19 posts tagged “dog rescue”
Michigan weather is simply amazing. Yesterday saw a heat wave reaching 40 degrees that melted much of the several inches of snow on the ground, but 40+ mph winds this morning will plummet the thermometer below 20 degrees later today. The weatherman called it a "flash freeze", which I guess means that we had a "flash thaw" over the weekend?
Recently we picked up Jan, our 54th foster dog, and she's been such a great dog that Amanda keeps saying stuff like "if we ever want 3 dogs, Jan should be the 3rd one". :)
To me she's not a "Jan" - she's too sweet and spunky for that calm-sounding name, so I've been calling her JJ. Not "J.J." but "JJ" because there's no initials - that second "J" doesn't stand for anything.
Taking advantage of the balmy weather yesterday, I loaded the entire pack - Haven, Beacon, JJ - into the car and all 14 of our feet embarked on a hike in warm, wet snow along the Flat River. JJ has been good enough that I let her run off leash; she's only the 3rd or 4th foster dog to earn such freedom! She wasn't perfect and tended to ignore my whistles occasionally, but she kept us in sight. Of course to her, "us" can mean just Haven and Beacon so sometimes the three of them were a few hundred yards away chasing some intriguing scent!
Eventually we slipped and slid our way up and over the steep hill that leads to "Beacon's Landing" - his favorite fetching spot on the river, a small sandy delta where a foot-wide stream drains into the 200-foot wide river. Immediately downstream of Beacon's Landing is "Haven's Cove", a backwater area of eddy flow caused by the delta. Lots of flotsam and other debris collects here and Haven loves to explore it at low water levels in hopes of finding a stinky fish carcass to eather eat or roll in.
In the winter Haven's Cove freezes over due to the still water and during this hike the ice was 2 inches thick, extending 15 feet into the river and running 60 feet along the shore. Standing at Beacon's Landing and waiting for JJ to catch up to us, Beacon began insisting that I throw him something to retrieve. I was scanning the ground for a stick when I heard a splash...
Looking up I saw JJ had fallen through the ice! She was at the far end of the ice shelf on Haven's Cove - she had walked too close to the edge and a 2-foot hemicircle of ice had broken away. JJ was in that hemicircle trying to climb back on to the ice with no success. Her front paws were hanging on with her rear in the water; occassionally a hind paw would appear on the ice edge but the river was about 3 feet deep there, so she had nothing to push off of.
At first I tried to coax JJ to exit the hemicircle and swim upstream around the ice shelf - there's almost zero current in Haven's Cove - but JJ apparently doesn't have enough labrador retriever in her genes to give her such instincts. She wasn't panicked but she was intent on climbing out, which she couldn't do without help.
Haven seemed to realize this - as soon as we saw JJ in the water, Haven went running out onto the ice right up to JJ, putting her nose right next to JJ's. How kind! If only Haven had thought to grab JJ's collar and haul her out, but Haven apparently was only intending to provide moral support. :)
JJ was about 12 feet from shore, a shoreline that's steep and covered in woody shrubs so I wasn't going to reach her from dry land. I also didn't want to wade through a waist-deep, ice-cold river along the entire 60-foot ice shelf to get there. I decided to press my luck by walking out onto the ice shelf.
It was pretty solid, but obviously thinning out toward it's edge. Beacon joined me when I set foot onto the ice, and Haven got excited and ran over to Beacon... and slid right past him! Yes Haven, ice is slippery. The two of them must've figured I had things under control as they ran back to Beacon's Landing.
I managed to get about 6 feet away from JJ before my weight pushed the outer edge of the ice just below the surface and water began to flow onto the ice. Rats, I couldn't get any closer! How was I going to help JJ out of the water? I pulled the leash out of my pocket - I could make a "lasso" and toss it over her head, giving enough of a pull that her back paws could push her out.
As I was preparing to toss the leash, Haven and Beacon came running out onto the ice to see what I was up to, coming all the way out right next to me. I weigh almost 200 lbs and the ice barely supported me, but add in 140 pounds of pooch and guess what? The ice breaks!
