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morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Posey
Truman
Elewah
Xmul
Amber
Tori
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. Everyone was up for this to say the least; we left with Xmul on the leash and pretty much did not stop until we got to the tortuga road (went via the charcos to the north). We kept this pace up the whole way. After we got past the intersection and were heading towards the swimming hole I let Xmul off the leash and let her stay off until we were almost to the beach on the hidden trail. I let her off again on the beach when I was sure there was nobody around and put her back on for good just before we went back into the monte at the tortuga sign. Everyone was really good until the very end when Amber disappeared just as we were making the turn onto our trail. There is a decomposing dog corpse in the drainage ditch just to the south of where our trail comes out near the shrimpery; I didn't know this when we left but Gracie showed it to me (by rolling in it) on the way out so I thought maybe she was screwing around there. I got everyone else back in the yard and went out to look for her. While I was out she came up to the southern fence just near the sumidero and Roni scooped her up over the fence; in the end I got an extra 500m run in the bugs... at least nobody can question my cardio. Except for Amber's strange lapse at the end everyone was perfect.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Daisy
Twiggy
Xmul*
Hazel
Tori
(5)
To the beach at the tortuga sign and home: ~3k. Guy brought Xmul to the beach in front of our house early this morning; I went out with the other four and we all said our goodbyes. It was my intention to go north up the beach for a sprint but there was a gaggle of walkers having some kind of meeting at the soldiers' so I went into the monte via the south road instead to get behind them at the tortuga sign. They had dispersed by the time we arrived in front of the soldiers' coming home on the beach. I had Xmul on the entire way and Twigs as well at the end. I had to go get Hazel out of the ocean (a bit of nasty fish) but otherwise everyone was good. Xmul is happy and getting along well with everyone now.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Otto
Archie
Rufus
Lily
Jack
Luna
Lex
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. The bugs were outrageous so we stopped as little as possible and kept the pace up. We went out the northern way, cut over to the "blue bag" trail and then went back south to the intersection to get to the swimming hole. When we got to the Au Soleil Couchant road everyone was so happy and up for it that I figured we might as well. Rufus was really pretty good at the gate and I let him off the leash early. There was no misbehavior of any kind and everyone had a blast in spite of the bugs.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
We didn't go for as long as we have been in part because Tori was out of her mind; the bugs were also bad. Still puppy.liebschen did well and Tori was her usual crazy self in the water.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Xmul*
Twiggy
MoMo
Bosha
Linda
Tori
(6)
It just hasn't been working out for runs this week so far for one reason or another but there have been lots of walks. This was the second Xmul acclimatization walk before she comes back to us early Saturday. I took more or less the same crew as last walk to give Xmul more quality time with her #1 frienemy, Twigs; I would've thrown Luna in to boot but it was too much to manage. Xmul threw her usual hissy fit for the first 100m but then once we let her and Twigs off the leash they were both fine the rest of the way. Tori was a good girl throughout and didn't care about Xmul and Twiggy's little drama. Everyone had a good time and swam a lot. The bugs were pretty bad in spots as there wasn't much wind.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Bette
Godzilla
Rita
Gowron
(9)
Roni took this group out for a walk with the bugs, which were the worst of all between doce and our house: go figure. It was more than the usual quorum but so many good girls wanted to go and we lost count. They were exemplary, waiting for Roni to cross doce with her both ways and behaving well in general.
