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March 7, 2021: Shadow’s Dog Blog

Howdy everyone, Shadow weighing in here, with the latest from the greatest.

Been really busy here, trying to keep up with the likes of Alys and Pete. I listened in when Claudia asked those owners in our Puppy 1 class how they were going about exercising their dogs. The most ambitious of the lot were taking their dogs for walks on leashes. Pete and Alys, they talked a long time about how they had begun to take me out on the trails and that I was riding Tinni.

I haven’t ridden Tinni much since last fall because Alys thought that I might fall on the hard ground and hurt myself. I


Alys and Shadow on Nancy Lake trail

suspect that come spring, that I’ll be back in the saddle again. As for trail exercise – Alys and Pete have been getting me out nearly every single day, mainly on the trails close to the house. They usually take me out with Ryder. Sometimes Alys takes me out on additional walks. I’m not sure if the high point of my day is catching air when I bound from snow drift to snow drift, or crashing in the evenings, on my dog bed, next to Pete, as he works.

Today was a little different. Early on, Alys first took Tinni for a walk and then Tyra for a trail ride. She didn’t take me on either outing, which I thought was odd. After she got back, I began to sense that something was up. The pair started moving around a lot and getting dressed like they were going skiing. Then they put their ski gear along with Ryder and me in Pete’s Subaru.

They kept talking about a place called Nancy Lake. Ryder told me she never heard of it. We drove there. It was a long ways from here. I took a page from Ryder’s book and snoozed on the way there. Her thinking has always been to conserve your energy while you can because Alys and Pete don’t dilly dally when it comes times to exercise.

It took a while for Pete and Alys to find where exactly it was we were going. Once there, we all tumbled out of the car into the parking lot. There were a lot of vehicles and a lot of snow machines. There were also a handful of skiers. Soon enough, Alys and Pete’s friends Brian and Judy showed up with Kyra, their husky-mix look alike. Brian put Kyra on a long line because they feared that she might run off. They were right. Kyra is squirrel obsessed.

The two leggeds put on their skis and off we went, across the road and onto the trails. Pete released me first, then released Ryder. Kyra was kept on her long line.

We went many miles on the groomed trails. The groomed trail wound through a birch forest – there were numerous rolling hills. Kyra’s line got tangled around Brian and he fell into the waist deep snow. And Alys took a tumble on the return trip home.

We didn’t see but one dog out there, a golden retriever cross. And we didn’t catch sight or hear any squirrels. It was a good outing, a bit different of course than what we are used to. I’d go again, but I most like running loose on the trails close to home.

Ryder and I slept on the drive home.

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