I fell through the ice and verified that the water was indeed waist deep. Yow, was it cold! Haven fell in right next to me but Beacon was on the safe side of the crack, still standing up on the ice. JJ was now in front of me in the water so I picked her up and placed her on the ice and she ran for shore. Then I turned and helped Haven climb back onto the shelf - she's a pretty good swimmer and comfortable in the river, but she wasn't too thrilled to be dog-paddling in icy water!
As I helped Haven I heard a splash behind me... Beacon! The silly boy had jumped into the river and was swimming back to me with a large chunk of ice in his mouth! He saw pieces of ice from my fall-through floating in the river and he leapt in to retrieve them. However, he couldn't climb out so I then had to help him back onto the ice shelf but he never let go of his prize.
Naturally if I fall through the ice with three dogs, I'm the last one out! They're back on shore at Beacon's Landing, shaking off some of the chilly water while I'm forced to make that trek that I opted against earlier - a long wade in chilling, waist-deep water to circumnavigate the ice shelf at Haven's Cove.
Back near shore I stepped on the ice edge trying to break off a chunk, but lo and behold nearly the entire shelf cracked free! A huge 10x50 foot island of ice floated out into the river, but rather than heading downstream is simply spun. The backwater eddys were evident as the upstream end of the ice floe rotated out into the river and downstream, while the downstream end actually moved upstream. It did this twice before I left, so who knows if it ever drifted downstream or just kept spinning there! Pretty cool stuff for a nature and science geek.
By the time I stepped on to dry land my feet were almost numb, but otherwise I felt pretty good. The dogs were noticeably cold from their bouncy behavior, but they weren't shivering or stressed out; in fact they were already exploring the woods while awaiting my return. Once I arrived, however, Beacon began trying to lead us back to the car - he was ready to go home. He was right, of course - we'd been out for half an hour and had a 15 minute hike back to the parking area so no need to hang around in wet clothes (or fur) when there's snow on the ground, even in a Michigan heat wave.
I wish I'd thought to get some photos of the ice shelf, but perhaps it was all the best that I had the camera and my cell phone stashed away in double ziploc bags. They both survived the dunking - luckily I took such precautions despite no intention of getting wet. Running in the woods with three dogs? Anything can happen! What a blast.
Nevada Mountain Bear tagged me from the world of Wordpress and it's about time I answered her:
**Note: I give up on the colors. Maybe someone from Vox can explain why selecting "green" makes things "blue" and only half the time...
1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? Usually either, but sometimes I like to get creative and use things like cereal boxes, the Sunday funnies, towels, or even crazier stuff.
2. Real tree or artificial? My grandparents used to operate a tree farm on their land and real trees are more environmentally friendly, so definitely REAL.
3. When do you put up your tree? Just a few days before Xmas, if at all.
4. When do you take down your tree? Certainly before New Year's.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but my mom wouldn't let us drink it as kids because she was afraid of salmonella.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My AT-AT when I was about 8 years old - it was a gift that changed my life. I used to insist that all of my toys were symmetrical - no kidding! I didn't like the Transformers with a single shoulder-cannon because of this, for example. I had wanted my AT-AT so badly, I just thought it was the coolest vehicle ever imagined, and when I got it I realized that small details (such as little hatches and ports molded into the plastic) were not identical on each side. I still loved my AT-AT so I decided that it was OK if things weren't symmetrical.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Amanda's parents. They always get her lots of stuff and they never want or need anything for themselves so we have to rack our brains for ideas.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Amanda, Haven and Beacon. :)
10. Worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received? The complete 1988 set of Score baseball cards. I had asked Santa for the 1985 Topps set, something I had really wanted since my first ever baseball card was a 1985 and because it had the cards for the 1984 Olympic Team. However, my brother was given the 1985 Topps set (even though he hadn't asked for it) and I got the far less cool (and less valuable) 1988 Score. Adding insult in later years is that the 1985 Topps is considered one of the greatest sets in our generation.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail; Amanda and I just finished writing them tonight.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Charlie Brown Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Not before December but I don't like to wait until the last minute, either.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Of course, but only token gifts.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My brothers and I used to always get boxes of Gerber baby cereal in our stockings and we'd eat it for breakfast Xmas morning. I still like to eat baby cereal on occasion.
