Five dogs, nine miles

When the grass isn't growing I am free to spend all day hiking with the dogs, but that season ended several weeks ago. I've been pretending that it's still very early spring and I don't have a shit ton of yard work to do. The day of reckoning will come, tomorrow.

Today I started off with Della and Elvis for about two and a half miles. It was a beautiful day and it was a Saturday so there were all kinds of people out on the trails. I think everyone we met today had at least one dog with them. No one we met seemed to have a leash. 

2.44 miles

Next up were Paisley and Dakota. Dakota spent his first night in the house last night, in a crate next to Norman. He did very well. I heard some noise from the crate after we went to bed and I went down to check on him, but he seemed fine and he was still in the crate this morning. He was also very good on the walk today. He was finally beginning to relax and enjoy it. He came up and walked next to me on a few occasions and I saw him do normal dog stuff, like stopping to sniff. Off-leash dogs running up to us concerned him, but Paisley and I felt the same. We did four miles, longer than I had planned, but I missed a turn because I was watching TikTok on my phone while hiking.

I was happy to see him move up next to me today.

The greening of the forest is now in full swing.

4 miles

It still seems strange not to be hiking with Maya. For years I would take Maya plus one other dog on all the hikes. Maya always went, on every walk. She's retired from that now for the most part and that's all right. She has walked many miles with me and helped to break in many other dogs to our trail walking routine. Her major outdoor thing these days is to go off hunting after both morning and evening meals before finally coming back inside. 

Since Maya wasn't interested, I had the choice between Daisy and Norman for my final walk of the day. That's an easy choice, I took Daisy, because I didn't have the strength or the patience to deal with Norman. Daisy is great on the leash and she loves to go, but I hate the car ride with her because she barks. I think it's just because she's excited to be going because Daisy barks whenever she's excited. She has a nice deep rottweiler bark of course, but in a car, it is loud and feels like thunder. I have had no success in dissuading her from barking, in the car, in the house, or out in the yard. She has a lot of say and she will be heard.

It had rained on the end of my walk with Paisley and Dakota, and the rain seemed to get all the fair weather walkers and their off-leash dogs off the trails. Daisy and I encountered no one on our walk, which I calculated out to bring me to exactly nine miles total distance for the day. 

2.56 miles