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morning run:
Alice
Ginger
George
Chester
Blue
Maggie
Twiggy
Hazel
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Maggie recently had a haircut (Roni kicks ass) and this energized her; it's so hot and muggy now that being a poodly, hairy, chubby, short dog must really suck. The xmul has been high and thick everywhere so I've been loathe to take the little hairy ones out into the monte but she was really up for it so what the hell - with short hair it's a bit easier for her and she really kept up today. Alice seemed a little slow to me at times but then caught up and was obviously having a good time; sometimes I think she has a limp but then I look again and there's no sign of it. Ginger had no limp and was quite speedy in stretches. Everyone else was really good and kept together. I had to put Tori on the leash at the shrimpery after she cut my legs out from under me roughhousing with Hazel but I let her off within 1km and she was fine after that. The ocean was warm, shallow and a little muddy but at least it didn't stink.
GRADE: A
morning security patrol:
Tori
Murci
(2)
Some time in the last three days someone attempted to destroy and/or remove one of the metal doors we just had installed at the shrimpery a week ago; I saw it on my way home from the run yesterday. Today I went down there with a couple helpers to look more closely at what happened and to take pictures of it. We're pretty pissed off about it. Tori and Murci were great anyway and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Osita
Posey
Gowron
Rufus
Lily
Xmul
Daisy
Tori
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. Roni suggested I take Rufus since he had been so disappointed the last time he didn't go; normally I leave with him on the leash but I had Xmul as well and normally SHE is on the leash. Instead of the usual routine we left the gate with nobody on the leash; this allowed me to haul ass with everyone instead of screwing around with whoever was on the hook. We arrived at the shrimpery more or less together and I put Xmul on there; Rufus was a little excited but he calmed down quickly enough and was a good boy for the rest of the run. The land "bridge" is completely under water now - if you didn't know it was there you'd think that road just dead-ends in a charco. We crossed there anyway, which everyone enjoyed, and took the usual southern route into the monte; all the major roads and trails in the monte are flooded in at least one place, most of them in several... there's no way to get anything but a moto in there from almost any direction now. There were a lot of flamingos in all the charcos so I kept Xmul on the leash for the most part but I did let her off a little to horse around in the water with everyone. Lily and Daisy were in each others' faces a little early but I was verbally harsh with them for a little bit and they settled down. Everyone did well and had a good time, although I'm sad to report that Rufus has a limp now after the run (front right).
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
What an angel.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Rita
Tuesday
Frankie
Linda
Mega
Petey
Amber
Steve McQueen
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. I threw Rita in as #9 because she really put herself forward; she's suffering so much from her allergy treatments that any little bit of fun or distraction from that must be welcome and she does like to run and swim. The charcos are also not so salty right now - there's been a lot of rain and the monte doesn't stink so much, nor does the water. Tuesday slipped her collar at the gate but was a good girl and let me put her back on near the shrimpery. We went out the alt. land bridge, which is at least half under water right now, and came home via the charcos to the north of the dead goat trail - I heard a salt loader running up on the road and wanted to avoid it. I put Amber on the other end of the leash just before we got to the tortuga sign on the beach heading south; Amber was fine with it but Tuesday made it clear she would rather not have that little ruffian connected to her by a rope (or anything else). Still, we persevered and everyone kept together and slogged it out through those charcos; the bugs were pretty bad in spots so we just kept moving. The beach was not quite as nasty today as it was yesterday - some of the churned up gunk must've settled because you could see through the water a little now. Linda distinguished herself as a trooper and was in front quite a lot of the run in spite of being little; she hung around with Amber a lot. The humidity was oppressive; it was overcast and the air felt thick to the point where it almost seemed hard to breathe sometimes, especially on the last leg home. All in all a good run.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
It was muddy and the bottom was full of gas pockets - not exactly inviting but at least it didn't stink. Greta swam a lot. Good girl.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Ginger
George
Otto
Ernie
Molly
Ziggy
Twiggy
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the monte: ~6k. We skipped the swimming hole today - Alice was lagging quite a bit in stretches and the humidity was obviously affecting everyone else as well. The ocean was really churned up but Tori, Twiggy and Ziggy were always game to go in and Alice did a bit of swimming as well. Everyone behaved themselves really well and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Bette
Archie
Monkey
Bosha
(9)
Roni has been laid up with a foot injury and we have both been exhausted on top of that; today the weather didn't seem as bad in the morning so I took the usual walking crew out with a few additions. I carried Miles across doce both ways, the first time to keep him honest and the second time to fish him out of the high weeds and get us away from the bugs. Archie had a blast on a walk; he's had limps after runs recently so we thought a walk would be better. He ran ahead and around in general quite a bit so we'll see if a limp results. Bosha did well; she had no aggressive/paranoid outbursts at all, even in the yard getting ready to go when she usually freaks out at least once. Once on the walk she really had fun and seemed to pal around with Tito. The bugs definitely chased us home but everyone had a nice time.
