A good day for Sadie

It was a good day for Sadie.  She joined all the other dogs on a mile-long sunrise walk, then rested in the Honda with Minnie while I did a second mile with the other four dogs.  She was slow and did trip while jumping out of the car, but her ankles held up well. She stayed by my side while the younger dogs pranced in the grass.  I praised her the entire time. Seeing her so confident again made me happy.  What did not make me happy was seeing Hansel come out of the grass with a dove in his mouth.  It looked to be already dead as there was no blood when he bit into its head for some bird brains.

It got hot fast, though.  I went with SteveT to the Copper Hop Ranch farm brewery, taking Zeke and Hansel who joined Trace.  We went in one car again, the first time since this covid pandemic, and were the first customers. The boys were mellow together, even though there was some growling from Zeke toward Hansel during the car ride.  Other customers came by after 1pm

There was no barking, even though no other dogs came by for beer.  Trace was offleash for much of the time while my boys settled down being leashed.  I didn't want Hansel sniffing the entire farm down, as the owners have livestock like turkeys and goats in the back area he could stress out. Bringing only Hansel was an experiment to see if he is one of the barking instigators.  He clearly was not.  Now I need to focus on Gretel.  Would she bark if she were the only dog I take on an event?  Is she over-reactive because she's usually with her brother Hansel?

I got back home from the brewery visit at 3:30pm and met up again with Susan at 5:15pm.  Again Sadie came along!  I was so proud of her.  I never force any dog to go on a walk and today she wanted to come both times, walking to the back gate with the rest of the pack so they could get to the car. Her walking today resembled that of an old dog with a slow gait and not one suffering from myelopathy.  She went down to the river with ease and had fun with the rest of the pack.  She also had a nice trot at one point.

Again we met Bob on the return walk, and again the dogs came running toward him and his two dogs.  He did not have his new puppy Daisy with her.  Bob had mowed the trail down, making it easier to walk through the grassy maze.  We walked a total of 1.6 miles.  That means that both Sadie and Minnie walked a total of 2.6 miles today when both walks are added up. The rest of the pack did 3.6 miles.

My allergies held off for most of the day, but were slowly kicking in as the day waned. My eyes were burning again once I got back home and I was forced to take on another antihistamine.

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