Adventure Pack Racer found a large branch floating in the creek today, and she enjoyed trying to carry it around as she splashed about through the water. Sputnik and Griff surprisingly stayed out of the water today, and just watched with me as their packmate did her thing. Variety Pack Riley and Mamacita were joined by little Pomeranian pup Gidget, today! Gidget is full of energy and Riley generally isn't great at meeting new dogs - especially when they encroach on her personal space - so I kept them at opposite sides from each other until they had walked together for a while. Mamacita, on the other hand, was unfazed by Gidget jumping in her face and licking at her mouth, and took all the

Adventure Pack Sputnik and Dylan roamed the Red Rocks Trails off leash today. The boys stuck close by throughout the hike. They both went back on leash as we approached the blind corner where Dylan had his recent confrontation with the umbrella-wielding woman. No umbrellas today, but there was a group of several hikers who were hanging out at the bridge there - a little Dachshund among them. We passed by with nods, waves, and pleasantries as Sputnik and Dylan kept on track and headed up the switchback without incident. When we returned to the packmobile and loaded in, Dylan took his habit of claiming the driver's seat a step further. This time, he lay down on the floor of the driver's

Adventure Pack The Red Rocks side of the trails at Settlers Park were fully opened again today, so the pack hiked our usual, longer route there. We still had some time after we made our way back down the mountain, so we walked the Boulder Creek Path afterward. In both areas, I was glad not to see as much trash scattered around as I had noticed last week. Racer, Griff, and Sputnik had a good time on the trail and on the Boulder Creek Path, with a couple stops in the water along the way. Variety Pack Avo, Rey, and Mamacita walked around Wonderland Lake as a cool breeze accompanied the grey clouds overhead. Mamacita seemed to be feeling a little more spry than she has been lately, and had n

Adventure Pack Sputnik and Riley headed to the Boulder Creek Path today. For the beginning of our walk, Riley followed at Sputnik's side, a step behind him. Sputnik stopped to sniff a lot of spots along the way, and Riley was quick to follow up and check out Sputnik's finds for herself. When we stopped at the Creek for the dogs to take a dip, a little girl in the water noticed the bandana around Riley's neck and commented, "Haha! Your dog has a face mask!" The times they are a-changin'. Variety Pack Rey and Poppy couldn't contain their excitement about seeing each other, and wrestled around in the back of the packmobile as we headed to the Bear Creek Path for the afternoon. Zoey was far

Variety Pack Dylan, Sputnik, and Roger Roger joined Zoey and Lou for our pack walk at Wonderland Lake this afternoon. Dylan was a little wary of Lou at first and grumbled his concerns, but settled down after hopping out of the car for a quick sniff. The skies were gray and threatened to open up on us, with lightning strikes visible off to the south; but the rain held off during our trip around the pond. We passed one barking dog in a yard that borders the trail, and the pack passed by in a calm manner after a retort of a single bark from Dylan.

Adventure Pack Racer and Sputnik hopped right into the creek when we found a good entry point along the Boulder Creek Path this morning. Griff opted to stay dry at that stop, but was quick to join his packmates in the water a little while later. The littering situation seemed to have improved a little bit over yesterday, but there were still some random articles of clothing and food packaging strewn about here and there. Variety Pack Avo and Mamacita each took a turn wiggling in the shaded grass along the Bear Creek Path this afternoon. At one point, Riley lay in front of Avo and lay her paw over Avo's foreleg. From there, they commenced playing a game my dad likes to call 'top dog', whe

Adventure Pack Dylan and Sputnik waded through the stream on our way up the Red Rocks Trails from Settlers Park, in a pretty leisurely manner. Dylan lay down in the water a few times, to get a full soak. The pair of them kept discovering trash left on the mountain trails today - first a sandwich bag of water-logged, bloated butterfly crackers. Later, Dylan found a spot under a tree, where someone had left their socks. It appeared they had also left behind the results of having relieved themselves, and Dylan was unfortunately drawn to that particular mess before I shooed him away. There were a few other spots along the way where I noticed aluminum cans and other bits of trash. All the l

