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morning run:
Alice
George
Osita
Otto
Archie
Shirley
Monkey
Amber
Tori
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant and north: ~6k. Amber threw herself into the mix unexpectedly so we took advantage of it; we are pretty sure that passion flower has something to do with her improved mood and behavior. Right away she was a good girl, sticking with the pack and listening. Tori was on the leash until we turned north towards the wooden shack; she was also muzzled because of her barking at the gate before we left but I took it off quickly, on the run before we even got to the shrimpery. Once I felt some slack in her leash I let her off and she was good from there on. This was an adorable little run; they were all so well behaved and cute as they rambled through the monte. We hit the beach at Au Soleil Couchant and headed north. I was thinking we'd go up near the palm tree but to my shock it is no longer there! A recent windstorm must've brought it down... perhaps the same one that screwed up our water system. I had Amber on the leash before we got to the beach to make sure she didn't get freaked out and bolt for home; she was perfect like that the whole way home. I put Tori on the black leash at the coco trail and everyone stayed together to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Blue
Gowron
Rufus
Jack
Lily
Twiggy
(7)
Southern charcos (backwards): ~8k. We thought it would be a good for Rufus to go with less other dogs sometimes so I could focus more on him; this turned out to be a fine idea and we'll do it again. Rufus left on the leash and he was really fired up for the first 200m. Gowron does not help: her habit of (seeming to?) tease whoever is on the leash when we leave by doubling back and barking in their face as we try to run is aggravating. She was just about as fired up as Rufus... her tiny body cannot contain it all sometimes: she has as much energy as dogs three times her size and goes on the longest runs without tiring. Rufus kept wanting to bowl Lily and Posey over with his shenanigans after I let him off the leash so I put him back on for a little to remind him and he settled down in another 500m. This would have been much harder if I had another dog along that had to be on the leash. They were an exuberant group. The chilly weather, wind and clouds always makes the running dogs want to run more. The wind was strong enough in places that large banks of salt foam have formed; it was also chilly enough near the big charcos to make me take notice. I wanted the option of going north so I took us north first via the swimming hole; when we got out there it was so pretty and deserted to the south that it seemed like the better option. If we had left earlier we probably would've gone through no-man's land but this was certainly fun enough for everyone. On the way home we got barked at by a dog apparently hanging out with the lone group of salt workers we saw today, in the charcos just to the west from the tar-paper shack near the "terreno federal" sign. Rufus led the charge to return fire and acted like a jerk when I called him to get him on the leash; he danced around and made me chase him down so he stayed on the leash until we got home. He'll have to be on the leash within ~2km of home for a few runs - I've obviously been too lax with him and he needs more attention. Despite the misbehavior it was a nice run on a chilly day and it just ended up being some excessive barking... although I did lay out an impressive 50m sprint (after running 7k) to catch up to him. I'll be feeling that.
