This afternoon

Blue, Parker and I hiked our usual East ridge trail at Redwood Park today. We hiked out to the second bench where blue munched on grass and had a short siesta, and Parker happily played fetch. It's good to know that somethings will never change : ).

12/11/07

This is possibly Gracie's last walk with us. I'm really bummed that she might not be continuing with her walks, but it seems like her mom will probably be moving soon. In any case, she had a spirited trail hike for the first time in a long time, accompanied by her friends, Blue the sheltie, and Parker the cattle dog mix.

12/07

Here's a shot of Bandit listening to the birds and squirrels in a dying monterey pine tree on the Dunn Trail at Redwood Park. He's on long lead so that if any horses come around the bend, I'll have secure control of him.

12/06

Gracie had Pace for company on her neighborhood walk today. I love this jacket that Gracie is wearing, it reminds me of count dracula :). He stayed with me for our afternoon hike with Blue and Parker in Redwood Park.

12/05

Bandit and I walked at Redwood park. This is our usual walk around the serpentine prairie and up Dunn Trail. Here's a great example of Bandit responding to the command, "Come!".

12/04/07

Gracie and I walked around the neighborhood. I'm very happy to see her wagging her tail, doing play bows and generally seeming to be almost fully recovered.
Blue, Parker and I went to our usual trail at Redwood Park. It was very beautiful with low laying fog on the hills.

12/3

Bandit and I went to Point Isabel today. San francisco looked like it was being blessed by rays of sunlight. Bandit's quite a great little guy and had lots of fun chasing his friends around.

11/30

Bandit and I went to Redwood Park last friday. It was another spectacular day thanks in large part to the roast beef sandwich meat I was using as a treat for bandit whenever he would check in. This was bandit noticing some cyclists, who he would usually tear off to bark at and chase, but last friday he only had eyes for me : ).

11/29

Gracie was very exciting about her walk again today and even treed a squirrel!

Blue, Parker and I played in the creek and of course, Parker spent most of his time playing fetch with the world's tiniest stick.

yesterday

Wow! Gracie wagged her tail and did a play bow when I greeted her at her back door today. I'm really excited about the improvement in her spirits. We went on a bit of a longer walk today. And also in amazing news, Blue played tag with me today. I'm very excited to experiment to see if she'll always liven up if I produce the same behaviour. It's such a joy to see her lively and trotting along. Parker was all consumed with his pine cone as usual.

11/20

Blue in action eating grass! and parker smiles and wags his tail in anticipation of me throwing the beloved pine cone.

11/19

Bandit is on long lead at Redwood regional park.

11/15

Pace, Parker, Blue and I went to Pt Isabel today. Pace had fun running around with Glen, a small dog who looked like pace's twin. Parker played fetch as usual and of course, blue ate grass and tagged along behind us.

This afternoon

Today we had a very special treat, no I don't mean the new liver treats, which by the by the kids loved. Pace!!! joined us on the trail today. Pace is one of my all time favorite dogs. An aspiring opera singer with a touch of separation anxiety, Pace is the one dog who can really get me running, with joy, all over the place. He loves to be chased and he has this great spring in his step. Parker, as ever, was pine cone obsessed and is starting to show some clear signs of resource guarding when it comes to his pine cone. This is difficult to stem as I can put away his current pine cone, but then he just finds another. I'll have to consult with Positive reinforcement dog trainer JJ North about what techniques to use to stem this behaviour. Blue is great as usual. I think the cold is nice for her as she has such a thick coat.

sometime last week on a rainy tuesday or thursday

Out and about in redwood park with blue and parker. The mists hang heavy on the pinus radiata and the Eucalyptus Citriadora, thank god for that bachelor's in Landscape Architecture, sure comes in handy naming the trees on the trail :). But honestly, I love the rain. Makes me feel like I'm my own personal tin roof, only I guess I'm more of a rubber roof. Parker as usual spent the entire hour and a half playing fetch with a pinecone. He won't touch a ball, but pinecones are dandy. And blue takes her time sniffing each individual clump of grass along the way for the freshest salad to knosh on. She's way into loving when we take breaks.

sometime last week

Aargh. My apologies for the lapsed time between posts. Let's see. We've got rainy day pics here of Bandit when we got to join our friends Mimi and Sprout on the trail at Point Isabel. Sprout is Way not into the wet. Rain doesn't affect bandit at all though. at Point isabel, bandit gets to be off leash sometimes, and lately he's been really good, coming when called, sticking around even when he's not called. He's such a dreamy little guy when he thinks I'm the center of his universe.

Fridy, October 12

Bandit's on long lead as we work on his recall. For the time being this seems like the best walk for both of us. He gets to explore and play in the creek, and I get to enjoy the walk too. His behavior makes me wonder if ADD is something we're all born with that some of us get trained out of as children and the rest of us have to figure out how to focus later.

The poison oak is turning fall colours and is absolutely gorgeous! I wish I could cut it and use it as a centerpiece in my flower bouquets. Maybe that's it's own kind of Darwinian evolutionary tact.

Thursday, October 11

Parker, Blue, Gracie and I went to our "usual" trail, Jeffries Loop in Redwood Park. The eucalyptus trees rub against themselves in the wind and squeak so that I feel like I'm in a horror movie, but I'm getting used to it. It's a good workout and the "kids" love exploring, plus the view halfway thru is stunning! I'll have to remember to take a pic for next blog.