I'm growing a bit tired of the rain and Viva says "Who cares about it!"
Despite often being very wet and muddy we still find neat things to look at. So will Viva is scanning for critters I look for fungi!
Each outing, I find something interesting
Viva says "Enough of pictures lets go!"
At Seward Park there is a large outdoor amphitheater which is empty this time of year.
Viva has lots of fun hunting around the benches
She chases some scent through the mud
The good news is that since Viva is so active outdoors, I never get cold and I get in lots of steps on my fitbit!
Planning out her next move and I get ready to run behind her!
Viva is extremely athletic and onto the rock she goes!
Pretty wet dirty girl!
We avoid the trails at Seward Park since the often have dogs that are off leash on them. However there is a very short trail that Viva and I visit and so far it's gone well in terms of no off leash dogs.
Here's the huntress after a critter trail. I saw the squirrel of in the distance run up the tree when we arrived on the trail.
"Where are you?"
I find more fungi!
We move through the tall grass and even with my boots being waterproof I often have wet and very muddy feet!
Getting a better view
Go!
And she quickly comes back up...
and back down!
Hunting around and it's time to go as we are both very wet and very muddy
I made sure that I had enough time before Catty's Nose Work lesson so that each dog could have at least 30 minutes of individual adventure time. Having Viva in our care has really pushed me to stretch my thinking. She has provided lots of learning experiences for me and nudged me to be creative in what I/we do with our dogs. Prior to Viva arriving we would often do things with two dogs at a time and depending on the dog we, would do things with all three.
With Viva, you do things solo unless you have two people - one for each dog. And even that isn't optimal. So, we do the majority of our outdoor adventures with just one dog at a time. Yes it takes more time and this has proven to be interesting. We've noticed a shift in Catty and D'light's behavior outside since doing this. We tailor our "adventure" to the dog with us and this gives the dog their idea of fun and we move at their pace - so they have lots of choice. This has really impacted D'light in terms of confidence and excitement with life! And a bonus for the human is that we can experience more of the environment around us which has been really fun. So while Viva is challenging she has given me the gift of expanded ideas that I wouldn't have experienced had we not fostered her.
I decided on the Locks because I knew there were often squirrels on the ground in one area (a positive experience for him) and I wanted to see how would do with environment at the locks. Meaning the walkways, noise and activity. We continue to do a lot of environmental work with D'light and he's really made wonderful progress over the year.
We arrive at the gate and the rain has really slowed down which was nice!
D'light is relaxed ready to explore. He's continued to increase his independence by taking the lead as we walk. This is great confidence building for him and nice that he's getting more and more comfortable in new environments.
We get a double adventure as we can explore the locks and the botanical garden!
Passing by the directions to the fish ladder
We will see how D'light progresses on this adventure. What he communicates by his body language will dictate if we visit the fish ladder.
