20.06.13

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