16. White or colored lights? BLUE. Nothing looks more spectacular and serene than blue lights.
17. Favorite Christmas song? A Chipmunk Christmas.
18. Traveling for Christmas or stay home? Traveling locally.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all?"
20. Angel or Star on top of tree? We used to put our stuffed Ewoks on top of the tree!
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Both. Xmas eve we got to open one present; invariably it was a new pair of PJs that we wore to bed that night, or sometimes new bathrobes to wear in the morning. The rest of our gifts we opened first thing in the morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Radio stations that forgo playing 80's music and start playing holiday tunes as early as October.
23. What I love most about Christmas? Today at the Critter Cottage a young girl donated FIFTY DOLLARS to Vicky's Pet Connection that she had saved up over the past year. She had allocated 10% of her allowance money to charity and decided on VPC as her benefactor. What I love most about this is that most holiday donations to non-profits are simply a decision of "how much extra do we happen to have that we can give away?" but this girl planned to donate long ago and stuck to her plan for an entire year. To me, this signifies that she was thinking about non-profits all year long and not just due to the influence of "holiday spirit". We were all very impressed.
It was also a bit sentimental for me. Back when I was 11 years old I donated $25 to the local Humane Society of Huron Valley where we'd adopted our second family dog. I remember that the lady who took my donation was utterly shocked. It never occurred to me that I should do anything else with that money - like today's young girl, I had been allocating 10% of my allowance for charity. Apparently inflation has had quite an effect; it took me several years to save up $25 while this girl raised $50 in just one year. :)
...that I went for another long run! Focusing on 5Ks this year has allowed me to neglect the weekend long run a bit too much. Since I'm signed up for a trail marathon in two weeks, I decided I better find out today if I'm still in shape.
Before that, I had a very busy schedule this weekend. Friday afternoon I left work early to drive two hours to my middle brother Eric's bachelor party where his buddies had rented a cottage on a lake. We fished for bluegill and smallmouth off the dock, tried out the canoe, enjoyed the sunset from a pontoon boat, and I learned to play poker.
I got home a little after midnight and six hours later I was awake and driving to the Critter Cottage with Amanda to open shop early for the expected crowds of the Ada Criterium cycling race. Unfortunately the crowds weren't nearly what we'd hoped due to a course change, but it was still fun to hang out with Vicky and watch some of the racing.
However we had to leave early to drive over to the West Michigan Whitecaps ballpark where my company co-ed softball team got to play an exhibition game on the professional playing field! My company bought 3,300 tickets plus BBQ passes at the 10,000-seat stadium and the Whitecaps rolled out the red carpet to ensure we come back next year. First at-bat I hit a 3-run HR over the outfielder's head! Rounding 3rd I saw that the cutoff man didn't have the ball yet and I was going to score easily, so I made the most of my opportunity to dirty my "uniform" with a head-first slide into home plate! Woo hoo!!! We won the game 6-1.
After our exhibition was the real baseball game, where we watched the Whitecaps lose to "Mantis Boy" quite badly. Amanda and I called the opposing starter "Mantis Boy" because during pre-game warm-ups he spent about 15 minutes repeating an exercise where he squatted, arched his hands like Mr. Burns and then walked sideways for about 30-40 feet. Being tall and lanky made it look even funnier, but apparently it worked. After the game we watched the fireworks before heading home, barely making it to bed before midnight.
Up at 7am this morning and two hours later Amanda and I were out the door for our long workouts. Amanda walked 7 miles in two hours while I ran 16.6 miles in 3 hours. It was my first double-digit run since a 10-mile trail run with Haven and Beacon six weeks ago, and my second since running 16 miles in the countryside back in April! Luckily it appears that I still have my endurance since I felt good the entire run; well, as good as "good" can feel while running for three hours but I was really enjoying the cool, misty weather. Hopefully this means I'm fit enough to survive a spontaneous marathon!
Finally after our workouts and some shopping errands Amanda and I were finally "free", so we plopped on the couch to watch Indiana Jones on DVD while I played my weekly baseball games for my fantasy simulation league. I also finally wrote a new article on Why Run about two runners of the Badwater Ultramarathon, so hopefully those of you who read that blog weren't getting too bored!
