and looked very proud of herself; she also did not bolt for the ocean and came to the gate like she's supposed to.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Shirley
Greta
Bette
(3)
I took Shirley out more for a walk/swim than a plain old swim because she really doesn't enjoy just swimming and desperately wants to chase lizards. We walked briskly to the HoJo, going into the water to swim at intervals; otherwise I let her nose around in the low scrub on the beach and that made her happy. She still swam a fair amount. Next Greta swam as much as she ever has and looked good doing it. Finally Bette came out and chased me around in the water a bunch. I also walked on the beach a bit with her but she enjoys the water a lot more than Shirley so we didn't walk as far north.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Monkey
Daisy
Mega
Lex
Zoot
Petey
Amber
Steve McQueen
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant the short way: ~5k. We left late on a cloudy day. I haven't been feeling well recently and am still dragging a bit so I didn't want to go far. We know Petey has a hip problem but he really needed to get out so I thought I would try a short one with him; he does run around a lot in the yard without ill effect so perhaps a short run with an interval of swimming might be okay. Thusfar it appears to have worked out. I'm writing this a couple hours after we went and he still doesn't have a limp. Zoot finally got it together and decided he would come along. Getting sterilized probably helped some as did the presence of all of his peeps. I put Mega on as soon as I could catch him in the first km and left him on until we got to the beach to keep the pace down (actually he came to me when I called him but he's so fast it feels like that). Everyone swam like lunatics and ran with gusto. We did see some flamingos and they did take off when they saw the tribe on two occasions but there was no harassment involved. Everybody was glad to see the gate and come in when we got home.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Osita
Reggie
Ziggy
Molly
Lily
Jack
Twiggy
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. We went the long way to avoid most of the flamingos and it worked out well. I had Molly on the leash from the beginning and for the majority of the run; I put Lily on the other end of the leash right at the ~1km mark because of the flamingos in the near charcos and she was good about it. Since I don't want them really going anywhere near flamingos in general I put Lily on a couple of times during the run to keep her honest; she does need a reminder every once in a while but she's a good girl. Molly did well when she was off the leash but I was really on top of her; we did see a couple of vehicles and she did not behave like an idiot, so that's something. Everyone else did well on a high-paced run.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Blue
Rita
Posey
Gowron
Rufus
Daisy
Xmul
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. Today was as good as yesterday was awful. Getting out of the gate with Xmul and Rufus had a high degree of difficulty but it was mostly getting those two leashed and everyone settled down a bit before we left. Roni got the gate behind me because there was no way I could possibly turn around once we left and I took two leashes instead of just one because there was really no other way. Knowing that there were surely flamingos close by I deliberately chose the other six dogs so there would be no problems and they came through - we saw a lot of flamingos and not one was harassed. Rufus and Xmul pulling together meant that my feet hardly touched the ground for the first ~2km but Rufus really does calm down quickly and I was just being paranoid about the rest. Xmul showed me that she would definitely chase flamingos if I let her off the leash so she was barely off this time; only right at the swimming hole and on the beach. Otherwise everyone was really good and had a good time. It got hot early (shocking) and was almost comically buggy as we were coming home. I put Rufus on again when we turned off of the tortuga crossroads just because I wanted them completely under control; everyone behaved on the trail home, crossed the road with me and was glad to be back.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Ginger
Eve
Frijolita
Chester
Ernie
Elewah
Luna
(8)
Truncated route towards the southern charcos: ~5k. Ernie jumped a flamingo today and I am still angry with him. We were crossing the land-bridge to head south and a flamingo on the other side didn't want to take off for some reason - I suspect it was having some kind of problem. All of the other dogs listened to me but Ernie insisted on running across and harassing it; although it appears he did not wound or harm it I'll never really know. It seemed to be swimming away in the charco normally when I went back to see if I could help it; I had already put Ernie on the leash and made it plain to him how unhappy I was with him. He's lucky he came back. Even if he didn't do any harm to the creature the fact that he ignored me is inexcusable; if I can't trust him after this many years then maybe I'll just never be able to trust him. In any event he will not leave the house off the leash again. I tried to continue on the run once I had everyone together but there were just too many flamingos in that direction and even with Ernie on the leash I just didn't want to chance it... honestly I was also just extremely disheartened. I turned us back north on the terreno federal road, went to the intersection via the secret path and came home.
