When No One is Challenging Me, I Choose to Challenge Myself.

Two hour hike this morning at White Wood's with Ilma, and now about to head on another hike with Alex.

Perfect day before I go back to work tomorrow (:

I've been doing a lot (A LOT) of thinking about responsible hiking off lead with your dog.

As laws get tighter and tighter, and people still do not hike responsibly, we will continue to face the consequences.

I'm making a little guideline list of things I think are important while hiking off lead with your dog (even though now in Connecticut, it isn't legal. But with my well trained dog, my habits of not letting my hiking experience disturb anyone else's hike, and cleaning up after my dog and myself, I've not run into an issue yet. (And there were some scary times when approached by rangers that I swore I was going to walk away with a hefty fine.)

Here we go.

1) ALWAYS BRING A BAG for your dog and clean up afterwards. The little leash clip on bag holders ( Cheap poop bag holders ) REALLY help to not forget to bring one. If for some reason you forget a bag and your dog craps on the trail, get a stick (It's the woods, one should be able to find one) and push it off the trail. Yucky, yea, but just because you want to hike with your dog is no reason anyone should have to step in it.

2)BRING A LEASH for your dog. I know it may seem silly but I've encountered so many hikers who don't have one, and their dogs are wandering in front of them, and don't necessarily come back when called when they see something interesting on the trail.

3) LEASH YOUR DOG when you encounter another group of hikers (I strongly suggest putting them in a "sit/stay" as the others walk by), unless their dogs are off lead too and you get consent they're friendly. It's too big of a risk to not leash your dog when it's necessary, and your dog may pay the price if it is attacked. To top it off, you may not get any compensation because your dog was off lead.

4) MAKE SURE YOUR DOG HAS A RELIABLE RECALL while hiking. It's normal to have to teach your dogs during hiking while they are unreliable, but it should be just that- training them to become reliable. If you do not bother to train your dog while you are hiking, you are being irresponsible.

5) DO NOT LET YOUR DOG JUMP on other hikers.. Ever. Period. If your dog slips up, correct them immediately. It's very rude, others are there to enjoy their time, not bat your dog off.


I'm sure I can think of more later but if anyone has any to add.... I've got some good ideas as to what to do with my guidelines (helping teach people to hike responsibly.) And I do ALL of the things I just listed when I hike. It may seem daunting at first but after it becomes habit, you can be a responsible off lead hiker :D Hurray!

Week 2 of natural feeding

So we're on week 2 of feeding natural....

A major difference so far: most of the hair on her elbows have grown back, which were being worn away slowly over time. Now her elbows are mostly covered- awesome.

Bad thing? Her feet haven't gotten better, actually the redness and irritation has spread to between her toes, and now she chews and bites on them. She got a steroid shot last night at the vet, and the irritation has gone away pretty much.

I'm just getting at my wit's end with this. I have faith in natural feeding and keeping her immune system up, but.... I don't know. She'll be okay but if it's a dermatology issue, it could last for a long time.

We'll see, we'll see (:

First night feeding raw!

Today marks the first night Baer is getting an all raw, all natural diet.

Tonight for her dinner is:

two chicken drumsticks, kale, carrots, celery, and a little bit of apple cider vinegar. 

I am STOKED to start her on raw permanently (I got ridiculous prices on meat... much cheaper than the Blue buffalo wilderness I've been feeding her).

I'll post some pictures later of her dinner once I prepare it. I'm just so fed up with the constant ailments, the constant pills from the vet, talks of infections and problems and all the intense itching from nowhere. Her nail bed infections are still present (Back to doing epsom salt soaks!) and I KNOW dogs can go on hikes all the time without any problems. I know her body isn't up to par though, and this diet I feel will be the missing link I've been looking for. 

:) Hooray! And now for a picture of Baer with her friends!

Never stop bettering yourself.

And never feel ashamed to admit when you're wrong- it allows you to learn from your mistakes, and that is never something to be ashamed of.

We took the pups to Campbell Falls, CT yesterday! It was beautiful, but we couldn't find a solid trail to walk on. The falls were huge! But there was no clear path to the top, so we left after a while and went to Mohawk pond, where we all got to swim.

There, we ran into a GSD and a small terrier.... all 4 dogs had a good time running and playing in the water, and I got to swim for a while which felt FANTASTIC.

We are going back today, to swim and hike the trail that goes from the docks to the "cliffs." Very excited :)

Peace out cub scouts! Hope your day is fun and inspiring!

The humidity is making it impossible to do anything today. Well, time for a day inside!

Action shot!!

We got to Harwinton Rec around 9am this morning. There were a TON of children there, and so I took Baer to the far field to play with the ball and Chuck-it before we went on our hike to burn a little excess energy.

Then this little terrier mix comes barreling over, and the owner is shouting its name, and says to me "He can tend to not play nice", as I laughed I replied "Yea, mine too. They'll get over it." So I just told the dogs to mind their manners ("Leave it kids.") And they were fine. Sometimes you gotta remind the dogs, why YES, there is a human here who will not hesitate to step in and break you two up if you decide to act a fool.

And no one acted a fool (:

So then after the dog left, we played fetch for 20 mins, then went on the trail. Bugs were horrendous but the scenery was AMAZING. I absolutely love it at the Harwinton Rec. Lots of fresh water to play in, lots of trails to explore, and it's not too far out in the woods that it takes me forever to get back. We were done and home by 10:30, not bad at all.