Prairie Hike (4)

Today is so cold (low 30's)with a brisk wind. First, I want to say Kudos to Eric and Chelsey for being the best dog foster parents I know! They are currently fostering an Italian greyhound. What I want to know is if it barks with an accent. Thanks Eric and Chelsey for sharing your love of dogs.

So it was a good day to take the dogs for a hike in the prairie. I mentioned earlier that we like to take the dogs to the Lake of the Woods prairie. Here they can go on a long lead (20 ft) and romp in the prairie grass. Max and Beeker love going to the prairie so much they start wimpering and whining two blocks away, Beeker even barks a high pitched bark, kinda like a yip. They are so beside themselves we make them sit and get calm before we open the car doors. This takes about 5 minutes. Brad and I can hardly contain ourselves from laughing. Finally we were able to get them out and leashed up. While I wanted to take pictures to show you the area, it is most difficult to get the dogs to sit. They know they are going to get to go on a romp, not a short leash, controlled heeling kind of walk. Both dogs were of course, drooling. As we started down the grassy path, Brad told Max to sit-stay in order to get his leash and gentle leader in order. Having that done, Brad gave the "all done"command to Max and Max didn't move. Rather he stuck his head in a grass clump and brought out a mouse nest. With the mouse scrambling to get out and back to the ground. Max didn't even see the mouse, he was just excited to have found something soft and smelly in his mouth. Boy was he proud. His prancing mad it difficult to get it from him. All this excitement within the first 50 yards of the path. May the ruckus begin! We have 20 foot leashes which are great for allowing the dogs to explore and get out aways, but this also creates entanglements. Beeks does not walk at all. He veers left and right, following any smell with his keen smelling nose. If there is a hole, or crack in the grass clump he is there. The snow had drifted in many areas so both dogs had their noses down following little rodents scents under it. The game is such a favorite. The crisscrossing of leashes is a constant battle for us. The paths they choose reminded me of the family circle cartoons of children playing in the neighborhood. Beeker loves snow diving. He is so proficient that he doesn't lift his head up, he just pushes his body forward with his hind legs. Fun to watch. It must cool his neck and underbelly. Max takes a different approach. He just lays down and rolls over with his back to the snow and legs up. Then the bicycling begins. Yes, the 150 lb dog bicycles. He's a happy Newfoundland! The loop we took today is the shorter of the loops we usually take. It was more difficult with the snow drifts and wind. The dogs would have been happy to continue on, but we decided to make the 1 hour loop. As the weather gets warmer we will do the loop with creeks (oh boy water!). Good hike for February.

Here's a question, were do you and your dog like to play? If you comment we can all benefit. Please share. We found some great dog parks by using the dogpark app on IPod touch. How do you find dogparks or dog friendly places to have fun?