Walking Without Maya

Maya is still wearing her cone and I'm going to try to keep it on her until Wednesday at least, so she's sort of out of the walking rotation for a while. She's not happy about that, I'm sure, but she's been pretty good about wearing the cone. She has learned to do the stairs with it and has even jumped up into bed. As I told her the first night when she complaining about hitting the cone on the stairs, "You're the smartest dog I've ever known, you can figure out how to manage stairs." Sure enough, she just lifted her head up and ran on up the stairs. She certainly wasn't going to be left behind. It hasn't really slowed her down, but I think it would be an unnecessary obstacle while hiking so she's taking a few days off.

Gigi was pretty in her pearls, jewels, and accessories,
but Serena is a different kind of Dane.
She looks good in leather.

Any time we lose a dog, or add one, adjustments have to be made and it seems weird for a while. With TJ's death there was no one scratching at the door to get us up early this morning. There was an empty spot in the bedroom that Max has willingly filled, but I'm not sure all the sleeping arrangements have been settled just yet, at least on that side of the room. It seems strange putting Maya out in the AC yard by herself; she and TJ always went out there together. I've tried getting Sparky to assume TJ's indoor eating location, but he still seems to prefer his spot on the front porch. I'm still wearing TJ's collar, but Serena wore it on our hike today, taking TJ's collar and spirit on a long, five-mile hike, which he hadn't been able to do in a long time. I think I'm going to get one for myself with an ID tag because I don't like to carry my wallet when hiking and I really should have some emergency information on me.

We were crossing a shallow stream that we've
crossed many times, but today Serena spotted
small fish in the water. She nearly pulled me
down when she jumped in and tried to grab them.

I kept Smokey indoors on Sunday morning instead of putting him in the dog yard to play stupid shepherd games all day. He needs to domesticate. He wouldn't come upstairs on his own and I didn't force it this morning, allowing him the freedom of the kitchen area with the door open to the AC yard. One time when I came down to re-fill my coffee I found my wallet on the floor with a few teeth marks in it, so I put him back in the crate for a while.

Smokey and Serena and I did a five mile hike on Sunday. It was a great day for it and we covered a lot of trail that was new to Serena and some that I hadn't been on in a while too. My next bonding moment with Smokey needs to be brushing him. He's blowing his coat and besides, it would be a good way for both of us to get comfortable with touch.

Back on shore after the fish incident.

Smokey with a non-fierce face.

Look at all that loose fur on Smokey. I scratched his butt at one
stop and pulled off a lot of it, so I think he'll enjoy the brushing.

Sunday's route was just over five miles. Serena
was pulling a lot today so my arms are as tired
as my legs. I think the dogs were tired too.