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morning run:
Xmul
Hazel
Mega
Lex
Amber
Petey
Steve McQueen
Tori
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. My foot was finally good enough to go; I wanted to take the whole tribe but Zoot once again did not cooperate and I didn't want to waste any more time screwing around. Xmul was on the hook everywhere except around the swimming hole and on the beach; she was good when she was off but we did see a single person on doce as we were crossing it coming home from the tortuga sign and Xmul barked her head off at him while on the leash. Otherwise not a peep from anyone and they all had fun and behaved themselves. I put Amber on the other end of the leash with Xmul on the way home to keep her from bolting ahead in the last ~100m. The bugs were hideous on the way back.
GRADE: A
refugee roundup:
Pupple*
(1)
I saw a pathetic little shape in the middle of the road under the shade of the tree in Nicole and Marie's front yard as I was pedaling my trike towards town. It was very hot and I could see she was very little; I had just left home and was already questioning the wisdom of going to town in the heat. When I got close enough for her to see me she started doing a pathetic little victory dance as though the calvary had arrived and I guess it had... I scooped her up into the trike and turned around to take her home. She can't use her front left paw much (yet) and she's tiny and itchy but she seems otherwise alright. No clear winning name has suggested itself yet.
GRADE: A (why not)
morning walk:
Zasu
Henry
Tito
Reggie
Monkey
(5)
Roni took this crew out into the heat and bugs for a brisk walk; this is only really possible without Miles, who always dominates the walk and sets the pace with his infernal dawdling. Today was a good day not to dawdle: the heat was already unreal at 8am and the bugs were beyond unreal. They went all the way to the end of the dead goat trail and back and obviously at quite a clip. Lucy went out with them to start with but didn't feel like it, turned around and came right back before they had even gone around the bend. Probably wise. Everyone who went did well and Roni deserves a freaking medal.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Both of my feet are still recovering from injuries and a run was simply impossible but puppy.liebling is no problem. Tori was manageable but I've taken to being much more proactive in managing her when we go out with Greta like this - she's just too enthusiastic. In the water she's easy since she never wants to get out. Greta yet again showed what a strong swimmer she's become and did really well. Good girls.
GRADE: A
morning beach dash:
Lily
Stella
Daisy
Twiggy
MoMo
Linda
Hazel
Tori
(8)
Up the beach past the tortuga sign, back into the monte and home: ~3k. Just a bit of fun on a Saturday morning; we struck north until just past the tortuga sign; I saw people on the beach up in front of Au Soleil Couchant so instead of heading all the way there I turned around and we went home via the monte. The bugs were insanely bad but everyone had fun and kept the pace up.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
What a good girl.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Bette
Monkey
(7)
Roni took this crew for a walk down to the alt. land bridge just as it was starting to get hot; by the time they were coming home the sun was indeed in full-blown HOT mode. There were flamingos between the land bridges again today, some them right on the alt. land bridge so she didn't let anyone cross. The bugs were bad but perhaps not as bad as they have been at this hour - still bad enough for Roni to cut a switch to ward them off with. Miles got carried across doce heading out and Tito requested special curb-side service on the way home... do they know how cute that is?
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
They both had fun. The bugs were terrible.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Blue
Posey
Truman
Elewah
Molly
Mega
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. This is a fast group; Ginger is the slowest one and she can still kick my ass over any given 100m stretch. We left late and it was not my intention to go the full hidden trail, but just to the beach at Au Soleil Couchant. When we got to the intersection with the A.S.C. road Posey pantomimed as though to take off north on the dog-leg that leads to the source of the hidden trail - she was saying "C'MON, DAD, LET'S GO!". We had kept a high pace to that point but of course my cardio is beyond question (*cough* okay Beardo if you say so *cough*) so I figured "why not" and we all took off north... it's only one extra kilometer, right? Right. The monte spat us out onto the beach in a black, angry cloud of bugs and we all jumped into the water to get away from them but they hounded us the whole way south. Some combination of the high pace, heat and (blood loss due to) bugs had me gassed and hurting as we crossed doce heading away from the tortuga sign and my cardio was very much in question, as there were 1.5km and a world of bugs between us and home. I decided to take the slightly shorter way around the edge of the charcos north of the dead goat trail; the bugs are worse but it cuts off at least 300m and that sounded good to me. I put Mega on the hook before we reached the dead goat trail both because I was sure I wouldn't be able to run him down if he did something in the last 500m and he also gave me a little boost by pulling on the leash (I know, pathetic). Elewah was a good girl and came home straight to the gate. Everyone did really well.