97 degrees was the air this evening when Haven and I went for a run! Due to the heat, and due to my double workout yesterday (4 mile easy run at work, then 2 miles after work at 5K pace), Haven and I took it easy today. I carried a water bottle that was used as much for Haven as it was for me! We also stopped at the river twice and a small lake twice within our 3.5 miles to give Haven a cooling dip in the water each time.
This past week I've been slacking off with the blogging (although I did manage to compose an article about rental dogs yesterday) but I wasn't slacking with the race planning. I signed up for three events recently:
August 11 - The Legend (5 mile trail run)
August 18 - Fallsburg Marathon (26.2 mile trail run)
September 15 - Bridge Run (5K road run)
The Legend is just going to be for fun; I'll run it hard but not all-out race it, and see how it compares to my previous 5 mile trail run in April, the Road Ends Trail Run.
I signed up for the Fallsburg Marathon on a whim, so I have no idea how that's going to turn out. I haven't done any double-digit long runs in quite a while so I'm counting on my base of 750 miles so far this year to carry me through in somewhere between 5 and 6 hours. The reason I'm doing this event is because the course uses the very same North Country Trail sections and nearby roads that I regularly run - the race is in my backyard, so to speak. In fact, I ran the entire paved portion of the course by coincidence when I explored the countryside near home. Plus, the race director is planning to put on a 100K ultra here next year and I want to see how well this guy delivers as an organizer.
It looks like the Bridge Run could be my last attempt at setting a lifelong PR in the 5K. In October I'm doing the Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K but I don't want to do-or-die target a PR in that race since I'll have Haven and/or Beacon with me. The week after that I'm thinking of volunteering for the Grand Rapids Marathon instead of running it, so it'll be November before I get another shot at a fast and flat road 5K... if I need it (fingers crossed).
What is more fun than running a race? Running a race with my dogs! This morning I was joined by Haven and Beacon for the 1st annual Healthy Paws Healthy Cause Fun Run, a 4-mile event for dogs and their people. I've done two 5Ks with Haven before, but I've never attempted a race while being hitched to both of my wannabe sled dogs! This should be interesting...
The event was organized by the Cascade Hospital for Animals with proceeds to benefit Mackenzie's Animal Sanctuary. There were no age groups, awards, or even official results - it's just what it says, a "fun run" to get folks out enjoying the morning with their dogs. Over 80 people signed up, not bad for the first ever event. The race director I recognized (via her dog!) as Dr. Happel, the runner that I barely out-kicked at the finish of the 2006 Bailey's Doggie Dash (if you follow the link, she's in the orange shirt in the photos on the bottom row of the page).
Going into this race I wasn't planning to run all out; rather, I wanted to maintain a tempo pace as best I could but primarily just have fun with Haven and Beacon. Since most participants were planning to walk, I lined up near the front; there were about 7 runners ahead of me. Dogs and people were still milling about - in fact, one lady was petting Haven - when the race director shouted out "Five seconds!" And we're off!
The guy at the front broke free quickly and Haven and Beacon decided to chase him - hard! I had no choice but to join their pursuit and within 100 yards of the start we had passed everyone except the leader! It turns out that only eight people were running; the rest were walkers. I pulled alongside the front guy and we sheepishly confided that it felt rather weird to be leading a race. We kept looking back for a while, assuming that some fast runners would blow by us.
We chatted for the first mile where I learned that his dog - weimaraner named Bailey (not the one from Bailey's Doggie Dash) - was five years old, just a year old than my two pups. She loves the water and behaves well on a leash; so well in fact that the guy (funny how I know his dog's name but never learned his!) had the handle of his flexi-lead in his shorts pocket the whole time. If I tried that with my dogs they'd rip my shorts right off me!
With Haven and Beacon leading the way we cruised past the first mile marker in 6:45, a very fast pace for me. The course then ascended a moderate hill and Bailey's owner exlaimed "Uh oh Bailey, daddy's not feeling too good!" and sure enough, he began to fall back as my dogs pulled me upward. Going down the hill my feet were burning - I realized that I hadn't tied my shoelaces tight enough and the soles of my feet were sliding along the bed of my shoe.
Mile two was the beginning of an undulating portion of the course, most of which was run on paved pedestrian paths. With nobody to chase, Haven and Beacon slowed their pace and were no longer pulling me up the hills. Around mile 2.5 Bailey and her owner caught up with us and we ran side-by-side for the next half mile. This time we didn't say anything as we all needed to conserve our oxygen.
