Peaceful

On Tuesday my friend Verlynne and I went for a long walk up Hobble Creek canyon. We actually try to do it at least once a week, sometimes twice. This picture was taken on the way back, it was just so peaceful.

This trip was special. I took BOTH dogs (thats about 155 lbs of dog muscle) and Casey in a stroller. I usually take Abby, our smaller dog, and Casey but I have been feeling bad about Tegun always being left behind because he is so big, strong, and I have to say he is a little bit of a FREAK when it comes to going for walks. It's our own fault. We don't take him enough. He can burn out Chad's arm pretty quick when he is walking him from all the pulling.

Verlynne also had both of her dogs, Molly and Sadie, a small dog and a medium sized dog.

Overall the walk went well. The initial task of getting the dogs out of the back of the jeep, getting Casey in her stroller and introducing the dogs to eachother was quite the task, but after about 5 minutes of walking we had a good pace going and everybody was in walk mode. I was even able to tie Tegun's AND Abby's leash to the stroller and I only held them tight if someone was approaching on the trail. No pulling, no being mean to Verlynne's dogs. I was pleasently surprised.

We walked for about 2 hours up and back. Verlynne always lets her dogs off lead to run on the trail. I let Abby, she usually stays within about 5 feet of me because she is such a chicken. I got brave and let Tegun off his leash. He actually played with Molly, Verlynne's smaller dog! I was amazed and like a proud mom! He hasn't had many doggy friends so I suspected he would try to eat her. I even brought his muzzle just in case (that was tried during the inital meeting but he rubbed the skin off the end of his nose trying to get it off before we got out of the driveway). Having Tegun there playing with the other dogs even brought Abby out of her shell a little. I think she liked having Tegun there, she is more sure of herself when he is around.

I really enjoy my walks with Verlynne, we talk about school, work, kids and anything else that may come up. Eventhough we both have so much to do during the day it is a good way to reset and it gives me a energetic boost to get me through the rest of the week! I love it!