Off-Roading

Lately when I go to walk the dogs on Monday or Wednesday, I head over to the second entrance to avoid the commotion of the LaCrosse team arriving at our regular entrance.  Last night I was bit later than normal and thought maybe most of the people had already arrived.  I was wrong.

I turned around and headed over to the other entrance.  This takes about 5 minutes since we need to go down one hill and up another.  As I pulled up to the second entrance I realized there was already a car there and the person inside had a dog.

The woman was fussing about in her car doing what I don’t know, but her music was blaring and I could see a small Cocker Spaniel type dog sitting on her lap. I waited a minute or so and got frustrated with her just sitting there, so I said too bad; we’re going to back to our entrance and we’ll deal with LaCrosse!

I basically wasted about 15 minutes trying to figure out the best way to get to our trails.

There was one young boy getting dropped off as we entered the park, I could see him focused on the dogs and walking cautiously.  I kept both Sampson and Delilah on leash and guided them off the main path.  As we got to the top of the hill I saw their friend Brady and his mom entering from their side.  I said, “Go get Brady.”  And Sampson took off.  Delilah of course was forced to wait and go at my pace.

We started down one of our paths and ran into my next door neighbor of all things, with her two small boys and her dog Gunner.  I still can’t figure out what kind of dog Gunner is.  His face reminds me of an Akita, but he is not large and he is all black.  I call him… Sirius Black.

They were all sitting on the top of a large rock and while we live next door to each other, the dogs have never met.  My neighbor says that Gunner is friendly and the only time she’s ever seen him act aggressively is protecting the children.  While I thought the woods were a fairly neutral place to introduce the dogs, I preferred to do it while Hubby was around.

My friend said, “What do all these people see in these woods?”

I laughed and responded with ,“Probably the same thing we do.”

So my walking friend said, “We’ll have to go to my place.”

Turns out she just had a survey completed and she owns a LOT of land behind her house, which is wooded, has a creek and lots of boulders!  So we went off-road.

Naturally we discussed all the things she could do with that extra land she has, most of which included places for the dogs to run without running into a lot of other people.

We ended up with a longer than planned walk, but the excitement and change of scenery helped tire the dogs out.

It’s Not All About Delilah

The tag line of my blog is, “Life With Sampson And Delilah….the 411.”

Sometimes I feel like it should be called “Life With Delilah,” because it seems I only blog about Delilah and the challenges she brings to the household.

Tonight I was struggling with a topic and decided to look through some pictures and see if I could come up with something to blog about.

When Sampson was a young puppy we got into the habit of hiking every weekend.  We have lots of trails in the area in which we live and Sampson absolutely loved exploring them.

At that time I already had the idea to write a children’s book about Sampson so I took lots of pictures.

Here are a few of my favorites.

He had run ahead of us on the trail and when we turned the corner, there he was resting on the rock.

Walking this trail is what made me fall in love with walking in the snow.   I love the play of sunlight and shadow in this photo.

When I first taught Sampson how to drink from my water bottle Hubby wasn’t very pleased. He quickly realized the benefit when we started hiking.

This photo was taken not far from where we currently live.  I loved this photo so much I had it blown up and framed. I love how they are both looking ahead, contemplating what the trail holds for them.

See….it’s not all about Delilah.

How do you find a topic when you aren’t sure what to blog about?

 

 

Which Would Scare You?

As I’ve mentioned previously, the local LaCrosse team has commandeered our field, which makes getting into the park on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays a bit difficult.  The way I’ve been managing this is by trying to get home on my lunch hour on Mondays and Wednesdays in order to get our walk in.

On Saturdays I just wait until later in the day.

My friend has it easy, as her entrance is not anywhere near the field.  Today it dawned on me, all I have to do is use the alternate entrance.

DUH!  WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE?

I made a very crude drawing of our walking area and the two entrances.  You may laugh if you’d like, I’m well aware that I am not an artist.

I told you it was crude.

The brown dots represent trees but there are probably a lot more.  There are a couple of other trails as well, but for simplicity sake (and my poor drawing abilities) I kept it to a minimum.

