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morning walk:
Zasu
Miles
Otto
Bette
Blue
Gowron
Monkey
Linda
Amber
(9)
Roni attempted to get this group out on a walk but it was not to be. We were as careful as we could be with (18 year old) Zasu at the gate, holding her and Linda back so they didn't get run over when the younger dogs left, and everything looked like it was going well until PupG came tearing back in excitement and (effectively) chest-bumped Zasu full-force just as Zasu was picking up speed in the opposite direction. PupG may be small in stature but it's deceptive: she weighs nearly 15kg and is solid muscle; this is why she generally goes on long runs, but since she's so much fun on walks we want her to be used to both. The force of the collision laid Zasu out completely. At the time we didn't know how badly she was hurt so Roni dealt with getting her and the rest of the crew that was nearby back into the launchpad and I took off after Amber, Linda, Monkey, PupG and Otto, who were all fired up and across the road already. It would've been a good idea for me to just continue on with those five on a short walk, and in fact Roni tried to communicate this to me but I didn't hear her due to a lot of factors (a salt truck, my own voice, the sound of the wind in my ears as I ran to catch Amber). I ended up rounding up my charges at the shrimpery intersection. I was also extremely worried about Zasu and wanted to get us all back. Amber decided to Get The Fear right about then, circled around the concrete tanks at the corner and ran more or less back into Roni's arms, as she had come partially down the trail already. Those two went home together and I shepherded the remaining four. In the end Zasu was fine; it sounded worse than it was, but we both had a good scare. PupG has to be restrained at the start of walks and runs for a while; she also pulls shenanigans when we leave on runs (again, in excitement and not malice), it's just the dogs she's with are usually much bigger and we're moving pretty fast so it doesn't seem like a big deal. This isn't acceptable and we're going to work on it. Nonetheless, everyone except for Amber was really good about the whole thing, including the dogs that weren't going on the walk.
GRADE: N/A
morning run:
Posey
Eve
Godzilla
Reggie
Xmul
Mega
Steve McQueen
Murci
Cookie
(9)
Northern loop: ~8k. We left a bit late and it was hot when there wasn't a breeze, but at least there weren't any bugs. We took a strange route today, north via the blue.bag trail, east into the monte at the Au Soleil Couchant crossroads, south to the swimming hole, across the berm and then back to the swimming hole via the bag.end crossing and finally to the beach and home via the shortcut. Somewhere around kilometer 5 or so I noticed Reggie had a wound on his left side, a gash that looked like it might've been from barbed wire. He is a nut and has no idea how huge he is (our biggest dog); he's also incredibly stoic. It wasn't bleeding and it was hot so I decided to go to the beach, thinking I could at least let him cool down in the shallows; to my amazement he jumped all the way into the water and swam like a little dolphin despite the wound. It must've hurt but he didn't seem to notice. We got home without incident and took care of his wound... who knows how he did it. We prepped him and Roni put two stitches into him. We couldn't have gotten him to the vet any quicker (100km away) and Dra. Sandra has told us a few times now that she's sure we can do stuff like that if we need to. It isn't our favorite activity but we have to be prepared for things like that. Murci and Posey got put on leashes coming home when they turned off their ears to chase a rabbit; they had no chance but I don't like being ignored. Otherwise they were all perfect and had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Bette
Ernie
Ziggy
(5)
I took this group out for a walk to the wooden shack and back, which is as far as Ernie should go... just don't tell him. He and Bette started on leashes but came off quickly and were good the whole way. Ziggy made a point of dipping himself in the nastiest part of the charcos near the shack, as always. Everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Rita
Chester
Rufus
Jack
Twiggy
MoMo
Luna
Cookie
(9)
Tortuga sign: ~4k. We don't want Rufus going too far until we're sure he doesn't have a limp for a few outings, so I just took us to the tortuga sign via the monte and home via the beach for a change. The tide was high so we had a lot of fun slogging through the trees and shrubs that have fallen off of the crumbling bluff into the ocean; everyone thought that was fun, except for Chester who insisted on picking his way along the edge of the bluff instead. Everyone was perfect all the way to the beach gate.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Henry
Tito
Blue
Eve
Otto
Bette
Monkey
Linda
(8)
Roni took this group on a walk around the cow pasture; it was already hot out and we worry about her but Zasu wouldn't hear it and had a blast regardless. Linda looked adorable in her new haircut; she started to get a little far ahead on the coco trail so Roni carried her for a bit to keep everyone together. Otto made the most of an encounter with something awful about halfway through the walk; he needed a thorough scrubbing with soap when he got home, but we can't really blame him for it...