GRADE: A
morning run
Gracie
Posey
Truman
Frijolita
Eve
Elewah
Molly
MoMo
Tori
(9)
Hidden trail: ~8k. I thought we might run the northern charcos but there were so many flamingos to the east when we got to the turn for the hidden trail that I decided to head west to the beach instead. I had Tori on the leash in the beginning, from the shrimpery to the alt. land bridge; she just has to be reminded that the leash exists and she seems to listen a little better. Otherwise everyone was off and had a great time. It was a bit overcast and not so awfully hot. The bugs were starting to get more noticeable by the end. We went around the charcos north of the dead goat trail and used the road and the little path down to the wooden shack - everyone has grown to expect that we go that way and likes the little bit of hilly terrain.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Angel.
morning beach dash:
Rita
Gowron
Rufus
Jack
Daisy
Linda
Amber
Tori
(8)
Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant and back: ~4k. We left with Rufus on the leash and kept a crazed pace almost the whole way to the tortuga sign; I gave them lots of chances to swim from there up to Au Soleil Couchant and back. Once we were south of the tortuga sign heading home Jack got a bug up his ass about Amber for some reason; she has been behaving a little strangely lately so maybe it wasn't all his fault but he definitely turned his ears off and chased her a little too seriously for her liking. She ended up freaking out and bolting towards home much too fast for any of us to catch her; she arrived several minutes before the rest of us. Jack eventually returned to me and I put him on the leash... however strange Amber's behavior he still should've listened to me. Tori was also a little willful on the way home and insisted on running up to the soldiers' dogs and saying hi, when I told her not to - she got put on the other end of the leash for that and I'll need to be mindful of that when I have her out. All the misbehavior was a little crappy but otherwise everyone had fun and ran their asses off on a windy, rainy day. The sky spit on us for most of the run but nobody seemed to mind much.
GRADE: B
morning run:
Osita
Chester
Reggie
Twiggy
Luna
Xmul
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Injuries, weather and ornery circumstances have precluded outings for a couple of days; nonetheless it was not that difficult to get everyone together, sorted and calmed down. It was a fast group. I let Xmul off the leash right at the swimming hole (after I was sure there was nothing for her to chase) and put her back on before we got to the road; she was also off on the beach for a stretch but I don't like her attitude sometimes when we're leaving the beach so I put her back on the leash early. The bugs were bad in spots but not as bad as they have been. Everyone listened, although Osita is still a little paranoid and hangs back for stretches until I reassure her to come and catch up. She's allowed to be weird and is a good girl regardless. Steve was extremely happy to go running with Reggie, who was really funny in spots. Maybe I can trick Zoot into a similar group soon.
GRADE: A
mid-day security patrol:
Alice
Lucy
Tori
(3)
There were strangers at the shrimpery yesterday; the owner showed up unexpectedly with a gaggle of "engineers" that were considering restarting the shrimp farm sometime in the nebulous future. I went down there while they were around but I had to get back so I asked Adan (owner) to lock the gate; I was not sure that he had done it so I went down on a bike with these three troopers to make sure nothing was out of place. We ended up doing a loop around the cow pasture the short way just because they were all being so good and thought chasing me around on the bike was fun; the bugs were absolutely awful starting on the dirty road and they followed us all the way home.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Blue
Gowron
Ernie
Ziggy
Stella
Linda
Lex
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Otto*
Shirley*
Truman*
Twiggy*
(13)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. I left with the first nine; Stella was on the leash until the swimming hole and everyone else was really good. I let Stella off the leash around the swimming hole and left her off until we got to the tortuga sign, where we were greeted by Otto. I knew that something must be up but I saw no other dogs down the beach; I now know that there were some dogs down there but they were probably up in the bushes or otherwise not visible to me there. After running into Otto I really wanted to get home fast so we cut across the charcos to the north of the wooden shack instead of going around; while in those charcos we picked up Truman, Twiggy and Shirley. I had been making more noise than usual to attract any other dogs of ours in the monte since it seemed likely if Otto was out there were others. Keeping 13 of them on track and focused on getting home was a challenge but we managed, with Stella on the hook and Lex on the other end of the leash. The nine I left with were good the whole way and the four we picked up on the way home were also good coming home with us, whatever else their crimes were.
GRADE: A (if only because we were clueless)
morning dogmageddon:
Daisy
Murci
Luna
MoMo
Xmul
Lily
Amber
Rufus*
Jack*
Frijolita*
Molly**
(11)
After I left Roni opened the beach side of the porch; the gate onto the beach must have not been shut completely and we didn't notice because she saw a large group of them rush out. She went out onto the beach to round them up and got many to come in with her or soon after; in the process she really smashed her toe on a concrete block in the yard. Many of our dogs were angels and didn't even try to go out; most of the ones who did came back on their own in a couple of minutes. By the time I got home Roni had recovered everyone but the ones with stars after their names. After I got my swollen group back in the yard I went out on the beach to the north and rounded up Rufus, Frijolita and Jack, so effectively I ran 7+2=9k with a total of 17 dogs - must be some kind of record. Roni dealt with the majority of the chaos quickly in spite of being injured... kind of funny to note that Murci did bolt out but then wanted no part of the larger world and came back quickly on her own. Molly was the last one; we were still taking census and trying to assure ourselves that we had everyone when she came up to the road-side gate. Although the whole debacle should not have happened I should note that yesterday there was a stray bitch in heat dragging a large group of males (some of them all the way from town - I recognized them) all around our house; I know it still smells of her around here because my group this morning told me so quite plainly. Our dogs were really great in spite of the insane and deeply disturbing noise and spectacle all around us but they have definitely been on edge, so it isn't surprising they were a bit loony today. It's been a long time since something like this has happened and now we're both pretty drained.
