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morning walk #1:
Frankie
Bosha
Roxy
(3)
Julie and P-O took these three for a walk on the beach with Bosha and Roxy on leashes. Everyone was good and had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Zasu
Tito
Blue
Eve
Gowron
Molly
Ziggy
(7)
Roni took this crew out for a big loop in the monte, leaving and coming home via the land bridge. Molly left on the leash but was off for most of the walk and had a good time - she's a goofball. Ziggy was sporting his new haircut (very dapper) and had a great time. Tito had to be carried a bit here and there but was game and did well. Everyone else had a great time as well. Roni let them run around a lot in a few places and they throughly enjoyed it.
GRADE: A
afternoon swim:
Ernie
(1)
P-O took Ernie down to the beach for a swim when it was hot. They both had a good time (Ernie is a lot of fun).
GRADE: A
late afternoon walk:
April
Maggie*
Monkey
(3)
Julie initially wanted to take Maggie and April on the beach; they left together but Maggie didn't want to go with a new human so they came back and we switched Monkey for Maggie, to good effect. April is a lunatic but she was on the leash and she had a great time. Monkey, of course, always has a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Molly
Monkey
Linda
Bosha
Roxy
(5)
Julie and P-O took this group out for a walk in the monte with Molly on the leash to start and Roxy on the leash coming home. Everyone was good and had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Miles
(1)
Roni took Miles on a foraging expedition into the monte and came back with a bunch of passion flower leaves. Miles enjoyed himself immensely.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Bette
Archie
Monkey
(3)
P-O and Julie took these three out for a walk in the monte, with Monkey off the leash the whole way; Bette and Archie started on leashes to keep them from running ahead too far in the beginning, but they all were off for most of the way. They got a little lost but found their way to the beach and came back that way. Everyone was good about everything, listened and had a nice time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Godzilla
Truman
Rufus
Jack
Daisy
Mega
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. We left with Rufus on the hook as usual and didn't stop running until we crossed the land bridge and were on our way south; I let Rufus off after we turned east into the monte. The main story of this run was Daisy and her lagging. She just doesn't like going on fast runs; if I had thought about it a little more I would've taken Elewah instead of Daisy because everyone else really wanted to haul ass. We had to keep stopping to let Daisy catch up, so much so that I ended up putting her on the leash for a spell at the end just to keep us all together. I'll try to remember to take her with slower dogs; the Archie/Shirley/George run would be good for her. Other than that everyone was really up for it and had a great time. On the way home I kept us heading straight west to the coco trail where we would normally turn south on the dirty road. The one spot of bad behavior was Rufus on the coco trail refusing to stop completely and let me get him on the leash with Murci; for some reason he wouldn't stop and kept dancing ahead of me the whole way. I finally had to tackle him a bit in front of the shrimpery to get him to settle down and go on the leash - odd for him and a bit annoying for me, but not really terrible. Overall a nice run.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Otto
Archie
Frankie
(3)
Julie and P-O took these three for a walk on the beach and they all had a grand time. Frankie was off the leash the whole way. She was confused as to which direction they were heading at first but quickly got herself turned around and caught up with her group (under Roni's watchful eye). Everyone had a blast, including Julie and Pierre.
GRADE:&nbs;A
morning walk #2:
Blue
Gowron
Shirley
Twiggy
Stella
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(8)
Roni took her electron.dog.cloud out for a spin in the monte. Sadly this particular group was long on beauty but short on charm: Twiggy more or less crapped on the whole thing by misbehaving from the beginning and then turning around and running home early on, derailing the normal functioning of the Amber/Zoot combo. She is sort of an agent of chaos but I really thought she would be good on this walk; obviously I was wrong and she won't go with a group like this again. Too much craziness but everyone at least turned around and came home together. Twiggy spent a little time in the box afterwards.
GRADE: C (Twiggy)
morning walk #3:
Zasu
Henry
Eve
Blue
Gowron
Linda
Monkey
(7)
Roni shook off the previous walk and went out with another group who proved to be as good as the previous was bad. I look forward to her posting the pictures from the walk - there are some great ones. Everyone was unbelievably cute, happy and together. Eve and Blue really like being together and had such a good time we have to make sure they get out together more. PupG did her best to bring back as much of the monte in her coat as she could. Roni let them all lark around in the dead.fish area near the land bridge (sometimes you just have to let dogs be dogs); everyone heartily approved and came home with souvenirs. What a great group, and on such a pretty day; it was cloudy and even somewhat cool for around here, or at least not brain-boilingly hot. The bugs were not bad.