GRADE: A++
morning swims:
Zasu
Greta
Tori
(3)
I took Greta and Tori out and put on another episode of the Greta and Tori Show: I haul puppy.liebling out into the water and Tori swims out like a lunatic and perches on my shoulder until I get sufficiently far out and then the hounds are released and everyone makes a mad swim for the shore while tabanos dive-bomb us. Roni came out with Zasu about halfway through and took some pictures as Tori pounced on her and darted back into the water a few times. Zasu even dipped her toes into the water on her own.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Xmul*
Twiggy
Bosha
Linda
Tori
(5)
Guy has to go back to Montreal suddenly so he will be leaving Xmul with us this Friday; it's a shame but Roni and I also miss her so it will be nice to have her around for a few months before Marie and Nicole get back. In preparation for her return we're doing our acclimatization walks program again, but accelerated: today and Thursday. Roni went out and gave Xmul some hugs while I was getting my four together and then I went out and headed north a bit with Guy and Xmul. It took Xmul about 10min to get over her initial hissy fit at seeing Twigs again; they were both on the leash to start with but once past the soldiers' we let them off and they were fine. We went past Au Soleil Couchant a bit but not as far as the palm tree. On the way back we passed a couple with a small poodly dog heading north; Guy had Xmul on the leash and I put Tori and Twigs on either end of my leash and everyone was fine. Good girls one and all.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Blue
Chester
Frankie
Daisy
Mega
Zoot
Steve McQueen
Tori
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. This was a great group; I only used the leash to keep the pace down a bit in the beginning (Tori) and at the end (Mega). The monte was entirely devoid of people, almost eerily so; it was not crushingly hot or particularly buggy so I was a bit surprised there weren't a ton of salt workers out there early before it gets intolerable but it wasn't the case. Everyone had a blast and listened well.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Back on track after a couple of days off. We did some extra laps in spite of the damned tabanos, who were dive-bombing us with wild abandon towards the end. Greta is definitely losing weight and she doesn't have a limp after a swim. What a good and patient girl.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Lucy
Osita
Shirley
Ziggy
Molly
Maggie
Bosha
Linda
(8)
I took this crew out for a walk on the northern loop: out north past the wooden shack to the blue bag trail and home south on the road to the dead goat intersection and the coco trail. Everyone really behaved themselves and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Tori caught a ride on top of my shoulder on the way out each lap this time but I kicked her off several times to make her swim in circles around us while I got Greta into position. Tori couldn't care less, she just loves to be in the water; she never left it the whole time we were out. Greta was a trooper and tolerated her shenanigans better than you might expect - I don't think there's a dog here that doesn't like Tori. They both had fun in spite of the tabanos. Good girls.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Rita
Reggie
Ernie
Daisy
Twiggy
Amber
Hazel
Tori
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. This is the best route for dogs that shouldn't go on a really long one. Ernie was fine after the last run he went on but today he has a bit of a limp a couple of hours after the run; the last time was the same route so perhaps he should go on a couple of walks or even shorter runs instead. I saw a little black dog hauling ass about ~200m ahead of us going west on the Au Soleil Couchant road as we werre going to the beach; none of my charges saw so I called them all to me and gave them water in a bend in the road to give the little thing a chance to get farther away from us. I also made some noise as we continued down that road so that it could hear us if it was near. I put Amber on the leash there to keep the pace down and everyone together but let her off on the beach where we saw no sign of the black dog. I put Amber back on the leash at the shrimpery to keep us together close to home but I should've put Reggie instead; Amber has been a good girl recently and Reggie has a history of turning his ears off inside the last ~300m to home. Sure enough as we were nearing doce (together) I saw that same black dog heading furtively south down the road towards town, looking about nervously. I thought Amber on the leash was enough and I held us back a few seconds for good measure but just as we were crossing doce Reggie must've seen the dog and took off south after it, dragging Tori, Twiggy and eventually Ernie with him; perhaps this is when Ernie injured himself as he is not built for speed. Reggie finally turned around down towards the turn to Kikis' house and everyone came back with him except for Twigs, whom I had to go get off of the beach. It was a great run with no misbehavior at all until that point; even so no harm was done and it just reaffirms the fact that Reggie needs to be on the leash close to home.
