Out & About: Another beautiful morning with so much to see!

The dogs and I get up early... between 4 and 5am.

I started doing this last fall so that I could get Viva out and about since we don't have a secured fenced yard. I also wanted her to have some environmental enrichment before we are gone for an 8 hour work day.

I'm a morning person by nature but, getting up before dawn was early for me. But, getting up that early has huge benefits. It's something I wouldn't have had experienced without Viva. Below is a little sliver of what the benefits are to getting up and out so early. I will forever thank Viva for all that we experience thanks to our early morning adventures.

Good morning!!

If you are 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late you would have missed this.

We spend most of our early morning at Seward Park. D'light also has Viva to thank because he also comes along. I take the dogs separately for about 45 minutes to an hour each. Neither dog is high energy and we spend a lot of time just walking around taking in the environment. It's worked out great for all three of us!

The first dog out usually sees the most so I take turns as to who goes first. It's Viva's turn and there was a lot to see and with just a few people sightings it was very quiet.

The sunrise created some amazing sights for me while Viva rooted around.

"Smells great!"

I love this picture!

There were a lot of birds out and Viva has really done well with learning to watch them rather than chase them. All that impulse control training over the last year has paid off!

"Time to see what else is going on!"

So much to investigate and so beautiful!

Come fall the light and clouds produce a wide range of colors. The colors can and do change in the matter of minutes.

"Birds!"

Good girl Viva!

After a food reward for just watching the ducks she goes back to watching.

"Where are you going?! Because of you I get fabulous treats so come back"

She found lots of interesting smells on this log

Sweet pretty Viva

We move on and I see this crow just hanging out on the large rock.

Both Viva and D'light have mastered to cue of "sneak". This cue means to stand quietly and wait while I take some pictures. I give the cue, I take pictures and then when I'm done the dog gets a food reinforcer. It's a win win for everyone.

I love taking pictures of crows. However their dark color proves a challenge for a good picture.

Today was a good crow photo day

"Why are you still there staring at me?"

We move on and as Viva sniffs around I take more pictures

We hear a bunch of loud squawking.

The crows mad at something...

With the wet grass and the bright sun, I started snapping shots.

I still hear the squawking and wow here comes the clouds and fog

Now the fog and clouds are rolling in and the crows are mad!

Four crows after one Cooper's Hawk. Over the last week we've seen and heard an increase in the amount of Cooper's Hawk at Seward Park. This morning I counted seven sightings different Cooper's Hawk.