GRADE: A
morning walk #4:
Stella
Roxy
(2)
Julie took these two by herself for a walk on the beach. Stella stayed on the leash but Roxy came off when they were far enough north and they all had a grand time. Julie said Roxy listened well and was good about coming off of and going back on the leash. That's real progress for a dog that was living on the street a little over a year ago, and with a new person at that. Nice to see.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Luna
MoMo
(2)
Julie and Pierre took these two on a walk up the beach. The chaquistes were bad this morning on the beach but the dogs had fun anyway. Nobody did too much swimming but they did a lot of running around.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Zasu
Bette
Ginger
Tito
Molly
Monkey
Linda
Amber
(8)
Roni took this crew out for a walk between the land bridges. Just like the chaquistes on the beach, the mosquitoes in the monte were also making their presence felt this morning - long sleeves help but the 99.99% humidity then becomes lots of fun... some of the many reasons why it's frequently easier (or at least more comfortable) to go on a 10k run than to walk 2k. Tito had that strange problem he gets with his little legs sometimes and Roni had to carry him for part of the way; the little guy is tough, determined and fun regardless. Molly was on the leash for a bit and led Roni on a little chase at one point. Without Zoot along Amber is much calmer; in fact she is a perfect little citizen on her own, never straying far from her human... Zoot is the maniac in that duo. Ginger managed to drag home a nasty piece of fish and Roni couldn't tell her no (disgusting and yet cute at the same time); we let her gnaw on it for a while by herself in the launchpad when they got home but I finally couldn't stand it and threw it into the woods. All in all a fun walk.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Shirley
Tori
(2)
HelpX'ers Julie and Pierre took these two for a walk on the beach; they left and came back on leashes but were free to run around to the north where there aren't any people. They both swam and ran around a lot and are a little tired now afterwards. Pierre and Julie said they were no problem and listened well. Good job.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Ginger
Otto
Blue
Tito
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(8)
Roni took this group for a walk between the land bridges and then some. She continued on north at first on the cut-over and let the fast ones run ahead to play in the puddles in the intersection while Tito larked around in the rearguard, then brought them all back to her and came home. Everyone obviously had a fantastic time. Ginger was surprisingly good, perhaps because she went on a long one yesterday. Everyone waited for their human to cross the road going both ways and was good the whole way.
GRADE: A
evening walk:
Ernie
Twiggy
(2)
Pierre and Julie took these two for a walk on the beach at dusk not quite up to the tortuga sign. That's plenty for Ernie and Twiggy doesn't care, she just likes walking with humans. They both had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Bette
Alice
Ginger
Molly
Frankie
Maggie
Ziggy
Monkey
Stella
Bosha
Linda*
Roxy
(12)
I took our two new HelpX'ers, Julie and Pierre, on a walking tour of the near monte with a few friends. We took the land bridge to the ridge to the intersection, headed north and came home via the tortuga crossroads and the blue.bag trail. This was mainly so Julie and Pierre could get an idea of what the trails in the monte are like and how everyone behaves on walks. Linda freaked herself out because of the new humans: she turned tail and ran before we even got to the shrimpery. I knew she would make a bee-line for home so I didn't worry too much about it... in truth I should've known she would do that, she's often skittish around new people at first. The rest of this group was anything but skittish; Julie and P-O are obviously acceptable to the majority of the pack and everyone had a great time being their usual selves (albeit a few more of them than normal). Stella was happy with Pierre on the other end of her leash the whole way. I had Roxy on the other leash for most of it and she was great. Everyone else was similarly well-behaved and did me proud. Ginger did her usual quota of screwing around at the end but everyone did well crossing the road both ways and had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Osita
Reggie
Gowron
Elewah
Mega
Lex
Hazel
Murci
(9)
No-man's land: ~9k. We left a little late but the heat had not yet kicked in; only when we were coming home just north of the coco trail did I notice the sand beneath my feet being a little hot. Hazel left on the leash but she came off quickly and was a good girl the whole way. We did the full route, heading all the way south to the bridge road and then taking it the whole way through no-man's land to the 3-way intersection that leads to Xixim. We also took the long way home from there, avoiding the swimming hole and instead hitting the tortuga crossroads and the blue.bag trail. This group was stellar throughout; Reggie is a joy to run with and everyone else followed suit. The monte out in no-man's land is drying out quickly but there's plenty of water left and everyone ran around like lunatics. PupG was so filthy when we got home it took a good 10min with the hose to knock most of the dirt out of her coat. I had Hazel on the hook and Reggie on the other end of the leash by the time we got to the shrimpery coming home. The pace was decent, we killed most of the water and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Godzilla
Chester
Rufus
Jack
Lily
MoMo
Mega
Tori
(9)
