Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Today's trail with Sunny. The blue line is me laying the trail. The red line is Sunny running the trail. The trail was .27 miles, which is one of the longest trails Sunny has completed so far. The wind was blowing nearly 20 mph, causing the scent to drift a bit. I figured this was going to happen. Sunny showed this by going about three feet to the left of the trail. There were a few spots he had to recalibrate to be sure he was on trail, especially in the places where he was heading into the wind. He stopped once and looked at me. I just said, "Go to work," and he put his nose to the ground, found the scent and carried on. When he reached the toy I had left for him at the end, he sat and looked up at me. Such a smarty pants. I threw the toy for him and gave him a bunch of treats. Such a good boy.

I had a friend lay a trail for Sunny this morning, and after letting it age around 45 minutes, I walked Sunny over to the start point. When we were about 20 yards away from where my friend dropped his scent article, Sunny picked up the scent and was ready to go. I had to hold him back to adjust the lead. The moment I said, "Go to work," he was off. He went a ways then stopped and looked back at me. I didn't move or say anything. He then wanted to play with me, which is what we do on our walks, but this wasn't a walk. He needed to work. After doing this two times, he figured out he just needed to keep his nose to the ground and stay on trail. The trail ended up being about a quarter mile, with a turn to the right. No cookies were laid out for Sunny to find. The trail was simply following the scent to the end point, which was a toy Sunny likes. He found his toy without any trouble. I threw the toy for him, giving him lots of praise and pets and treats. On the walk home,...

October is just a few days away, bringing about the beginning of my favorite time of year. The cooler nights. The leaves changing from green to orange, red, or yellow. The slowing down of life in general. I'm good with slowing down. Sunny, though, isn't a fan of the slow life movement. Since Friday Sunny has been on restricted activity due to the muscle strain. He did really well Saturday, mostly just hanging out on my lap all day. I'm pretty sure the pain was enough then that he simply didn't have it in him to be his usual puppy self. Yesterday he wanted to be a little more active, but I curtailed all play. We spent the day in the back yard just sitting in the grass or in the house, binge watching a Brit Box show. Today he tried to convince me all day that he was perfectly fine. To keep him somewhat low-key, I spent a lot of time on the floor, working on his down stay, which lasts all of two seconds.  While he's still slightly limping, it's only noticeable beca...

Over a year and a half has passed since my last post. I went from being 59 to 61 (which has been just fine), I tried reconciling with my husband, (which did not work out) and I brought another pup into the pack (which has been . . . an experience). I'm still at my job, with this being year 27. I'm still gardening, reading, and playing with my camera. I've made some wonderful friends in this little village I call home, and I've made new friends all because of Sunny, the new addition to the pack. Sunny. Where to start? For several years I have been following those involved with search and rescue, especially canine search and rescue. Then, when I helped deliver a van full of goods to those in need following hurricane Helene, we stayed a night in a hotel on the way home, and a group of canine search and rescue handlers on their way to North Carolina were eating breakfast when we were. I eavesdropped a little, listening to them talk about their dogs and what they would be fa...