GRADE: F
morning swims:
Greta
Bette
(2)
Angels.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Blue
George
Ziggy
Lily
Mo
Amber
Lex
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. There were flamingos everywhere this morning; at every turn when heading out on the dirty road there were flamingos hanging out in the little coves and corners of that charco, out in the charcos past the intersection there were flamingos and I could see them in the next group of charcos over as we turned north. I wasn't expecting them to be where they were and Lily got the better of me early on so I had her on the hook for a bit at the beginning and the end to remind her... no damage done, and honestly I doubt any of our dogs is capable of even getting near to one of them but I just don't like to see them harassed at all. I'm sure the salt workers are a lot less worried about it than I am but there's nothing I can do about that. Other than startling some large waterfowl early on this was a quiet run. We left a little late and it was plenty hot and buggy but even George didn't seem to mind too much. Everyone swam with gusto at the swimming hole and in the ocean and followed the rules.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Greta
Otto
Bette
(3)
All angels, but I must note that Otto had a limp a few hours after he went out. He will go to see the vet as soon as she's back in town.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Osita
Gowron
Molly
Monkey
Xmul
Mega
Steve McQueen
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. I tried leaving with Molly off of the leash and it worked out well; she stayed off for the majority of the run, with Xmul on the leash as usual (off at the swimming hole and on the beach). I put Molly on the other end with Xmul for the short stretch from the swimming hole to the road but I let her off once we were heading north towards the hidden trail. It helped that there were no people around but still Molly did well. I put her on the other end of the leash when we got to the shrimpery on the way home just to make sure she wasn't an idiot and she was good about it. Everyone else was good. Mega spent a little time on the other end of the leash on the actual hidden trail to keep him from bolting for the beach but otherwise everyone ran well and had a good time in the flooded, buggy monte.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Lucy
Frijolita
Shirley
Maggie
Bosha
Buddy
Petey
(7)
I took this crew out for a walk around the cow pasture the long way. I had Shirley on the leash the whole way to keep her from running too much and Bosh on the second leash; I had intended to let Bosha off early but she was a little freaked out today for some reason and I got the strong sense I would regret it if I let her off, so they both stayed on. Combined with Frijolita and Petey running ahead and having to keep Buddy in mind this made for a challenging walk; the bugs helped us keep the pace up. Everyone really did have a good time and Buddy ended up not needing my help once, a first.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Tito
Blue
Reggie
Lily
(7)
Roni took this group out shortly after I got back. We did not get a late start but it really got hot early today, like it has for the past few days. Reggie pulled a crazy exit manoeuvre as they were leaving the gate and crushed Roni's right calf against a pointy part of the gate which is still hurting her as I write this; he just doesn't know how big he is. That pointy bit of metal has to be covered somehow if only to deal with Reggie's loopy exits. Once out and about everyone had a good time. Lily spent a little time on the leash early just to keep her honest (there are flamingos around). A nice walk in a hot, buggy time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Truman
Gowron
Frankie
Ernie
Ziggy
Stella
Daisy
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~6k. We took the shorter way this time so as not to take too long; I've been tired lately and this is plenty long for everyone to get their ya-yas out. Stella was on the leash for the whole thing except for one stretch from the tortuga crossroads to where the fish-eye in the parallel access road ends; naturally she ended up tear-assing much too far ahead and turning her ears off when we got onto that road and once again I was reminded why she is always on the leash. She was pretty good about it for the most part but she does dig her heels in sometimes like Molly. We ran into some locals taking sand right on the beach where the tortuga sign used to be and everyone was perfect: they didn't so much as sniff at the people or their vehicle, followed me around it and we all carried on together. Nice.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Blue
Tito
Reggie
Linda
(8)
Roni took this bunch for a walk down to the alt. land bridge. It was pretty damned hot already even though she left earlier than normal; the last few days have been incredibly hot here even by our standards, and desperately muggy. Linda came back completely covered in large chunks of xmul spines and very proud of herself; Roni and I had to invoke martial law and cut them out of her coat lest she start using them as weapons. Reggie was really jazzed to be on the show and Miles was actually in the lead for a lot of the walk. Nice walk during the most uncomfortable time of the year.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Greta
Otto
Bette
(3)
The little black-and-white dog that looks like she has some humans close by was on the beach a little to the north when Greta and I went out. Greta didn't see her at first but when she did she bluff-charged her and made her run away... must remember that about Greta because there are dogs about now and I usually take her out off the leash. It wasn't serious but just something to remember. Other than that Greta swam like a little mermaid. Otto is never that pleased about swimming but he had a good time anyway. When Bette and I came out I noticed that pair of dogs (brown/orange+white) that has been hanging around a lot watching us cautiously from the brush at the end of the access road to the south. As Bette and I were swimming and walking they slowly inched down onto the beach. Bette did see them at one point and obviously wanted to go say hi but she was quiet about it and not crazed; she forgot about them and continued swimming with me while they sort of crept into the water and did some swimming of their own well to the south. Kind of cute. Everyone swam a lot.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Eve
