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morning run:
Alice
Ginger
Blue
Rita
Chester
Otto
Rufus
Shirley
Roxy
(9)
On the beach to Au Soleil Couchant: ~4k. This was a group of loud-mouths who needed to get out on a shorty. It's overcast and slightly cooler so I wasn't as worried about the larger dogs getting zapped by the heat. We took the maginot line to the beach heading out and came home via the tortuga sign and the wooden shack. There was a tourist walking a dog on a leash right where the maginot line dumps you on the beach; we surprised him but my charges were very good and his dog was also well-behaved. He was heading back south anyway so we carried on north without so much as a bark. Farther on we ran into two older people walking slowly ahead of us so I verbally wrangled everyone to stay near me until they turned around and then we ran past them heading the opposite way, which always works out much better. They, too, were amused by my little crew, who were all cute and into their own thing. I put Roxy on the leash as we got to Au Soleil Couchant because she was too far ahead. Shirley went on the other end with her after we came off the beach at the tortuga sign to keep everyone together, and they stayed that way until the end. Otto managed to find some truly awful filth to roll in, which he did very thoroughly - the smell of him was wretch-inducing from the wooden shack until we got home, where he got a bath with soap. Rita's feet were bothered by all the salt and probably everything else... the beach positively stank of rag-weed in places today. She also got a bath when we got home. The weather is really bothering her allergies right now but she was game and wanted to go so badly I couldn't say no. All in all a nice group of mostly older dogs on a pleasant day on the beach.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Jack
Luna
Xmul
Mega
Steve McQueen
Murci
Cookie
(8)
To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~8k. Once again Hazel was slated to go but bailed at the last second. Her fungal issue is bothering her more than I realized, it has to clear up completely before we try a run again; she should also probably go on a walk first anyway, on the leash so she can be observed. She's gotten her meds a couple of days in a row and we really thought she'd want to go... oh, well. The remaining eight were great the whole way. Salt workers north of the intersection had a dog with them and everyone was really good about it; they came back to me immediately and ignored the barking from the other dog. We took a strange route to the swimming hole at which point it was already pretty hot; I thought a stretch on the beach would cool everyone down so we went to A.S.C, headed north for almost 1km, turned around and went home the way we left, via the wooden shack. Xmul was on the leash the whole way as usual. I put Luna on the other, longer leash before we got to the coco trail and Cookie on the other end of it at the shrimpery just to make sure she hasn't back-slid on being put on the leash. Everyone was enthusiastic and perfect to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning beach run:
Gowron
Rufus
Daisy
Twiggy
(4)
To the tortuga sign and back: ~2k. We were all tired this morning after an exhausting night; the dogs were spun up for various reasons and the heat and humidity never let either of us quite rest... welcome to August in Yucatan. Since we have to go to Merida tomorrow we still wanted to at least get Rufus out for a beach run. We left on the beach and did get barked at this time, by one of the strays at the army encampment. Everyone was good and ignored them. We ran and swam a bit past the tortuga sign, turned around and came home via the maginot line and the coco trail. Everyone was really good, swam their asses off on the beach and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Ginger
Blue
Bette
Tito
Ernie
Monkey
Linda
Zoila
(9)
Roni took this crew out for a walk to the wooden shack. Ernie had to stay on the leash for a while at first to keep him from punching himself out or hurting himself but was a good boy when he came off. Zoila did well on her first outing without her sister; she's a bit of a wild child but she's very young and loves her humans. Zasu cannot be contained, despite her age: she insists on screwing around in the rearguard so she can haul ass to catch up, regardless of heat, bugs, or anything else. A really cute group on a hot, sunny day.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim #1:
Greta
(1)
She swam a lot and was an angel.