GRADE: A
morning dash:
Eve
Rita
Chester
Rufus
Jack
Twiggy
Hazel
Tori
(8)
Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant, back south to the tortuga sign and home via the monte: ~4k. Got a late start so I didn't want to go for too long and Chester probably shouldn't go too far anyway. We left via the beach with Rufus on the hook and everyone was really good; Rufus calmed down quickly and I let him off just past the HoJo. We ran hard all the way to Au Soleil Couchant with many breaks for swimming, especially on the way back south. At one point heading south on the beach a fairly large school of tiny silver fish seemed to be tagging along with us; dozens of them jumped out of the water repeatedly as they chased our shadows in the shallows. The bugs were terrible in the monte so I tried to keep the pace up once we crossed the road. We went the long way because I wanted to scope out where the flamingos are in the nearby charcos; we saw about two dozen spread out between the two land bridges. I had Rufus and Hazel on either end of the leash coming home in case we ran into any strays, since there are a lot around right now; we saw no people or dogs anywhere and this group was well-behaved but it's better to play it safe sometimes. The bugs chased us home with a vengeance but everyone had a good time on a shorty anyway.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
What an angel.
GRADE: A
early afternoon swim:
Tori
(1)
Roni went swimming and brought Tori out halfway through for some fun in the water... since for Tori WATER = FUN this is not hard. The only problem is that without another dog to play with in the water Tori just wanted to be with Roni the whole time; she had to FORCE Tori to swim and play little tricks on her (diving underneath her) to create space for actual swimming. I didn't realize this because I've always had her out with other dogs, so she's always interested in playing with them instead of just grabbing on to me... we'll have to work with her a bit on that. Still it was pretty damned cute and Tori obviously had a blast, since just BEING in the water is by definition fun to her.
GRADE: A
morning beach dash:
Lucy
Shirley
Linda
Daisy
Tori
(5)
To the beach at the tortuga sign and home via the monte: ~3k. Shirley really needed to get out and we think she's up for a jog/walk so long as it isn't too long or too fast so I took her with these four up the beach with Shirley on the leash the whole way. There have been a lot of doggie shenanigans nearby of late (a stray in heat by the looks of it) but we saw no dogs on this outing. There was a lone dude out at the wooden shack north of the dead goat trail as we were coming home south but otherwise we so nobody. Everyone behaved themselves and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Good girl puppy.liebling.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Reggie
Gowron
Frankie
Amber
Petey
Steve McQueen
Xmul
Tori
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. The only problem on this run was Xmul; I was stupid enough to let her off the leash before we got to the swimming hole and she rewarded me by being a complete asshole to two kids on a moto who appeared east of the intersection. Not only did she bark incessantly, she did not let me grab her and put her on the leash; I had to trick her a few meters to the north, after she embarrassed me and made us all look like idiots. Xmul is like Stella - neither of them can really be trusted. They're only good when there's no reason to be bad and are willful jerks when they feel like it; we'll have to work on Xmul's issues with motos and vehicles in general but she can't be allowed to bark people on runs or walks so it's the leash for her. Everyone else on the run was perfect except for Amber at the very end, who pulled another mad-dash-home-and-then-hide-in-the-bushes routine at the shrimpery. I would've had her on the leash coming home but I wanted Reggie on the other end of the leash because of his recent history of misbehavior within ~300m of home, and I already had Xmul on the hook. It was not a big deal but a little annoying.
