BOXER ADVENTURES

 Today is Juneteenth.  A day that deserves acknowledgement and reflection. We headed out this morning to a nature preserve.  We haven't been there since they opened many years ago and only had a couple of trails at that time.  However, I happened to run across information that showed that they had widely expanded the preserve and that they had a whole section previously unopened that they had added trials to.  That section is only accessible by canoe or kayak. We packed everything up and headed out. We had to carry our kayaks down a path to the portage area, and that trek was much longer than anticipated! However, we got them down there and prepared to head out. It was a short paddle over to the "southern section" and we paddled along the shoreline until we saw a rocky outcropping with a picnic table perched on top.  We pulled our kayaks onto the shore and brought our lunches up and ate looking over the water.    There was no one else there a...

 Wow!  How could I have completely forgotten to take pictures??!! Today we met up with friends and went to the beach.  They are from out of the area.  They have  German Shepherd who has some issues.   There's no way to know if this was who she was always going to be or whether it's due to circumstances, but she is painfully insecure and has a lot of fears with people she doesn't know well.  She will even fear nip at people. They got her as a puppy right as COVID locked everyone down.  So she got very little socialization as a pup.  Would she have been different had that not happened?  No one will ever know. Anyway, as they arrived and let her out was a little bit nervous.  Booker doesn't read social cues well at all.  So he immediately tried to jump on her head and which led to her barking and alternately charging at him with her lip raised and running away.   Nothing escalated and fortunately, due to Booker's la...

 Today was the last day of our mini vacation.  Today dawned gorgeous.  It was bright and sunny and very warm.  Well we love the campsite we were at there was no lake there and we hadn't been on the kayaks in a while.  We packed our lunches and headed out. As soon as we put the kayaks in the water and Sisco jumped in with me he immediately went to sleep.  We paddled out to the beach and the dogs played and splashed around for only a short time and then were content to lay in the sun. Contrary to popular belief, you can tire a Boxer out with enough effort!

 We had the campsite reserved until Monday morning and we slept in as all of us, including the dogs, were tired from the last couple of days.  We got up and had a leisurely breakfast and then Sisko went back into the camper and jumped into bed. 😅😅 We had planned to just take today to be a rest day and sit in the sun by the stream that ran behind our campsite. However it was cooler than the last couple of days and also very cloudy. So instead we decided to take our time packing up everything and then we would take the scenic view home.  As we were packing up the dogs apparently thought that we were going to leave them there because they were very anxious to get in the car. We finally got everything packed up and took off. I think the dogs were both asleep but before we were even out of the park.  We stopped at a small town about 30 minutes away because I had seen where there was a short trail that led to a majestic waterfall. Because it was such a short walk I thoug...

 The state park that we were staying in was just south of Letchworth State Park - which holds what's known as the Grand Canyon of NY. It was a perfect day for us to head there bright and early and get in some miles. We had a perfect day hiking the trails.  The place was very busy and the dogs were good with everyone.  We got in a lot of miles - and more stairs - my Garmin indicates we climbed 109 FLIGHTS of stairs!  We made it back to the campsite early afternoon.  At this park, the sites are relatively close to one another and "neighbors" had moved in.  They have 2 dogs.  They are pretty well behaved but a few times they have gotten excited and barked at our boys.  Not only did they not bark back but they have not tried to run over there to see them.  They also have done spectacular with people walking on the road right next to our site.  They have watched everyone go by but have made no attempts to try to go out and greet people - not ...

 We decided to go camping at a place we'd never been to this weekend.  The dogs are smart enough that when they see the suitcases come out, they get excited and nervous.  We packed up a lot of things last night.  Booker jumped in the Passport at least 3-4 times and we had to make him get out.  He reluctantly did, apparently afraid we were planning to leave without him.  This morning I got up at what is the crack of dawn for me.  I took the dogs out and they were excited as this was different routine.  After they did their business they prepared to go back in the house but I had different plans.   We did a quick 3 miles in the col morning air, but it was warming up quickly by the time we finished.  We then packed up the rest of things and headed out.  They were appropriately tired from the run and settled right down despite the change in routine.  It was a long trip, but as always they traveled well.  We got to the cam...

It has been super hot all week - I have been coming home from work and the dogs come to greet me and are excited for about 30 seconds before lying in the shade and panting.  So any form of exercise has pretty much been out.   I on the other hand have been slogging along in the heat that I have not been used to and my Garmin tells me my status is "STRAINED".  But of course, the weekend hits and we experience a cool down.   Bad for my mood but good for the dogs.  I got ready to run and Sisko ran to the door, all excited  I have been letting him dictate whether he wants to go or not and his message today was clear.  We headed over to the trail and since my body was telling me to run slow I would run with Sisko and let him tell me if he wanted to quit.  There was no quit in him today.  He ran right along, happily in front with Booker and wanted to greet everyone we passed.  At 6 miles we reached the area of open water.  He ran...