GRADE: A
mid-day walk/swim #2:
Archie
(1)
The vet said Archie shouldn't really go on walks or runs for a while and we should instead focus on having him swim. This isn't his favorite thing but he's such a good boy that he's a pleasure to hang out with even if he's kind of fighting against you. I took him out on a leash and we took a very leisurely stroll up the beach; I carried him into the water and made him swim back to shore 8-10 times over a very short stretch and although he wasn't thrilled he did well and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Truman
Luna
Xmul
Mega
Lex
Steve McQueen
Murci
Cookie
(8)
No-man's land: ~8k. Hazel was slated to go but pulled up just outside of the gate and went back when Roni called her; she's having a fungal issue that is uncomfortable for her and needs more medicine and recuperation before she goes on another run... I thought it would be okay but it obviously wasn't. Sadly I was unaware of the fact that Hazel took herself out of the game early until we were at the shrimpery; Roni yelled to me but I didn't hear and ended up bringing everyone back to the house to see what had happened. Luna naturally took this as an opportunity to sneak down to the beach for a dip; I can't really get mad at her for it, she just loves to swim, so I collected her and started off anew with the eight I had left. From there on the run went smoothly. We took the southern route heading out; there were dogs at the tar paper shack but all of my charges were good and ignored them. When we came out of no-man's land and were heading west I saw there were groups of salt workers to the south and right ahead of us at the intersection of the Au Soleil Couchant road, so I chose a path that went between the two groups and took the narrow berm across the northern tip of the southern charcos to get to the swimming hole. Everyone enjoyed this immensely, since we haven't done it in a while, and we managed to avoid all of the people and their... stuff. The swimming hole is full enough now for full-blown doggie shenanigans and everyone had a blast there; there was a small group of egrets hanging around in a nearby charco and Cookie and Murci were both good, listened to me and didn't chase them. Coming home our normal way was blocked again by salt workers just to the south of the alt. land bridge; since I had just been at Angel's place yesterday looking for him and noticed there were no chickens or dogs (or Angel) there, I took a chance and came home via the dead goat road (his road), which worked out well. It was a high-paced, hard run and everyone had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning jaunt:
Gracie
George
Chester
Frankie
Molly
Monkey
Twiggy
Linda
(8)
I took this group for a walk/jog to/on the beach. It was much too late when we left and very hot but we didn't want to leave from the beach side because of tourists; instead I decided to try the maginot line, since I hadn't been there in many months (years?). I've noticed recently that we haven't gotten barked at in front of the HoJo or the army encampment when we passed by so I was hoping we could sneak down the trail to the beach just north of the HoJo (aka the maginot line) and avoid the worst of the heat and bugs in the monte. This ended up working out perfectly; the trail to the beach doesn't even have any xmul on it - Linda came home nearly clean. I had Frankie and Molly on either ends of the leash when we were on the trail in both directions just to make sure an unexpected moto or bicycle didn't get everyone too worked up. Everyone was great on the beach. We swam, walked and jogged north not quite to the tortuga sign and turned around and did the same thing coming home. I had to pick Molly up and sort of throw her onto the top of the bluff from the beach on the way home - her stubby little legs aren't good at climbing the nearly vertical sand bluff. Everyone behaved themselves well and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Bette
Gowron
Monkey
Stella
Amber
Zoot
(6)
Roni took this group out for a brisk walk to the north. Bette left on the leash but came off early; Stella was on for the duration as usual. The pace was frequently manic largely due to the efforts of the Amber/Zoot continuum (A/Z - quite cosmic). Amber was on the leash early to keep the group closer together and convinced Roni to let her off to go play in the charco with the others... which she never did, instead chosing to start a game of you-can't-catch-me for a few hundred meters. Roni used doggy.psychology (and, perhaps, the force, a little) to get Amber turned around and then put her back on the leash for the duration home. This sounds exactly like several runs I've taken with Amber, where the same basic storyline evolved; there is something about her psychology that makes her good on the leash at first and then bad on the leash if you put her on a second time. The only other dog that really has a quirk like that is Tuesday, who time and experience have shown us needs to just be on the leash, period... they all bring their own stuff to the table. The pace was obviously high because they went for a fairly long walk and came back quickly. Monkey and PupG got some swimming in and everyone had a good time on a bright, hot morning.
