Training Day

It was a training day for both myself and the dogs. Today was my first trip into town solo (well, Gaea, Griffin and Ajax were with me but no other humans) and it was tough. I really delighted going into Riverboat and the Quest more so than I thought I would. Lots of pleasant surprises greeted me there and lifted my spirits though the feeling afterward was really strange.

Its almost like being happy took more out of me than I was ready for. During the trip home I felt exhausted and worn out. I know most of that feeling wasn't from running the dogs this morning, its got to be the emotional wear that is still hanging like a wet blanket. I really don't know what to expect for the next week or the next month but I am extremely grateful that our tourist season is winding down. I need to work at home as much as possible to get over this comfortably and in my own time...

This morning Brian stopped by to help take the dogs out for a little jaunt. Some of them got to go the long route of 2.8 miles while the others stuck to the 1.5. I ran them by myself on Friday and they all did great so this second time out was a piece of cake especially with Brian there as an extra set of hands.

He brought along his pup, Sitka, and we were both blown away at how well he did in lead. I was also very impressed by my guys... its starting to sink in that I have quite a few leaders to choose from now. This sure wasn't the case a few years ago!

So far these are the dogs with leader potential:
Solid Leaders -
Ichabod, Juno, Hermes

Up and coming leaders -
Calypso, Thani, Gaea, Eli (big surprise there!), Maude (our newest foster)

Now its just a matter of who I'm going to work with... there are so many to choose from!

Ive started a worksheet for all the dogs to record mileage and trail notes. I'm working on a way to post and share it on-line with regular updates added every week or so. Anyone who has their eyes on our fosters can see where they are at in the team and how well they are doing as well as keeping up with the rest of the troop.

Our next run will hopefully be on Saturday if the weather holds (there was ice in the dog bowls this morning) and I hope to push the miles just a bit more on most of these guys. There are still a few I need to watch out for and test in a smaller slower group to see what they are going to be ready for. So far Griffin has come along with the main string and is loose running really nice. I hope I can take him off the retirement list this year!

I apologize for the lack of pictures this time around. I hope to get a better mental outlook for Saturday to take out the camera. Running the team has been great and really gotten my mind off of things but I'm not able to think consistent happy thoughts yet and enjoy a bit of photography... soon I hope...