I started the day with a quick sunrise walk with the pack, stopping twice at the shrinking stock pond to let Minnie swim. Water in the pond is drying up fast. I was hoping I could have use of it for the rest of May, but it may not last more than two more weeks.
The big event today was a longer walk with Susan at 8:30am at the Casa. I got there fifteen minutes early to get the dogs on a short poop walk (where they poop and pee away from the trail) but the parking area was full of cars, cars which on closer inspection were all from the Cochise County Search and Rescue (CCSAR) canine division. Dogs in training were kenneled up and barking. Several trainers were already out with one dog on leash. I texted Susan to let her know the team was out here and that we should go elsewhere, but it wasn't until she pulled over, I got out of my Honda to give her back her basket and blanket which I had borrowed from two days ago, when Sadie pushed herself out of the car and started walking to the fenceline and gate, the usual route we take when we walk the dogs.
Several trainers immediately ran toward me, hands out, wanting to block Sadie from getting near their dogs. Sadie was visibly confused: why was I yelling at her and why couldn't she walk toward the river like she always gets to do? I was panicking (which never helps a dog) because Susan had told me of an altercation she had had with one of the trainers several weeks earlier. This same woman looked at me and said "I remember you! We already had a problem with you!" and all I could say was "please don't kill her (Sadie), she is confused!" They weren't going to kill Sadie as Sadie wasn't attacking anything. She was simply walking around the parked cars looking for a regress. Sadie was off-leash, though, so I was automatically in the wrong.
The woman clearly had me confused with Susan, with whom she argued several weeks ago when Susan was walking Allie without me and a dog the German woman was holding got loose and attacked Allie. Her German accent gave her away. Susan and I both have blonde hair, but Susan is clearly smaller and thinner and has an English accent. If there is an argument between a German and an English woman, I will gladly side with the English woman.
Sadie safely back in the Honda, we both agreed to drive to the Hereford bridge and walk south from there. This turned out to be a wise choice, as the water was shallow and warm here, with very little green slime on the banks. We walked as far south as the Bouchee house and north end of the old beaver dam, getting in 2.4 miles while enjoying the warm, calm morning. We saw tadpoles and small fish darting about the shallow water.
We both needed this calming walk after encountering the CCSAR group. "We need to find out when they train, so that we don't bother them with our dogs" I told Susan. We both appreciate the work the trained K9s do rescuing injured hikers and recovering bodies from the wilderness. The CCSAR group is a well-disciplined group that gets deployed a lot lately throughout the county, but now both Susan and I have some distrust toward that "German" woman. Best to avoid her and the entire CCSAR whenever they are doing any kind of training anywhere in the universe.
Once home, I spent most of the day playing with the pups. They are inseparable now, following each other in the back yard and in the house. Both are now showing the beginnings of that famous "head tilt" whenever they hear a new sound. Hansi's right ear is almost ready to stand up entirely, while Gretel's ears continue to flop. It will take her a while to get her ear cartilage strong enough to hold up her ears. Since she is a runt, I'm not going to worry about her ears until she is at least six months old. And if they never lift, so be it. She's going to be wonderful dog.
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