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morning run:
Gowron
Rufus
Twiggy
MoMo
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(7)
Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant and home in the monte: ~5k. This has to be one of the quickest 5ks we've run in a while; I didn't bother bringing a water bottle so we didn't stop to drink and everyone was really charged up. I had Tori on the leash leaving the gate and left her on until we were well past the soldiers; their dogs gave chase and barked for a bit but we were moving too fast... nice to see the one we got sterilized doing well anyway. We stopped to swim a few times on the beach and then cut into the monte at Au Soleil Couchant. Running on the hard road felt like taking the donut off during batting practice; the sand is really soft on the beach so the same amount of energy had us really moving on the harder surface. We went all the way around to the tortuga crossroads and took the blue bag trail to the coco trail home. I had Tori on the hook and Hazel on the other end of the leash by the time we got to our trail and everyone followed me like ducklings to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Finally there are no people and the ocean isn't incredibly choppy. It gets deep quickly now so I dragged her out extra far each lap and she did well.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Otto
Alice
Archie
Shirley
Ernie
Molly
Monkey
Maggie
Linda
(9)
The day after the last weekend of vacations is usually calm here; it seemed like an opportune time to get the dogs who shouldn't go far out, along with a couple chubbies that need the exercise. We went out the land bridge, across the ridge, back across via the other land bridge and home via the dirty road. All of the land bridges are now high and dry and the charcos are really starting to dry up. The big one which spans the land bridges is still swim-able but not for very much longer; everyone certainly enjoyed swimming in it today from both shores. I had Molly on the leash as we left but let her off early on; she was good and not too much of a nut with the running around. I put her back on as we got close to home, with Ernie on the other end and everyone stayed with me to the gate. Ernie was definitely stiff a couple of hours later; he, Archie and Molly all got meloxicam after the walk and were a bit stiff in the afternoon. They need to get out anyway and it seems to fade the next day for all of them.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Chester
Lily
Daisy
Xmul
Lex
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. Roni was violently ill on Wednesday and we've both been generally tired from having lots of people all around us; this is the last week of vacations for the Easter break in Mexico so there have on occasion been hordes of beach-goers. I tried to get some high-energy dogs out today; I was hoping to grab Mega but it proved impossible so I threw Lex in instead. Xmul was on the leash the whole way and was an angel; I put Hazel on the other end with her after we crossed the alt. land bridge coming home and everyone was good to the gate. We kept a high pace and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Tuesday
Frankie
Bosha
Luna
MoMo
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Tori
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. After Tuesday's last outing it is clear she needs to be on a harness, so that's how we left. She was fine for the first few kilometers but started dragging her heels a little past the halfway point... I think the harness is not comfortable and chafes, so we'll have to look into that because she's going to be on one forever. In spite of all of that I still enjoy her company on a run, even if she sometimes seems to think I'm going to skin her alive; she's fast and fun and whatever issue she might have she's a marvel to behold when we really air it out on long stretches. Bosha was the slowest dog on this run and she did fine; she has no trouble catching up once she remembers which paw goes where and in what order. We skipped the swimming hole on the way north but cut across the narrow berm to reach it on the way back; it isn't much of a swimming hole anymore but nobody seemed to mind. I had to be stern with Hazel near the end of the dirty road coming home because she would not listen and kept running too far ahead. I ended up catching her as we arrived at the gate and I put her in the box for a few minutes to register my displeasure at having been led on a freaking footrace down our trail at the end of a run. She should not do that and needs to be on the leash near home. The great victory of today's run was getting Steve McQueen out. I had to manhandle him into the launchpad but then he was perfectly fine and was literally at my heel the whole way. Everyone else was great and they all had a good time. The monte is drying out now in earnest. The bottoms of all the deeper charcos are lined with the bodies of the little silver fish that die off as the salinity of the water increases. No bugs anywhere.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
Otto
Eve
George
Archie
Shirley
Rufus
Twiggy
