19.08.16

morning run:
Blue
Rita
Gowron
Otto
Hazel
Tupo
Nico
Perl
Ruby
(9)

Au Soleil Couchant: ~6k. This was Perl and Ruby's first big-girl run and they were excellent, like they were pros and had done it a thousand times. They both even drank from the bottle. We didn't run full-out the whole way, but we did take the blue.bag trail to and from the beach and hauled ass pretty good in stretches on that route. I saw a little black dog, not even a yearling, ahead of us after we crossed the road on the way to the beach; I held everyone up verbally, except Nico who was on the leash the whole way. The other dog ran down to the beach ahead of us and turned south, so I gave it plenty of room and kept my charges from seeing it until it was well south of us and we neaded north. Everyone had a great time on the beach, and Nico is getting better on the leash. Heading back I was conscious that there might be other dogs around, but I didn't see any until we got near the road, when a larger, older female with a coat much like Blue's darted by us heading back to the beach, obviously trying to get away from us. None of mine gave chase or was in any way aggressive and she was past us quickly. As we crossed the road a few meters later I saw a group of three smaller dogs, including the black one from before; they were standing in the road south about 100m away and just watched us as we crossed the road. I'm sure they were the dogs I saw on the previous outing. Nobody seemed to notice or want to give chase so I got us across quickly and headed home. My suspicion is that the larger grey female we saw is the mother and the other three are her full-grown pups... there's not much we can do but pay attention. It was gratifying to see that Nico didn't bark at them and Ruby and Perl were not interested in chasing. Maybe some opportunity to help them will present itself, but they're at least 1km north if that's where they hang out normally. This might also explain some of the late-night barking we've heard in the monte of late.
GRADE: A