Behind the scenes at Champion of My Heart, I get private advice from some readers. They simply feel more comfortable emailing me directly with ideas, input, support. And, that’s totally fine. One such idea from a friend was to take Lilly on different hikes this summer to keep her out and working, even though we’re taking a break from classes until we figure out the anxiety medicine stuff. So, here are a few updates on recent outings:
Saturday, June 28
We went for our usual walk in the valley. It’s a 3-mile out and back. Most often, I start with what I know. It’s my own form of criteria control.
Everything was going fine as usual, until I noticed some neighbors and their 3 dogs (two white shepherds, one cocker) headed our way. Well in advance, I crossed over the wide county road (which is dirt), so that we could pass them with a good lateral distance. It seemed to be working, until all of a sudden … it wasn’t.
I kid you not. Lilly went from a perfect HEEL + WATCH ME to a full-on reactive display in a snap.
You know those cartoons, where someone gets shocked or electrocuted and all their hair stands up and smokes? It was very much like that.
I called her off once, but she spun around and did it again.
We did finally get past them, but I had leash burns and was NOT happy. I hadn’t seen a prolonged freakout like this in probably 18-24 months. A snark is one thing, but this reaction lasted.
Maybe the shepherds looked at her funny. I don’t know because I was looking at Lilly not them. Maybe it’s because we just happened to pass them in the same spot of Lilly’s tussle with another pair of dogs. Maybe it’s because the many dogs at House #2 from the same rant barked the entire time we were walking. (It takes us an hour to do 3 miles due to terrain, so that’s a lot of barking.)
I’ve heard that House #2 is running a rescue of some sort and that one of the dogs bit the tip of someone’s finger off recently, so I’m particularly careful passing by there these days. A couple of dogs were out loose last week, but they didn’t approach us, so I kept going.
OR, maybe Lilly just felt like crap and snapped.
Sunday, June 29
The next day was a hiking day at Centennial Cone Open Space, which I’ve mentioned before. Instead of our usual single-track trail hike, I took Lilly up the center trail, which is much wider … figuring if we saw any other dogs, she’d need the extra space.
She did amazingly well. We saw one other dog, twice, since he and his person were doing the opposite out and back that we were. The first time we saw them, Lilly and I were approaching a gate. I was glad for the barrier because the dog was off leash. He looked mellow and nice, probably some kind of lab-staffie mix. BUT, I waited at the gate, and the guy leashed up without me having to ask. Isn’t that nice?
So, as we passed, I thanked him and quickly explained that Lilly wasn’t great with other dogs, etc. He told me that his dog wasn’t either, but Lilly and this other dog passed each other without even a nervous glance … both times.
We also passed a handful of solo male hikers/runners. Not a lot of gals out at the Cone this weekend. But, Lilly is generally not reactive towards people. Still, I asked for her OFF TRAIL behavior, and I fed her treats for sitting nicely out of the way while others passed.
Here are some photos from our outing:
Centennial Cone for which the park is named. We usually climb it a few times a year, but we’ve never taken Lilly all the way up. The top part on the other side is fairly vertical and rocky, and there a lots of rattle snakes, so we usually go sans dogs.
These meadows provide grazing for the deer and elk herds.
The Continental Divide. Despite a pretty snowy winter. The top-most peaks are pretty bare already. See how wide the trail is? Much better than squinchy single-track, with drop offs.
Friday, July 4
Since it was a holiday, Tom and I took both dogs for a hike in the Cone. Because of Ginko’s reconstructed knees, we’re very careful not to take him too far (only about an hour total), but he was still sore.
Lilly and I often got alone, so it was nice to have the boys along. It was a mixed use day, so we passed A LOT of mountain bikers. Most were fine, but one sizable group included one guy who nearly ran over Ginko’s tail. We’d yielded 75% of the wide trail to the group. We stopped and fed the dogs treats as the bikes passed. But, this one guy stayed on our side of the trail, even though he had plenty of time to move over with his friends. It seems he didn’t want to slow down or move, so he flew by, nearly smashing Ginko’s long tail.
Still, the dogs had fun. We even let them splash around in a trough that fills with cold, fresh water from a natural spring.
Here are a couple shots of my 2 monkeys side by side. Lilly seems happy. Don’t you think?
I love how you are able to put yourself in Lilly’s place, and try to analyze why she might be reacting a certain way. Not that you can know for sure, but it’s nice to read how you try to understand what is going on in her mind.