A busy day

The day started out frosty, but the sky was clear, the sun was warm, and it was soon another beautiful spring day.

We hit the trails this morning with Shika, Rocky, and visiting Austin, for a good but relatively easy walk.

I'm ready to commit to walking again as I've really been enjoying it the last few days. Having someone to walk with sure helps with the motivation. During her morning romp in the pasture, Emmylou once again jumped out of the pasture fence. This means two things: a. she's feeling good; and b. I need to walk her daily again because I can't trust her out in the pasture.

When we got back from the morning walk there was a call from Austin's dad, who was back in town and ready to come pick him up.

I don't know which of them was happier.

Shayna, Rocky, Shika, and I then headed into town to Dirty Dogs, a self-service dog washing facility in Charlottesville. Rocky was surprisingly good with the bath and emerged as a clean, shiny, good looking and good smelling dog.

We came back home for some sun drying time in the dogyard and a follow up brushing to remove a lot of dead hair and winter coat.

We took a break while Rocky napped and relaxed with a stuffed toy he found somewhere in the house. I had no idea he liked stuffed toys. I'm not sure the stuffing will last long, but he enjoyed it and Shayna has some waiting for him at home.

Then it was back to the dog park with Emmylou, who was needing an outing even though she had already had her unauthorized, off-premises romp this morning.

There was a bigger crowd at the dog park today and Rocky showed a lot of tact in avoiding any dog who looked like trouble. We didn't stay too long, it was mostly a social event for Emmylou, who saw several of her human and canine friends.

Everyone was pretty tired after dinner. Shayna, Shika, and Rocky will be heading home to Utah early tomorrow. Rocky has been here since last July, and his time in foster care has been a rough and rocky road. He will be missed, but I'm happy to see him heading off as a happy and healthy dog at the beginning of his new life.