Hiking photos

It's pretty well a tradition for us to get out on a full-day hike on the weekend for my late September birthday. And so we did again...

The whole family got out in the gorgeous mountains for a full day 14-16km trek, leaving children, dogs and adults alike pretty tired, relaxed and filled with feel-good endorphines.

Here are just a few photos of the dogs enjoying their day out.

Maggio living up to his name: Blazingstar Moutain Bluebird. Almost high enough to just spread his wings and fly?! :-)

 Re-fueling and resting tired legs.

Her Highness, Pinot the Princess, DID bounce and swim across the river on the way out. However - during the six hours we were on the other side hiking on a hot September day...the water levels were actually quite a bit higher upon our return...and alas - her Highness got quite upset when she realized returning across the very fridgid river would mean getting both wet and cold. Concerned that she would get carried down stream and really panic, I ended up giving her a Royal Shuttle service across. All ended well, and all slept very well after a tremendous hike!
I keep reminding myself how very lucky indeed we are, to have all of this,
right in our own "backyard"!

A tired dog IS a good dog

Our all-time favorite outing includes tons of retrieve games, some training intertwined

with the running - and getting truly exhausted.

The classic signs of a well exercised dog of course is the tongue...which makes for some pretty amusing photos :-)

Rovers in the Rink

September 11, 2011 final class for this group of
Super Recall in the rink.
Missing from photo: Shammy, Tashi and Blake.

Murphie.

As the summer season comes to a close, so are rink classes coming to an end. What great fun it has been to train in the rink! Exercises requiring tons of space have been a lot of fun to work on in this big big space!

Nacho.

I am hoping we can go back next summer and repeat the same.

Retrieving, working on interactive dog-human play, simple off-leash follow-the-person exercises have been favourites.

Chief Takoda.

Final class and graduation also for the Rink Manners class.
Missing from photos are Bonita and Blitz.

Manners participants have had an ideal space to work on Recalls, Loose Leash Walking and much more. During the final class we made an attempt at some Level 1 Rally'O exercises.  Great troopers worked through gusty winds and laminated Rally exercise signs flying all over the place :-) Oh sigh...Rally is best done on a wind-less day outdoors - or indoors altogether...

By the end of Manners class we were practically in the dark. As the cold winds and threatening sky draped in over us on Sunday evening, I was happily thinking my grateful "goodbyes to the rink"...and looking forward to fall and winter classes indoors!