Dobby is a free elf!

I'm free!

We are not able to let Zoe off leash at the beach very often, due to that one time she saw a bunny. 

So when she finally gets off the leash she's pretty happy!

A Beach Trip!

Peter Iredale Ship Wreck! Check out those wind blown ears!

A while ago, we made it out to the Oregon coast for two fun days of fetch at the beach!

I've been so busy that I haven't been able to post about it until now!

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach

Zoe managed to have some off leash fun at the beach! 

We generally keep her on the leash for the most part because she saw bunnies one time and never forgot that there might be prey animals to hunt!

We trust Zoe a lot more when she's gotten a little tired. Here they are having a burst of zoomies!

Phoenix is very serious about her ball time! I was so proud of her! She didn't care about any distractions or other dogs at the beach. All she wanted to do was play fetch! She's come a long way!

Oswald West

We visited three different beaches and they had fun on each one!

Overall we had an amazing time! We absolutely love the coast!

Sneak Attack!

Someone needs to tell Phoenix that she's not that sneaky!

JUMP! JUMP!

Phoenix really does enjoy flying over the fences!

Racing Through The Leaves!

We are finally getting some Fall weather! I know I've been sort of wishy washy about Fall. We'd get a cooler day and then it would go right back to being sunny and weird. The leaves are actually starting to turn and fall!

Phoenix had been sore in her hip after running around at Thousand Acres two weeks ago. So we did take some time off from going to that park for free running. Any number of things could of caused the soreness, she probably did something dumb out there. I decided to rest her at home and watch her. She was actually fine the next day after being sore but we took some time off anyways. This was the first time we've been there since she was sore and she was very happy to be there!

Zoe was pretty excited about being able to run around, too! She liked playing in the leaves. We did a shorter loop than usual. I'm hoping to slowly go back to doing the 4-5 miles we had been doing.

Happy Fit Dog Friday everyone!

Phoenix's Ear Fiasco!

Shake it off!

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and everything sort of goes wrong? Tuesday was that day for me! I didn't sleep very well the night before and I was just very tired. So we get out to the park and the dogs are running around and very happy to be there and I'm sort of more awake than I was but I didn't have nearly enough caffeine on board.

So we get to the part of the trail with all the blackberries and the bunnies use them as their home. They are a great defense against predators because they are so pokey. Bunnies are so smart! The dogs immediately crawled through one of the bunny holes and went into the bushes. I called them out and it took them a while to figure out how to get back out and when they got out, Phoenix kept shaking off like she was wet.

I don't always chase bunnies, but when I do I hurt myself!

When I called her to me, her head and ears were covered in blood. In this photo, it's actually hard to tell but her right ear (left in the photo) is oozing blood. She cut the edge of her ear in the bushes. It was very freaky for me because I couldn't figure out where the blood was coming from at first! It's amazing how much one tiny boo boo can bleed! Darn dog ears!

After she was done shaking her head (and flinging blood drops everywhere) she seemed okay and it didn't seem to be bothering her too much. So I decided to finish our walk and just let her run.

It did throw her gait off a little bit, though! She's running sideways! Silly girl! 

When we got home I cleaned it out and she's doing okay. It took a long time to stop bleeding though! Phoenix has been having a lot of mis-adventures lately! I'm thinking I should really get her some pet insurance!

Has your dog done something silly like this before?  

There were some other very annoying things that happened to me personally on Tuesday, too! It was just not a good day for anyone! I'm so glad it's over!

Parkour Dogs

Phoenix in a tree at Thousand Acres.

This week I got a lot of questions and some concerns regarding my Monday Mischief post: To Catch a Squirrel... if you didn't see it just click the link. I decided to make a post about it so I can clear the air. There was NO squirrel in the tree where I was photographing the dogs. It was a joke.

Phoenix posing on the fence at Thousand Acres.

What is Parkour? (AKA: Free Running) From Wikipedia: Pakour is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.

It's basically like agility but we use whatever obstacles we find! The dogs are trained to balance on fence posts, climb trees, jump over things. Everything I do with my dogs is completely controlled and trained.

Zoe on the giant rock at the south end Cannon Beach.

Zoe on the giant rock at the south end Cannon Beach.

