My fears were unfounded it turned out. I went for a short spin at the dump this morning, and Heart was a star. She is a great trail dog with some pretty good instincts. She always likes to stick close to Sue and I. I was hoping this would be the same while riding, and it was.
What surprised me though was that she liked to take the lead on the trail. She was happily running in front of me for most of today’s ride. Once free in the bush she carried herself well, and looked very confident. I loved seeing her like that.
We took some easy trails and I made a short loop. During our breaks Heart would roam around a little checking things out, looking down gullies, sniffing the air. She really seemed in her element.
We came to a stream crossing at one point and while I rested she wandered around checking things out, even walking through the stream a little. Heart even took log piles in stride, and easily trotted across a couple bridges without any hesitation.
One descent we were on, I could see her beelining from the side right for where I was headed. At the last second she slowed enough that we didn’t collide.
The only negative thing that happened was on Skull Trail. This back and forth downhill trail is pretty fast, and Heart was keeping up just fine. Until she stopped to sniff something. When I stopped and looked back to find her, she was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn’t hear her collar jingling either. I called for her and I saw her take off up the hill away from me. I yelled her name a few more times and she turned around and raced down the hill to me.
Back at the truck, she quickly climbed into the back seat and curled up for the ride home. Mission accomplished.
For the rest of the day Heart has been pretty quiet. Tonight she is flaked out on her bed and really isn’t moving all that much. A tired pooch is a happy pooch.
Monday night she was not a happy camper, and all throughout the day on Tuesday she groaning and shivering with pain (despite being on pain killers). By Wednesday she was feeling a little better and by Friday she was back to her normal self.
Normal except for having to wear a cone when she is alone. She is a menace with that thing, but at least she is on the mend. Trouble is she is not allowed a lot of exercise right now, and with being 4, she kind of wants to get out and do something. Like run. Really fast.
Starting tomorrow she will start getting regular walks again and by next weekend she can go off leash again. We are looking forward to that. The spaz that greets us by running into our knees with a plastic cone is not enjoyable.
I took my macro lens out again. Excellent portrait lens, but some day I need to get out with my tripod for some real macro shots.
Serious girl.
Serious smile.
Cold day for sure. We had lots of fun tossing rocks, pine cones, and sticks onto the ice to hear the cool noises they made.
Trying for a nice picture.
Silly face time.
Heart is still a little unsure of what a camera does.
The sun was nice, but it was still pretty chilly out. I tried dressing as warmly as I could, and it was just enough to prevent me from feeling too cold, but I was definitely not comfortably warm. I swear my kids are impervious to cold.
Best of all, she is turning into an excellent office dog. I am thankful the my current work situation permits me to take her to work. She (and any dog in the office for that matter) is an excellent distraction throughout the day.
She can be quite playful at times too. She is four now, but after having an older dog, and not seeing the puppy-like playing, this is a welcome sight.
Some nights she even does not sleep in our bedroom, which is pretty nice.
Last night though, Heart did sleep in our bedroom.
Recently Amy has had trouble sleeping through the night which has made Sue and I very tired. Amy yells out for us to help her put her Bopp (blanket) back on. We’re working to get her to do it herself.
Amazingly, last night Amy did not call for us. Sleeping soundly I was rudely awakened when Heart got up and started making those horrible dog puking noises at 4:20 am. I bolted out of bed and tried to convince her to get outside. She puked a little in our room, then made her way downstairs and out the front door.
I waited outside with her only wearing a pair of pajama pants, while she puked a couple more times. Tired, cold, and wide awake I cleaned up the mess in our room, then climbed back into bed. A little over an hour later I finally got back to sleep.
What should have been a good sleep, wasn’t.