GRADE: B
morning walk:
Ginger
Archie
Ernie
Ziggy
Molly
Stella
Bosha
Linda
Roxy
(9)
I took this group for a walk between the land bridges. Ernie left on the short black to keep him from hurting himself; I let him off after the first land bridge and he was fine. Stella, of course, was on the long leash for the duration and had a good time. Roxy really ran around a lot but was a good girl; I put her on the leash right before we crossed the second land bridge on the way back and she was even better than last time. She's smart and a joy to putz around with both on and off the leash. I switched Stella to the black leash when I put Roxy on the long one and they were good tha way to the gate. We came home via the coco trail for a change and everyone had a nice time. Good group.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Truman
Rita
Eve
Elewah
Luna
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(8)
Northern charcos: ~8k. It was fairly harmonious getting out of the gate. Murci and Tori were on muzzles to keep barking and noise down before we left and Tori was on the leash to clamp down on shenanigans. Everyone's muzzles came off at the shrimpery and Tori came off the leash after we crossed the land bridge. They were all perfect the whole run. Elewah showed no signs of paranoia and stayed with the rest of us all the way to the gate coming home. Murci spent a couple kilometers on the leash for making an aggressive move towards a flamingo; she didn't actually chase it but she made it think she was going to and that's not allowed, either. She needs more leash.time in any event; she listens well but is so exuberant she forgets the rules and needs to be reminded. We came home the long way via the blue bag trail. One of the many older dudes nicknamed "Chino" was hanging out at the wooden shack as we were coming home and everyone was good. The pace was fairly high in places but Rita doesn't like to go too fast so we had to slow down a couple of times for her. She doesn't get but so far behind and could probably catch up if she wanted to but I wanted her to have a nice time. The charcos are still mostly fresh, at least the deeper ones, but things have dried out a little since their apex. The monte was beautiful and the bugs were only noticeable when we stopped.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Frijolita
Chester
Reggie
Tuesday
Gowron
Daisy
Mega
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. Mega just asked to go today with no crating or cajoling: it has been months since he's done that. We suspect that passion flower has something to do with it; we're still learning a lot about it. Tuesday left on the leash as usual and both Murci and Daisy left on muzzles to keep them from being so aggressive in the initial excitement. This worked out well: I removed both of their muzzles quickly at the shrimpery and they behaved well for the rest of the run. This was an upbeat group. We did the normal southern charcos route and everyone had a blast. Mega rolled in some awful poo on the southern part of the run but he horsed around so vigorously at the swimming hole that he effectively gave himself a bath, a real treat for yours truly. I put Reggie on the black leash at the shrimpery and everyone was perfect to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Archie
Ernie
Molly
Bosha
Linda
Roxy
(8)
I took this group for a walk between the land bridges. We left with Ernie on the leash and as usual this was a good idea: there was no unauthorized storming of the castle and we all crossed the road together. Roxy was good from the beginning. She and Bosha have become friends recently. They have strange little games that only they play and they had a good time horsing around together today. I let Ernie off the leash after I was sure there were no flamingos hanging around near to the land bridge and he was good from there on, albeit very enthusiastic. Both land bridges were partially flooded but the alternate one to the north less so than a couple of days ago. We took the ridge north and everyone was overjoyed to smell and pee on the world. Roxy rolled in some poo a few meters north of the alt. land bridge and I thought it was a good time to try her on the leash; I didn't want to fight with her coming home and she's pretty smart so what the hell. She figured it out in about 2 seconds and was a pleasure to walk and jog with on the leash; I left her on until we got home and she gave me very little trouble. At one point I put Ginger on the black leash to try and cut down on the screwing around near home and Roxy wasn't as happy about walking on her leash with another dog on the leash bumping into her; I let Ginger off the leash at the shrimpery and Roxy was content to the gate. Everyone else was really good.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Gracie
Godzilla
Rufus
Jack
Twiggy