Adventure Pack Griff and Racer had a great time chasing each other through, across, and over the stream on the way up the trail at Settlers Park. Sputnik hopped into the stream and hung out, watching his packmates go wild. Variety Pack Mamacita, Rey, and Avo headed to Wonderland Lake this afternoon. Rey joined Avo and Mamacita in rolling around in the grass today - kind of. She flopped onto her side and stretched out a bit. Avo and Mamacita rolled onto their backs for some all-out wiggling. Avo and Rey stopped at nearly every shaded spot we passed through, while Mamacita was eager to keep going for most of the walk. It was only near the end of the walk when Mamacita became more incline

Adventure Pack Sputnik got some one-on-one attention for today's outing. I took the opportunity to focus on his manners regarding passing dogs. We walked along the Boulder Creek Path, where there were plenty of dogs to provide some good practice. Utilizing some beef jerky bits, I had Sputnik keep his attention on me as the dogs went by - some at a fairly close distance. Sputnik did exceptionally well, even when one black dog who looked like a German Shepherd was staring at him intently. In addition to the training exercises sprinkled throughout our walk, Sputnik also enjoyed a dip in the creek. Variety Pack Rey, Poppy, and Zoey were all very happy to see each other in the packmobile. T

Adventure Pack Dylan lay down several times in the first stream we crossed on our way up the mountain at Settlers Park, determined to get as thoroughly soaked as possible. Poppy kept splashing around and chomping at the water in much the same way as Racer likes to do. Roger Roger waded around, and Sputnik took a quick dip then hung out on the bank and sniffed at a big bush. Thankfully, Dylan and Roger Roger found nothing to bark about on the trails today. We took a shorter route up the mountain due to some construction on the trail, and then spent the latter half of our outing along the cooler, shadier Boulder Creek Path. Variety Pack Poppy and Zoey had a good time walking around Wonderla

Adventure Pack Everyone hopped into Boulder Creek a couple times along the walk today. It had warmed up quickly after a couple days' relief from the heat. Racer was always last to leave the water, happy to chomp away at amorphous targets for as long as she was allowed. Griff and Poppy were satisfied with quick dips in and out. Sputnik waded about for a bit with no particular intention. Variety Pack Overcast skies and a light breeze helped to attenuate the heat of the afternoon sun as the pack trekked around Wonderland Lake. Today it was Avo who was the only one to roll in the grass. Mamacita lay in the shade with her once, near the end of our walk, but did not roll onto her back for an

Adventure Pack Dylan stayed on leash until we passed the spot where he barked at that woman last week, to avoid a repeat. After that, he and Sputnik enjoyed roaming the mountainside together, while Poppy trekked along with me. At one point along the ridge that overlooks the city, just below the red rock formation, everyone gathered together in a huddle when I squatted down to dog level, taking in the scenery and offering pets to the pack. It was a very nice hike. Variety Pack Rey was still in the habit of stopping in place when we passed under the shade of trees, even though it wasn't quite so hot or sunny today. She, Poppy, and Zoey had enjoyed a play-wrestling session at the house, bef

Adventure Pack Racer wanted to dive off the side of the bridge as we crossed over the stream on our way up the Red Rocks Trails. Griff had run ahead and was already wading through it. Sputnik was more patient, and walked at my side until we crossed the bridge and made our way down to the bank. They had all already taken a dip in Boulder Creek at the outset of our hike. The cooler weather made for pleasant hiking today. Variety Pack Mamacita, Rey, Avo, and Poppy enjoyed a relatively cool afternoon walk around Wonderland Lake. Storm clouds passed just to the south of us, with occasional rolls of thunder. Overhead, the cloud were more broken up, and mixed with grey and white. We had thre