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos, short version: ~7k. We took the middle path to the jeep berm and avoided the swimming hole today; it's not much of a swimming hole anymore and Alice especially isn't up for long ones in the heat... she lagged a bit at times but always caught up for a drink of water and then she was fine. Shirley was a maniac but doesn't seem to have a limp afterwards; Archie and Rufus were both a bit stiff hours later but the pace wasn't too high. I put Rufus on one end of the leash and Murci on the other as we were getting near home but otherwise everyone was off the leash. There are more people working in the southern charcos now; it's been a while and the roads have finally dried out to the point where it's easy to get in. We ran into a couple people on motos and Murci was good off the leash. Everyone swam a lot in the nearest charcos, which are the deepest and least salty still. A good time was had by all.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
It was finally not so choppy today and although it was chilly and deep Greta is a trooper managed to have a good time anyway.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Posey
Truman
Frijolita
Blue
Xmul
Lex
Tori
Murci
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. Same route as last two times. Xmul is back with us until October or November; she was really up for this run and had a blast. She was on the leash the whole way except around the swimming hole on the way out, where I let her run around a little once I was sure there was nobody around. Lex was the only one of the.tribe that I could coax out and he had a good time as well; he's a solid little citizen on runs and plays well with everyone. Murci is over her surgery now and this was her first time out since, in spite of which she was stellar: she listened, did well around vehicles and chaos and ran like blazes. Ginger is probably a bit too old to come on runs with so many younger dogs like this - the pace was naturally high and Ginger likes to screw around a lot... still she kept up alright and is full of mischief. Tori was on the other end of the leash with Xmul from the dirty road home, which turned out to be a good thing. We ran into one of the Canadian guys who built a house just south of Marie and Nicole on doce just as we were crossing it on the way home; he and his dog were about 25m from our trail-head to the north. Frijolita, Truman and Murci went over to investigate and say "hi" but listened to me and came back quickly enough. A car was also heading south right there at the same time so I was at pains to keep everyone out of the road and focused on getting home but in the end they all did the right thing. I'm sure it would've been a little more chaotic with either of Xmul or Tori off the leash, but then that's why they're both on the leash coming home.
GRADE: A
incoming:
Xmul*
(1)
Nicole and Marie left Xmul with us this afternoon; they are returning to Canada for six months so our girl comes back to the pack. Roni went out and got her on the beach and it went the most smoothly it has gone since we've been doing this when they came back in. She and Twigs don't seem to light up the fireworks any more and the fact is Xmul is very popular with the packlings.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Reggie
Gowron
Lily
Daisy
Luna
MoMo
Hazel
Tori
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. Same route as the last time north. We left with nobody on the leash but I put Daisy on early for harassing Lily; I had Tori on for a stretch and then at the finish with Hazel on the other end. Everyone's high spirits had them really wound up early but they cleaned their act up when Daisy was on the leash and everyone settled down. PupG acquitted herself with her usual enthusiasm; she was filthy at the end and thankfully threw herself into the deep charco when we crossed the alt. land bridge on the way home. Everyone was up for it and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Henry
Ginger
Bette
Tito
Blue
Monkey
Linda
Roxy
(9)
Roni took this group out for a walk up the coco trail and home via the dirty road, with stops for swimming and horsing around. Roxy kind of crapped on the walk by either screwing around too much behind or shooting too far ahead on her own agenda. If Miles had been along it would have been impossible but as it was it was a pain in spots and at the end when Roxy took off up doce; naturally Tito thought she was inviting him for drinks and went to go with her but was convinced that this is not the way - everyone else stayed with Roni as they should. Roxy is obviously feeling pretty good after her third and final shot of Immiticide (heart-worm treatment); she will get some time in a collar with a leash sometime soon now. She came home a couple of hours after everyone else with a xmul stuck in her paw but happy to be home.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Rita
George
Chester
Archie
Ernie
Rufus
Bosha
Twiggy
(9)
Southern charcos backwards, shorty version: ~6k. Murci has been back from surgery for a couple of days now; the boys have all been whipped into a frenzy for the last couple of weeks and a lot of them shouldn't go on long ones so this seemed like a nice day to get a lot of them out. It was a little chilly so George was really up for it - he likes to run in the cold. We went out across the land bridge, which is still not quite passable for about 10 meters, then took the ridge to the cut-over and the intersection, headed east to the serpentine and took that all the way to the main road in a large loop to the south. I put Rufus on the leash for a couple of stretches at the end and had Ernie on the other end of the leash with him on the final trail home to keep Ernie from running ahead like a jack-ass. Rita's feet hurt her a little but they seem to still be getting better, or at least not worse; she was fine until near the end so I rinsed her feet with water from the bottle and it seemed to help a bit. Ernie and Archie have gotten pills because they'll surely have limps; I kept the pace down but they all still run around a lot and we'll just have to manage the effects. Archie spent a little too much quality time with a certain pile of cow-poop... I can totally believe that he strained something in his elaborate ritual Adoration of The Turd. I had to chase him off of it. Bosha was weird, awkward and enthusiastic the whole way and Twiggy worships George.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Truman
