skip to main |
skip to sidebar
morning run:
Rufus
Jack
Twiggy
MoMo
Luna
Cookie
Roxy
(7)
Au Soleil Couchant via the monte: ~6k. This was another fast run. Shirley was originally in the mix but her energy was too much at the gate so she got bumped. The remaining dogs settled down once we were underway but they all really wanted to run so we kept the pace up. We took the blue.bag trail heading out; it no longer has even the vestiges of a blue bag to mark it but that's how I think of it. Rufus came off of the leash when we empted out onto the road. I had Roxy on from shrimpery to the beach, where I let her off for a while... the wind was intense and directly in our faces the whole way north and Roxy ran ahead too much for my liking so I hooked her up again when we got to A.S.C. and she stayed on for the duration. In fairness to her she probably couldn't hear me yelling for her over the wind but whatever - she's still a bit of a wildcard and needs to be under control. Everyone was really good the whole way home and they all had a great time.
GRADE: A
walk #1:
Monkey
Linda
Coco
(3)
Roni took these three out for a walk as storm clouds gathered, taking advantage of the slightly cooler temperature. Coco left off the leash and this turned out to be a mistake - she's wickedly smart and hyper-sensitive about the leash, to the point where she ran off and refused to come home with Roni and the other two. We've seen this enough now that we didn't panic, since we knew she was nearby. Roni also saw a stray pup on our trail coming home, so when she went out to look for Nico she took some food and water, in case she saw it again (she didn't). Roni didn't find Coco the first trip out, so I went out on the bike and did a larger circle, all the way down to Angel's corner and then back to the land bridge. I enountered her at the land bridge and could see she was still really wound up but otherwise okay. I tried to convince her to come to me but she would have none of it, so I made reassuring noises and biked home slowly. Finally, as Roni was in the launchpad preparing to go out for her a third time she sheepishly came creeping up to the gate. She managed to scrape the pad on one of her paws somehow but was otherwise fine. We'll obviously work with her more on the leash but at least it was lazy, cloudy Sunday with no traffic or people around.
walk #2:
Miles
(1)
After all the hubub with Coco Roni took Miles out for a meander in the nearby monte. He was a bit annoying, as is his wont; he is stubborn and opinionated, so he's obviously in the right place.
morning walk:
Bette
Nico
(2)
Roni took Nico out for some special walk-with-Mom time; Bette is the perfect companion for this and was a great influence. Nico doesn't like the leash but Roni worked with her and she managed to come home on the last trail on the leash without problem. She's so goofy and sweet and she loves Roni so much; Roni got some great shots and video of her being such an adorable nut. Bette is such a good walking companion it's hard not to have a nice time.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Eve
Truman
Posey
Luna
Steve
Murci
Cookie
Junebug
Tupo
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. This was a fast group - we only stopped briefly for water a handful of times. June and Tupo left on leashes; June stayed on for the duration but I let Tupo off for a long stretch in the middle of the run. He was great both ways, gave me no problem getting him back on the leash and even drank from the bottle like a pro. This was his first real big-boy run and he had a blast. He's definitely more of a monte dog than a beach dog; he doesn't mind going around or through small puddles but he doesn't like to be near any water that feels deeper to him. Everyone was obedient and upbeat, listened well and had a great time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Ginger
Reggie
Otto
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(7)
Roni took this group out for a brisk walk. Everyone was good.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
Gracie
Rita
Blue
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
Linda
(10)
Once again I'm catching up on posts days after the fact. I don't recall much about this wal kbut I think Gracie and Ernie left on leashes, came off quickly and everyone was generally good.
