Learning the Trails

Serena had a couple weeks of rest and she continued on the antibiotic while I was away. That was good for her and when I got home she was bouncing around like she never had a problem with her leg and shoulder. I will take her to the vet for a follow up next week, particularly because he said that this type of infection may require a longer run of antibiotics, but she's certainly looking, acting, and feeling normal.

Clay had told me that she had been running around the yard while I was away, but I wanted to see how she would do after some hiking. On Friday she went along with Maya and me for a short two miler on the roadway, easy walking. She seemed fine Saturday morning so we did four miles that day. She was still her usual bouncy self on Sunday morning so we did a couple more hikes that day. For the first one Maya and I took Trooper and Serena for a little more than two miles. That was plenty for Trooper but Serena seemed fine. I decided to leave Maya home with Trooper for the second walk, so just took Serena for another three miles. I thought Maya would be okay with it. She had been out for a walk with Trooper, it was her third walk in as many days, so I thought I could get away with leaving her home. I had the foresight to put the trash can outside and she didn't do anything bad, but I sure got an earful of scolding and complaints when I got home:

"Why didn't you take me with you? I thought you had gone off for another two weeks. Why did you take Serena without me? Trooper told me that wanted to go again too. You are supposed to take me hiking, all the time. Did you see any deer? Did you even know what to do if you saw deer? Where did you go? Why didn't you take me with you. . ."

It's not always obvious how, but Maya's confidence
on the trails influences the other dogs and it is
 obvious when it's missing.

You really get a sense for how big her jowls are when
Serena shakes her head.

Maya wasn't really interested in my explanation, but I wanted to see how Serena would do walking solo on the trails. She was less confident without Maya being there. Instead of being out front most of the time, she was more inclined to walk next to me. There are some basic things that all new dogs need to learn when introduced to trail walking. First, some very basic facts of physics. Two bodies can not occupy the same space at the same time. In other words, stay out of my way and do not stop directly in front of me. Second, although there are many fascinating sights, sounds, and smells all around, you have to stay on the trail and keep moving forward. Third, when we encounter other hikers, bikers, dogs, or horses, we get off the trail a good distance and wait for them to pass before going on our way.

Serena did pretty well with all that, although the physics lesson seemed to be lost on her several times. She likes walking next to me, doing the Dane lean while in motion. And of course her head is at just the right height as to make petting-while-walking possible too.

Sitting on a bench at a rest stop on a high
point overlooking the river on Saturday's hike.

This was the two mile hike on Sunday.

Trooper wanted to go and he did fine, but
he was slowing down a lot towards the end.

Trooper has pannus, a progressive eye disease that can result in loss of vision. I'm
pretty sure that if Trooper ever lost his vision, Maya would become his seeing-eye dog.

We worked on the walking lean and petting-while-walking.
I'm not sure who was being trained on those skills.

Both Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days. I needed the exercise and I owed the dogs a lot
of time and attention. There's nothing better than walking for that.