If you look up "parkour dogs" on youtube you will find some pretty extreme videos. We don't do any of that extreme stuff at all. I don't allow them to jump down from places that are too high, especially if the landing will be on cement and we are very careful about the things we do. I would never allow them to do this sort of thing when they were overstimulated and chasing a critter.

Zoe posing on a pillar!

Phoenix learning parkour.

So the tree they were in was a tree that had been split and half of it was on the ground, they were able to hop up on a low branch and climb up into the tree. As you can see, Zoe is making her descent. She's focused on the branch of the tree and is very careful where she's placing her paws. We've done a ton of rear end awareness training. She knows exactly where her front and rear paws are. 

In 4 years of doing this we have never had an injury. 

Parkour can be great exercise and there's a ton of variety with it. It's jumping, it's running, it's balancing. My dogs really enjoy it. However, with any sort of sport like this, your dog needs to be physically fit. I would not recommend doing this if your dog is overweight. If you're interested in parkour and never done any sort of obstacle training, I would recommend finding an agility class and doing that first with a qualified instructor. I used to take agility classes with my family dogs and it was so much fun. I learned a lot. I would also recommend doing rear end awareness exercises and starting on really low and wide objects that are easy for your dog to negotiate while they are learning.

Happy Fit Dog Friday everyone! 

Do you do any sort of obstacle training with your dog? Tell me about it in the comments!

Happy Face! B&W Sunday

I love it when I can get photos of Zoe where she doesn't look annoyed with me! 

Here she is doing her favorite thing! Running! 

Happy Sunday everyone!

Boundary Trail!

Phoenix

Happy Fit Dog Friday everyone! This week you might have read about how I took a little spill. Well as soon as I was able to I got them right back out to the park and we spent a lot of time on the Boundary Trail. The Boundary Trail is just what it sounds like. It's the outer trail at the park. It's pretty over grown in a lot of the spots which makes for interesting photos!

Zoe

This is also pretty much the only area of the park where the grass is still green. The rest of the park has been fried by the ridiculously hot summer we are dealing with!

Phoenix & Zoe

The girls got a lot of good running in and they had a lot of fun, too! I'm hoping the weather will cool off soon so we can play in the water again. With it being so hot I'm still concerned about algae blooms so we've been avoiding the river.

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

What have you been up to lately?

Wild Things!

...and by wild, I mean look at those ears! Not to mention the crazy expression! :D

It's a Jungle out there!

Phoenix

I'm still trying to get back to normal, so this week we went walking with my friend and her dog Ava a couple of times. It's nice to get out to the park with a friend! The weather has really gotten hot again, too! We went early in the morning and by 9:30 we were already hot!

Zoomies! Sisters on Saturday

I love it when the girls have zoomies! They are so funny!

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Bitey Face!! Sisters on Saturday

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having an awesome weekend! The girls had a really fun day yesterday! It was actually warm for a change! The girls are wearing their new cooling coats from Made By De and we will have a review and giveaway on these coming up soon. Be sure to keep an eye out for it! See you tomorrow on the black and white Sunday hop!

Working the Field on B&W Sunday

I think this photo really captures what Oregon looks like right now. It's been dark and overcast for so many days. Hopefully the sun will make it out soon! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Crazy for Bunnies on Fit Dog Friday

This week we only managed to get to Thousand Acres so I don't have any fun hiking places to tell you about. The girls and I did manage to finish our 30 miles in 30 days challenge, though. We did it in 7 days and I still have the rest of this month to rack up more miles for it.

Sisters on Saturday

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Fit Dogs Under The Rainbow!

This week we've been mostly just walking out at Thousand Acres. Yesterday morning it was raining off and on but the sun came out and there was a brilliant rainbow off in the distance. It was fading fast and I was only able to capture a bit of it.

Bitey Face! Wordless Wednesday

Race Ya!! B&W Sunday

With these girls, everything is a race! They are so funny! If you missed it, check out our Huckleberry Wilderness Hike that we did yesterday!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Exploring New Trails!

Do you ever get set into the same walking routine? I do. Out at our favorite park, Thousand Acres, there are a lot of different paths you can choose. I tend to choose the boundary trails and forest paths because you don't generally find huge groups of dogs on them. I get set in my routine and just go the way I usually go.