Hidden trail the short way: ~7k. We left with Rufus on the leash as usual; he came off just across the land bridge and was great the rest of the way. I wanted to keep the distance down for him but also hit the beach (again, mostly for him). Since it was around the time there are other people with dogs on the beach I decided to take the hidden trail so we would come out well north of where most people go, but instead of going the regular way we headed north from the intersection, jogged east on the Au Soleil Couchant road about 100m and then cut north on the berm surrounding those charcos between the A.S.C. road and the hidden trail. This lops off a bit of distance while still keeping the most fun parts of the hidden trail, although I wouldn't call that last 50m "fun": nobody has been there since the last time we were there and it was a real slog to get to the beach without looking like a pin-cushion from all the cactii along the way. Mega never forgets the way there for some reason and did a good job on point showing the rest of us the trail. Once on the beach everyone had a blast and swam lots. I could see Nicole, Xmul, Mel and Rudolph in the distance to the south so I took us north a little bit just to give her time to get farther away; once I saw her receding in the distance we turned around and did our usual run/swim routine the whole way to the tortuga sign. We came home via the blue.bag trail; everyone was really good in the last 2km and never strayed far from me. I hooked Rufus and Tori up on the coco trail to keep everyone honest and they were all good to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Gracie
George
Tuesday
Archie
Shirley
Frankie
Twiggy
Roxy
(9)
To the swimming hole and home via the monte: ~6k. Tuesday left on the leash and Roxy went on the second leash at the shrimpery intersection; I wanted to make sure I wasn't chasing after her where she usually wants to turn. This worked out well and I let Roxy off once we were on the cut-over heading north. She stayed off the leash until we were heading west on the Au Soleil Couchant road, where I heard a moto coming towards us; I left her on the leash from there on and she was great. It was cool enough that the larger dogs weren't too bothered and everyone kept up pretty well, despite a relatively high pace; George and Shirley drank most of the water but they were fine. We took the blue.bag trail home and there were no surprises. Nice to see all the old-timers do so well.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Bette
Blue
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(6)
Roni took this crew out for a walk between the land bridges. Everyone was fired up and ready to go but even so they all held up and waited for Roni to cross the road before Amber and Zoot settled into their elliptical orbits. It was quiet out; even Big Red seemed to take the morning off from barking at us. The bugs were bad on the dirty road but they always are; otherwise it isn't so bad right now and the charcos still have enough water in them for a proper swim. Everyone obviously had a great time and was very proud of themselves when they got home.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Truman
Gowron
Luna
Mega
Lex
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. After a couple of days off (due mainly to trips to Merida) they were really wound up. I don't know how I always forget how loud Truman and PupG can be when we're getting ready to go; I frequently end up taking them together for some reason. We left with Tori on the leash and fairly flew the first 250m to the shrimpery; I think my feet may have touched the ground once or twice. Once we got ourselves together at the intersection and headed east everyone calmed down considerably; yet again Big Red barked his head off at us from the south and yet again everyone cheerfully ignored him. We took the standard way south; Tori came off the leash at the turn east and was good the rest of the way... my right arm is maybe 1cm longer, that's all. The monte was still reasonably flooded due to the recent rain and everyone was fine with that. PupG threw herself into the most disgusting mud puddle she could find right off and did her best to keep up appearances the whole way. We ran the palapa road to its end, looped around to the swimming hole and came home via the coco trail, with Hazel and Tori on leashes for the last 500m. It was quiet in the monte and the bugs weren't bad; the water in the charcos was so still you could see the cloud cover reflected clearly for hundreds of meters in some places. Everyone really had a blast and is tired now.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Archie
Ernie
Maggie
Ziggy
Molly
Linda
Bosha
Roxy
(10)
I took this group for a walk in the monte. At first I thought we'd go between the land bridges but as we were getting to the second one everyone was having such a good time I thought we'd go a little farther, although not too far for Ernie's sake. We continued on north to the intersection and then looped around back to the south to get to the main land bridge again, and everyone thought this was a fine idea. We were barked at non-stop by the stray/monte dog I call "big red": he was standing on the berm in the dry shrimp ponds just to the northeast of the shrimpery as we left, barking his head off at us. My charges were good albeit excited by the other dog (I had Ernie on the leash as we left). Even when we were well past his domain we could hear him in the distance and he was right there when we returned, this time with a human that I presume (hope) is his, working in the monte. Ernie charged off like a lunatic coming home and punched himself out presumably trying to get over there and say "hi": he's had a pain pill and seems very pleased withimself. Roxy was on the leash most of the way and was perfect. All the barking from other dogs nearby was a bit stressful but everyone was good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Truman
Eve
Frijolita
Rita
Chester
Rufus
Jack
Daisy
(9)
