Inspired by Diana’s walk with her dogs Katie and I went back to the park yesterday.  We hadn’t been there in a very long time.  In fact so long that last time we were there we sat by the pond to reflect…while today there was a family ice skating on the very same pond!  Just like in summer when Katie likes to stop and watch the little league kids play ball, she sat and watched the family skate.

But mostly we walked on snow covered paths, enjoying all the good sniffing places.  Well, SHE enjoyed the sniffing…I enjoyed the sunshine.

We did a bit of recall practice of course.

And of course we had to do at least one portrait!

Today we may try to get another good walk in before the storms come.  We hope you all have a good Christmas Eve!

It was a beautiful day today, warm and a bit sunny.  So Katie and I went to the park; a new park today, as our favorite one is filled with hunters.  Katie got lots of sniffing in, and we met some other dogs too. Everyone was out to enjoy the last bit of our Indian Summer in November.  They predict snow next week!

We worked a bit on our recall…

…but mostly we just hung out.

Can’t have a better day than this one was!

Yesterday I decided I had missed enough beautiful days doing nothing much in particular, so I decided to go for a walk.  Alone.  Of course it was no longer a beautiful warm sunny day; it was cold and the sky was gray.  But still, a walk alone would be nice.  Deciding to walk to town I began my journey.  It’s only a mile from my house to downtown, but there’s a lot to see along the way.

First stop, perhaps a third of a mile into the trip was the local cemetery.  I’d always meant to stop by and look at some of the older markers from the town’s founding fathers.  It’s a pretty cemetery, quite small, and as I came to realize, very old.

Then on down the road to a little park with a bridge to get over the creek that runs from the mill pond into the wetlands.  Almost to town!  

And there it is, the entirety of our downtown.  Well, there is a little more…

…the other side of the street!

Along the way I enraged two sets of doggies in the windows…This Bulldog, Beagle and Minpin who had been sleeping on the ledge inside the bay window…

…and this pair of  Bichons who could hardly stand that I was walking by their house!

On the way back home (which is pretty much all uphill by the way!) I stopped to take a photo of a pretty wild crabapple tree.

And then the crabby Dairy-Queen tree!

And finally a wild apple tree that had just a few apples hanging out at the end of her limbs, as if they were Christmas ornaments.

As I walked up my driveway there was little Katie, not even mad that I had gone on a walk without her.  Just happy to see me as always.  Today, of course, it’s bright sunshine.  I think Katie and I will go to the park.

Katie’s wound up like a spring.  Still.  We’ve been busy, a family wedding, me working many of the last few days.  No walks in the park for her and she’s telling us that she DOESN’T LIKE IT!  So this evening we headed back to the park.  My intention was to work on heeling and sit/stays.  But as soon as she was out of the car she was OFF exploring and I didn’t have the heart to make her practice.  Which turned out to be a good decision because she wasn’t interested in the treats I brought anyway.

I call this one; a girl and her dog:

The mosquitos were out in force, so we tried to move along.  My entire job on this walk was to manage the long leash, so that it didn’t wind itself around her feet.  I wasn’t totally successful with that, as evidenced below:

We did a little bit of recalling, which she loves to do.  At least the first time she loved it.  Then she found out I didn’t have her special treats, and all bets were off.

We had a lot of fun, even with all the mosquitos.  She wouldn’t go back to the car, so we sat and watched the pond for awhile. Funny thing, my whole family is happiest when we can see water.  She must be related.

Silly girl.

This evening, feeling bad about a trip to northern Michigan that I didn’t get to take today, I decided to compromise with a walk in my favorite park with my girl Katie.   It’s about a 30 minute drive; we arrived early evening.  It was 76 degrees and quite humid.  I carried treats and a water bottle, plus the camera and a doggie bag to pick up any deposits we might leave.  I felt like a bag lady.  Katie was quite impatient with all my preparations.  She was ready to go Go GO!

As it was quite warm we stopped every quarter mile or so for a drink, but mostly she was just doing the “Sheltie prance” right down the bike path.

Of course there was much sniffing along the way.

And of course, lots of times I made her pose for me near beautiful places.

Katie and I had quite a long discussion when we got to the 3/4 mile mark, but she wanted to keep going, so we turned around at the one mile mark.

Which turned out to be a mistake.  We should have turned around at 3/4 of a mile.  Shortly after we started back Katie just stopped walking.  We goofed around for awhile, got a drink, sniffed some stuff, then she trotted off.  We rested each quarter on the way back too.  During one rest two sandhill cranes flew overhead, squawking madly.

It took us more than an hour to walk the two miles.  The sun was going down by the time we got near the car.  Low evening light makes for pretty pictures.

We got to watch a family of geese and a few ducks on the way back too!

Happy girl!

Katie and I have to apologize to Ludo, the Sheltie from Down Under.  I know I’m supposed to be teaching Katie some tricks, and exhibiting proof of such activities here on Tricky t-day.  But my book still hasn’t arrived from the library (someone else is teaching their dog new tricks and won’t turn the book back in!!) and I find that I am useless at randomly trying to teach her things without knowing what I’m doing.  Plus I can’t figure out how to be the obstacle (as in JUMP KATIE JUMP) as well as the trainer as well as the photographer!  So I still don’t have any tricks to share.  Sigh. I will try to be a better tricky t-day participant.  I really will.

Katie and I DID go to the park this afternoon.  This was the first park visit in a couple weeks, what with me being out of state and then working every day since I’ve been home.  As soon as I got her long leash out she got excited.  When I put on the treat bag she was ecstatic.  So much so that I couldn’t get the rest of her stuff together because she was jumping on me and running in between my legs.  HEY!  That sort of sounds like a trick, jumping on me and running in between my legs.  Does that count?!  LOL!  Anyway, I put her regular leash on her and took her out to put her in the back of the SUV.  Our four door sedan was parked where the  SUV usually is, and she insisted she wanted to get into the truck of that car!  I couldn’t stop laughing, finally just picked her up (the benefits of owning a small dog!) and put her into the back of the SUV where she belonged.  She was SOOOOO excited to be going to the park!

We walked around the whole perimiter of the park, she stopping to sniff or pee about every 10 feet.

It was a beautiful day, mid 70’s, low humidity, big white puffy clouds in the sky.  She’d get antsy with me when I was taking pictures of the clouds.   Come ON Mom!  Geeze!  I could tell she was impatient with me, she kept looking back to see what was taking me so long. 

Here’s a picture of her that I took as I was jogging up next to her, right as I fell into a hole.  She’s laughing at me. 

About halfway around the park we stopped to rest on the observation deck.  Katie found a little bit of shade. 

I thought she’d be tired, but once we got back to the parking lot she refused to head to the car.  No!  Not going to get in the car!  Not going to!  Na uh…not me.   

Oh.  Did you say it was time for DINNER?!  Well, why didn’t you SAY so?  Let’s go Mom!