01.06.14

morning run:
Posey
Rita
Chester
Reggie
Tuesday
Gowron
Tori
Murci
(8)

Northern charcos: ~8k. We got our first hard rain of the year on Saturday night; Sunday dawned cool and overcast so we decided to do another marathon dog-day to take advantage of the weather. For all of these (and other) reasons we also decided to bring Sugar (mama kitty) and her four little sugar-cubes (yet to be named) inside; they are camping out upstairs for a couple of days while we get a better shelter built for them in the Rooster Zone, where they can help keep the rats out of the casita. This made it much easier to get in and out. This group was first to go and they were really up for it; I eschewed a 9th dog just to get out of the gate and get moving. Once on the road they were perfect. The cows (which I guess now just live in the monte?) were in a hollow off the eastern side of the ridge so everyone had a good time saying "hi" to them but it wasn't a big deal. I had Tuesday on the leash the whole way (kinda goes without saying); she did seem to start getting a little hang-dog/"paranoid" around the halfway mark but when I cranked up the pace and said "let's air it out Tuesday!" she responded by running with me like a champ. I put Tori on the other end of the leash coming home to keep everyone close and they were perfect to the gate.
GRADE: A

walk #1:
Alice
Ginger
Bette
George
Otto
Archie
Shirley
Maggie
Bosha
(9)

I took this crew for a walk in the big loop east, north and south to the blue-bag trail. Since I knew the cows were somewhere near the ridge I tried to be clever and took the alt. land bridge instead of the main one so we came out just to the north of where I thought they'd be; naturally, they had moved in the interim and in fact we came out more or less on top of them but it was okay... Alice was not as freaked out as I thought she'd be and everyone else was good. The bugs were a little noticeable for the first time in a couple (but only a couple) of months, especially when we were slowing down to wait for someone to catch up. Still a nice walk and they all had a great time.
GRADE: A

walk #2:
Zasu
Miles
Henry
Tito
Ziggy
Linda
Ernie
Molly
(8)

Finally the shorties, slow-pokes and other dogs that shouldn't go long distances got out for a walk down to the land bridge and back; there was ample time for screwing around and dawdling and nobody much cared how far we went or what we did so long as there was cool stuff to smell and play in. Molly barked at a couple old dudes on bikes down near the shrimpery as we were leaving so I put her on the leash; she's a bit out of practice and has back-slid a bit on her behavior so she needs to be reminded. After that they were all perfect.
GRADE: A