We arrived at the entrance the same time as a man on foot.  I asked him if he’d mind if I let the dogs out.  He didn’t.  He was a thin man, glasses and a golf cap.  He kind of reminded me of a geek.  We sort of walked into the woods together, chatting a bit.

Just after we entered the woods Sampson saw someone and took off.  A few seconds later a jogger ran past.  He was big and beefy.  I apologized for Sampson and he said, “He’s a nice dog.”

Now which man would make you nervous if you were a woman walking alone?

Yup, it was the nerdy guy that freaked me out.  He was heading down the orange trail so I stayed on the yellow. We did a quick cut through and went to the orange trail in the opposite direction.

I usually carry my camera in my back pocket but I switched it out and put my pepper blaster back there.   When we eventually found our way to the orange trail, Delilah’s leash snagged a really large stick.  I picked it up and used it as a walking stick.

Luckily for us we did not run into either guy again, but we did have a scary dog encounter.

It took place up near the entrance we had used.  I was planning on walking the dogs down the orange trail for a bit.  Sampson was up near the entrance while Delilah and I had started on our way.  I called Sampson but he didn’t respond.  I looked and saw him still and stiff.

I started walking toward him and that’s when I noticed Tia the German Shepherd.  We have walked with Tia before but it was a long time ago and Tia has grown into quite the big girl.

Sampson was tall and stiff  and while Tia wasn’t in a full poised to spring position, she wasn’t standing tall either.  I called to Sampson over and over again, but he wouldn’t turn his head.  Meanwhile Tia’s mom was calling Tia with no response either.

I saw Tia’s lip raise in a slight snarl.  I had Delilah on leash and didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t approach Sampson with Delilah because I know she would have dove right into the middle of it, but I had no-one to hold her either.

Thankfully Tia’s mom got in there and diffused the situation enough so Sampson turned and started back towards me, then Tia feeling brave since Sampson’s back was toward her, ran closer to Sampson to get a good sniff in.

At that point I realized there was not going to be a dog fight and so Delilah and I approached and Delilah rushed right up to Tia who ran towards her mom with her hair all up on her back.

Later as we were leaving the woods I saw Tia’s other mom walking in, baby on her hip and Tia on leash.  I stopped my dogs and put Sampson’s leash on and waited until they had chosen the path leading away from us, then we left the way we’d come in.

Yes there was a bit of excitement but it really was easier than trying to get thru the LaCrosse people to get to the woods.

And I’m happy because I have my lunches free again.

And truthfully, the two dogs staring each other down scared me way more than the geeky man.

To Boldly Go Where No Dog Has Gone Before

Yesterday I shared a little bit about an early morning walk I took with the dogs on Friday.

I had sent my friend a text asking if she and Brady were around for a walk, but hadn’t had a response back.  I figured we would just head her way and see if we ran into them.

On our way, we ran into one of her neighbors, Mark and his dog Bruno.  Since he was heading the same way we were, we walked together, chatting a little as we went.

The best way to describe our walking trails is like this:

My road ends in a cul-de-sac, if you went straight you would head up a hiking path to the field, just before the field the path heads up the hill to the right and if you went straight out that path you would enter another cul-de-sac.  My friend’s house is the second house on the right hand side.  The first house belongs to M & M who have Tia, the German Shepherd.

Just as we got to the top of the trail, near my friend’s house Bruno and Delilah started to play.  I made the mistake of dropping the leash.

As soon as I dropped the leash she stuck her nose to the ground and she headed out of the woods and into my friend’s neighborhood.  I snagged Sampson and said, “Go, Go, Go, Go, Go, Go” and started running back the way we came.

Delilah kept going.

I quickly realized she wasn’t responding, so Sampson and I turned around and headed out to get her.

Meanwhile Mark and Bruno were walking home and I could see Mark trying to get Delilah’s attention, but she ignored him.  She had wandered into M & M’s yard and their garage door was open.

Yup, Friday morning at 7:00 o’clock, Delilah walked right into M & M’s garage.

I was horrified.

Mark meanwhile had started walking down the driveway and was almost to the garage.  I got to the end of the driveway and started down myself, Delilah decided she was done in the garage and stepped off to the side thinking she could head over to Brady’s house, Sampson  meanwhile saw the open garage and decided to investigate like Delilah had.