GRADE: A
morning run (aborted):
Godzilla*
Gowron
Twiggy
MoMo
Hazel
Lex
Cookie
Zoila
Tupo
(9)
What an awful day. I am writing about it now four days later. I left with Zoila and Tupo on leashes and everything seemed to be going well except I noticed when I got to the shrimpery that Godzilla was not behind me. I called for her and she finally appeared, but as we continued on towards the land bridge she was more and more reticent to go. She also looked strange to me. She had been up for the run beforehand but now her tail was down and her lips seemed to be an odd color so I turned us all around and went home, after only 1km. Zilla got some meds and went into a crate to be observed. I foolishly decided to try and take the remaining eight back out but a couple of them were already less enthusiastic, since it had been kind of weird. I insisted PupG and Lex get back into the launchpad and then we left again. This time things did not go so well. Lex, Cookie and Mo led by PupG all immediately ran down to the beach to the south of us which led to me forcing them out of the water and injuring myself in the process. At this point I finally realized how dumb this was and that we weren't going anywhere today, so I rounded everyone back up who was still loose (some had already gone home). When things calmed down I went to check on Godzilla in her crate and she was dead. We've seen something like this before, where a dog had a long-running, undiagnosed case of ehrlichiosis, went running and got very sick and died. Godzilla had not given us any indication that she might be sick or under the weather. We could find no bite marks on her. Her appetite was good, she had no issues going to the bathroom and her attitude seemed playful if anything. I would've had to drive her body all the way to Merida to possibly have someone analyze it and tell us what happened and we've never had good luck getting these kinds of answers before, so we just buried her. It sucks to not know why your friends die. Godzilla was a wonderful dog and a member of the first family group that we took in (Gracie's pups). She and her litter were born in the bushes at the army camp up the road but their eyes weren't even open when the soldiers asked us to come get them. Gracie, George, Chester and their little crew of pups helped us turn into the pack we are. We went through so many things with her and with all of them, and she grew up to be such a good girl she didn't even wear a collar - it mussed her pretty coat too much and she didn't really need it. We're both sickened by her loss and by the fact that we don't know why.
morning walk:
Bette
Tuesday
Gowron
Monkey
Linda
Amber
Zoot
(7)
Roni took this group out for a walk around the charcos. Everyone was good and had a good time.
GRADE: A
morning walk:
Alice
Ginger
George
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
Stella
Tupo
(9)
I took this group for a walk across the land bridge and to the south, with Tupo and Stella on leashes to begin with. Everyone else (Ernie, Molly) was good early on and listened well. We ran across a bird-trapper at the shrimpery, camped out on top of the concrete tanks with his little dog by his side. Our dogs were exemplary: Ernie and Molly were slightly interested but listened and came to me immediately and everyone else followed suit. We didn't rush but were were still by him and his dog in a flash with only two or three barks from anyone. Tupo was especially good on the leash: he didn't like the moto-trike the guy had left parked in the road but he wasn't too upset by it, and he didn't freak out about a strange person or dog. Tupo was off the leash a little past that point and was good about coming back to me and listening the whole way. On the trip home I had him back on the leash before we got to the shrimpery; the guy and his dog were still there and everyone was good about it again. Nice walk on an eerie, foggy morning. Lots of noises all around us in the mist.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Rufus
Jack
Shirley
Daisy
Twiggy
Roxy
(6)
Southern monte loop: ~6k. Rufus really wanted to get out and was really fired up. I started with a group of eight in the launchpad but it was too much energy and I kicked 'Zilla and Otto out to take it down to six so we could get out without too much mayhem... We ran across the land bridge, ducked south at the tar paper shack and onto the "terreno federal" road, which we took into the month to the south, caught the nearest serpentine and took the shortcut ("hidden" trail) back south to the tar paper shack again. It's not our normal route and this helped keep everyone engaged and together. Rufus came off the leash at the tar paper shack heading out, but Roxy was on from the shrimpery for the rest of the run. Everyone was really great once we were running. Daisy lagged a little but this is more her kind of group and pace: fast in spots but not all the time and with bigger dogs. I hooked Rufus up as we were coming home and they were all good to the gate.
GRADE: A
morning run:
Posey
Eve
Truman
Chester
Mega
Steve McQueen
Murci
Cookie
Junebug
(9)
Southern charcos: ~8k. We ran the length of the palapa road, and quickly. Roni's back from a week-long trip and we were both wiped out after for a few days, so everyone was raring to go. Chester was amazing, as usual, schooling dogs one fifth his age the whole way. We cut through a lot of strange little places with and took a slightly different route to keep everyone interested and having fun, leaving and coming home via the land bridge. Fun, fast run.
GRADE: A
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
morning walk:
George
Gowron
Tito
Ernie
Molly
Maggie
Ziggy
Stella
Roxy
(9)
I took this group for a walk.
morning walk:
Alice
Gracie
Rita
Shirley
Molly
Maggie
Daisy
Roxy
(8)
I took this group out for a walk.
morning walk:
Ginger
Blue
Otto
Monkey
Linda
Gowron
Amber
Nico
(8)
Roni took this group out for a walk in the monte.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