morning run:
Ginger
Posey
Tuesday
Frankie
Molly
Boscha
Daisy
Luna
Tori
(9)
To swimming hole and home via the monte: ~6k. Ginger had a bit of a limp by the time we go to the swimming hole (looked like front right shoulder) so I cut it short and came home via the monte; she hasn't had a limp in a couple of runs but she is getting older and running on the beach is harder if you're hurting. I really wanted to get Boscha out so I sneaked her onto this outing; she and Ginger definitely don't like the higher pace that the rest of the dogs would've normally kept so I was at pains to keep everyone together. It was overcast and slightly cooler and everyone was glad of it. Everyone was good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Eve
Rita
Gowron
Rufus
Lily
Jack
Lex
Petey
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Exactly the same route as yesterday. This group was great on the road but it was hell getting out of the gate. Rufus busted through the eastern "wall" of the screened porch when Roni released him from the cage prior to take-off: he was insanely wound up and I really had to work to get him on the leash and calmed down enough to open the gate. The fact that Lily and Gowron were both barking their heads off while we tried to manage this whole process did not help and it was several minutes before I finally had my charges under control and silent enough to leave; as it was I had to hold Rufus by the collar while everyone else left because I didn't want him pulling any stupid shenanigans while I closed the gate. Once we were finally going everyone calmed down quickly and the rest of the run was good. Rita is really suffering from her allergy treatments but she was still up for a run and more or less begged me to throw her into the mix; at least her spirits are up and she enjoys herself on outings. I put Lex on the hook once we were on the trail home to the north (just past the wooden shack) because he frequently bolts once we get on the coco trail and I wanted everyone to stay together. The bugs were bad in spots but not hideous as they have been at times recently. We kept a fast pace and everyone enjoyed themselves.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Osita
Chester
Ernie
Elewah
Daisy
Twiggy
Mega
Hazel
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. We've both been feeling worn out recently; August was miserable and the hideously humid, still weather has coasted into September, which doesn't help at all. Today was the first day in the last three I felt good enough in the morning to go for a run so there were a lot of crazed pups raring to go. I threw Chester in at the last minute because he was really wound up and is always good; moreover he's a good influence on younger dogs. It was wet and slippery on a lot of the roads but we still kept a fast pace. I put Tori on the leash at the shrimpery on the way out just to get her attention and slow her down a little at the start. I had Mega and Hazel on either end of the leash coming home on the coco trail. Elewah was a good girl the whole way and came home with all of us straight to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Good girl.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Godzilla
Truman
Frijolita
MoMo
Xmul
Amber
Tori
(8)
Northern charcos: ~8k. Ginger didn't feel like it this morning; it was damp and overcast and since she has occasionally had a limp recently I prefer she bail on her own like that than making her come and having her bail on me out there. We took the route as though we were going to the long and winding road but then cut east and south across the northern charcos to come out on the road just west of no man's land; all the charcos are flooded now so it looks quite a bit different than the last time we were out there. Xmul was on the leash the whole way and I put Amber on the other end after we crossed the alt. land bridge on the way home. Everyone was really good and up for this one; the pace was high and we saw nothing but flamingos and other waterfowl, of which there were plenty everywhere.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Blue
Rita
George
Otto
Gowron
Ernie
Molly
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. Everyone left off of the leash but I put Tori on at the shirmpery and had her on for several stretches, including both times we crossed doce. She listened well off the leash as well but there was not much reason to misbehave on this run; we saw no people or dogs, only flamingos and other waterfowl, none of which gave us a second thought. It's overcast and slightly cooler today; it must've rained hard during the night because there was evidence of it all around in the monte. The swimming hole was flooded to overflowing, every charco was swollen and anything loose on the trees was obviously knocked off. The temperature had everyone happy, since most of this group are older and don't like the heat; this resulted in more of a romp than a run but they were all together and with me the whole way. George and Alice did well and Rita had a good time in spite of her terrible suffering from allergies; the treatments she's getting are really rough on her but her enthusiasm for a run or a walk has not dimmed. Neither Otto nor Ernie showed any signs of a limp.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Henry
Lucy
Tito
Bette
Monkey
Linda
Murci
(8)
Roni took this crew out for a walk around the cow pasture. Murci decided that Bette was the coolest dog on the walk and hung with her the whole way... pretty cute. Linda came home with many leaves of that sticky plant embedded in her coat and obviously had a good time getting them there. It got really hot towards the end as the clouds burned off and everyone looked pretty glad to get home.
GRADE: A