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. Rufus was the lone dog on the leash as we left; his crazed excitement at the gate dissipated quickly once we were on the road but we're going to have to change up how we wrangle him to try and get the total energy level down... it's a little too much like a rodeo sometimes. It's overcast, blustery, a bit chilly and there was a spluttering mist in the air as we took off: perfect weather for a high-paced run with this group. I didn't want to go more than 8k with Twiggy and Otto along but that was plenty. It was a fast group but we kept running into serious flooding in the monte early on that required us to slow it down and slog through. The current was running north to south between the charcos that are spanned by the southernmost crossing, which is odd - it usually flows the other way, but today it was almost a torrent going in the opposite direction. There were many clusters of flamingos in the charcos to the south, probably taking refuge from the weather in the relative calm of the monte but it was plenty windy; there were piles of salt foam being blown around on all the shorelines from the wind whipping across the flats. We took the berm across to the swimming hole and there was a lot of enthusiastic horsing around in the water through that whole area. We took the cut-over to the alt. land bridge on the way home. I put Rufus on the leash just as we were nearing the end of the dirty road because I heard voices and a moto somewhere close by. Sure enough Angel (he of the chickens) was parked with some dude on moto-trike right at the shrimpery intersection. I kept my charges in check verbally and everyone was perfect; Murci barked once and stopped when I told her to knock it off. I was even able to exchange pleasantries with Angel as we rounded the corner south heading home. The wind took care of the bugs for most of the run and the cooler weather helped keep the pace up. Nice run, good dogs.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Bette
Ginger
Greta
Ziggy
Monkey
Linda
Amber
(8)
Roni took this crew down to the land bridge for some light larking around; little did she know it would end with an epic Running of the Gretalope. Greta left on the leash to keep her from running too much and hurting herself. She settled down and came off the leash quickly but was laboring by the time they all got to the shrimpery. Roni took the pace down as far as she could for Greta but everyone else really wanted to get down to the land bridge so this was a constant struggle. Much fun was had along the shore of the charco and even Greta got a dip in. On the way back she dragged again so Roni kept everyone in check with equal parts diversions and dog.kabuki. Sadly at the very end things went from slow to too fast... Everyone else beat puppy.liebling to the head of the last trail so Roni let them go screw around farther to the south while Greta caught up. When she finally did Roni tried to shoo her towards home so that when she called everyone else back they would all be more or less together. Greta crapped on this plan by taking Roni's gesture to mean "RUN LIKE BLAZES YOU BEAUTIFUL MONSTER AND DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU GET TO THE GATE," which she did: she took off at a surprisingly high rate of speed given her unfortunate anatomy. This would not have been that big a deal if Ginger hadn't been doing a lot of screwing around on her own to the south; Roni had to yell for the laggers and take off after the great, galumphing gretalope, who is dangerous in the short distances and had a killer head start. Everyone arrived at the gate sweaty and out of sorts although most of the walk was good. Bette's constant running ahead and Ginger's mischievous shenanigans do not combine well with the stately pace that Greta should keep... at least Ginger's feeling good enough to be mischievous.
GRADE: B (not really sure actually)
departure:
Xmul*
(1)
Roni handed Xmul off to her Canadian moms this morning on the beach. Xmul was a good girl as were her pals back at the ranch. We'll miss her but she always has a good time with Marie and Nicole and we'll have her over once in a while for kicks.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Blue
Eve
Elewah
Xmul
Luna
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
The long and winding road (the hard way): ~10k. This is probably Xmul's last run with us for a little while; her Canadian moms are back in town and she'll be going with them soon so I wanted her to have a nice run. This group was built for both speed and distance, we left early and it is cooler now than it has been for a while... all of this added up to: HAUL ASS. We didn't think of stopping for water until well past the 2k mark and our stops in general took no more than a few seconds: everyone just wanted to run. I had not completely made my mind up about going the full distance but when we got to the turn where the decision must be made Posey turned the corner north and shot me a look that said "LET'S GO DAD!"; everyone else was obviously in agreement so that was pretty much it. The monte was beautiful, silent, still damp with morning dew and, amazingly, not too full of mosquitoes. We left via the blue bag trail and it was my intention from the beginning to come home that way as well for Elewah's sake. She is obviously still a bit paranoid from the leash incident; in fact she was hanging back and acting strange way out on the most distant part of long and winding road. I resigned myself to the idea that she would probably want to dart off close to home and come home by herself but I wanted her to stay with us for