GRADE: B
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Tori never left the water and insisted on catching a "ride" out with Greta a couple of times by hanging off of my shoulder. Greta tolerated her hijinx and did well. Good girls.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Eve
Tuesday
Gowron
Elewah
Mega
Petey
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. We left with Tuesday on the leash but I decided to let her off just as we hit the charcos north of the wooden shack north of the dead goat trail; she rewarded me with excellent behavior and obviously had a blast all the way to the swimming hole. As we started north from there I noted a little bit of hang-dog/paranoid attitude so I put her back on at the first opportunity; that was pretty good for her and I want to continue to do that. I don't know if she'll ever really get over whatever it is that makes her feel that way but I love her and want her to have fun and the fact is she is one of our fastest dogs and loves running with Eve and Elewah and Mega. I didn't want to be gone too long so I skipped the hidden trail and hit the beach at Au Soleil Couchant where everyone had fun swimming. On the way home Elewah made it clear to me that she didn't want me to scoop her up and that she would behave all the way to the gate. She had several opportunities on this run to chase motos and otherwise be a jerk and she chose not to so I decided to leave her be and she did not disappoint me. Ginger was frequently bringing up the rear but only because she was always into something; she and Gracie frequently pal around and hatch little plots behind my back. All in all everyone was great and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
I made her swim a lot farther than we have recently and she did well.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
It is truly awful outside right now for large stretches of the day. The flies and the mosquitoes are bad everywhere and the tabanos (horse flies) are insane on the beach. Greta is a real trooper and even though I don't think she's too fond of swimming she likes the attention and she seems to understand what we're doing out there. I wish I could get her to swim out to me and not have to drag her out but no matter - she is an angel and she's losing weight. Good girl Greta.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Truman
Rufus
Jack
Lily
Molly
Mo
Tori
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. We went via the swimming hole after cutting north from the dead goat trail. We left with nobody on the leash but Rufus was out of his mind in the first 100m so I put him on the leash before we were past the shrimpery and he stayed on until he calmed down; he really cannot control his excitement and needs the leash to remind him what's going on. Everyone on this run behaved themselves well. We ran into vehicles and people and there was not a hint of misbehavior. The bugs were terrible but we kept a decent pace and jumped in lots of puddles (well, the dogs did). The ocean was nice but the tabanos were horrible; everyone swam a lot on the way to the tortuga sign. It felt like we brought a cloud of bugs back with us that slammed into the screens downstairs as we scampered for cover but maybe it was just me (I do occasionally scamper).
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Tito
Lucy
Bette
Blue
Monkey
(8)
Roni bravely took this crew out into the bugs; she said she thought maybe the had died down a bit since I got back from the run but they still own the monte most of the time during this part of the year. Miles was not so much of a jerk and everyone did well crossing the road and had a nice time in general.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
I know it's the last trip out when the tabanos finally have a fix on us and follow us out no matter how far I drag Greta into the ocean; they are diabolical and Greta is an angel.
GRADE: A
morning swims:
Greta
Bette
(2)
Calm out but really buggy. They are troopers and angels and both did well.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Frijolita
Godzilla
George
Otto
Archie
Ernie
Tori
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. We left reasonably early but the bugs were already hammering us whenever we stopped by the time we got to the tortuga crossroads on the way out. Tori showed me she understands what "hold up" means every time I told her to hold up, which I did often to keep her honest; she's learning quickly but I still put her on the leash sometimes just for balance. We ran into many salt workers on motos on their way to work as we were heading towards the beach on the Au Soleil Couchant road and everyone was perfect. We also ran into a large group of fishermen with two boats in the middle of a big net-fishing exercise on beach right at Au Soleil Couchant; once again our dogs were perfect but I put Tori on the leash until we were past them mainly to show the fishermen that I was in control (a foreign concept to them). I watched Archie and Ernie carefully throughout because they've both had problems with limps after runs etc.; both did very well, showed no signs of lagging or limping and in fact were really up for it. We'll see how they are in a couple of hours. On another note: there was a stray pup stuck in one of the big concrete tank structures on the corner at the shrimpery last night; I went up there and left a board as a ramp for it to try and get out when we realized what the noise was all about (making ours howl) but she didn't use it and was still there this morning on our way out. I ended up going back after the run and getting her out; she was not interested in using a ramp at all so I had to coax her into trusting me and then picked her up and put her on the lip of the tank. Once I showed her where the stairs were she trotted off towards the soldiers' where I'm pretty sure her pack-mates hang out. We think she's the offspring of the little black and white female that has been hanging around at the soldiers' and elsewhere on the beach. I doubt she'll repeat that stunt as it was highly unpleasant (the bugs are unreal over there).
