By Land And By Sea

It seems like forever since I've posted photos of any of Marge's outings.  Sometimes it seems like forever since I've taken her on any!

Fortunately, we've actually been able to find some time to have some fun lately.  Just before Christmas, we went for a long walk on the beach.   Nothing about the day suggested it was winter - the sun was shining and it was relatively warm.

Marge frequently gets the freedom of her 20 or 50 foot long line at places such as the beach, thanks to  our seclusion from roads, other people and dogs, as well as her reliability.  I occasionally drop the line altogether and let her burn some steam off by running around me.  Goodness knows she needs it.

When I call her to come back to me, I'm met with a face like this, expecting treats.  Even without the treats, Marge is very attentive to me and I'm so thankful for that.

About a week later, on New Year's Eve, Louie & I went for a hike with my good friend and her dogs, Spirit and Bailey.  Marge absolutely LOVES their company.  I used to often complain that Marge didn't have many doggy friends.. but if she gets to see these two every once in a while, it makes me feel better.  (We actually went on a hike with them today, too, but I've got no pics to show from that).

 She truly feeds off of their confident and friendly personalities when she is with them.

At the top of the trail, the three posed together for a quick pic.

Unfortunately, the dogs weren't the only ones hiking with us, it seems.  After we returned that evening, I could have sworn that I felt something on Marge's neck.  I looked, but didn't find anything.  However, today, I felt it again, and did a little more investigating.  I discovered an attached, but not engorged, tick.  I yanked it off, applied some antibiotic ointment, and checked thoroughly for more (and found none), but now I've got the heeby jeebies!

I've got some free time tomorrow, and I'm thinking maybe we'll head to the beach this time.  I shouldn't have to deal with ticks in December!

Here I Am

Yeah, we're still around!

I have had a ton going on and just simply haven't had the time or mental willpower to post.  Marge, Arrow and I did wind up trialing two weeks ago; I still have to upload the videos and write up a report on that (not sure if I'll get around to it before our next trial; we'll see).   Honestly, agility really isn't going as great as I'd like it to right now, but I'm hoping to correct some big issues with a trip to a different training facility in the near future.

I also got hired by one of the physical therapy practices I've been volunteering at.  I'm now working there one day a week, which takes Thursdays totally off of the calendar.

I've had some other great things going on in my life as well, but I'll save that for another post.

As for Marge.. she's hangin' in there with my busy schedule.  We've been spending a lot of time together, despite the fact that I've been so busy.  Between all of my other commitments, I've been making sure that I do some special things with her, too.  Here are some pictures from a hike we took with Louie last week.

I may have gotten to the point where life will no longer fluctuate between busy and calm; seems like I'm going to be stuck in this "busy" for a long, long time!  But as long as I remember who and what is important in my life, I think I'll be just fine.

Sweet Escape

After judging one Beginner Obedience class of a 4-H show on Saturday, I went home with my next destination already in mind.

It has been FAR too long since I've taken a hike.  Between the snow and rain, roads and/or trails were impassable.  I expected some mud (which there was plenty of), but knew there'd be somewhere to walk.

I'll just shut up now and let you look at the pretty pictures.

(that's the sun.  Marge isn't exploding!)

Group Hike With Friends

Dear Marge,


Why are you so full of surprises lately?  Not that I'm complaining!..

My friend, whose dogs I often walk, asked me yesterday if I'd like to go for a walk with her in the woods that afternoon.  I thought it'd be fun and hoped Marge would think the same, so I loaded her little black self in to the car and met my friend at her house.  Another one of our friends from the dog club was also there with one of her dogs, a Border Collie mix.

They were all in the yard playing together, but I opted to keep Marge outside the fence and let her say hello that way.  She was a little unsure of what was going on at that point, and I figured that the excitement from an exuberant Golden Retriever greeting (Spirit LOVES me.. and, well, just about everyone) might send Marge in to snark mode.

We all got in to our cars, took a short 5-minute drive to the top of a deserted hill where we could get on the trail.

Marge had an amazing time.  Really, I didn't expect her to be so comfortable and so social with the other three dogs.

I quickly realized that the 6-foot leash just wasn't going to cut it, and let her out on her 20' line.  The other dogs were completely offleash. Eventually, I was brave enough to drop the leash and give Marge some freedom.  We reached a clearing and all of the dogs began to zoom all over the place with one another.

Allowed off leash?  In a place as fun as this? Yeah, I can't believe it either..

Yes, my shy, not-always-so-dog-friendly, squirrel-chasing, scent-loving dog was offleash on the trail, blazing alongside the other dogs.  She led the way, which was convenient because I didn't want anyone to trip over her long line.  Every time I called her name, she came running back to me like the good girl that she is.

Marge made fast friends with Ozzy, who is calmer and laid back.

She play-bowed and ran zoomies with all of the dogs.  She knows them all already, but has never had the opportunity to play with them this much!  I honestly did not know she enjoyed their company to this extent.  I think she snarked a total of one time.. at Bailey, the smallest and oldest (and, as his owner says, crankiest) dog in the group!

I am truly surprised at how much she adores Spirit.  Marge is not typically a fan of Golden Retrievers.  It's likely because Spirit is about as dog social as they get and has good doggy manners.  This is extremely encouraging, since we may be taking some trips to agility trials with Spirit and her mom in the future.

Why yes, that's MY dog sharing a sniff with a big happy Golden!

We set them up for an obligatory group pose at the end.  Unfortunately, all I had was my cell phone camera to snap with.