most of the run so I just encouraged her verbally and kept moving; she got over her paranoia in a kilometer or so. The deep monte is still plenty flooded and there were isolated groups of flamingos in several charcos out there but no large groups in the big charcos like I thought there might be. We took the long way down the Au Soleil Couchant road coming home, split off to the south on the parallel access road and came home as we left. Elewah stayed with us until the shrimpery, which I counted as success. When I looked back for her at the turn onto the final trail she wasn't there; she took an alternate route in the last 200m and arrived at the gate about 10min after the rest of us. Everyone else was angelic and stayed with me. The pace of this run was really high and everyone had a great time. I certainly hope they're tired.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Ginger
Osita
Ernie
Molly
Tito
Ziggy
Maggie
Bosha
Linda
(9)
I took this group for a walk to the land bridge to horse around and pee on the world. There was obviously something interesting in the bushes just across the washed-out road; many of them charged across and investigated. Tito was not one of them and in fact got huffy with me when I suggested he come out even halfway, where it was hardly flooded: he shot me a look, turned around and started heading for home. We all finally caught up to him near the shrimpery coming back but it was annoying having to chase down a chihuahua. Hilarious. Ernie was on the leash at the beginning and the end and was good when he was off. Everyone else was similarly well-behaved. Ginger seems to be having less trouble than she was a few days ago - not quite such a leftist today. Ziggy looked fantastic in his new haircut, thanks to Roni: he and Linda look shockingly like each other right now, especially at a distance. All in all a nice shorty with a bunch of cuties.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Alice
George
Chester
Reggie
Gowron
Archie
Shirley
Frankie
Steve McQueen
(9)
To the swimming hole: ~6k. We left with nobody on the leash, a rarity of late. This was not an especially fast group so I wasn't too worried and we were all fine by the shrimpery. I took us across the now-inundated "land bridge" and hit the swimming hole the usual way, coming home in the monte via the blue bag trail. Frankie barked at someone on a bike as we were nearing the tortuga crossroads: very annoying, so she went on the leash for the rest of the run. I put Reggie on the short black leash for the last trail home to keep him from tearing home in his excitement to see mom and tell her about all the places he pooped. We all arrived at the gate together. Alice and George lagged at times but were both really up for it; Alice was on point on the way home so she couldn't have been but so tired. It was a bit cooler out than it has been for a while so the huskier/older dogs had no troubles.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Truman
Rita
Rufus
Jack
Daisy
MoMo
Xmul
Lex
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k. Leaving with Xmul and Rufus both on leashes is like some kind of training exercise that would've appealed to Roman gladiators: we go crashing through the wilderness at a high rate of speed so I just focus on keeping my feet under me and my mouth closed (you never know what might fly in there otherwise). I let Rufus off when I felt some slack in his leash as we turned north towards the wooden shack and he was good for the rest of the run. Daisy was good off the leash, especially in the first 200m when she usually takes runs at other dogs in her over-excitement. Instead this time she stayed close to me along with everyone else and we pushed down the trail in fits and starts, at times crazily fast only to stop suddenly as everyone surged together. Once on the shrimpery road things evened out and everyone was really into running. I was thinking perhaps the hidden trail but the slog down to the beach is going to be absolutely terrible right now after the rain we've had: I don't think even I am that grizzled. The monte was nice after a hard rain yesterday so I decided on a loop to the north; the charcos had a lot of fresh water in them and the general stench from things drying out was gone. We took the same route we would take to get to the hidden trail but instead continued on north and looped around gently to the south through the charcos; the "road" we normally use on this route was completely overgrown and under water in many places. It was a bit slow in spots because it was so slippery; even the dogs have a hard time running on that stuff so I walked us through the worst parts, in water up to my shins in some places. We went by the swimming hole coming home but I took us back via the blue bag trail instead of the alt. land bridge... we've had awful luck on that one little stretch from the intersection to the alt. land bridge the last few runs so I decided to avoid it completely. Since Rufus, Jack and Truman all like to charge north on our road when we get home I nipped this impulse in the bud by putting Truman on the other end of the leash with Xmul and Rufus on the short leash again as we reached the coco trail heading home. This worked perfectly: everyone stuck to me like a little cloud on the last trail home and we all arrived at the gate together.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Bette