Adventure Pack Riley, Poppy, and Sputnik all hopped into Boulder Creek with zeal, at the beginning of our walk this morning. They took another dip down by Central Park in front of the library later on. Sputnik wanted to make frequent stops to leave scent marks today. Poppy was often quick to rush over and sniff at whatever spot Sputnik sniffed out for marking. Riley then followed up and left her own mark a lot of the time. Aside from Sputnik's frequent sudden stops, it was a pretty smooth walk along the Boulder Creek Path - the whole pack kept place nicely at my sides as we made our way. Variety Pack Lou, Poppy, and Rey's shade breaks got longer and longer each time we stopped during ou

Adventure Pack Dylan, Roger Roger, Poppy, and Sputnik had just finished enjoying wading around in a stream along the Red Rocks Trails when Dylan noticed a hiker coming up a side trail with a sunshade umbrella. This unnerved him enough to start woofing. Not to be caught lying down on the job, Roger Roger ran over beside Dylan and started to bark as well, but he turned and came as soon as I called him back. Unfortunately, Dylan did not heed my calls, and instead started moving toward the lady with the umbrella, continuing to bark. Sputnik and Poppy had no desire to bark, but they desperately wanted to go up and make friends with the woman when I started walking them that way to get Dylan; h

Adventure Pack After Griff and Sputnik had finished splashing through the creek we crossed on our way up the mountain, Racer continued to wade around for a couple minutes, chomping at the water. Sputnik enjoyed spending a lot of the hike off leash again. Griff was more interested in playing chase than Dylan had been yesterday, so he and Sputnik had some fun racing up and down the trail together. Variety Pack Avo and Mamacita were on the same page when it came to lounging in the shade today. It was pretty hot, so I indulged them for a little while; but eventually I prodded them into getting up and resuming our walk. Griff and Riley were not feeling so lazy. They were happy to keep going

Adventure Pack Dylan had just gone for a swim before his pack hike today, and when we first stopped at Boulder Creek, he opted not to join Sputnik in the water. The Red Rocks Trails were virtually empty today, so Sputnik enjoyed most of the hike off leash with Dylan. Sputnik tried to get Dylan to chase him by running up to Dylan and then growling just as he turned and ran away, but Dylan was not in the mood to run. However, he did hop in the streams we crossed while he was off leash on the mountain trails. Variety Pack Zoey, Rey and Poppy walked along the Boulder Creek Path this afternoon, and they were all happy to hop into the Creek to cool off and horse around. Zoey kept dunking her e

Adventure Pack Racer, Sputnik, and Griff again took advantage of the streams we crossed during our hike at Settler's Park this morning, while Kona again preferred to stay dry. At least she accepted a little water from the CamelBak today. We took the same route as the pack did yesterday, but apparently at a quicker pace. We filled out the rest of our time by walking along the Boulder Creek Path for a bit. Variety Pack Mamacita found a good opportunity to wiggle in the grass during this afternoon's walk around Wonderland Lake. Avo lay down in the shade a couple times along the way, but apparently she wasn't in the mood for wiggling. There weren't many others out around Wonderland Lake tod

Adventure Pack Kona, Griff, Sputnik, and Riley all headed to the Red Rocks Trails at Settler's Park this morning. Riley rode in the passenger seat so she and Kona would have the hike before being in the back of the car together, since they can both be a bit testy when greeting new dogs. They sniffed politely over the back of the passenger seat, and gradually got acquainted through short sniffs here and there during the pack hike, and they were fine in the back together afterward. Sputnik, Griff, and Riley all hopped into the streams we passed, every time we passed them. Kona hung back, unsure about getting into the water like her packmates. Variety Pack Lou and Rey were particularly pump

Adventure Pack Dylan had no patience for me and his packmates when he knew a stream was waiting for him on the trail up ahead. Roger Roger politely hung back with us even though he was also off leash. Once we caught up to Dylan, everybody enjoyed joining him in the water. A similar pattern played out a couple more times, whenever the trail brought us across the Silver Lake Ditch; however, Roger Roger did not wait for the rest of us, those times. The pack enjoyed a nice vista and some spots of shade as we weaved our way all through the Red Rocks Trails. Variety Pack Ruffers and Lou hit it off today and seemed like they wanted to break out into play several times this afternoon, during our