GRADE: A
mid-day swims:
Greta
Gowron
Tori
(3)
I took Greta out first for a fairly long swim; the water was calm and reasonably deep and although the bugs were bad I took her far enough out to give us some relief some of the time. She was, of course, a trooper. Next I took PupG and Tori out for a little horsing around in the water; Tori swam almost the entire time and PupG nearly so. Good girls one and all.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Stella
Lily
Daisy
Twiggy
Luna
Amber
Petey
Hazel
(8)
To the beach via the swimming hole: ~7k. We went out the dead goat trail but skipped the turn to the north because there were already salt workers there; instead we went the old way to the tortuga crossroads, where there were salt workers as well (probably from the same group). I took us back south through the intersection, to the swimming hole and to the beach at Au Soleil Couchant, avoiding all of the salt workers on the way home by taking the road south on the other side of the near charcos to the cut-over and the alt. land bridge. Stella was on the leash for most of the run; I let her off before the swimming hole but put her back on on the Au Soleil Couchant road because she was already lagging and screwing around. The monte exhaled us onto the beach at Au Soleil Couchant in a cloud of mosquitoes, which clung to us for most of the way to the tortuga sign. Mudo brought his boat up on the beach just south of us as we were heading that way and we all said hi; the dogs thought the boat was neat and everyone behaved themselves. You can see the grass is starting to grow in all of the trails and the bugs are starting to get worse in the monte as fresh water from recent rain sits in puddles everywhere. As long as you keep a decent pace it isn't too bad when it's a bit overcast like today. Good group.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Osita
Rita
Frankie
Ernie
Ziggy
Maggie
Bosha
Linda
Tori*
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~6k. I left with the first eight and nobody on the leash. Ernie hasn't gone on a run for a while because we thought his hips or his joints were bothering him; he's been on diet food and has lost a little weight so I thought I'd try him on a short one with some of the others that typically go on shorties. Tori rocketed past us just as we were reaching the shrimpery on the way out. At the time I thought "wow, Roni must be pissed" because I assumed that Tori had pulled one of her insane maneuvers to get off of the porch and had jumped the gate. It was not practical to turn everyone around so I put Tori on the leash and we carried on to the north. I let her off to swim on the beach and in general she was a good girl, as she usually is on runs, but she is clearly our #1 escape artist now. When we got home I found that Roni didn't realize Tori had gotten out. She had been locked in the cage on the porch when I left and Roni had been very careful to wait until I had been gone a couple of minutes before letting her out - usually this is enough but somehow today she got off the porch and out of the yard and we are still scratching our heads as to how she did it. There's no sign that she pushed her way off of the porch; we've just redone almost the whole thing recently and there are no places where a dog can push out. She might've sneaked out somehow when Roni opened the porch door to let Greta in but it seems highly unlikely. She might've pushed the road-side door on the porch out far enough to get off but then it would've been obvious that she had done so. She obviously got over both the launchpad door and the metal gate extremely quickly to catch me that soon after I left. From now on she obviously has to stay in the cage or a crate when one of us leaves on a walk or a run but maybe we'll stick a camera on the porch and try to get her to show us how the hell she did it just for our own sanity. Regardless of all of that it was a nice short run with a lot of swimming on an overcast morning; the bugs were pretty bad by the time we were coming home.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
The bugs were pretty bad but the ocean was nice and calm and Greta really needs to go whenever it is not stormy. What an angel.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Tito
Lucy
Bette
Gowron
Monkey
(8)
