Riding on the River

Buster is better on the lead with the horse
than he is with me walking on the ground.

Buster is a little more than 5 months old now.  He has done exceptionally well off lead and we feel comfortable riding along the river with him.  There are a few places we have to cross traffic and I have a 15' line I attach to his collar.  Buster is not the most attentive when his nose picks up one thing and his ears hear me calling his name.  While we continue to work on this, I think this might just be a personality trait he may never out grow.

The Kern doesn't have a lot of water running this time of year.  We did find one place he could take a swim and cool off.  The temperature was in the mid-70's and he was getting hot.  We took the horses in first, then I hear this big "BLOP" behind me.  Buster must have jumped in!  When I looked back, he was completely under water.  His head came bobbing back to the surface and he swam right past us.  Then he swam to the horse.  I really didn't want him pawing at the horse in the water, so we turned around and headed for shore.  Buster was close behind with what looked like a big smile on his face.

Buster was not sure who to keep an eye on!

We rode out to Ethel's and had the usual.  Buster got a plain bun with his patty.  On the way back we were able to cross at a different place and got a picture or two with the cheap pocket camera.  Buster was having a good time splashing around.

We ran into a few other riders with dogs on the trail.  Buster handled every thing fairly well.  He really just wants to play.  It's nice because all the other dogs are quite used to this and they are very good at teaching Buster the correct social protocol.

Buster sleeps incredibly well after these outings.  Not only did he sleep well Sunday night, but he took some time Monday catching up on some zzz's.  The boy knows how to have fun!