If that weren't enough, we all headed back to my friend's house after the fun for some hot chocolate.  Marge came inside the house.. she continued to be sociable with her new hiking mates, and got to meet one of the three resident cats. (She only nervously growled when the kitty emerged from the cat-sized cutout in the basement door.. I think she was perplexed as to how the cat appeared out of the wall!) She did put her front paws on the kitchen counter and nosed around every single room she could sneak into, but eventually settled down.

Of course, now that I know that Marge is comfortable taking hikes in a group, I'll be nagging my friends to go again soon!  What a special day.

Yet Another

Despite my seasonal aches and pains (because who doesn't get sick at this time of year?) and mounting piles of schoolwork, I could not help myself but to take another trip out in to the woods.  Fall comes and goes quickly, and I don't think I'm going to be able to motivate myself nearly as often to go on these hikes in the winter!

We intended on only staying a half hour or so, but wound up walking for more than an hour.  Marge had the added delight of being allowed the freedom of her 20' leash, which, after a brief "are you really going to let me run around?" period, sent her in to an absolute frenzy.

We stopped for a quick dip in the lake.  No rashes have appeared on Marge's tummy yet, so I'm pretty sure that it was the murky pond water that was the culprit, rather than this big, crystal-clear lake.  She wound up going out pretty far!

We ventured off the main trails quite a bit, and saw the park from all sorts of new views.

By this point, Marge was cool from being wet, spotted the fowl swimming in the water, and her snooter was on high alert... every movement she made was a burst of energy, making this trip out to the trails the complete opposite of "leisurely."  She's never run through the woods like this before!

A new spot we hiked.  Yes, Marge did indeed drag me up and down this natural staircase.

We stopped by a couple of old favorite locations, too.  I kept adding on little bits of time.  I didn't want to leave!

My queen of the forest, regally posing on a ledge above us.

And, the very last photo from our excursion - my sweet, contented Marge, happy to be alone in the woods with the crisp November air running through her fur.  

We turn our attention back to agility later in the week, with the last trial of this year looming just a few days away.

Hallows' Eve Hike

We set out for an AM hike this morning, before trick-or-treaters made their presence known by ringing our doorbell repeatedly and slamming the door knocker obnoxiously.  My sister and I convinced my mom to come along, too.  She's never seen this part of the woods before, and, with the fall foliage at its height, now was the time to go.  Who doesn't love some natural color?

It was unbelievably beautiful.  Really.  Be prepared for lots of photos.

It's not a long hike at all; maybe 20 minutes each way.  We didn't want to stay long, in case kids took their Halloween mischief in to the forest.  Thankfully, we only saw one older couple as we climbed upward, and had the entire place to ourselves.

The forest was ablaze in reds and yellows.

The pup liked it, too.

We detoured a bit on the way down, instead of just heading right back to the car.  The woods were so bright, the air so refreshing.. and Marge was yanking my arm off with enthusiasm!

I posed her on a couple of rocks, but she took it upon herself to jump on this boulder, which is a remnant from the Ice Age, 50,000 years old.  I guess she likes the view?

It was a spectacular slice of time spent surrounded by nothingness.  Like all things, it came to an end, and we crossed the road back to civilization.  Until next time.

Happy Halloween!

Onward and Upward

After what feels like weeks of sitting in my bathroom, scrounging up whatever bits of open wireless connection I could from other people in my neighborhood (yes, it's true), we're finally back online.  I'm still not hopeful that the problem is fixed for good, but maybe it is.  All I know is that it's working right now, and I intend to take full advantage of it!

On Sunday, Louie, my sister, Marge and I took a truly awesome hike in the autumn woods.  We were out there a good while, and covered somewhere from 3 to 4 miles.  I'd like to squeeze another in before our trial on Saturday, but I don't think I'll be able to (the beach might be an option, though).

As we started on what is arguably the most scenic trail in all of the woods, we stopped off at the big lake to let the beauty sink in. 

 

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.  And, to make things even better, we found a brand new spot along the lake for Marge to wade.  The drop off is extremely gradual, so she can walk around in the shallow water.  It'll be an exciting place to take her in the Spring and Summer!

She developed a reddish, bumpy rash on her inner thighs after we arrived home, but I don't think it was from this water - she's gotten this rash periodically, and I think it might be from the smaller ponds we stopped at.  We'll try to stick to wading in the larger bodies of water, like this one.

We then walked a short distance down the trail to the next body of water, a pond, where the colors were as vibrant as can be.

(click HERE to see the same place in July!)

We walked on for at least a mile, surrounded by trees.  For some reason, I really felt the pain in my calves as we climbed.  I hope that with repeated trips, the pain will cease.  At least the trip down wasn't so bad!

We wandered off trail a bit, too (which is a huge act of courage by me!).  We found this little pond.  It was murky (no wading for Marge here) and not exactly picturesque, but the idea of being secluded in the forest was enchanting.

Our ascent was finally complete, and we peered out towards the ocean and New Jersey.  It was Louie's first trip on this trail with me, and I think he enjoyed it - it's wonderfully scenic.

We continued onward a bit more, but a group of young children were making their way up the trail, and their screams bothered Marge (and me).  So, we headed back down the way we came, our calves sore, our adventurousness quenched.  We'll be back for more soon.

(I have a million things to talk about, since I've blogged a grand total of five times so far in the month of October.  Look out for a pre-trial post on Friday, and then a trial recap on Sunday).