I stepped out of my comfort zone of the little park at the top of the street this morning.
A couple of friends were taking their dogs to a local hiking area with a pond for swimming, they were going at the butt crack of ass 6:30 on a Saturday morning.
Originally I told them I didn’t think I could make it; but when I woke up at 6:00 am wide awake, I thought “What the heck.”
It was a lovely place to walk first thing in the morning.
There was a little bridge to walk across.
Some lovely little streams meandering through.
Sorry the flash wasn't bright enough to capture the beauty of the brook.
And a swampy, marshy area where I lost Delilah.
I could hear her splashing around in tall grasses, but I couldn’t see her and I was losing my shit freaking out. I will probably never be invited to go with my friends again. 🙁
Eventually she came out, but then I kept her on leash until we got to a proper swimming area.
We played fetch for a bit, but my friend’s black lab Raleigh beat her every time. 🙁
My crazy friends decided to continue hiking but since it was now about 7:10 and the dogs hadn’t eaten yet, I decided to head back. I was nervous to let Delilah off leash in an unfamiliar area, so I clipped Sampson’s leash to the end of hers and let her drag both leashes.
The leashes did get dirty, but it kept her close to me. This is a great way to train your dog in off-leash walking. You get a long leash or a long piece of rope and tie it to their collar and let them drag it. This gives you the option of grabbing them should the need arise, but still allowing them freedom of not being tethered to you. As they get better with recalling and staying close to you, you gradually shorten their leash/rope.
That sounds like a lot of fun! I love hiking, I’m probably like your (crazy) friends lol. I wish I could get Aladdin to swim. Not quite a water retriever like your babies! We’re working on it though! I bet you enjoyed that glorious wet dog smell for the walk back! ^_^
LOL, he may yet become a water dog! Delilah is the only one that LOVES the water. Sampson will take a quick swim but then he’s done. She will keep going and going!
Oh guess what? I found those shoes online for $40!
Have you tried working on whistle recall? It might be something to work on because even if the dog can’t see you, they can hear the whistle and (hopefully) come to the whistle.
It is funny that you mentioned the long leash because we have been up at our cabin the last several days and while cleaning a closet, I came across Storm’s check cord from when she was a pup. We stowed it away for whenever we might have a new pup. 🙂
Looks like you found a beautiful swimming spot…the 2 brown dawgs are jealous!
I will whistle with my mouth and they will return….just not if they are chasing something. I would like them to respond with words, gestures and whistles. Like if they are looking at me I lift my arm high over my head and they will come. So if they are far away and my whistler won’t work, at least they know what i mean.
What is a check cord?
Delilah is jealous that the 2 brown dawgs are trained to hunt. 🙂
A check cord is the fancy name for what you described as a long rope tied to a collar. We have a hunter orange one and it has a clip on it so it can easily clip on the collar. It is maybe 20 feet long.
Good idea using words, gestures and whistles. We just use words and a whistle to recall. The whistle is really helpful when the dogs are hunting in high cover and can’t see the hunter. But we use an actual whistle. Part of what we have been working on is different whistle blasts mean different things, one is sit and look at the handler for direction and another is return. They have to hear the whistle a long way out, just as you say, so it is a loud whistle. 🙂