GRADE: A
morning beach jaunt:
Rufus
Twiggy
Hazel
Murci
Cookie
(5)
To the tortuga sign and home via the monte: ~2k. We're both tired today and not exactly 100% so a shorty up the beach to get a few yaya's out seemed like the best idea. Rufus and Twigs should probably not go on long ones anyway and swimming is good for both of them. We left on the beach with Rufus on the leash as usual; Cookie and Murci were so fired up and energetic I had to stay on them verbally for the first 250m but once Rufus came off the leash everyone calmed down a bit. Cookie worships Rufus so much it's adorable to see but he does get annoyed with her a little sometimes; he chased her around a bit when they were swimming and that made her happy. By the time we got to the tortuga sign they were calmed down, although you'd have to know the sign was there beforehand - it fell down a few weeks ago and nobody from Semarnat has noticed. Annoying. The rest of the run home in the monte was uneventful and mostly high-paced. Hazel is still being a little too willful in general but I managed to reign her in and hook her up at the shrimpery, with Rufus on the other end for good measure on the trail home. Cute, nice, short run/swim on a sunny morning.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Miles
(1)
I took Archie to the vet today to get his leg/hip looked at; it turns out he has hip dysplasia. Before I left Roni got Miles out on a meandering walk to the shrimpery and also foraged some ragweed to make another infusion, since the first has worked so well for Rita. The bugs are finally bad and Roni wore short sleeves... something we probably won't do for a while now. Still, Miles had fun.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Zasu
Blue
Eve
Tito
Monkey
Linda
Zoila
June
(8)
Roni took this group for a walk towards the wooden shack; Zasu wanted to come home just before the got all the way out there. This was Zoila and June's first big-girl walk with a regular group and they both did well. June left on the leash but that turned out to be annoying and unnecessary; it's too early to start with the leash anyway, it was better for them to just come along and be influenced by a group of good walkers. June was slightly clingier than Zoila but they both came back to Roni for reassurance continually and had a good time playing with each other and checking out the monte. Tito appears to be totally over his toe injury and was in fine form. Archie was slated for this one but didn't want to go; he's definitely going to the vet to get his leg checked, perhaps as early as tomorrow. Linda showed the pups how to charge into a charco and lark around properly but they were not having it and watched from the shore while Linda taunted them with her antics. There was a group of flamingos hanging out right on their path but Roni managed the situation well; this group listened and was into walking with their human, which is as it should be. No salt workers were out to the north which is quite surprising: they have large mountains of salt out there open to the air and now there have been two hard rains, including one last night. The bugs were noticeable but Roni's home-brewed cinnamon/witch-hazel bug repellent seems to work, so we're going to try making more. Blue and Eve crossed the road too far ahead of Roni but other than that it was a nice walk and a good day to put collars on the pups (which are really cute).