GRADE: B
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
What a good girl.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Tori was highly excited and Greta suffered her with dignity. Tori now wants a "ride" out on every "lap" and will happily sit on my head to get it; I can't imagine what it must look like from the shore. It wasn't as long of a swim as last time but it was long enough and every bit is obviously helping Greta.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Osita
Rufus
Elewah
Lily
Jack
Hazel
(8)
Hidden trail: ~8k. I was thinking we'd do the southern charcos again but instead I took us north instead of south where the Au Soleil Couchant road runs into that "T" intersection to avoid a moto that was coming up behind us; Elewah has been a good girl the last few runs but I still am wary with her around motos and anyway what's the difference - the hidden trail is nice too and the beach is deserted these days because the tabanos make it so unpleasant to hang out. Rufus was an idiot at the gate and ripped my shirt before we had gotten 10m; he settled down well enough in a couple of kilometers but it was irritating. Elewah, Lily and Jack were almost comically happy at being out together and had a blast with Rufus everywhere. Hazel was still doing loop-de-loops and playing little pranks on the other dogs as we passed the wood shack on the way home; she swam a lot on the beach and in all the major charcos and had a good time. I left Elewah alone at the end and although I did have to go get her because she went north to the next block to check things out she has gotten a lot better about coming home with everyone else. All in all a good run.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
George
Tuesday
Ernie
Maggie
Ziggy
Bosha
Twiggy
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Maggie and Alice lagged a bit on the way home but otherwise everyone did well. Ernie was really up for it and was on point most of the way; the route out to the north was really flooded due to yesterday's rain so it was tougher going than normal but everyone had a blast in the overflowing charcos. Tuesday was on the leash the whole way; I thought about letting her off near the swimming hole but she was already giving me sideways glances and I didn't want to have a nice run turn into a Tuesday run-down. It was buggy, especially at the end when Maggie and Alice wanted to screw around more than keep up. Bosha did really well again and seems to like runs of this length or shorter.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Bette
Archie
Linda
(8)
Roni took this crew out into the bugs and the heat for a walk around the dead goat trail and environs. I thought the clouds that rolled home with me would make it a bit cooler but they burned off just long enough to really heat it up for a while. Archie was a bit of an ass early; he can be willful and sneaky and has to be watched (rolling in filth is his specialty) but it is the combination of his speed and Miles' dawdling that can really drive you nuts... and get you bug-bit. Roni said she got behind Miles a couple of times to make him run ahead but he's just incredibly stubborn and Likes To Do Things His Way Damnit. Lucy and Linda jumped in some filthy water and looked very proud of themselves.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
The water was a bit shallow but once you got past the shore it was at least up past my hips so that works well for Greta. She is a trooper and an angel.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Posey
Godzilla
Chester
Molly
Daisy
Xmul
Lex
Tori
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. This group was really good; I had Xmul on the leash out of the gate and for the first few kilometers but I let her off for quite a stretch in the middle of the run and she was good. My plan was to take the land bridge out but as we were nearing the intersection closest to it I saw a small, black dog dart out by the salt piles and take off across the land bridge; I think it might be the dog we almost ran across a few runs ago but I didn't get as good a look. None of my charges saw it so I redirected us down the dirty road and we took the alt. land bridge instead, went to the swimming hole and looped back around south on the palapa road. I thought I would avoid the land bridge on the way back as well and take the serpentine home but when I got within 100m of it I saw the way there was thick with flamingos; they must've taken refuge from the storm blowing in there or something because there were hundreds in our path. I took us the normal way home instead after thinking about it; that little black dog would surely be gone by now and it was starting to rain on us. There was also a little thunder as we were getting near home but everyone was good and brave and stuck with me. There was a lone cluster of salt workers trying to get a salt loader going in the light rain as we headed north on the main road and all the dogs were excellent; I had Xmul on the leash and everyone else followed along. The reaction of the salt-workers to seeing us was fairly hysterical - many of them jumped up onto their salt pile in surprise and dismay while a couple who had seen me and the dogs running before laughed heartily at their overblown response; the dogs didn't care and didn't react to the screaming. Good group.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Good girls.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Rita
Eve
Truman
MoMo
Mega
Petey
Steve McQueen
Zoot*
Tori
(9)
Hidden trail: ~8k. Zoot didn't even make it across doce - he pulled up at the corner and obviously had got The Fear... he ran around me and back to the gate, so I turned around, let him back in and took off after the other eight who were all waiting sweetly for me on the trail and at the shrimpery. I don't know what's up with Zoot. I thought he would be braver with some of his brothers along and he seemed really up for it but sometimes he just gets too scared. I'll try taking him with Lex next time... Zoot, Lex and Amber should be a winning team, no? Everyone else was really great. From the moment we hit the beach north of Au Soleil Couchant until we went back into the monte at the tortuga sign Petey's only thought was chasing butterflies; he's such a lunatic and yet a deserted beach awash in butterflies turns him into a pup again. I put Tori on the leash for a spell in the beginning to reign her in a little and I had Mega on the leash from the tortuga sign until we got home to keep him from leading his brothers too far ahead. We seemed alone in the monte.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Her cardio is getting better - it takes longer in the water to get her breathing heavily and she swims faster than she used to. What a trooper.
