Off Leash Canyon

"Off Leash Canyon" is Zephyr's favorite place to go hiking because, as the name suggests, he gets to run off leash.


I don't really know what the real name of the canyon is but it leads in to Kelly Canyon. Off Leash is about a 5 minute drive from our house, which is also nice.


It is a beautiful little canyon that is green and full of flowers in the summer, has nice canyon walls that make it unattractive for deer and that Zephyr won't run out of, and is almost always devoid of humans. I would say that we see people there maybe 20% of the time and they have always been very nice.


So, Zephyr gets to run free and fast in the canyon.


And, believe it or not, Zephyr is great off leash (unless he sees a dog, human, or deer, which is why we hike here). He generally doesn't like us to be out of his sight too long and will wait or come check in, and he responds to a recall by turning and running up to me.



The only bummer is we can't hike here during the winter because of snow. We're taking advantage of the nice fall weather a lot lately.

What a cute butt!

Caron

Lure Coursing Fun

The last two weekends we have gone lure coursing! Zephyr loves it! Last weekend we went to Black Canyon City at the Krazy Horse Ranch. Zephyr finished his JC on Saturday and went on to two great runs on Sunday. YAAA!


This is a video of his second run. He looks like a small dot but I think you can see that he is really following the lure well.

This weekend we went to New Mexico for a trial outside of Albuquerque, in Stanley. Unfortunately things didn't go as well. On his first run a dog came up from behind and got a bit grumpy at Zephyr. Zephyr was startled and turned around and gave the other dog the business. He did continue to run the course though. The other dog was excused for the day. Then on his second run a dog came from behind again and bumped him. Not on purpose or aggressively but it startled him again. After this he was concerned about the other dogs and was looking over at the other dogs and even moving out to let them pass. Needless to say I feel really bad because I want this to be fun for him. He still loves to run and had a great practice run. So, I think we will take a break from coursing for a few weeks. Maybe we'll do a practice in early November and then a trial in late November. The rule for everything we do is "it has to be fun".

Caron

CGC Test Pictures

I just got some pictures of our Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test from a friend.

This is me returning after walking away. Look at that focus! And I might say, what a handsome boy.Don't I look just fine and happy? Who cares if my mom is gone?

Okay, that's enough. You can come back now. Now! Now!

On another topic. This morning we had an agility lesson with Monica, we won the lesson from the raffle at the Performance Day along with a set of tunnel snuggers. It was great! Zephyr was a little distracted and goofy at first. But then he seemed to calm down and get into it. He was able to do the tire no problem, something he hadn't had much practice with. Then sequence in a straight line jump, tire, jump. He did so well we progressed to learning the pinwheel and "out". He did run off some but it was generally easy to get him and refocus. YEAH!

Caron

Kachina Trail

Zephyr is crashed out , so I have to tell everyone about our hike on the Kachina trail today. The weather was perfect, warm with a light breeze. The aspen are just barely starting to turn, I found a few red and yellow leaves.
There's a nice spot about halfway along the trail that we always stop at. It's got good rocks or logs to sit on for the people and nice grass for the hound. It also has nice views.
Zephyr definitely takes after his mom and dad and loves the outdoors. Hopefully we will get to go on lots of hikes this fall.

Caron

P.S. Look for post on our felines to come soon.

Cactus

Just so you know, there are cactus in Buffalo Park. I found out the hard way last weekend. Me, Mom, and Marlies went for a walk there last weekend. I was on leash and stepped off the trail only a few feet and went into cactus. I didn't know what it was, so naturally I bit it to try and get it off my leg. Mom saw that happened and came right over. She was too late. I had cactus thorns all in my mouth, especially on the back of the roof of my mouth. I was VERY Scared! So was Mom. She was good though. Marlies held me and Mom reached in my mouth to get it out. At first there was too much saliva (and blood) and her hands just slipped off. So, she covered her hand with a sweatshirt and that worked. We got all but two out at the park, and those we got out back at home. Then they had to get them out of my legs and feet. For some strange reason Marlies brought a brush in her pack. That really made getting the big ones out easy, and they got the rest out with fingers. I was exhausted when we got home and my mouth didn't feel good, see below. But, I was up and running in the next day or so.