Training Logs 3/12/19 Routes

3/12/19, 45/62°F

Cheers is too small for the backpacks I have, but she carries on anyway. We’re hiking a mile across right-of-ways and backroads, to the local gas station, than a mile back. She is a studious, serious, head-down worker. EDIT: total 2.75 miles.

Route: Down the driveway, across the front of the property, Yuki & Pax run along and say Hi! But they are all old friends. Across the winter-turnip fields next door, stay on Hwy 27 shoulders all the way to Chattin Market, which is now Eagle Spirit Market. Then cut across and go down Roddy Straight, which is now crooked. Passed the firehall, continue on old Roddy Straight to the crossover and back across turnip fields to home. About twice as long as the Poppet route, maybe a mile there and another back.

*In BLUE, Wayeh straight up Hwy27 to the store, then back down Roddy Straight. 2.75m.*
*Too much traffic.*

Poppet is silly, likes to spin, and will spook at the unexpected.

Route: Down the driveway, across the front of the property, Yuki & Pax run along and say Hi! Across the winter-turnip fields next door, passed the Produce Stand, to Heritage Trail. Up the long concrete driveway (they are cousins) across at the top of the ridge to brother Matt’s place, down his long gravel driveway, back to the Produce Stand (unlike the yellow route map which led us right passed 15 beehives — nope!), and take a right across the turnip fields back home again. Maybe a mile total, but all of it with elevation changes.

*In yellow, Wayeh-Heritage Trail-down Matt’s driveway 0.95m with elevation.*

Mensa (with daughterTok) was a bit of a mistake… OK, a big mistake. But, adapt, overcome. And remembered the camera!

Route: Down the driveway, across the front of the property, Yuki is not a fan. And Mensa is less of a fan. Maybe Mensa is protective of her daughter Tok, maybe she just doesn’t like Yuki. Will crate Yuki in the basement next time I take Mensa out. Who needs that sort of headache when a little management can make the problem go away? Across the front of the winter-turnip fields and cross over to old Roddy Straight. Down the abandoned highway with Camp Creek on one side and flooded fields on the other. To the firehall, continue on old Roddy Straight to Roddy Market, now Eagle Spirit Market, but used to be Chattin Market, run by the Chattins. Which is actually the third Roddy Market that I know of. Reverse back down Old Roddy Straight passed apartments, that used to be Roddy Market when I was growing up run by the Williams, down to Roddy Road, where on the corner used to be my great grandmother Hattie Keylon’s brother Willie’s store, the first Roddy Market. That building is gone now, but I remember when it was open when I was a very young kid, run by… I’m thinking the name was Junior Stabler, but it was 40 years ago. Creaky wooden floors, a second-story apartment over top, an old fashioned red box chiller with glass-bottled cokes in it. We leave that and go back passed the firehall, continue on the abandoned part of old Roddy Straight, across the front of the turnip fields and home again. Where Yuki and Mensa have their say and all our hard work on loose leash walking goes out the window.

Just for fun, in red, from home to the store is 1.43 miles, then reverse.
Mensa & Tok

We’ll try Clacks crossing next time.

Notes to self:

Put Yuki in the basement when I’m walking Mensa around the perimeter fence. They don’t like each other. Cheers & Poppet just wag at her, but with Mensa, it’s personal. Maybe because I was walking baby Tok with mama Mensa. Maybe they just don’t like each other. And the whole thing was exasperated because Patches, the next-door-neighbor dog has puppies of her own and runs loose, so she’s got this hormonal protective thing going on, even on my property.
Don’t wear rain pants over tights. Once you sweat out the tights, you’re walking in a sauna. Dig out the hiking pants, even if the weather is too cold for them, I’ll warm up as I go. On the same note, no boggins or down vests needed wben temps are in the 45/61 F range. But the wool socks & Keen Voyageur Hikers worked great, just enough support in the arch and side-to-side stability over rough terrain — the first 1/4 mile was recently flooded then washed out so unevenly drained. A loose, long-sleeved light-weight fleece over a sports bra was great.
Teaching a puppy leash manners and reminding her mama on the same trip makes for an exhausting first quarter mile. But they figure it out, half as slowly as if I had walked them individually, but we figured it out. Of course if I had tried walking them individually there would’ve been a lot of caterwauling going on. And we might not have gotten very far.
Money spent on high-tech hiking poles was wasted. Hiking with dogs, I’ll have no hands free for hiking poles. They twist and turn and run around me and over each other and I had no hands free for hiking poles.
My XL WolfPack is about twice the pack needed for any of my current dogs.
The two-collar system is doubly as important when hiking because if you have 1 ID-collar and 1 leash-collar, then when they slip their collars, you’re not left holding their ID. Thankfully that was in the driveway with the gate still closed.
Next time try them wearing x-back racing harnesses and hook to THAT so their pulling is OK. On the return trip switch to a leash-collar so when they are tired, they can practice loose-leash walking.