17.02.16

morning run: Posey Chester Shirley Frankie Twiggy Hazel Cookie Junebug Tupo (9) Short southern loop: ~6k. Catching up still but I vaguely remember this one. We did loop to the south along the nearest serpentine past the southern entrance into the monte, up to the intersection and home. Everyone was great. GRADE: A

14.02.16

morning walk: George Gowron Tito Ernie Molly Maggie Ziggy Stella Roxy (9) I took this group for a walk.

13.02.16

morning walk: Alice Gracie Rita Shirley Molly Maggie Daisy Roxy (8) I took this group out for a walk.

12.02.16

morning walk: Ginger Blue Otto Monkey Linda Gowron Amber Nico (8) Roni took this group out for a walk in the monte.

09.02.16

morning walk: Alice Ginger Osita George Ernie Maggie Ziggy Molly Stella (9) Catching up on old stuff that I haven't had time to get to; I don't remember many of the details... I took this group for a walk but I don't remember much else.

07.02.16

morning run:
Eve
Chester
Lily
Luna
Lex
Murci
Cookie
Junebug
Zoila
(9)

No-man's land: ~9k. This was a crazy, all-out run on a blustery, chilly day. I wasn't going to take both of the twins at first, only Zoila; her sister Junebug really put herself out there and they both desperately needed to go, so what the hell. It has been difficult getting out lately for a lot of reasons and all the dogs on this run were really itching to air it out. Chester deserves special mention. He's almost certainly over 10 years old, much older than everyone else on this run, and yet he was frequently in front and never lagged the whole way. Of course if June and Zoila weren't on leashes they would probably have been in front... and behind, and on both sides, and probably up a few trees and down a few holes, too. They are a tiny little team of horses, although Zoila is really more of a tank. No-man's land was a lot drier than last time but there were slippery stretches that required working with June and Zoila to keep from getting pulled face-first through the muck. On the other hand, they both drank from the bottle properly for the first time and there were a few moments when we weren't hauling ass and actually stopped to sniff something or have some fun in the water. We took the long way south and came home via the land bridge. Everyone behaved themselves well, although there wasn't much opportunity to be bad: we saw nobody else nor heard any vehicles. Nice run. I really hope they're tired.
GRADE: A

06.02.16

mid-day beach run:
Rufus
(1)

To the sign: ~2k. Rufus and I went for a tear up the beach to the tortuga sign and back. The wind was really howling and in our faces for the trip north; we both enjoy that. There were a few beachcombers near our house but we were past them quickly and Rufus didn't care at all - he just wanted to run. I let him off the leash past the HoJo and we had a good time in the wind all the way to the tortuga sign. I didn't want to be gone too long and it was no fun swimming in the ocean anyway since it was so churned up, so we turned around there and made better time home with the wind at our backs.
GRADE: A

04.02.16

morning run:
Rita
Frijolita
Tuesday
Otto
Shirley
Linda
Twiggy
MoMo
Tupo
(9)

To the tortuga sign and back: ~4k. Tuesday and Tupo were both on leashes the whole way. The first 2k might be some kind of personal record - Tuesday really wanted to run and Tupo was right there with her, but it was Shirley that set the pace and she was on some kind of mission. We finally stopped at the end of the blue.bag trail and I kept us a little closer from there on. I had intended to head north on the beach a bit but when we got to the tortuga sign Nicole was just to the north with her charges. As before the only one who actually bothered to run all the way to her to say hi was Shirley, who seems to love their terriers... kinda cute but she didn't listen very well and took her time getting back to me. Everyone else was fine, except Tupo who definitely did not like the look of strange people or dogs - something to work on. He also wasn't crazy about the look of the ocean, but in his defense it was pretty ugly: it was already starting to get churned up from a storm that's blowing in from gulf and he isn't crazy about water to begin with. When Shirley got back to me I decided to just take us back into the monte and we ended up taking more or less the same route home, perhaps a tad slower. Tupo drank from the bottle a couple of times. Everyone had a great time.
GRADE: A

03.02.16

morning run:
Blue
Godzilla
Chester
Frankie
Daisy
Hazel
Murci
Roxy
Junebug
(9)

Southern charcos: ~8k. Roxy scrwed around early on the first trail, probably because portions of it have been burned recently; she finally caught up but it was irritating and she was on the second leash from there on (June was obviously on the whole way). Daisy and Frankie don't like to go this far; they're perfectly capable of doing it, they just like to screw around too much in the rearguard and only pick up the pace when they get ridiculously behind. Since I don't like them getting that far behind this drags the speed of the whole group down... they both prefer shorter beach runs anyway. Other than the lagging by those two this was a good run. June freaked out a little when we ran into Chino on his bike just south of the shack as we were coming home via the blue.bag trail; I got down on the ground with her and held her to force her to see that nothing bad was going to happen as Chino passed us by. Nobody else reacted to him and June was quickly over it. These are the kinds of things that have to happen more often before we can trust her off the leash. Murci's insane enthusiasm well exceeds the demands of a mere 8k run - she has to run 10k at least before she's a little tired. I put her on the other end of the leash with June coming home on the coco trail just to keep her honest and then switched her for Frankie before the shrimpery because she's the most likely to bark at someone on a bike. Everyone was good to the gate.
GRADE: A

01.02.16

morning run:
Posey
Truman
Shirley
Luna
Mega
Steve McQueen
Cookie
Zoila
Tupo
(9)

Au Soleil Couchant: ~6k. Zoila and Tupo left on leashes. I let Tupo off on the beach but kept him on in the monte, although he honestly seems like he's ready to try off the leash already... I want to have a few encounters with people and vehicles while he's on the leash first to make sure he doesn't have any issues. His main issue is: LET'S RUN DAD! He and Zoila are perfectly matched because all they want to do is run... Zoila's tail goes up in direct proportion to how fast we're going, which was pretty damned fast today. We ran to Au Soleil Couchant in the monte this time, since I had a feeling Marie and Nicole would still be on the beach. I turned out to be correct, but they were much farther north than I expected, well past Au Soleil Couchant. This worked out fine: I pointed us south and we were quickly out of hailing distance. Tupo is still not too sure about that big swishy water thing but he had plenty to do on the beach with his buddies and Zoila swam enough for both of them. We took the tortuga sign access road home and everyone was great all the way to the gate.
GRADE: A

morning walk:
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
Coco
(5)

Roni took this crew out for a walk to the north and then across the land bridge via the shore of the charco that abuts it. Coco left off the leash; Roni did some leash-work with her during the course of the walk and she came home on the leash for the last trail home. She was good throughout and enjoyed herself. This was a fun group who like to horse around but listen well. Everyone had a good time and behaved themselves.
GRADE: A