Out in the Wild

There's no guarantee that once off the leash a dog is going to stick around...for most breeds.  Buster seems to have a keen sense of both Ranae and I and, at least at four months of age, I am fairly confident he won't run off by himself.  Still, we have a lot invested in the little guy and he is a dog.

I've been wanting to get out my mountain bike after several years of letting it collect dust.  We have a very nice area to ride and it is being encroached upon.  I wanted to get in a few more rides before it got swallowed up.

It was a bit cold and gray clouds posed a mild threat of rain as we headed off.  The area we were going was at the higher end of town and I thought things would clear up.  Just the opposite was true.  Fog had socked in the foothills and visibility was about a quarter of a mile. It had been so long since I had been out here, and so much had changed, I was having a tough time finding a place to park.

Finally we found a spot.  I pulled my bike out and let Buster run around the truck for a bit.  I offered him some water before climbing in the pedals.  I started the odometer on the bike.

We were off.  My plan was to jog Buster for a mile or so looping back to the truck.  Then I would put him back in his crate and head off to explore some of my old haunts.  Buster was right by my side at first.  He was jogging along at a nice easy pace.  It felt good to be out there again getting some exercise.

The fog slowly burned off as Buster went from one side of the bike to another. I swear sometimes he has this look on his face that says, "What the hell is wrong with you?  Do you know how many interesting smells we just passed up?"  Occasionally he would try to bite at my pant leg to try and slow me down.  He is a herding dog after all.

We did our mile plus loop.  Once back at the truck he got some water and wandered around before in the crate he went.

My ride went on for another 45 minutes or so and when I got back we did some hiking near the truck to get some photos.  Buster has a healthy curiosity.  Thankfully he has a good recall.

We even worked on some retrievals.  I smeared one of the training treats on a stick and threw it about twenty feet.  It was real easy for him to find.  He doesn't always bring it all the way back to me.  I'm going to have to work with him on that.  After a couple of times though, he was off to catch up on some of those incredible smells he missed while running beside the bike.

We thought he might be a little more tired after exerting himself, but I think he has a high gear for sleeping too.  By the end of the night, Buster was the least tired of us all.