GRADE: B
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Rita
George
Otto
Shirley
Maggie
Ziggy
Molly
Roxy
(10)
I took this group for a brisk walk/jog in the monte to the north. Rita talked her way onto the walk as 10th dog because she's always good and really wanted to go. She's been suffering so much from her allergies that I always want to let her get out just for morale; also, since it rained hard yesterday the dust has been knocked down a bit and the water in the charcos is less salty, both of which are good for her (her dust allergy is terrible). We left with Molly and Shirley on leashes; I switched Molly for Roxy at the shrimpery and let Shirley off when we turned north to the wooden shack. We went the whole way to the tortuga road by cutting across the charcos to the north of the shack, turned east and took the road that runs just to the east of the nearest charcos, to the cut-over and home via the alt. land bridge. There was nobody working in any of the charcos closeby but you could hear a salt loader running farther to the north. Everyone was really good and had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Eve
Elewah
Jack
Xmul
Mega
Lex
Murci
Cookie
(9)
Souther charcos: ~8k. I thought we might hit no-man's land but yet again we ran into one or two strays out in the monte, this time just north of the swimming hole. I only saw one (running away) but I think I heard the other one barking at us from across the charco. Unlike previous outings I was not able to turn all of my charges around before they noticed; Elewah was an ass and ran over to give them what-for but knocked it off and ran back when she realized her backup was pretty thin. I was not happy with her, which was a theme for this run. I decided to bag no-man's land, turned us around and took the bag-end land bridge to the palapa road, intending to run the whole way around. Elewah yet again pissed me off by staying much too far ahead for most of the palapa road (probably sensing that I was not pleased with her); I didn't want this to become lets-all-chase-Elewah so instead of continuing south after we turned west from the palapa road I took us back north along the middle path, forcing her to turn around and come back to the rest of the group. There was an old man working alone in the charcos along that road (who Elewah had considered chasing when he was on his moto), so I took us off-roading a bit, against my better judgement, to get to an overgrown road I remembered that skirted that charco. By now I was highly irritated with Elewah but I didn't want the wheels to fall off so I took us home the most obvious way, across the jeep berm to the intersection, cut-over and alt. land bridge. She was fine the whole way but always dancing ahead of me, knowing that I was planning on scooping her up at the shrimpery. She didn't let me do this but at least had the sense to run straight home to the gate and not head off on another unauthorized sortie. She spent a little time in the box when we got home. Everyone else was stellar and had fun on a strange route.
GRADE: B
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
What a good girl.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Frijolita
Chester
Lily
Twiggy
MoMo
Luna
Steve McQueen
Hazel
Roxy
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. For once nobody left on the leash - I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I hooked Roxy up at the shrimpery; she stayed on for the duration and was really good. We ran into a group of salt workers with a dog just south of the tar paper shack heading out; Frijolita really wanted to bark a bit more but she came back to me when I yelled once and we carried on. It was hot out but the bugs are mercifully still not bad. Everyone enjoyed the swimming hole immensely and had a good time the whole way.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Blue
Bette
Tuesday
Amber
(4)
Roni took these four for a brisk walk to the north; Zoot was slated to go but it just wasn't in the cards. The bugs are still leaving us alone for the most part but yesterday's hard rain will probably change that in a couple of days... it seems this year that the rain hasn't been steady enough to build up enough puddles of fresh water in the monte to get the mosquito breeding cycle going on all cylinders. They ran into a bird trapper at the end of the coco trail heading out and everyone was good about it. Roni had Amber on the second leash coming home to curb her desire to run home like a maniac once they get close. Everyone was good to the gate and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning swim:
Greta
(1)
Puppy.liebschen is a chubby little angel in the water. She swam hard and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning beach jaunt:
Rufus
(1)
Rufus needed some one-on-one time on the beach. He gets so worked up when we leave on a run with a large group that we need to work on it and this is the best way. We sprinted the first 250m up the beach until we were well past the soldiers and the HoJo. I let him off the leash there and we swam, walked and ran a bit farther north, just to get his ya-ya's out and have a good time. The tide was fairly high and we had to swim around a lot of trees that have fallen off the bluff as it crumbles into the sea; we both enjoyed this and the outing in general. He was much calmer as we came home and an angel for the rest of the day. Good boy Rufus!
