A Beautiful Day for a Walk(22)

Well, two days in a row with beautiful weather, amazing. It started out so foggy that when I put the dogs out before i went to work it sounded like it was raining but it was only the dew/fog dripping from the trees. That's a first for me. When I got off work it was sunny and about 62 degrees so I knew I needed to get Beeks out on a walk (Okay me too). I decided that the Lake of the Woods prairie would bee really fun and probably early enough that it would be less crowded. Of course we stopped at DQ on the way. When we got to LOTW (Lake of the Woods)I decided not to put Beeks Gentle Leader on him and to just let him have his collar attached to his 20foot lead. I'm not sure that was a good idea. Although Beeks probably had more use of his nose for scents,he sure pulled hard on the lead. He really had a great time. The park was doing a controlled burn today so we did not have full access to all of the trails but we still walked a good four miles. We sure had high adventure. as we rounded one curve we met a Springer and its master and the Springer was not on a leash. I had been practicing recalls with Beeks and he was doing real well, coming when I called him even though there were so many things to seek out. Anyway, The Springer's owner verbally told him to sit/stay and he did. I complemented him on his well behaved dog and he told me that it was because his dog had on a shock collar. As soon as we passed he said, "Okay lets go this way", which was opposite the direction we were going and off they went. Well, this got me to thinking, Beeks is pulling so hard on the lead and he had 20 feet of leash, and the Springer was really able to explore the fields and came when his owner called it, even though it had on a shock collar. The question I asked my self was, who was having a better time, and who was more constrained? Maybe electric training collars aren't so bad if they are used properly. I really wonder, Beeks would have really loved to explore and run like the Springer. We continued on and like a good owner I wanted to engage with Beeks in the beauty of nature so...when I saw a Caterpillar I called him, and he came, I pointed to the Caterpillar and asked him what it was. Beeks, kinda approached it and backed away, I (thinking he was just nervous)called him back and he came and I encouraged him to smell it (thinking he needed not to be afraid of such little things). Wrong! He smelled it and immediately started sneezing/spitting and foaming at the mouth. The Caterpillar probably had some bad tasting odor of protection that I just encouraged my dog to smell. Good owner I am!

One of be best benefits of today's outing was that Beeks and I practiced our recalls. On our way back around to the car we took the path instead of retracing our steps through the grassy prairie. On the path we encountered many different pedestrians and bike riders. We even encountered two people rollerblading. Every time I saw some one coming I recalled Beeks and had him come to me and sit. He did this every time and when he sat I praised him. Soon I was just calling him and when he got to me he sat on his own. I was so proud of him.

Oh, during the last quarter of our loop the path went down a small incline. At the side of the path, Beeker really became interested in the wild grass. His nose was really down into the clumps and all of a sudden he pounced. He went wild. I first thought he had caught a critter but he hadn't. He was just trying to. He sure smelled something, so he kept forging ahead and kept pouncing all over the place like he was following the smell of the little rodent. He had a blast!
Since we have been home Beeks has been asleep with his head under our bed. When he was little, when he first came to live with us he would crawl under the bed to sleep. Now he is too big and he can only get his head under it. I wonder if he thinks that since his head is under and he can't see us, he is completely hidden. Makes me wonder...