BOXER ADVENTURES

Today we went to the annual Paws 4 Potter summer ice cream event.  This fabulous organization is run by a local vet and educates and empowers those dealing with pet cancer.  The boys got to meet some friends and enjoy some peanut butter and bacon ice cream with home made dog biscuits. The young boy in the above photo asked "Why are your dogs so buff??" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sisko hogged his right down, but it took Booker a minute to embrace the Yum.  But once he realized how good it was he was all in. We love to do anything we can to support this organization- check out their website ,  Facebook and Instagram!

 I haven't had a lot of adventures to post because - like most of the country - we have been HOT and muggy.  Way too hot for any sort of hiking for Boxers! Plus, for my second week of vacation I had a lot of household projects to get done.  Which means Marc and I worked our butts off while Booker and Sisko laid in the shade and supervised. We have been able to make lots of trips to the beach.  Booker continues to LOVE the water.  He shows almost no fear.  Lake Ontario can be completely calm or extremely wavy depending on wind and other weather.  It doesn't matter - he goes in no matter what! However, he was doing what I know is the typical Boxer swim - which means trying to walk on the bottom with his back legs while slapping the water with his front legs. The last time we took him out, he was doing the same.  As he went for the toy I grabbed his mid-section and held him up so he began kicking with his back legs. That's all it took.  Look at ...

 Did you know more dogs go missing on July 4th than any other day. Fear is powerful and instinctual so when a dog is scared, he doesn't think rationally, he just reacts - which means RUN! HIDE! Fireworks and thunder often cause this.  I was relived that after several nights of fireworks including a neighbor setting off some LOUD ones, Booker had no reaction.  One of our cats stopped licking himself tonight to peer out the open window during the neighbor's setting them off combined with a full show from a nearby village, but Booker didn't even lift his head.   Whew. But what if you have a dog who has fear of thunder and fireworks? Well, you can buy items like a thundershirt , which helps with anxiety.  You can also buy calming chews online or even get a prescription from your vet. You can put your dog in a small room and play calming music. And always have your dog's collar on and he should be microchipped with current info just in case the worst happens, Bu...

 When I found out there was a mountain near our campsite called Castle Rock - as a massive Stephen King fan I knew we had to check it out! It was a smaller and easier climb than most mountains in the Adirondacks until the last section.  That involved scambling up bare rock, squeezing through rock passages, climbing up roots to get to the summit. Not surprisingly, the dogs were much better at this than the humans.  There were a couple places where we gave them an assist - not sure they needed it but we wanted to be safe.  One guy at the top had blood running down his arm from a fall and we saw a family where mom was sitting and crying because she had twisted her ankle.  If one of our boys had slipped and broken a leg??!!  I can't even think about it. We made it safe and sound to the top but readjusted their collars and made sure the leashes were secure as the top has a large rock outcropping and a fall would be deadly. We use the command "Wait" a lot.  ...

 Today we woke up to bright sun and the promise of a much warmer day. This was our first time at this campground and we had lakefront access but it was rocky in that part of the lake.  We started the day with a walk to the end of the campsites and explored the trail at the end.  We were excited to walk to the lake and saw a large sand area. After lunch we hopped in the kayaks and paddled over to that area.  We "parked" and played for a while. With them sufficiently tired out we kayaked around the entire lake. That evening as we ate by the lake I was thrilled that we were able to let Booker wander around as we ate.  He sniffed all the trees, dug at the ground, marveled as a chipmunk ran down a tree right in front of him and stood by the lake watching several kayaker go by.   He came right back to us every time we called!!! It's always an amazing experience when your dog gets something! This was further reinforced tonight when we sat by the campfire....

 We made it through our first night nice and dry.  Booker woke up and started whining in the middle of the night - it was pitch dark and since he was in unfamiliar surroundings he was understandably nervous.  I called his name and he immediately went back to sleep. Today we headed right out to climb a mountain.  Blue Mountain was only about 20 minutes away. This proved to be a challenging hike.  Due to last night's rain it was muddy and slippery and involved some serious climbing.  This is a popular mountain, so Booker stayed on leash, but since Sisko has 100% reliable recall, I tied his leash into his backpack loops and I actually found he was great at showing me the best way up. We made it to the top but neither dog was terribly impressed - even with the view! After some snacks and a good roll around it was time to make our way back down. Tonight it was again a cold evening but without rain and wind so we had a campfire.  I thought for sure Booker wo...