Somehow I must've programmed my dogs for a 5K distance (maybe they read my blog?) because soon after we passed the third mile marker (in 21:50, not bad!) they slowed waaaay down. Bailey and her runner kept their momentum going and pulled steadily away from us as I was forced to drag Haven and Beacon forward! Those lazy dogs. :) Finally they realized I wasn't going to stop and they ran beside me the rest of the way.
We passed some pedestrians going the opposite way to relayed to me that the guy ahead of me "was very concerned that I would catch him", but I told them he had nothing to worry about. Not only were my dogs worn out, I was out of energy as well and we struggled most of the last mile. After passing Amanda with her camera, we finally reached the finish line! Sure enough Bailey had won and Haven and Beacon shared second place just one minute behind in 30:29. It was about five minutes until the next runners began showing up. Walkers continued to trickle into the finish for the next hour.
The organizers thought of everything, providing water (for both humans and canines), bagels, bananas, donuts, and dog treats for the finishers. Haven and Beacon eagerly helped themselves to some water while I shared a banana with Haven. After eating my peanut-covered donut, the dogs both got some treats and then finally I remembered to drink some water myself. Once we got home Amanda had the three of us pose for the obligatory post-race photo, all sporting our event t-shirt and bandanas. Haven and Beacon are now fast asleep at my feet. :) What a fun race!
*** Cross-posted to my Why Dogs? and Why Run? blogs. ***
Today was definitely a Fox Mulder day...
Adopt Her Already!
First the not-so-bad. Our foster dog Reese has been wanted by a couple for over a week now but they keep dragging their feet. We met them with Reese at a pet store last week and they liked her, but then wanted to see her interact with their current dog. Makes sense, but couldn't we have done that for the first meeting if that was an issue? So we take Reese to their house, she and their dog get along great, but one of the adopters is out of town and they want to discuss to make sure. OK... Finally they decide to adopt her and we arrange to meet at my office Thursday to sign the papers but she never shows up. Today we're supposed to meet, but she calls to say she's running late and won't be free until after I leave work. Now Amanda has to coordinate meeting her while I go for my run. To top it off they can't pick Reese up until Monday since one of couple is still on travel. If they'd been just a wee bit more proactive early on, Reese could've gone home with them over a week ago! Oh well. The good thing is that Reese is adopted, and we actually really like this couple. They're nice, patient with dogs, Reese and their dog get along great, they have a big fenced-in backyard, and they go camping a lot. Reese will be happy with them so this craziness is worth it.
Bad Business
Today at home Amanda gets a call from Fidelity where the guy says he has to talk to me about my retirement account due to the takeover. (Background: my company used Fidelity for their 401K but we've since been bought by another company that uses a different financial service.) This guy leaves his name and a direct line phone number. So I call him back from work and get a generic voicemail box saying "an appropriate associate will return your call"... I get suspicious and contact HR at work, who contacted Fidelity and was able to confirm that Fidelity's sales group was using a register of names acquired during the takeover to cold-call people at my company to pitch personal retirement accounts! How incredibly unethical! On top of that, it would seem to me to be bad business. Here's a prime example: I had been planning to leave the amount accrued from my former company in Fidelity's 401K rather than rolling it over, but now they have just cost themselves my account. Prepare to roll it over, Fidelity!
Play Ball! Not.
Thursday night was my softball team's fourth game of the season, except that it never happened. We all showed up, the other team showed up, the umpires showed up... and so did a little league team that claimed to have the field during our game time! I called GRAASA, our softball league, but the number was disconnected! The little league got the city parks and recreation director on the phone, who confirmed that the little league gets the field. Our game got canceled. What the heck? It turns out that GRAASA had reserved the field and the little league was supposed to play on Saturday; however, the little league umpires had a conflict that day so at the last minute the city gave them our field but never told GRAASA. What annoys me is that this same thing happened to another GRAASA game last week but GRAASA never did anything to prevent it from happening again. Isn't once enough to learn a lesson? Maybe not for these folks, as they have yet to demonstrate any thoroughness in their operation of the league. Our schedule was postponed by a week to start the season because they couldn't find enough fields. Then the first field was played on was a kids' field with un-attached bases and a storm drain in centerfield - dangerous! Turns out GRAASA never even looked at the field before reserving it. We're currently operating under league schedule revision 5 or 6 (I've lost count) because they don't proofread their schedules before sending them out. They didn't even proofread their rulebook, which explains the disconnected phone number - their phone works, but they wrote the wrong number in the rulebook! If that all wasn't enough, some of their umpires were unaware of some non-standard GRAASA-specific rules. To their credit they are 100% volunteer, but that's no excuse for not being thorough and complete. Today at work I had to write them a "nice" letter to explain my teams' lack of satisfaction.