Ginger
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(7)
Roni took this crew out for a walk down to the land bridge for some horsing around. Ginger is still not completely steady on her pins; she has finished her treatment and needs to go back to be seen again soon since she's still not 100%. She certainly does not agree with this assessment and doesn't know what we're talking about... so she lists a little to the left sometimes: so what? She was always a (Groucho) Marxist anyway; I mean we do call them the RED SISTERS, right? Monkey and Linda had to be washed afterwards they were so sticky with salt and mud: obviously a successful patrol. Amber and Zoot orbit Roni like electrons but are a bit too quantum-esque sometimes: she was concerned that Zoot would run Ginger over a few times in his endless pursuit of butterflies. They wandered around quite a bit and everyone had plenty of time to careen through the shallows of the nearest charco: a doggie wonderland of water, salt, mud and marmot poo. They were all good crossing the road in both directions and were ridiculously cute.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Eve
Archie
Shirley
Twiggy
Mega
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~6k (perhaps 7k). We left a little late but everyone was really up for it. Mega had to be trapped in a crate and put out near the launch-pad as usual but once we left he was perfectly fine: he listened, drank from the bottle, swam out to get me every time we hit the water on the beach and had a great time. Tori left on the leash and things went much more smoothly that way: everyone else ran ahead a bit but we rallied quickly at the shrimpery. I let Tori off as we turned north towards the wooden shack and she was no longer foaming at the mouth quite so much. We took the monte to Au Soleil Couchant, headed north on the beach for a bit (about halfway to the palm tree), turned around and ran to the tortuga sign and came home the way we left via th blue bag trail. Shirley was a nut on the beach with her chasing lizards so I put her on the leash for a spell; she came off as we left the beach and stayed a bit closer. The bugs were definitely noticeable whenever we slowed down... note to self: remember to pee before we leave because exposing yourself in the monte is not a pleasant affair. I put Hazel and Murci on either ends of the long leash and Tori on the short black one as we got to the turn for the coco trail and everyone else fell into line with that. We arrived at the gate together with no shenanigans. Good group on a shorty with a high pace and lots of swimming.
GRADE: A
death:
Spot
(1)
Spot was not a dog but he was an honored member of the pack nonetheless. He was a singular cat, one of the first animals Roni and I rescued together. He and his brother were found as kittens in the parking lot of a gas station in Pittsburgh. Spot had a spot on his chest so we called him "Spot" and the other (who had no spot) "Not". Not was a gentle and affectionate cat who died young, while we still lived in Pittsburgh. Spot, on the other hand, had his own ideas: he did things we've never heard of other cats doing. He used to steal unopened bags of lentils and raw potatos and drag them into our basement as a part of some strange kitty religious observance. I'm not making that up, he did it repeatedly. He was ornery, opinionated, unfazed by dogs and an excellent hunter. He lived 17 years and moved all over the continent with us. He was spectrally thin in his last few months. It was out of the question to take him to the vet again: the last time we did that he was so miffed he took off for two weeks. We thought he was dead - he was already quite old (12 maybe?). Suddenly one day he reappeared looking better than he had in years. He stayed like that, ornery and aloof until just two days ago when he took a turn for the worse. He died in his sleep on a bed Roni put together for him, with both of us worried sick for days. We both admired him and his spirit of determination. Roni and I are both ornery in much the same way he was, a fact that was impossible not to acknowledge. We knew he was probably going down for the count but there was no talk of taking him to the vet: it would've been insulting and pointless. He's buried overlooking the ocean just on the other side of the fence. We loved him with all our hearts and miss him terribly but are glad he's no longer suffering.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Greta
Amber
Zoot
(5)
Roni took this group out for a walk down to the land bridge and environs. Greta left on the leash but is a good girl and listens well once underway. Amber and Zoot continued their good behavior on walks: they larked around nearby while Roni negotiated Greta through the gate and closed it, didn't cross the road before her in either direction and behaved generally like a tiny electron/dog cloud, orbiting their human as if she were a proton (with Zasu and Miles cast as the neutrons). There were still flamingos in the nearest charco. It was hot and buggy but no matter, everyone had a good time and behaved perfectly.
