Sunny Morning Hangout

Dinkey Lakes Hike

Yes. The Mosquitos are out. Although not yet in full force, the trip required quite a bit of bug spray. Uncle Joe and I took 'the boys' out for Astro's first real hike, Zig was brought along as his ambassador to the wilder world. Hurricane Rosie got some much needed quiet time at home with a friend. Alas, I worry more and more about her joints as she gets older...  Anyway, we loaded the boys up at 7am and made it up to the trailhead around 9:30 after two short stops. Astro was nervous but excited and Zig.... well Zig is an old hand at mountain trips by now....

 Admittedly, after much patience and coaxing, I had to physically haul Astro's big butt across the first two creek crossings. After that, he got the general idea that the water was not going to kill him and he followed Ziggy across with no worries on the way back. He still has to drag the long line or be leashed the whole time since his obedience education has been sorely lacking. All in all, it went way better than I had any right to expect. Go, Astro, Go.

 And, of course, we had to stop at the Hungry Hut in Shaver for grilled cheese and shake for the way home. Yum.

Shaver Lake Daytrip

So part of the fun of adding a new member to the household is introducing  them to all the mountain dog activities that they've probably never seen before. Astro, the 140lb chicken, is finally learning to like car rides (after numerous trips to in-n-out and to see his favorite uncle and anything else he likes to positively reinforce him.

So last week we ventured up to Shaver Lake to let the other two furkids swim and run around like wild beasts and to expose Astro to the idea that water isnt necessarily a terrifying thing...... Hakuna matata.


Last one in is a rotten egg!

 The nervous froth face as he watches the crazy dogs run straight in....

MINE.

'Baby' brother is confused. 

Ziggy goes for the long distance swim

You wouldn't think a 3-legged dog, 90lb dog would swim like a fish, but you'd be wrong.

What? Rosie may be part sealion. Hard to tell.

Who knows what's going on in that head. He did put his front feet in the water,
so we call it a win for his first lake day.

Till next time, mountain dog fans.

Astro, Greatest Dane and newest adoptee

So, although nothing will ever fill the hole that Sadie left in our family, we agreed to adopt Astro when we heard that his family was moving and couldn't take him with. I'm a sucker for a sob story involving large canines. Especially those suffering from BBDS (Big Black Dog Syndrome).

Astro is ~3.5 years old and has been a country dog his whole life so we are introducing him to a whole host of things that scare the crap out of him. Chickens, for instance. Also water, small spaces, loud noises, crowds, small dogs, cars, etc etc etc.... Luckily he's the mellowest dude around so he mostly takes it in stride and forgives me for putting him in all these situations. He doesn't appear to have seen a vet anytime in the recent past and he needs to gain a little weight, but all that is easily fixed and aside from a large suspicious lump under his chin that needed to be removed (thankfully non cancerous), he is getting all the TLC he can handle. We will make a mountain dog out of him yet....

Long Time No Post

In a nutshell: Changed jobs, moved, changed jobs again, quit job to start my own gig and now back on solid ground. Ziggy, the hound, is now 6.5 years old and has matured (physically, if not mentally). Hurricane Rosie, the french mastiff, is now 4, and is still a spitfire. Sadie, our beautiful english mastiff, left us in February after battling a nerve sheath tumor for 3 months. She was 7.5. She made me a better human, which is no easy task, even for a mastiff. I miss her still.