First Sunday of Fall

We are heading out of town on Wednesday for a short getaway to Asheville. I have done virtually no yard work since Montana, however, so today was the big push to get things in shape before leaving town. It was a good day for it. We got a lot done and even managed a three mile hike ending just before dark. 

Sherman has an appointment to get neutered
next Monday.

I made another galette for breakfast Sunday
morning. It's all I'm cooking lately;  you can fill
them with anything you want.

Rex is doing fine. I can't keep him crated all
the time so he's back to sharing the big kennel
with Sherman. It gives him some company but
not any rough play.

We were at home and outdoors most of the day and the dogs
really love that. Theo got in some ball playing time.

Vince doesn't show up on the blog too often, but it
would be a mistake to think that he's not a central part
of the household. Vince is always present and always
asking to go outside whenever anyone passes a door.

Vince does his own thing, but he is always around.

Trooper didn't get much outdoor time early in the day, but
he made sure that he was included on the hike.

Wet and muddy Max. 

Max and Theo on the boardwalk.

Trooper, Gigi, and Maya having an afternoon nap. Not shown
in this picture are Max and TJ on dog beds on the floor.
Gigi seems to be back to normal now. Then Maya seemed
sick for a day, but she ate again this evening so I hope that
is all behind us now.

TJ, Maya, and Trooper hadn't gotten in on much of the
outdoor yard work time today, so they were very ready to hike.

Trooper set off at a pretty good pace and it's a
good thing he did because we barely made
three miles before it was dark.

I had to lift Trooper into the back of the van when we finished,
he's not much of a jumper anymore, but he led the way for
the entire length of the hike this evening.

Freedom Flight

We are going down to Asheville for a quick getaway next week, so I've been busily saying "no" to new fosters until we are back next weekend. However, I did agree to help transport one today for Promises Animal Rescue.

Reid came from a shelter in South Carolina. He had a rough time of it down there; he contracted heartworms and was attacked by another dog. He recovered nicely though and today he got the hell out of there thanks to the local shelter down there and a volunteer pilot who flew him up to Charlottesville. I picked him up from the airport and drove up to Culpeper where I met another volunteer who transported him on to his Promises foster.

Reid had a busy day. He travels very well, although he was reluctant to make the transfer from car-to-car. It made me realize what we put these dogs through and expect them to cope with, being handed off from stranger to stranger again and again and again in the course of just a few hours. There was no time to build any trust with any individual person, we were all relying on dogs' innate trust of humans to make this happen, in spite of the fact that this individual dog probably has plenty of reason to distrust humans. Actually, they all do, but domestication of the species works in our favor to overcome a lot of individual human shortcomings.

Reid is now a Virginia dog with a new future ahead of him. Although no one knows exactly what that future will be, it's a chance at a better life than he had before today's flight. Welcome to Virginia, welcome to Promises, welcome to your new life, Reid.

The next driver pulled in just behind me in Culpeper
so he didn't have much time there either.

Reid might have liked a little more time to stretch his
legs, but the humans were unusually efficient today.
He did have time to pee on the grass after  leaving the
airport, but then it was into my van for the drive.

He seems like a sweet and trusting dog.

Portrait of a Princess

Gigi wasn't feeling well last night. She didn't vomit as she sometimes does, but she clearly wasn't comfortable and it wasn't obvious why. I had to move her to get my legs in bed, after which she just sat up and stared at us instead of settling down again. Clay took her outside at some point during the night, after which she acted like she couldn't get back into bed. She actually spent part of the night laying on a dog bed on the floor. That's unheard of and a definite sign that something is wrong.

She seemed to have trouble coming down stairs, doing so only after much prompting and then very slowly and cautiously. In the office this morning she spent more time sitting up rather than laying down, as if it hurt her to do so or she couldn't do so comfortably. She didn't eat this morning either, but that happens occasionally and I really don't call the vet every time it happens. But Gigi is probably nine years old now, which is beginning to push the envelope for a Great Dane, so I worry.

The result was that I did call the vet today and made an appointment to take her in this afternoon, not because she wasn't eating but because of how uncomfortable she seemed to be. We went in and had a pretty thorough workup done: exam, blood work, and xrays. The good news is that everything seemed normal. I opted to get her vaccines done as well rather than have them come due one at a time over the next six months. We made it into her annual check up and exam visit so I didn't feel like a complete fool for dragging her in there.

She seemed more active and animated by the time we got home. She ran upstairs, jumped on the bed, but came down again when I called her. I offered her this morning's food again and she ate it all like nothing was ever wrong. Apparently she just needed daddy to drop a few hundred bucks on her and be the center of attention for the day. It's fair to say that she played me like a violin, as she has done since the day we met. She got her nails done too.

Felix visit: hike, play, sleep

Felix has been visiting this week. I finally got him out for a hike with Maya on Wednesday. We went over five miles and clocked the fastest pace we've had since we had cold weather last spring or winter. I wanted to get in the miles, but the pace is totally attributable to Felix.

Felix likes to set a fast pace, but he also likes to stop frequently, to sniff, mark, or lay in the shade. After the first couple of miles he finally realized that I don't play that game, we were out there to MOVE. I did take a couple breaks in shade spots and a longer one when we hit the water.

Felix would occasionally pick a shady spot, stop, lay down,
and proceed to roll on the grass, while I was still walking.

Thistles in bloom

Nice picture of my little girl, Maya

We had covered over three miles before our first water
crossing so it was very welcome. We stayed for several minutes.

Felix didn't stand in the water and drink like most dogs,
he laid down in it, which is great for cooling off.

This was one of our authorized stops in the shade.

 Clay and I went to Richmond in the afternoon and I'm sure Maya and Felix slept, but Felix was fully recharged when we got back home in the evening. Here he is playing with TJ.

The two boys had a pretty good play session. Most of the
pictures are nothing but blurs. 

TJ is getting a little better at dealing with new dogs.
That's sort of a must in our household. He had no
problem with Felix and even initiated the play.

TJ occupying one of the dog beds on the floor next to my side of the bed.

Felix and TJ. The only one not happy about this was Vince because he's usually on one of these
two beds next to me and he gets worried if they are taken by other dogs. 

Sick, tired, and bored

I've been messing around with a summer cold the last few days and am sick of it. It was really pretty minor as illnesses go, more of an annoyance than anything else, but I haven't felt like doing much so I haven't been. I don't do nothing very well and today I decided I was over it. The cold was reduced to nothing more than a small dry cough. At that point the boredom felt worse than the cold so I hit the trails this evening with Maya and TJ. I was only planning to do a short one, maybe a couple miles, but it felt good to be out again and we ended up with a little over four miles.

It did wonders for my attitude, which I'm sure the dogs noticed. I will take a shower and wash the rest of the cold from my system. Another good night's sleep and it should all be behind us.

Rex continues to recover well from the first round of heartworm treatment. He really is a very nice, easy going dog. Rather laid back for a shepherd. I brought Sherman, the English Bulldog, into the house and into the pack today. More on that tomorrow.

They don't show up well here, but the forest floor was dotted
with white mushrooms today.

TJ and Maya jumping over a log on the trail.

TJ held up pretty well for four miles today.
We didn't do any hilly areas and it was evening
and fairly decent out by the time we went.

This is the river overlook. I take this photo a lot in the spring
and fall. You can barely see the river now, but in a few more
weeks the leaves will be falling fast.