GRADE: A
late morning run:
Rufus
Xmul
Daisy
Tori
(4)
To the beach at the tortuga sign and then some: ~6k. It was late but Rufus really wanted to get out so we did a short one to the beach via the monte and up almost to the big palm tree. Xmul was on the leash the whole way and Rufus for the first 200m. Everyone was really good, kept a high pace and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Posey
Blue
Frijolita
Chester
Tuesday
Gowron
Elewah
Murci
(9)
Long and winding road: ~10k. This was an extremely fast group early on: all of these dogs are built for speed and even Chester, the old man of the group (at least 10 years old) was up for anything. The first two kilometers were among the fastest that we've run. We headed north on the coco trail to the parallel access road to start with; I was thinking maybe curling around and doing the southern charcos backwards but when we got to the turn everyone (Posey, Murci, Elewah) really wanted to keep going north. I had the camera on me and there happened to be a lot of flamingos in those charcos to the north so I figured what the hell and we kept heading that way. When we got to the far end of the northern charcos we just kept going. Surprisingly there were no flamingos in the large charcos way out on the interior road to Xixim; I expected some dramatic shots out there but it was just a lot of water, mud, bugs and us. No matter, we hauled ass down the long stretch south with plenty of slogging and swiming for everyone. I was extremely aware of Elewah and intended to take us home via the blue bag trail to avoid any memories of her being on the leash... sadly Frijolita scotched it all. At the main intersection on the way home some dogs could be heard barking at us from the south; we couldn't see them but both Elewah and Frijolita were obviously interested in what they had to say. I told Frijolita to stop it and come with me and she looked at me, turned her ears off and took off towards the barking dragging Elewah with her: incredibly bad. She skates by on a faux good-girl rep but she's actually pretty bad when there's anything bad to be done. If she hadn't taken off Elewah would've come with me and we would've been home a full 15min earlier. Instead I yelled for her and Elewah to come back; Frijolita did eventually but all the yelling and screwing around with other dogs got Elewah all worked up and I saw her dancing around in the distance, obviously not inclined to come with. I put Frijolita on the other end of the leash with Tuesday (after puting Posey's collar on her, since she had none); Tuesday was not happy about that and Frijolita dug her heels in and didn't want to run on the leash so it was a fun 200m until we managed to get across the alt. land bridge. I was resigned to Elewah coming home on her own but then Tuesday decided to slip her collar and the wheels officially fell off. I didn't even pretend to chase Tuesday, I just gathered everyone else who, except for Frijolita, were all angels: they listened, stayed with me and didn't screw around any more past that point. We got home and I put Frijolita into a crate for 30min to register my displeasure. She will not be going out without a collar and will not be off the leash within 1km of home for a while. Tuesday and Elewah showed up at the road-side gate more or less together 15min later. I would say no harm no foul but Frijolita should really know better: it wasn't just that she screwed me over, it was the willful and conscious way that she did it, knowing full well (like her siblings and everyone else) that she was not supposed to do that. The majority of this run was beautiful, fast, challenging and fun but the last kilometer was hellish and a pain in the ass. Ultimately it's all my fault.
GRADE: C (most of the dogs were good) / F (me for not coming home with all my dogs)
morning run:
Blue
Rita
Archie
Shirley
Monkey
Twiggy
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant via the swimming hole: ~7k. I threw Archie and Shirley in on a slightly longer run for them; it doesn't seem to have affected them negatively and they certainly had a great time. For once we left with nobody on the leash which was nice for me, since I'm on the leash too when I have someone hooked up. I definitely didn't have my normal thunderbolts-for-legs today. I felt rickety and old at the start but the dogs carried me along with their enthusiasm and the pace was reasonable. Monkey swam the entire length of the swimming hole while everyone else jumped in and out from all sides. I wasn't sure about going all the way to the beach but when we got to the three-way intersection where the choice must be made everyone was obviously voting for the extra km so what the hell. I had Shirley on the leash at that point to keep her from punching herself out and to keep everyone a bit more together; I let her off on the beach but hooked her up again when we got close to home. The ocean was rough but most of them didn't care and threw themselves into the waves to come out and get me. Monkey screwed around a bit too much for my liking on the final trail. I ended up taking everyone all the way home and then heading back out with the black leash to bring her home in chains. I put her in the box for a few minutes afterwards. I'm sure she made a point of not learning her lesson; I would expect nothing less from Monkey. It wasn't so hideously hot and the bugs weren't terrible when we were moving.
GRADE: B (Monkey)
