Great Bear

There is a place just over an hour from us called Great Bear Recreational Park.  We don't go there as often as I would like because of the drive time, but it's an awesome place to hike.  The multiple acres are surrounded by fencing and dogs are welcome and are even allowed off leash.

This was Booker's first time there.  He is now 7 months old and does great off leash - listening well and staying near us.

BUT.... today we were reminded that he is still a puppy and is not fully trained yet.  We haven't had a puppy in 7 years AND that puppy was Sisko - who is by far the easiest dog we have ever had to train.  As a puppy (and now) he HATED getting in any sort of trouble and by his very nature always wanted to be right next to us.  It's easy for us to get frustrated with Booker as he still does puppy type things.

Great Bear is full of amazing smells and new things to experience.  So Booker was mostly interested in running as fast as he could down the trails and not listening to a word we said.  It was like all the training he has had went right out the window.  The good news is, this was an excellent place to experience this - because it was on acres of enclosed land.  The other good news was he always came back - just not as quickly as we would have liked.  And we did notice that any time he saw another person he would stop and return to us rather than running right up to the person.  

So the day was not perfect and it was a good reminder for us that when you have a young dog, they still are not fully trained - much like a young child!

Even with those challenges, it was a great exhausting day of hiking.  We got in over 8 miles and had some very tired doggos when we got home!