GRADE: A
morning run:
Truman
Gowron
Lily
Xmul
Mega
Lex
Petey
Murci
Cookie
(9)
Southern route to the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~8k. This was another group of serious Running Dogs... nobody wanted to do anything but run their asses off. Since the salt work crews have been hitting the southern charcos pretty hard recently I thought they would be done by now and we could go that way for a change. This was mostly correct, but an additional wrinkle manifested itself early: just as we were arriving at the land bridge heading east I saw another dog running away from us in all haste, heading to the south along the border of the charcos. None of my charges saw him so I held everyone back to give him time to get away and continued south cautiously, watching for him and for salt workers. I thought I'd make sure to lose him by heading east at the tar paper shack but there were salt workers there, so I went the whole way around. As we were heading east the usual way I thought I saw him again, just ahead; again, nobody else seemed to see him so I did the same thing, devoting some thought to an alternate route that would surely steer us clear of him: instead of the palapa road, I took us to the serpentine that runs north/south just to the west of the road I call the middle path. I figured we'd run that road through the crossroads east of the intersection, continue north to the swimming hole and hit the beach on the way home. This worked out well, but I was wrong about ditching the other dog: in fact it was TWO other dogs, and we ended up catching up to them on that same serpentine, just where it branches off to the west... I used to call that a hidden trail but it isn't hidden at all now, as salt workers have obviously driven many large trucks down it recently. There were no people around, at least. Lily finally did see our two shadows and chased them to bark a little; she turned around when I called her, it's just that she's so fast she was already 100m away when she finally circled back. Truman and a couple of others ran out as well but just to greet Lily coming back. I didn't recognize either of the other dogs; they were not interested in a meet and greet nor were they aggressive. Once we were past the two strange dogs there were no more surprises. We ran into two motos and everyone was good about it. It was hot out so everyone was glad to hit the beach; the swimming hole was also not too bad and the water was cool enough to help with the heat. A couple of them rolled in some awful filth some comedian dumped next to the A.S.C. road; I tried to wash them off in the ocean but it obviously wasn't enough... All in all a good run with a bunch of crazy loudmouths who behaved themselves well.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Gracie
Eve
Rita
Otto
Shirley
Frankie
Daisy
Linda
Roxy
(9)
Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant: ~4k. Shirley and Daisy left on leashes; Daisy came off quickly (albeit under my watchful eye) and Shirley stayed on until we had turned north towards the wooden shack. I put Roxy on the leash when I let Daisy off; as usual I let her off on the beach but kept her on the leash elsewhere. We ran into Angel on his moto heading north as we were heading south coming home and Roxy did want to bark at him; she's good about it when she's on the leash... who knows, she may never completely get over that bad habit, she was already at least three years old when she came in. In general this was a good and harmonious group. I didn't push the distance for Linda's sake, but she did a lot of swimming while on the beach so hopefully she'll be tired, along with everyone else.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Blue
Bette
Monkey
Stella
Amber
Zoot
(6)
Roni took this group for a brisk walk out to the wooden shack and around the charco next to it. Everyone had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Osita
George
Archie
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
(9)
I took this group for a walk out to and around the wooden shack to the north. They were all excellent and had a great time.
GRADE: A
mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)
She swam well and for a while.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Godzilla
Elewah
Xmul
MoMo
Mega
Steve McQueen
Murci
Cookie
(9)
No-man's land: ~8k. This was truly a group of Running Dogs: even the two chubsters (Steve and Mo) look like chunky little gazelles when in full flight and that's how they were for the whole run. We took a route designed to avoid salt workers but we did run into a couple groups. Way out north they had a dog with them and although Elewah put on her usual show of force (running in circles really fast and barking) she cut it out quickly and we disentangled with no issues (and a little laughter from the salt workers). No-man's land was excellent after yesterday's hard rain: no bugs yet, a little slick in places but in general we slogged the whole way through and everyone really had fun in the soggy mangroves. Whoever built that large wooden pier-like structure at the southern end of no-man's land is obviously not getting their money out of it: people have been coming out there to steal planks (it's good wood) and I haven't seen tire tracks out there in years. It makes a great backdrop for doggy playtime... I wished I had a camera a couple of times, the shenanigans were hilarious. Cookie was especially cute and funny; she and Murci could easily run twice that distance without feeling it at all... they probably almost did with all the crazy wipe-out circles they were running in the muck. I had planned on coming home the southern way but I heard a large salt loader running almost certainly squarely in our path; instead we cut across the charco at the three-way intersection where the short road from no-man's land lets out onto the palapa road. It was really shallow there and we had just slogged through worse. We took the middle road north to the jeep berm and came home via the alt. land bridge and the coco trail. The only misbehavior was at the very end, when Elewah and Posey turned their ears off to haul ass down to the land bridge from the shrimpery intersection. Elewah claimed to have heard something from her body-language but she just might be clever enough to lie, I don't know. Posey came back quickly but Elewah screwed around a lot and came back all sheepish and contrite: I scooped her up and carried her home and she fully understood why and didn't care, so there. She didn't smell any worse for wear so I'm fairly certain she didn't go hunting for contraband (there were a lot of guys down there). I also heard no barking, so whatever she did she did it quietly. Other than that everyone was great and had a blast. We won't have too many more like this before the bugs descend on us in earnest.