GRADE: A
morning beach dash:
Gowron
Rufus
Bosha
Linda
Xmul
Tori
(6)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant and back: ~4k. Rufus always has to be on the leash when we leave the house. It doesn't matter whether we leave on the beach or on the road he's just too crazed at the beginning; being on the leash calms him down and gives him focus. We left today with Xmul on the leash (also necessary) but not Rufus and he plagued me with crazy barking all the way past the HoJo; next time they will both be on the leash and it will be easier. Despite his antics at the start everyone was really good; PupG did charge up towards the HoJo but she broke it off more or less when I told her to... she's a pain in the ass. She also swam like a lunatic and ran with that crazy pirate attitude of hers the whole way. Bosha was her usual comical self but she did keep up and have a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Archie
Elewah
Jack
Hazel
Zoot*
Amber
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Zoot left with us but got The Fear right past the shrimpery on the coco trail heading out; I tried to coax him along but he would have none of it, turned tail and bolted for home. I thought he would be okay to get home and would just wait by the gate until noticed, which is exactly what he did; I should've thrown Lex in, he would've made Zoot braver. The rest of us carried on and had a nice run on the now-usual route to the swimming hole and the beach. The bugs were noticeable but not as bad as they have been recently. Archie has a limp a couple of hours afterwards; we need to have him checked over and see if there's anything serious... he showed no signs of having any problem on the run, only after he's cooled down at home. Elewah was really good and came home by herself as she has been recently; I'm still a bit wary when we're near the road because of her inclination to chase vehicles but we'll have to see - maybe she's gotten over that.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Tito
Lucy
Bette
Otto
Monkey
(7)
Roni took this crew out into the blazing heat for a walk to the north of the dead goat trail. Given recent misbehavior she thought seven was enough and it worked out well; everyone behaved themselves and had fun.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
I used the short black leash on Tori to keep her in check initially and a little in the water; she immediately shaped up about horsing around too much with Greta. I think Greta would like horsing around if her hips didn't bother her so much but she's too limpy to play like that and Tori has to knock it off. They were both great in the water and swam a lot.
GRADE: A
morning beach dash:
Rufus
Bosha
Twiggy
Luna
Xmul
Tori
(6)
Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant and back again: ~4k. This trip was a little less crazed than the last one; PupG really got Rufus barking like a madman last time so I left her home and things went a bit more smoothly. Rufus cut out the barking within the first 100m and I let Xmul off the leash right past the HoJo. Rufus thought about running up there to harass their dogs but I called him and he decided better of it. Bosha is comical on a run but we stopped a lot to swim and she had fun screwing around on the beach. Xmul and Twiggy had a good time together; I had them both on the leash past the soldiers' on the way home... a nice, quick run up and down the beach.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry*
Tito
Lucy*
Blue*
Bette
Monkey
(8)
Roni took this crew out for a walk and it was sort of all over the place. Most of them were good but the ones that were bad were very bad. Blue ran ahead immediately all the way to the decomposing dog in the drainage ditch and ran back to greet Roni on the trail covered in death and filth; she got yelled at and ended up coming home early on, along with Lucy and followed shortly by Henry (which I didn't realize for a while). I had to give Blue a proper bath to get the stench off of her. Henry insisted on screwing around in the road while Roni was trying to get going, I'm not sure why he decided to come home early. All of the misbehavior cast a pall over the walk; some real clouds would've been more welcome as it was incredibly hot already. Roni ended up taking the ones that stuck with her on a decent walk considering the scorching heat but all of the shenanigans were aggravating.
GRADE: X
morning run:
Osita
Chester
Reggie
Tuesday
Molly
Lily
Daisy
Luna
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Tori was out of her mind and has been good; we have consciously been getting her out a lot since she got here because we feel she has a lot to make up for but it is also the case that she's not even a year old and has an unbelievable amount of energy. There was nobody in the monte and everyone had a blast. I had Tuesday on the whole way because she got a little paranoid with me near the swimming hole last time she went; she was good and I didn't detect any paranoia at all this time. Osita thought about bolting for home right past the shrimpery; I saw her turn around and called her back to me and she was good to go from then on - who knows what goes on with her sometimes. Everyone else was really up for it and had a blast in the monte and on the beach.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
She swam a ton. What an angel.