Luckily for me as Delilah dodged out of the garage, Mark stepped on her leash and handed her back to me.  Sampson returned when called and we headed back into the woods to finish our walk.

Whew!

I will not be dropping her leash again anytime soon.  I swear to God, if she falls down a friggin rabbit hole, I’ll hold onto that leash and follow her down.

Go, Go, Go, Go, Go

In yesterday’s post I mentioned Delilah had a little off-leash hike. If you’ve been reading for a while you know there are certain areas Delilah is prone to running off to.  One of these areas is in the field.

When we entered the park I unclipped her leash and gave her freedom.  I think off-leash works best for Delilah if I try to keep her focus on me, so I call her back to me quite frequently.  She was returning every time I called.

We went to the field.  There was one time where she turned and started running away from me and she didn’t respond to my call.  I turned around and said, “Sampson come.”

As soon as I knew I had his attention I started running the other way and I said, “Go, go, go, go, go, go, go” really loud as we ran away from Delilah.

Do you know that worked?

And the only reason I can think why is that I sometimes psyche the dogs into going outside by giving them a little pep talk.  I think the excitement in  my voice tells her something exciting and fun is about to happen.

Of course I don’t know this with any certainty, but it makes sense to me.

After the field we made our way up the trails and then started back down towards the rail trail.  As we approached the rail trail I leashed Delilah again, and shortly after that we ran into the couple I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Naturally we got to talking about dogs. This couple had a Husky for 14 years.  The man said he used to walk his dog every day and was so in the habit that he continues to do so.  He also said he always walked his dog off-leash, there was an older man that he used to encounter and the man always said, dogs were meant to run free and not be leashed.

He went on to say, times have changed and people have changed.  There are so many people out there on the rail trail now walking their dogs, but they don’t want you to look at their dogs or pet their dogs and he’s not sure what happened.

I’m not really sure what happened either.  I don’t remember when it changed, but it certainly has.  I don’t ever remember our childhood dogs on leashes.  Is it because our parents didn’t walk them?  Or because there were fewer people?  Have people grown less tolerant of dogs? What do you remember about dog etiquette from when you were a child?

After we parted ways, I kept Delilah on the leash.  I felt like it was best to end our walk with her remaining successful.

And she was.

Sunday Morning Hikes

We had a weather prediction for (much-needed) rain today.  The rain was supposed to start early this morning and get to be a down-pour by the afternoon.

My plan was to walk the dogs early before the heavy rain started.  I will walk them in the heavy rain, but prefer the lighter stuff when given the option.  While it was cool and overcast (yay, no bugs) the rain held off.

In CT our weathermen (and yes, most of them are men) only have about a 50% chance of being accurate.  Honestly, if I was only 50% accurate in my job, well…..I wouldn’t have one.  But this post is not about weather.

I figured if I hit the trails early and with the cooler weather, we wouldn’t encounter a lot of people on the trails.  And I was right.

The trail system we walk has access to a rail trail.  Whenever we approach the intersection, Sampson gets excited.  He knows people are down there and he wants to go and greet them.

There is a section where two different trails run close together.   When the trees are full, I’m not sure if you can see the other trail but as the trees are just beginning to fill-in here, you can see easily see the trail.

I saw a couple, walking up from the rail trail.  It is a couple we have run into before.  The last time they had their daughter’s dog with them, but today they were alone.

If I see people before the dogs do, I rein them in.  In Sampson’s case I just say, “Sampson No” and he will either sit or wait.  Very rarely will he run ahead if I give him that command.

Today he stood, looking.  The couple stopped and acknowledged us and I asked, “Can he say hello?”

The man responded, “Of course.”

I swear Sampson understood the conversation because as soon as the words had come out of his mouth, Sampson was charging through the brush towards the couple.

Of course once Sampson was on his way Delilah needed to say hello too.  I dropped the leash and after she had greeted them, she turned right around and ran back to me!!

That’s not the end to the story, but it is the end to this blog post.  Tune in tomorrow to hear about the rest of Delilah’s off leash hike.