Eve
Frijolita
Osita
Godzilla
Elewah
Hazel
Tori
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. Roni suggested I take Gracie's pups so I tried to get as many out as I could easily round up; Blue was being strange on the porch and I didn't want Rita to go in the salty water because her feet are bothering her. It was relatively easy to get them going with nobody on the leash. Right away Osita started hanging back so I put her on the leash even before we got to the shrimpery and left her on until the swimming hole. She kind of held us up a bit a few points along the way because I felt compelled to stop and go back to reassure her and get her going again. She didn't seem to have any problem with the run and was frequently running ahead or in the middle of the pack... who knows, she's a weird one. We went out as though we were heading to the long and winding road but then cut around to the southeast and looped through the northern charcos. We came home by cutting across on the big berm, through the now-dry salt flat to the jeep berm and home via the alt land bridge. It is high and dry now and the main land bridge also appears to be passable by vehicles again (except perhaps for the thick mud on the shore). It was overcast and strange in the monte and everyone was really together despite their excitement; I was frequently in the middle of the pack and tried to keep the pace high for stretches. I put Tori and Hazel on either ends of the leash coming home and everyone else was good to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Otto
Blue
Shirley
Rufus
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Bosha
(8)
I took this group for a walk between the land bridges. Everyone is really wound up from Murci and it was hell getting out of the gate; once gone they settled down quickly. I left with Molly on the leash to keep her from hurting herself but let her off quickly and she was good throughout; she came up lame at one point but it turned out to be a small wound between the toes on her front left paw that had been irritated by the salty water. I put Rufus on the leash coming home just to keep everone honest and they were all good to the gate. Still a lot of swimming to be done in the nearest charcos.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Gowron
Frankie
Daisy
Xmul
Tori
Murci
(8)
Souther charcos, short version: ~7k. We took the middle path to the jeep berm instead of going all the way to the swimming hole; I honestly didn't want to see PupG drag herself gleefully through the muddy dreck that's left at the bottom of it now, cute though she might be. I left with Xmul on and Murci off but only until just over the land bridge to let her get her ya-yas out a little. I put her on the other end with Xmul and she was there for most of the run; she came off when we were farthest out but Xmul was on for the distance. We ran into the one fellow that is out there working next to the berm when nobody else is to be seen. I had my head up and put Murci on the other end of the leash before we got near him, reigned Tori in verbally and everyone behaved themselves as we went by him; I was even able to exchange pleasantries about the weather and the absence of mosquitoes. Murci is much better about dealing with people in the monte now but I wanted her to feel safe and she did well. There is still enough fresh water in the nearest charco for them to have a proper swim and I was glad to see PupG throw herself in off of the alt. land bridge coming home; she was disgusting at that point and managed to wash herself off pretty well.
GRADE: A
morning pick-up:
Twiggy
Xmul*
(2)
Up the beach and back: ~2k. I took Twigs out on the leash and met Xmul and her humans north on the beach; Xmul's staying for a day to help Marie and Nicole out. It went so smoothly I almost didn't believe it; Xmul didn't even have a momentary hissy-fit. We ran up to the tortuga sign and back. All good.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Frijolita
Godzilla
Elewah
Lily
MoMo
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. Finally our injuries are getting better and it seemed possible to go for a run. Murci has unfortunately gone into heat so she was on the leash most of the way; I just let her off for a little bit out in the deep monte once I was sure there was nobody around and put her back on before we got close to home. This is why I brought no boys on this run and it worked out - everyone was fine and had a blast; even though they are all sterilized some of the boys are still a little too interested in Murci and we'd like to avoid unpleasant incidents. The charcos are really starting to dry out and both land bridges are mostly above water now; you could probably get a decent vehicle across the main land bridge. We ran the palapa road until the bag end crossing and hit what is left of the swimming hole... too shallow to really swim anymore but still enough water to horse around in. I put Hazel on the other end of the leash with Murci on the dirty road to keep everyone together at the end and they were good all the way to the gate. We kept a high pace and everyone is tired now, which should make it a bit easier with Murci today... obviously she has to go see the vet soon.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
What a good girl.
GRAE: A
