Three Dogs on a Blustery Day

All the moisture from last summer, fall, and
winter is giving us a good crop of wildflowers
this spring. Unfortunately, a bumper crop of
ticks is also expected. 

Today was the first day that I implemented my new Smokey Management Plan. He stayed outside by himself last night and he was rather desperate for company this morning. I brought him inside after feeding him and left him downstairs with Cash. Cash is a senior dog who has no interest in playing, especially with Smokey. Smoke found other stuff to get into, which meant pulling stuff down from the counter, table tops, etc. He ate a candle.

He was too distracting being downstairs for me to be very productive at work upstairs. I finally got him out to the AC yard (he hates going out there for some reason), and gave him a couple trazadone to take the edge off.

Early afternoon I took the two girls, Maya and Serena, plus Smokey out for a hike. It was a perfect day, sunny, cool, breezy. Actually the wind was more than merely breezy and that always raises the level of stupid in dogs and horses. Maya isn't affected by the stupid, of course, but Smokey certainly is and Serena wanted to jump and leap, seemingly in several directions at once. Still, it was nice weather for hiking and the dogs settled down after the first half mile or so.

We just went about 3.5 miles, but working three dogs on three leashes, it felt like more.

My Smokey Management Plan may need a few adjustments. I think I'll leave him out longer in the morning to work off some of the energy, then take him for a walk, and then bring him indoors for some afternoon normalization.

They won't show up unless you enlarge the picture, but large
swaths of our front yard is covered in wildflowers. I won't
cut the grass here until they are done.

When there's three dogs on the walk, Maya
will often bring up the rear. This makes it
easier on me because I know she's there and
I don't have to worry about her getting
tangled up with the others.

She will move up front when she wants to, but
she doesn't need to be up there like the others.
Three dogs in front can get crowded when the
trail narrows and it complicates my job.

The redbud trees are in bloom in the woods now.