Socializing the pups; their first time at the river

It was another hot and humid day. It was too hot to bag Carr Peak with a dog.  I was willing to just stay home and do some gardening when I noticed that SteveT had called me early in the morning.  He had called to see if I was interested in joining him for a visit to Copper Hop Ranch brewery.  I said yes and told him I wanted to use this visit as a socializing experiment for the pups.  If the pups got too loud or rowdy, I would just leave.

This was a risk I knew I was taking.  Would Hansel be too aggressive toward strangers, would he attack Trace?  Trace is almost six years old and acts like a six-month old pup.  We drove in separate cars in case I had to leave because of the dogs.  I had no idea what to expect, but I know that Hansel is an alpha male who likes to make his presence be known.

We got to the farm brewery at 12:15pm.  A large group of bikers from the 459 VFW post out of East Tucson were there, filling up the patio.  As feared, the dogs began barking and getting tangled in the leashes, but they did calm down.  Several bikers quickly came toward me to greet the pups, who were now slowly understanding that they were in no danger.   Five-month-old GSDs are simply too cute to render vicious. We managed to find a small two-seater table in the corner of the patio.

One of the wives of a Vietnam War veteran, Joyce, came toward us to talk about how much she loves dogs and had a 14-year-old GSD that had to be put down when it got too disabled to walk. Other people of the group also came toward me to tell me what pretty dogs the pups were.  By now the bikers were totally cool with the three dogs (Trace, Hansel, Gretel) watching over the group.  Later on several more people walked in with two papillons and Hansel barked some, but quickly quieted down.

Mel, one of the owners, gave the pups a bowl of ice water.  This water came in very handy as it was still warm in the shade.  The pups settled down, laying by our side as Steve and I chatted with each other and with others.  When the biker group left an hour later, the place calmed down.

A young couple from Gilbert then sat nearby.  They were in the area in an B&B but now on their way back home.  It was their first visit and they were sipping ciders.  She was very attractive, with a Spanish accent she said came from her Spanish-French background.  He was also handsome.

It was after 3:30pm before we both also left.  I had no idea we had been there so long sipping beers.  I got home almost an hour later, Kevin was already asleep, and I opted to take all the dogs down to the river before dark.  I texted Susan to see if she was interested in joining me, not knowing that I was also bringing the pups.  We met at the Casa de San Pedro B&B to walk the 0.2 miles to the river.  Taking seven off-leash dogs to the river is always a risk. I did this for the pups since they did so well earlier.

The pups did amazingly well.  Both were wearing harnesses in case I needed to grab either one quickly.  The pups took all instructions from the older dogs, including Sadie who wanted to come, and followed them into the water.  This is what the big dogs were looking forward to, after a day of panting in the heat.  A brief shower while we were at the river did not discourage us.

We walked a mile north in the river.  My cellphone was dead so Susan took all the photos.  All the dogs reveled in the water, even dogs like Sadie and Zeke who normally just get into the water to cool off their paws and drink.  Minnie would sit in the water, swim in the deep parts, while the others munched on grass and kept to themselves.  The two pups, however, were now in full throttle mode and chasing each other through the water, diving in some sections and even swimming when they landed in deep sections.  They didn't seem afraid of swimming as we were cheering them on.  Not one dog came out of this river romp dry.

Gretel, the more gentler of the two pups, even made sure that Susan and Allie were keeping up.  She will be a great hiking dog, making sure everyone in the hiking group is staying together.

More storm clouds were now forming.  We made the mile our turn-around, walking back in the water the way we came.  This was just enough for the pups as all of the dogs were now tired.  Sadie had a good day and not once collapsed.

I had gotten home at 6:30pm.  A more violent storm was now forecasted to hit our area a few hours later, dumping a half-inch of rain on us.  I missed the most dramatic part of the storm when I fell asleep before the light show.  All the dogs slept well tonight, including the two pups who collapsed from exhaustion as soon as I got home.  Their little legs did two miles; that's pretty impressive for puppies whose bones are still forming. 

***

Global cases: 17,817,055

Global deaths: 686,408

US cases: 4,706,131 (+75,268)

US deaths: (+1721)

AZ cases: 174,010 (+3212)

AZ deaths: 3,694 (+68)

IN cases: 66,154 (+901)

IN deaths: 2,965 (+19)