Strange south/north loop: ~7k. I started out thinking we would do the southern charcos but then after we turned south from the land bridge I remembered: we wanted Rufus to have fun on the beach, since that's his favorite. This led us on a strange route that we've never taken before exactly: cut east at the tar paper shack, pick up the road just to the east of it heading north, push through to the hidden path that comes out on the main serpentine farther to the east and then straight to the swimming hole, the beach and home via the blue bag trail. Rufus came off the leash relatively early and was great throughout, as was everyone else. The ocean was a bit too churned up for much swimming but everone did some and had fun on the beach in general. A nice, mellow group on a pretty run.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Posey
Godzilla
Luna
Mega
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Tori
Murci
(9)
No-man's land: ~9k. The heroic trio was really raring to go but even so it wasn't that bad getting out of the gate. I tried Murci on the hook this time as we left since she was the craziest and that worked well - she's the one that usually winds Tori up so this way they were both a little calmer in the first 250m. I figured there probably weren't too many people working to the south since they've obviously been getting ready to work to the north; some of the roads have been patched up a bit and advance teams have been out to clear areas for salt. We headed south from the land bridge and took the last turn east to get into the monte proper; Murci came off the leash somewhere in there and she was good the rest of the way. We took the long way to get to no-man's land, all the way south and then back north on the road from the bridge. We saw nobody the entire way and it is pretty obvious that we're the only ones who have been out in no-man's land for a while. It is really drying out now but the big charcos to the east are still plenty full. Everyone had a great time and tore it up the whole way; we did stop frequently for water since there were so many big drinkers on this run and more or less killed the water. I had Murci and Hazel on leashes coming home at the shrimpery and everyone was perfect to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Otto
Blue
Rita
George
Chester
Tuesday
Shirley
Monkey
Roxy
(9)
Swimming hole: ~5k. Another short loop to the north via the swimming hole, with a different batch of (mostly) non-long-distance dogs; Tuesday seems to enjoy the shorter ones more. She was on the leash as usual the whole way, with Roxy on the short one for most of it. Roxy still hasn't been to a lot of places in the monte and gets carried away investigating stuff if she isn't directed a bit; she's really good on the leash and had a great time. Everyone else was stellar. The humidity was brutal but there was a bit of cloudcover for part of the way so the heat wasn't too bad. Even so they killed most of the water halfway through the run. Shirley punched herself out a little towards the end but she was okay and caught up. Everyone really had a good time and was tired afterwards.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Eve
Truman
Rufus
Elewah
Lily
Jack
Twiggy
Mega
(9)
Northern charcos: ~8k (perhaps a bit longer). Rufus really needed to get out so we did our best to wrangle it quickly and it work out well; our new approach to dealing with Rufus before a run greatly reduces the chaos, even with such loudlings as Truman and Lily in the mix. This run was all black dogs except for Lily, the tiger-on-fire brindle; the early morning light kept catching her coat and making her stick out like a candle. We headed out as though we were going to no-man's land but turned north and did the usual northern charcos route coming the other way. Elewah showed no signs of paranoia but I brought us home via the blue.bag trail just to be safe, since she always likes that route. In general this was a happy, together group. We kept a high pace the whole way but almost every dog on this run loves to drink from the bottle so we stopped a few times for that; they had killed the water by the tortuga crossroads coming home. I had Rufus and Truman on either ends of the leash by the coco trail and everyone was perfect all the way to the gate. Pretty morning in an empty, windswept, swampy wilderness.
GRADE: A
morning jaunt:
Alice
Ginger
Archie
Maggie
Ziggy
Monkey
Molly
Stella
Boscha
Roxy
(10)
Swimming hole the short way: ~5k. This was half walk and half run. Some of these dogs shouldn't run very far (Molly, Ziggy, Archie) but they all had a lot of energy and needed to get out on more than a shorty, so we did a bit of walking and a bit of jogging. Instead of continuing north from the swimming hole we looped back around to the south to get to the jeep berm, which brings the distance down a little and also gives everyone lots of cool stuff to smell and explore. I had Stella on a leash the whole way; as usual she started out on the long leash but I switched her up to the short one so Roxy could go on the long one after we crossed the land bridge. I left them that way the rest of the run since it worked out so well; Roxy can use practice on the leash and Stella's our super-smart, difficult girl with too many ideas of her own... nonetheless she was fine the whole way and never dug her heels in or gave me any trouble. The swimming hole is really drying out now but the hard-core puddle-punchers were not deterred: Monkey, Maggie and Ziggy all needed baths when we got home. Everyone was really good and had a great time, at least partly owing to the thick fog that rolled in over us from the east just as we were leaving: it kept the temperature down and made everything look crazy. Now as I write this a couple of hours later it has burned off completely and it's bright and hot as hell. Welcome to March.
GRADE: A
