First night, and first hike

Jack's house manners aren't so bad really. He puts his feet up on the counter, but really, don't we all? At least he hasn't marked indoors, and his presence hasn't caused TJ the husky to start re-marking everything either, at least not very much. I tried leaving him in the dog yard shed with Max last night. He wasn't having that. I finally brought him in about 11 p.m. and put him in a crate in the office so we could get some sleep. Much to my surprise, he settled right down, even before the ace kicked in.

"This is the stick I want!"

That was fine, until about 3:00 a.m. when he woke up, probably in response to noises from neighborhood dogs nearby. That's the only bad thing about this wonderful weather that allows us to keep the windows open. He never really shut up and I never got back to sleep so I got an early start on my day.

It was ridiculous a impractical, but he had to figure
it out for himself.

He ate breakfast without hesitation this morning. Afterwards, in the house he found dog toys and would bring them to me to throw. He really needed to be outside so I could work, but he didn't like the kennel and I couldn't trust him in the dog yard fence. My work went fast since I started so early, so I took him out on a hike with Maya around noon.

He tried his best to make it work.

He didn't know what was going on, and he had no sense of following the trail, but he enjoyed it and he wasn't the worst dog I've had on a  first leashed walk by far. He doesn't stop to mark everything and I consider that a big plus. I was glad I just had him with Maya because she doesn't do much of that, but if he was with a male who did, I expect he would have done the same. He picked up the first stick that he saw but quickly traded it for an upgrade, larger stick. The stick ultimately proved unwieldy, so he exchanged it for a rock. I wasn't crazy about that, it can't be good for his teeth, but you have to pick your battles.

He finally lost his rock in Sparky's Watering Hole, but I gave him a nice stick, which he once again ditched when he saw an upgrade. That stick made it to the end of our four mile walk and it's still in the back of the van.

I committed the cardinal sin of cutting off the
shepherd's ears in this pic, but it's tough when you
just stick the came in front of their face, push
the button and hope for the best. I liked the look
in his eyes anyway. The drool is due to the rock
he's now carrying around in lieu of the stick. 

Maya isn't often called saintly,
but she exhibited a saintly level
of patience with Jack and his stick.

He really was not bad on the leash, once he
had something to carry.

He almost looks like he knows what he's doing - it's the ears.

He's a big boy and going to be even bigger when he
fills out. Maybe not quite as tall and long as Theo,
but close.

He didn't seem to have a clue what we were doing out there
but he enjoyed it. He was good when we encountered other
people too. He seemed confused but ok with it.

He loved Sparky's Watering Hole and soon muddied
the water bobbing for the rock that he dropped.

I felt bad for him when he lost the rock, it was a souvenir
from his first hike and he was planning to take it home. He
was happy enough once he found a suitable stick, however.

The German Shepherd Prime Directive:  Must carry stick.