Roni ventured out into the bugosphere with this crew while it was at least still somewhat overcast and thus not crushingly hot. She was intrepid enough to wear shorts and was rewarded with a brand-new pair of mosquito knee-socks on the trail to the shrimpery - just her size, too. As long as they were moving at a reasonable pace the bugs didn't seem so bad but whenever there was a stoppage in play the bugs asserted themselves with extreme prejudice. Still she took them to the first big charco to the north of the dead goat trail for some quality horsing-around time and everyone had a blast.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Blue
Eve
Elewah
Rufus
Jack
Tori
(8)
Southern charcos: ~8k. We left with Rufus on the leash but I let him off around the ~1km mark and he was a good boy after that. Everyone was really up for this and we left early enough that it wasn't too awful outside yet; the bugs were starting to really get bad on the way home so we were motivated to keep the pace up. Tori had a blast in every charco we passed as usual - she especially enjoyed the swimming hole which is still full to overflowing. There were very few people out in the deep monte but some salt workers relatively close and everyone was good about it.
GRADE: A
Day 13 of our DSL outage
morning run:
Posey
Truman
Frijolita
Chester
Otto
Reggie
Molly
Mega
(8)
Southern charcos: ~8k. We went out the land bridge and came home via the blue-bag trail to the charcos just to the north of the dead goat trail (there's a blue plastic bag stuck in a tree marking the spot on the road where that trial splits off to the west). There were salt workers in several spots along the way and the dogs were all good about it. It started raining on us not quite 3k from home on the Au Soleil Couchant road heading west; nobody seemed to mind much but I picked up the pace and took us home via the back trails to get under some cover once in a while. The bugs were noticeable in spots but at least it wasn't crushingly hot. Mega did well and had fun running with Posey and Truman. Reggie was his usual exuberant self and Otto kept up well and had a good time.
GRADE: A
Day 11 of our DSL outage
morning run:
Godzilla
Gowron
Daisy
Luna
Petey
Lex
Amber
Tori
(8)
To the swimming hole the long way: ~7k. Friday I went to Mérida to cuss out a manager about our DSL/phone outage in what turned out to be an all-day affair, Saturday the remnants of hurricane Barbara hammered us repeatedly and Sunday Roni and I cleaned up and spent the whole day shoring up our storm defenses for rainy season, which caught us less prepared than we might like. Today was the first day it made sense at all to consider taking some dogs out for a peek at the monte, or as Tori might call it: TORI FUN WATER PLACE!!!!! Any puddle is her playground and today the charcos were all full to overflowing from the torrential downpours of Friday and Saturday. Our usual way out was almost up to my knees for ~300m or so but no matter, nobody minded - especially Tori and PupG, who swam at every opportunity on this run. We took the parallel access road to Au Soleil Couchant via the back trails, hit the swimming hole, looped back north from the intersection to avoid the triangular intersection where we ran into strays and dead chickens and ducked over to the charcos to the north by means of the little trail that goes from the road to the little wooden shack. Everywhere we went there was ample opportunity for aquatic hijinx. I had to put Tori on the leash about halfway through the run because she was too enthusiastic, too far ahead and not listening as well as I wanted her to. She is definitely getting the hang of this whole LETS GO RUNNING DAD!! routine and needs some discipline on every run to reign her in; still, it's hard to get mad at her given what she's been through and how big a change it must be to go from being stuck on a roof forever to living with a big pack of friendly dogs and going out for running and swimming. Everyone else was stellar. Amber got a little freaked out by an oncoming truck at one point on the Au Soleil Couchant road but I called her and she came over to me and let me pick her up and hold her while it went past so she didn't get stuck on the wrong side of it. The bugs were noticeable near the end and are obviously going to get cranked up in intensity now.
GRADE: A
