Ramona Romp

My city dogs rarely get to stretch their legs and run off leash in a big area. There are not a lot of legal places dogs can be off leash. We have dog parks, but most in my area are pretty small and can be very busy. I don't trust most people to bring dogs who are well mannered. Plus, Indi can't go to dog parks since *she's* not well mannered. I also stress about taking Porter in a remote area off leash because what if he runs off! I know, not likely with my momma's boy, but it's still possible.

One of my clients was nice enough to offer the use of her fully fenced in 2 acre property so my dogs can have some fun. She lives about 30 minutes away which is about how far Fiesta Island is (the off leash dog park island near SeaWorld). It's not a bad drive at all and her property is great. It's covered in oak tress so most is nice and shady and it's mostly flat.

After Porter's agility class today we picked up Indi from home and headed on out. There were a couple of spots Indi could have squeezed out of the yard if she really wanted to, so I just made sure to keep a close eye on her and called her back if she got to close. I also kept them away from one corner since I noticed poison oak.

It was a great day and the dogs really enjoyed themselves. I found some dog toys so Porter chased a ball for a bit. Indi was more concerned with marking everywhere and sniffing the plentiful holes in the ground made by who knows what. Some were tiny and others big enough for a fox. I'm sure most were from squirrels or rabbits.

Anyone home?

We were very fortunate to have access to this property. It was nice to just let the dogs explore and be dogs and not be stuck on a 6 foot leash. It might not seem like much, but if you live in San Diego, this size of property is rare (or several million), so my pups have to make due with our tiny suburban yard.

Julian

In February we packed up the kid and two dogs into our SUV and headed into the small town of Julian for a few days. I was shocked that we just barely fit everything in my car which again brings me to day dream about a larger vehicle. My goal for this trip was to find a dog friendly property with a large fenced in yard in a town likely to get some snow.

The placed I selected was a nice sized Victorian home (3 bedrooms, 2.5 bath) with 2 fulled fenced in acres. They also had a barn/garage with a foosball table, basketball hoop and a teen room.

When we arrived it was a beautiful, brisk day and we were happy to find a small patch of snow still on the meadow. Porter was in heaven and started rolling around and rubbing his face in the snow.

Our friend and her dog, Theo, joined us and the two boys exhausted each other in battle.

Tulips were starting to emerge near this old wagon so I gathered the pups for a photo op.

Indi likes to run with the big dogs but since Porter is faster than her now she is often at his flank trying to take him down like a bison.

Snuggling with the snow.

Porter adores Theo.

The property was filled with Manzanita trees, my favorite!!

Porter barely moved all night after his first day of romping with Theo.

It was really fabulous to see the dogs have such a great time in on the large property. There were tons of oak and manzanita trees, flat meadows and small hills, a huge area of land to explore. The dogs were in heaven. I longed for a property like this so the dogs could have this much fun everyday!!

The last might of our trip we were lucky enough to have snow fall! By morning the snow was over a foot deep and so soft it felt like fluff. It was too dry to pack into snowballs, but that also meant I could wear sneakers and my socks didn't get wet! And it was too light and fluffy to sled in it. But the kid and dogs had a blast.

Porter and I practiced our nose work hides several times and the snow didn't slow him down one bit. It actually helps I've been told.

Ok, well Indi has a blast for about an hour and then she was over it.

Porter digging for gold. Black dog on a field of snow equals an impossible shot to expose properly! Ugh.

I better get a cookie for standing in this.

Derp, derp, look at me, a cute little snow bunny.

Typical Falt Coat pose after a long day.

It was such a great trip I know we'll be back.

Training Update

Our first K9 Nose Work trial is in two weeks, so we have really ramped up our training. Tomorrow we are meeting at my friend's house to give the dogs a novel place to search. It won't be a novel location for Porter; his besties, Kylie and Daisy, live there. But it will be a new searching location for him. Next week we are searching at a high school and the following Saturday we are signed up for a 3 hour clinic with Kim Buchanan. A few days later is our mock trial, and then that weekend the real thing!

Last week we had another drive and motivation class with Kellie. We worked on using two similar balls to get Porter used to trading and only being interested in playing with the toy I have, not the boring one just lying on the ground. It worked really well! I ordered some new toys from Clean Run and also picked up some wool balls at the pet store to practice.

I've been able to practice twice already and it's going great and is really tiring for Porter. He doesn't bring the first ball back to me, but he will leave it to come play with the one I have, which is huge. He normally would horde the toy he has and refuse to give it up or even let me come near. He'd rather play keep away and chase. This twist eliminated the conflict and brings me back into the game in a positive way. For Porter, it's critical to have two identical balls. Otherwise he gets bored with one and favors the other and will not trade.

In addition to these toys I purchased a large (and small) boomer ball for him. These are very hard plastic  hollow balls that are often used at the San Diego Zoo with the large carnivores for enrichment. Needless to say, they can take a beating. I bought a boomer ball that is too big for Porter to pick up so we can play with it in the backyard. I roll or kick it, he chased it, tries to mouth it, I catch up, and repeat. If he can pick it up he'll carry it off and horde it. This call prevents that and eliminated the possibility of keep away.

The smaller ball is for playing in the house. It's a little bigger than a tennis ball and is holding up well to his mouthing.

After several rounds with the wool balls and then the boomer ball Porter is wiped out. It's great exercise and fun for him. Money well spend!