New Soul/Old Soul

Do you believe in reincarnation?

I’m not sure whether I do or not.  Although when I’m sad or feeling sorry for myself, I have speculated if I was reincarnated, I must have been someone BAD in my other life.  Like Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan.

But I digress.

My sister has a theory regarding children…..they are either old souls or new souls.

A new soul is one of those children that are into everything! Everything they see goes into their mouths, you will need locks on your cabinets, you will need to cover your electrical outlets.  They will be the daredevils in sports, willing to try any and everything.

An example of a new soul is my granddaughter.  If you put something down, she is right there to pick it up, you need to have your eye on her constantly or she will get into trouble.

On the other hand an old soul is just the opposite.  These are the children who seem to take everything in stride.   They seem to already know what life is about and how to fit in.

An example of an old soul is my niece, she never put things in her mouth and she never crawled, she went straight to walking.   She likes 40′s Jazz music, and classic looks.  Not much shakes her up.

I’ve expanded my sister’s theory to include animals.  If I were to evaluate Sampson and Delilah based upon the old soul/new soul scale, I would have to say Sampson is an old soul and Delilah is a new soul.

Sampson is laid back, easy-going and not much shakes him up.

Delilah on the other hand is into everything!  Nothing is off-limits as to what goes into her mouth.  No, I do take that back, I’m eternally grateful that she has never (knock on wood) chewed a shoe, but that’s about the only thing.

It does not have to be food related either, her favorite things to rip apart are dryer sheets, plastic bags (food residue or no,) and tissues/paper towels/napkins.  This doesn’t mean that she won’t chew something else, just given her choice she would prefer to choose from those objects listed above.

Which explains her Modus operandi this morning.

Excuse the dirty rug, as you can see it is a high traffic area that needs cleaning.

Do you buy into the old soul/new soul theory?  If so, have you noticed any of old soul/new soul traits?

I Didn’t Say A Word

I use the ‘with me’ command instead of ‘heel’ because I think ‘heel’ is a confusing command.  At least it confuses me. 

When we are in training class and are told to ‘heel’ our dog, my understanding is I want my dog to come and stand at the side of my leg.

When we start moving and I want my dog to stay with me, I think it’s confusing to say ‘heel,’ because I’ve just asked her to stand at my side using the same command.

 So I started using ‘with me’ for that command.  Delilah seems to understand it and is easily corrected with an “ACK, ut oh, or ut unh.”

I share this with you because Delilah had a another successful walk yesterday!

It was my Saturday for dog food so I ran errands all morning, met my friend Mindy for lunch and then came home to take our walk in the afternoon.

I let Delilah off-leash as soon as she exited the car and let her walk in.  I leashed her near the top of the trail, where she used to run off and kept her with me for a couple of minutes, but let her go again as soon as we passed the danger point.

The next time we approached I called her to me and said, “With me.”  I kept her focused on the treats in my hand and she stayed right with me.

When we left the park she walked out off-leash.  Of course there also weren’t any other dogs or distractions to lead her astray.

Flash forward to today.  Hubby joined us on our walk.  I think I am more anxious when Hubby is there because I want to prove to him that positive reinforcement works.

She went into the park off-leash, she did run off to chase a squirrel but came right back, we walked the trails a couple of times and then took the dogs to the field to let them run. 

This was the true test because you may remember the day that she ran off from me at the field and got herself stuck. 

Hubby walked away from us then called Sampson and Delilah and in this manner we ran them back and forth a couple of times.  I then decided to have them sit and walk away from them towards Hubby with the intent of calling them to me. 

I got about half-way to Hubby and I heard Delilah tearing after me.    I brought her back and sat her down and tried again, but again she came tearing back to me.  I said to Hubby, while I want her to obey me, how can I be mad at her for wanting to be with me?  

I know it’s important for her to listen to me but I think my focus right now needs to be on her returns, at least outside.  I can work on her stays in the house.

Once the dogs were in the car I asked Hubby how he thought she did and he said, “She walked out to the car without the leash, so that’s pretty good. “

As we pulled into the driveway I said, “She will have to go on leash to the house or she will run to the neighbor’s yard.”