GRADE: A
morning beach dash:
Frijolita
Gowron
Rufus
Jack
Xmul
Linda
Amber
Tori
(8)
Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant: ~5k. We left on the beach with Xmul on the leash and ran all the way to Au Soleil Couchant, turned around on the beach and came home via the monte at the tortuga sign. Xmul was off the leash most of the time on the beach; I put her back on at the tortuga sign and I put Amber on the other end of the leash right before we got to the coco trail to keep her honest. Frijolita led the charge on a couple minor misdemeanors: running up to the HoJo and taunting the dogs in their yard, checking out the decomposing dog corpse in the drainage ditch on the way home; neither thing was a big deal although I will not have her off the leash on the beach in front of the HoJo again anytime soon. Otherwise everyone was perfect and had a blast on a high-paced shorty.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Tori had just gone for a run/swim so I left her in and took Greta out by herself. She enjoyed this and swam a ton. Good girl.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Eve
George
Frankie
Ernie
Maggie
Ziggy
Monkey
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~6k (maybe 7k but probably not, have to look): I threw Eve in at the last minute even though that brought us to nine because she's so good and she really wanted to go... in reality I should consider Tori the ninth dog since she goes so often. Maggie lagged a little towards the end and Alice and George screwed around a lot sniffing stuff but overall this was a good group. Everyone swam as much as they could and stayed together. Tori was out of her mind on the coco trail heading out and ran the entire distance before she finally turned around to come back to me when I called her all the way at the other end; this did not make me happy so I put her on the leash there and a couple of other times and called her name a lot to keep her honest. No harm no foul and she shaped up after a few hundred meters on the leash.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Blue
Bette
Otto
(8)
Roni took this group out into the monte for a walk north of the dead goat trail. Lucy ignored her and went back to jump into the filthy water in the drainage ditch at the end of the coco trail on the way home; especially irritating since she had managed to keep all of the dogs out of that ditch the whole way until that point. The bugs were bad but not as bad as they have been and everyone looked proud of themselves when they got home.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Molly
Daisy
Xmul
Mega
Petey
Steve McQueen
Hazel
(8)
Southern charcos: ~8k. Everyone was really up for this today. Since we haven't done a southern route in a while I thought I'd check it out over there; the salt workers have been hitting those charcos pretty heavily for months now and I had a feeling they have started moving farther to the north. This turned out to be correct: there was nobody around. The only person we ran into was on the way home at the bush with the blue bag on it that marks the turn west to get to the charcos north of the dead goat trail (thus the "blue bag" trail). Steve barked once and stopped when I told him to; Xmul also piped up once but I had her on the leash and she shut up quickly. On the way out I let Xmul off the leash when we were far to the south because I could see there was nobody working in any of those charcos as far as the eye could see. I left her off until we got to the Au Soleil Couchant road and let her off again just before the swimming hole; I only put her back on as we were getting close to the tortuga crossroads. I did all of that in part to test her to see if she danced away from me or gave me any trouble getting her back on the leash after I let her off and she was perfect every time. Other than a tiny bit of barking there was no misbehavior of any kind and the pace was high the whole way.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Tori was excited because she didn't go on the run but she tired herself out in the water a bit; she now basically climbs on my head / shoulder to catch a ride with Greta on the way out almost every time. I made her get off the bus and swim around a bit a couple of times just to make her work a little more. The ocean is nice now but the tabanos are incredible; they made our position from the very first lap and seemed to do nothing but dive-bomb us from then on with reinforcements arriving constantly (I killed a few and it was fairly gruesome because they're so big). Even so Greta had a good time and the swimming is definitely helping her lose weight.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
Tori
(2)
Tori was out of her mind but I did a better job of managing her and keeping her from climbing all over Greta in the water so Greta was happier. They both swam a lot.
GRADE: A
morning jaunt:
Gowron
Rufus
Tori
(3)
The idea was to bring Rufus out onto the beach to play in the water. The problem was that he was out of his mind with excitement and would not stop barking. He got PupG barking as well so I put him on the hook and ran up the beach to just past the bend north of the HoJo; by that point Rufus had calmed down but now the problem was that Tori REALLY likes Rufus and had gotten herself into a state so she wouldn't lay off of him. I put Tori on the leash and all was well on the sprint back south: I kept Tori from jumping all over Rufus and Rufus and PupG had a good time jumping into the water and tear-assing home. Maybe I should just bring Rufus out on the beach by himself for a few mornings in a row and work with him on not barking so much and swimming in front of the house; he shouldn't be so conditioned to assume that we're going to sprint north when he goes out on the beach and he has to cut out the crazy barking.
GRADE: B (too much the crazy)