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita*
Lily
Xmul
Mega
Lex
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Murci
Cookie
(9)
Southern charcos: ~7k. I thought the southern charcos might not have too many salt workers in them because they've hit them pretty hard in recent weeks, so we headed east to start with. About 50m east of the land bridge Frijolita ran into a branch that was sticking into the road; I was trying to avoid it myself but she wasn't paying any attention and slammed into it at speed, nearly taking me down in the process as I tried to avoid both it and her. She then got that hang-dog look, gave me a stare as though I had somehow been to blame and slunk off to go back home. I tried to reason with her but she'd have none of it; since she's done this one or two times before I knew she would just go home, and although I was upset it was the better part of valor to carry on. She didn't look wounded and when she gets that way there's no talking to her. It turns out she had a fairly long scratch on her chest from the encounter but she appears otherwise unharmed. The remaining eight carried on with me and had a good time. We ran the palapa road to the bag-end land bridge, hit the swimming hole (now more of an extended puddle) and came home the usual way. Cookie was especially happy to be out on her first run since her surgery; she, Lily and Murci had great fun horsing around near the swimming hole. An unfortunate start but a good group and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Tuesday
Ziggy
Amber
Zoot
(4)
Roni took this group for a walk in the heat; they headed north to the wooden shack, with Tuesday on the leash and Ziggy in the mud... he really has a talent for finding a disgusting spot and wallowing in it. Amber and Zoot were thrilled to go and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
Alice
Ginger
Rita
George
Gracie
Otto
Shirley
Molly
Roxy
(9)
Au Soleil Couchant: ~4k. I took this group for a walk/run to the beach at the tortuga sign and north for a bit. We cut across the charcos from the tortuga sign road coming home instead of taking the blue.bag trail both ways; Shirley was tired and it was getting hot. Roxy was off the leash for most of the time on the beach; I put her back on when she stopped listening and tried to head into the monte at A.S.C. I put Shirley on the other end of the leash with Roxy at the coco trail to keep us all together and everyone was good to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Zasu
Henry
Bette
Blue
Eve
Gowron
Monkey
Stella
(8)
Roni took this crew on a walk to the wooden shack to the north; they still have not managed to load up all the salt they've taken out of those charcos and there are piles of it several meters high the whole way, yet no workers. It was too hot out but Zasu didn't care and insisted on screwing around and then running to catch up many times... she's 18 years old and she still kicks our asses. Everyone was good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Amber
Zoot
(2)
The electron.dog.cloud would not be denied today despite the heat, so Roni took them out for a trip around the cow pasture. Even they thought it was a bit much but they still had a good time.
GRADE: A
afternoon swim:
Greta
(1)
Good conditions for her; she swam like a champ, I swatted at bugs like a chimp.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Rufus
Elewah
Lily
Jack
Twiggy
Luna
MoMo
Hazel
(9)
The swimming hole via the beach: ~7k. My plan was to hit the beach at the tortuga sign, run north a few kilometers and turn around. This idea was scotched by several boatloads of fishermen just to the north of Au Soleil Couchant, so I took us into the monte there instead; Elewah and Luna thought about charging north to bark at the fishermen but turned around before they got there in response to my calls and we all headed east together. I decided to make up the distance by looping around the swimming hole, assuming there weren't any salt workers nearby. I was almost correct - it turns out there was a smallish group of them in the charcos just to the north of the palapa road where it runs into the road to no-man's land, and I was at pains to keep several of them out of the attendant filth, but it wasn't too awful. We crossed at the berm, hit the swimming hole (now swimmable) and came home the usual way via the cut-over. I hooked Rufus up at the shrimpery coming home (where I let him off heading out) and scooped Elewah up a few meters later to cut off any shenanigans. This worked perfectly except for the fact that a mototaxi driver was parked in front of our house as we came home; he came out to get a pill for his dog, who has sarna. Luna, Lily and Twiggy took this as an excuse to run down to the beach for a final dip, but it was no big deal... I could hardly blame them, it was hot. All in all a good run with a few surprises and good behavior for the most part.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Blue
Godzilla
Frankie
Xmul
Linda
Mega
Lex
Steve McQueen
Murci
(9)
Au Soleil Couchant and beyond: ~5k. The now-usual
sortie-up-the-beach-via-the-monte routine. Linda told me when to turn around, roughly 500m north of A.S.C. She was a real trooper and swam like a lunatic when we were on the beach. Everyone else was also good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Miles
(1)
Roni took Miles out for some quality time in the monte; she also gathered a large bag of pasiflora. The bugs were terrible but Miles had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
George
Archie
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
Stella
(9)
I took this group for a stroll north to the wooden shack. Nobody pushed the pace; Molly thought about chasing a moto briefly but I told her to knock it off and she did. Otherwise all good.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Rita
Osita
Truman
Chester
Otto
Shirley
Daisy
Murci
Roxy
(9)
Au Soleil Couchant: ~5k. I took this group on a short run to the beach at the tortuga sign via the blue bag trail, up past A.S.C. and home the way we came. Everyone was really good the whole way and had a good time.