Hubby said, “I don’t think she will.”  At my raised eyebrows he said, “I’ll assume responsibility for her.”

He opened the door and she ran right to the neighbor’s yard.

I didn’t say a word.

Free Dog

Yesterday I wrote about the horrendous experience I had trying to get my dogs into the park amidst a crowd of people.

After being yanked across the road, we finally managed to make it into the park and I found my walking buddy.  We headed off down the paths that would keep us away from the field.

Delilah was close to me on her 15 foot leash, while Sampson and Brady were unleashed.

You can always tell when the dogs see someone or something, their ears perk up, they stiffen for a moment and then they’re gone.

We met a new friend on our Monday night walk, Flurry a seven month old yellow lab.  His dad was at the LaCrosse field and decided to check out the trails.  The dogs were all excited to meet each other and they wanted to play and run.

Oh and hump.  Brady kept trying to hump Flurry.

My friend suggested we take the dogs down in back where there was some area to run.  I wasn’t really sure where she was heading but I followed her anyway.   Down the cliffs to the little brook.

About a quarter of a way down in the middle of the picture, you can see the flat area she was talking about.

The area was relatively flat with some room to run, but there was lots and lots of small limbs and branches littering the area.  I couldn’t in good conscience let Delilah run through there dragging a 15 foot leash.

I let her go.

She did ok.  When she started to get too far away I’d say, “Delilah No!  This way,” and she would come running.  But then she crossed the brook and headed out on the trails leading into the park with little Flurry right behind her.

I had a panic attack and I know she could tell.  Duh! She could hear it in my voice, but after a few terrifying seconds she turned around and came back.

Then we headed for home.

Today I wanted to take them for their walk on my lunch in order to avoid the LaCrosse team.  It was raining but they don’t care and I throw a hat on so off we went.

We pulled up to the park and I noticed Hail on my windshield.  Yes you read that right, HAIL.

I figured no-one would be out in the rain so I said, screw it and took off her leash.

She did pretty awesome.

I leashed at the beginning of one trail, which is where one of the houses she likes to run off to is, but as soon as we were past the danger point, I took her off again.

Of course I never let her get too far away from me.   And yes, every time she checked back whether I asked her to or not, she got a treat.

And guess who walked out to the car next to her mother, without a leash.

See Mama, I can be a good girl.

She did very good today and I’m very proud of her.

Tomorrow is yet to be.

Book update: My book has 22,025 words.

Don’t Talk To My Dog

I’ve lamented over the loss of our field in previous posts. The LaCrosse team has commandeered it from now until June.

Not only do the dogs lose the use of the field, the presence of so many people at the entrance to our park presents severe challenges.

I’ve decided the best way to manage the situation is to walk the dogs on my lunch break whenever possible and make sure their Saturday walks are taken later in the day, after the team has vacated the field.

Last night I made an exception for my walking friend, who hasn’t been around lately due to work constraints.  I figured since the LaCrosse team’s schedule says 5:00 pm, I would be safe taking the dogs up around 5:30.

I read the schedule wrong.

It actually starts at 5:30.  Everyone was just arriving.

Mr. Social just couldn’t contain himself, he was casting summoning charms left and right trying to get someone, anyone to notice him.

As I was standing there trying to figure out I was going to strong-arm two dogs through the throng of people, he finally managed to get someone’s attention.

“Well hello” the woman said, and that was it.  I had two choices, run along behind Sampson or be dragged over and risk falling.

I followed Sampson and said to the woman, “It’s really better if you don’t speak to them, it keeps me from getting dragged.”

She chuckled and said, “I know.”

My inner bitch said, “Then don’t talk to my dogs.”

Honestly what the hell is wrong with people?  It’s not like I have two little Chihuahuas.  I have two full-grown labs!  They’re big, I’m not!  Well ok, I’m a bit bigger than I’d like to be, but you get my point.

Normally I won’t acknowledge a dog without first looking at the owner and asking.

Why can’t everyone do that?

What do you do in that situation?

Do you speak up and come across as a bitch or do you bite your tongue?

Inquiring minds want to know.