Rita
Chester
Tuesday
Rufus
Twiggy
Lex
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. This was an eclectic group but it turned out to be good. I left with Rufus on the leash and Tuesday loose because it's Rufus that needs to be forced to focus on running in the first km more than Tuesday. This worked well enough to the shrimpery and I thought I'd switch them there but Rufus was so loud on the coco trail when I let him off and put Tuesday on that I recanted and put Rufus on the other end of the leash before we got to the turn and left them both on until we got past the 1km mark; this turns out to be a pretty good simulation of putting a small horse on the leash - they are both extremely strong and fast. Nonetheless we survived it and I had Rufus loose and Tuesday on the leash until the swimming hole, where I let her off to play and run free for a bit. She was back on by the time we got to the road and I left her on the rest of the way. She got a little paranoid with me on the coco trail coming home but it doesn't seem as bad as it used to be. I put Twigs on the other end of the leash on the trail home to keep her from heading for the beach when we got near the gate. Besides the leash work it was a high-paced run - Tuesday can really move. There were flamingos in the charcos past the intersection heading to the swimming hole but everyone was pretty good about it. Lex is coming into his own and is a good boy on runs with the big dogs.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Osita
Godzilla
Truman
Archie
Elewah
Lily
Luna
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. I was going to go to the southern charcos but when we got near the land bridge I saw that a group of flamingos was completely blocking our path across and didn't want to bother them, so I switched it up and took us north on the dirty road instead. Nobody needed the leash on this run except Lily for a tiny piece just past the intersection; there were yet more flamingos in the charco next to weathertop and she made a half-assed attempt to chase them (they were too far away), so I put her on from there until the swimming hole to remind her. Otherwise everyone was good and had a great time at a high pace.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Lucy
Blue
Gowron
Shirley
Bosha
Buddy
Petey
(7)
I took this crew around the cow pasture the long way. Petey was the real wild-card here; his hip will not let me take him on runs and he isn't really good on the leash at all yet but he has to get out so I thought we'd try a walk. Although he does run around a lot he doesn't run continuously like when we go running and he tends to stick fairly close to his humans so this worked out well (we're watching him for a limp today). He was a good boy; we ran into a bird trapper on the dirty road and he didn't make a peep and kept moving with me. Buddy was great: he didn't get turned around once and obviously had a good time. Shirley about tore my arm out of its socket in the first ~100m but settled down a little. I also had Bosha on a leash because she's unsure when with other dogs that are in high-energy mode... she did well. Everyone else was good and had a good time jumping in puddles and smelling stuff.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Greta
Bette
(2)
Angels.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
George
Maggie
Ziggy
Daisy
Luna
Xmul
Steve McQueen
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. We went the longish route on the way to the swimming hole. Steve is a really good boy on runs - he hardly leaves my right ankle except to tear around and jump in puddles. Alice, George and Maggie were all lagging a little towards the end but Alice took point on the trail home and everyone stayed together pretty well in general. My foot still hurts a bit from when I injured it on Saturday (must've been on the concrete under the water at the tortuga sign); I was therefore also a step slow but everyone was good about not running ahead. We went straight and took the dirty road home on the way back instead of the coco trail, mainly to avoid that awful mud puddle and the culvert that Maggie enjoys so much. I had Xmul and Luna on the hook on the trail home; Xmul was off around the swimming hole and on the beach but on everywhere else.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Greta
Bette
(2)
They were both angels.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Truman
Eve
Ernie
Jack
Molly
Linda
Twiggy
Amber
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. We took the slightly longer route on the way home. It was cloudy and foggy in places; we could not see the pier to the south from the beach at Au Soleil Couchant. Ernie was really fired up and at the head of the pack most of the way; I put him on the leash at the tortuga sign on the way home to keep the pace down a bit. Molly left on the leash but I let her off at the intersection and she was off for most of the run; I put her back on briefly on the Au Soleil Couchant road because the chances of running into a vehicle are higher there, but at this point I think Amber is more of a concern than Molly on that score. I let her off at the beach and didn't put her back on until we got near the shrimpery, where she and Twiggy were on either end of the leash. I scooped Linda up as we were crossing doce on the way home and thought I had the situation well in hand: Twiggy and Linda are the ones who have been screwing around after runs lately and Molly is just a screwball. Naturally, then, it was Truman, Jack and Amber that ran north on our road to check out a neighbor's car in the next block up. Truman came back right away but I had to run up there, scoop Amber up (I had dropped Linda off already) and tell Jack to come with me. It wasn't terribly serious but Amber needs to be watched more on the way home.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Blue
Frijolita
Tito
Lily
(8)
Roni took this crew out for a jaunt around the cow pasture and the alt. land bridge. Carrying Miles the first bit definitely seems to make things start off a bit smoother. Lily needs some work leaving on the leash to cut down in the insane velocity with which she charges off. Lily and Frijolita paled around a lot and Lucy had a good time swimming in her favorite charco. The bugs were bad.
GRADE: A