GRADE: A
afternoon stroll:
Zoila
June
(2)
Roni took these two munchins down to the beach for a little puppy playtime. They both stuck close to their human and had a good time.
GRADE: A
vet:
Cookie
(1)
I took Cookie to get spayed. She was an angel, interacted well with strangers at the vet's and in general carried herself like a perfect little citizen. She's recovering nicely.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Miles
(1)
Roni took Miles out by himself to dawdle to his heart's delight while she foraged a sizable bag of pasiflora. A good time was had by all.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Rufus
Jack
Twiggy
Luna
MoMo
(5)
Up the beach past Au Soleil Couchant: ~4k. I took these five out for a quickie up the beach just to get some yayas out on a quiet Sunday. There was a couple hanging out on the beach at the end of the access road 20m north of our gate and everyone was perfect about it both ways. We ran flat-out for the first 300m with Rufus on the leash (a nice one given to us by Nicole and Marie - thanks!); nobody minded and everyone kept a high pace when we were running. We stopped a lot to swim and horse around and everyone had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Eve
Posey
Elewah
Xmul
Mega
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Murci
Cookie
(9)
No-man's land, extended version: ~11k. Avoiding large groups of salt workers has become the name of the game; it isn't the people, necessarily, it's more their... output. Posey managed to roll in some of it early on regardless, so I took us on a route designed to get us back to the beach for a quick rinse before we came home. We headed north via the blue.bag trail, then east on the A.S.C. road all the way to the turn to no-man's land, ran south and then cut back to the palapa road instead of continuing on all the way south. We crossed the bag-end land bridge, jumped in the swimming hole and continued north back to the A.S.C road, this time heading west, hit the beach and came home via the wooden shack. It felt long, and we kept a high pace except in the places where it was dangerous to do so: no-man's land was especially slippery and although I avoided falling I had to walk for a few stretches to keep from slipping. Everyone did really well, although Hazel was a little too into her own thing in spots and and to be yelled at to catch up. I scooped Elewah up at the shrimpery on the way home and carried her to the gate to avoid any skirmishes with the strays to the south; they didn't seem to be interested in us at all as we rounded the bend but better safe than sorry. Everyone had a blast and will hopefully be tired today.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Tuesday
Gowron
Amber
Zoot
(4)
Roni took this group for a walk in the monte, mainly to the north. It was a good group and they kept a face pace in places. The humidity was fairly brutal but at least it wasn't too hot or buggy.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
My little mermaid.
GRADE: A
afternoon stroll:
Zoila
June
(2)
Roni took the two newbies out for a short stroll south and to the beach; we had provisionally called them Feliz and Anni but Zoila and June ("June Bug") seem to have stuck. They stayed close to their human and had a nice time. Good habits start young.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Rita
Truman
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
Roxy
(9)
I took this group for a shorty around the cow pasture, with a detour to the alt. land bridge; we just crossed it and then looped back across the shallowest, narrowest part of the charco there. I didn't realize how cut up my left foot was until we did that, when the briny water reminded me that salt + cuts don't mix very well... ah, well, always good to get a reminder there. Everyone had a really good time and behaved themselves well.
GRADE: A