So yeah, today was a tough day of dealing with people that can't be counted on.
Happily we still had two good reasons to celebrate the day - Haven and Beacon's birthday!
It's getting pretty hot these days here in Michigan. Tuesday morning I went for a run at 0600 with our newest foster dog Reese and it was already in the 60's! We only ran for 2.5 miles but I surprised myself (and perhaps Reese, too!) by holding a 8:15 pace without feeling too tired. We stopped at the river halfway through and I discovered that Reese does not like water!
Today I ran with my co-workers at lunch, but beforehand I tried an experiment. Results? Don't eat before running! I completed wonked out on our 5-miler and practically dragged myself back to work. 87 degress and humidity didn't help the issue.
As long as I'm linking to my running blog I might as well add a link for my Memorial Day article honoring dogs.
How about run 500 miles? I forgot to mention that back on April 25 I ran my 500th mile and on May 3 I went for my 100th run of the year. Just 500 more until 1000... "I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more..."
Today was a 9.8 mile long run - I ran to Meijer where Amanda met me and we went grocery shopping afterwards. Before and after the run I felt really good and somehow managed a 9:17 pace despite thinking that I was taking it easy - walking up a half-dozen hills, stopping to enjoy a couple scenic views along the river, etc.
Later today we took all three dogs - Haven, Beacon and foster dog Honey - to my Grandma's pasture to run around. We spent two hours hiking around and the dogs are completely worn out now! They got to have a ton of fun - they chased a rabbit, two nesting turkeys, a ruffed grouse, a deer, and a pheasant! Amanda will post the pictures as part of her DITL for today.
Yesterday I put a nifty new post on Why Run? about the physics of speed, pace and energy. I started thinking about it when Katiebell described some frustration when treadmilling recently:
"I was shocked to find that the difference between 5.4 miles per hour and 5.7 was negligible, but bump it to 6.0 (a mere ten min mile) and I could barely keep on pace...6.5 and I was struggling."
Thursday I was on the treadmill doing speedwork and it dawned on me how explain the physics of this phenomenon. If you're curious then check out my Why Run? article which even has a couple of cool graphs!
What websites do you visit every day?
Submitted by Chez Michelle.
Yahoo! - my primary source of general news, plus baseball boxscores
Google - for web-based email, maps, calendar, and their dozens of other useful features
GoodSearch - my primary search engine, which raises money for Vicky's Pet Connection
Aero News Network - the best aviation news service, anywhere
National Weather Service and Weather Underground - two top-notch weather sites
Minor League Ball - a blog by John Sickles, a brilliant guy who evaluates baseball talent
A Trail Runner's Blog - a blog by Scott Dunlap about distance running, mostly ultras
Why Run? and Why Dogs? - because I write them
Vox - of course :)
With foster dog Raven boarding here we have three big dogs who like running. This evening I took all three of them - not all at once, but rather one at a time, running three 1.4-mile loops and switching dogs in between. Amanda took some photos of us, of course.
First was Raven, who I'd never run with before so I took it slow and used her run as a warm up; after all, it was about 30 degrees and very windy!
Then it was Haven and I going on a time trial, basically running the 1.4 miles as fast as I could.
Finally Beacon got a turn, again running a time trial and hoping I had enough to give him a good time, too.
You can see the progression of my discomfort in the photos! By the end of the last run I could barely talk and just stood there bent over Beacon as he tried to lick my nose. Notice that he seems quite content... A tired dog is a happy dog!
After chowing down on some dinner for both the dogs and the humans, we figured it was a good time to recover a little energy. I lay down next to Haven and soon Beacon and Raven had joined us to make a big pile of relaxation!