GRADE: B (Elewah)
morning walk:
Miles
(1)
Roni took Miles for a meandering walk down to the land bridge, with the dual purpose of foraging a big bag of pasiflora leaves. The bugs are nonexistent right now... really something for August. They both had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Truman
Rita
Frijolita
Chester
Tuesday
Frankie
Daisy
Twiggy
Roxy
(9)
To the tortuga sign and up the beach: ~6k. This was the same route as yesterday but with a little more distance up the beach; Roxy is a nut and needs a decent run to burn off her crazy energy. She's so little I worry about taking her on very long ones but she'd probably be fine on a 10k - she has Running Dog Attitude, just very short legs. Unlike last time, nobody turned their ears off and went hunting for bush apples down the blue.bag trail. I let Roxy have her head on the beach and she was good about coming back to me to let me hook her up again as we were heading home. In general everyone was really good, kept together and listened; they also had a lot of fun swimming and didn't screw around too much in the monte.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Rufus
Lily
Jack
Luna
Hazel
Cookie
(6)
To the tortuga sign and up the beach: ~5k. The idea was to work with Rufus with a smaller group on calming down as we're leaving; he just gets too excited. Lily sort of scotched this by bringing her own manic energy into the mix... she's not as crazed as Rufus but makes a lot of noise until she finally calms down and that wasn't what we needed. I'll try to take Lily on a run where she is the focus instead. Once we left everyone calmed down quickly and were good for most of the run. We didn't take the blug.bag trail, opting for the shortcut around the shoreline of the charcos north of the wooden shack in both directions... this was partially because of the heat and partially because I know what's lying around near the blue.bag trail right now and would like to avoid it (silly me). We ran to the beach and the north past Au Soleil Couchant, to where the fishermen have their boats hauled up onto the shore. On the way home Lily and Rufus turned their ears off as and charged up the blue.bag trail looking for not-so-buried treasure, trailing everyone but Hazel in their wake... I was most irritated with them and they ended up on opposite ends of the leash for the rest of the way home. Lily hasn't been on the leash in ages and was really good about it, so we'll definitely have to do that more. Other than that it was a perfect short run on a hot summer day. Everyone swam like nuts on the beach and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk #1:
Alice
Ginger
Gracie
Shirley
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
Daisy
Roxy
(9)
I took this group for a walk north to the wooden shack. Molly and Shirley left on leashes, but I switched them for Roxy at the shrimpery and that's how we were for the whole walk. Everyone was really good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk #2:
Henry
Otto
Blue
Eve
Bette
Gowron
Monkey
Stella
Linda
(9)
Roni took this group out for a walk on the same route I took, with Bette and Otto leaving on leashes to start with and Stella on a leash for the duration. They were all good and had a great time. Monkey, PupG and Linda tried to sneak home as much of the monte as they could in their coats. The bugs are hardly there at all, a real treat for August.
GRADE: A
