Leash Your Fitness Annual Camping Trip (part 1)

Me & Mom went on the annual Leash Your Fitness camping trip again this year. Jack blogged about it too, you can read what he has to say here.

We had so much fun!! I got to go 2 years ago, but back then the camping trip was in September and it was H-O-T! Now that its in May, the weather is much better. Still pretty chilly at night, but during the day it was beautiful!

We camped in the Laguna Mountains in the Cleveland National Forest again, at the same campground as the 1st year but a different site. This was a much better location with lots of big trees for shade during the day.

I watched as Mom set up the tent, and then took position as guard dog. No one was gettin by these watchful eyes!

Then I got distracted by a big branch. This camping stuff is grr-eat! There were branches and sticks everywhere!

This year there were lots of people participating in the camp out. 19 people and 24 dogs were on the trip, I was the biggest and Bear (a long haired chihuahua) was the smallest. We all got along pretty well, with only a few snarky comments made by one of the older and more mature dogs. She was definitely the enforcer and made sure all us doggies were paying attention!

At night, it got downright cold! Especially for a city-dog like me who is used to sleeping indoors all the time. Don't worry though, Mom brought along an XXL sweatshirt especially for me. Everyone kept makin reference to some movie called "Flashdance" though, so next year I might have to make her buy me a proper jacket.

The ground was super soft and smelled delicious. And all the pine needles made it perfect for making dirt-angels!

One of my BFFs, Ginger, was there too. She sure looked pretty in her plaid coat!

The sun's warmth was so nice. All the doggies took advantage of the sunny spots as soon as the sun came up in the morning.

Andy even took on Ginger in the tug-o-war contest. She's such a nice girl she even let him win!

Bear won the 'best dressed' contest. He had enough outfits for all of us combined!

We got to do some nice hiking down to Big Laguna Lake. Everything was still green and there were lots of wildflowers out!

Me & Beretta were the only doggies who had our backpacks on. I think our Mom's were just lazy and didn't want to have to carry everything themselves!

Once we hit the lake, there was no stopping Ginger. She swam and swam and swam!

The young pups got to burn some energy off, chasing each other thru the tall grass. Luckily, it was still too chilly for snakes to be out!

Mom was mean and wouldn't let me off my leash so I could run. I tried pulling her in, and almost succeeded, but at the last minute she caught her balance.

I wanted to go swimming soooo bad, but Mom just kept tellin me no. She is SO mean!!

I had to be careful where I stepped. Twice, I almost stepped on short little Bobby and he got a little upset with me.



stay tuned for the rest of the update...lots more pictures to come!

Mother's Day Hike - Daley Ranch

Me & Mom met up with some fellow dog walkers from the Dog Walkers of Sandy Eggo Meetup group on Sunday. The continued May Gray made for a comfortable hike at Daley Ranch in North County. Daley Ranch is about 40 minutes Northeast of Sandy Eggo. Its a big area with lots of trails for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking, but since its quite a ways away from the ocean it can get quite warm during the summer months.

Dogs aren't allowed off leash cuz there are too many things for us to get into trouble with. When Mom used to mountain bike here, she'd see Coyotes all the time...there are also lots of bunnies, squirrels & deer we could chase. Oh, and lets not forget Rattlesnakes!

Not only are there lots of critters to get us in trouble, there is also lots of poison oak. Mom's always super careful about letting me off leash around that stuff, cuz if I run through a patch of it and then go rub against her, she'll get all itchy and scratchy!

Today was a perfect day for a hike though. Cloudy & cool. It even drizzled on us for a bit!

There are a lot of different trails at Daley Ranch.

We chose to hike Boulder Loop, a nice wide trail which makes it easy to avoid any snakes that might be hanging out in the bushes. Mom also made me stay on the trail so the ticks wouldn't get me. Those things are gross!!

Along the trail, there were lots of branches and logs for me to play with. They were all rotten from termites, and were easy to crumble in my massive jaws!

Mom put her Garmin GPS on my collar so she could see how far we hiked...but she wasn't using her brain and forgot to charge it, so it died about 10 minutes into our hike.

All us doggies got along really great! Mark had Buster, the pomeranian. Laura came with Siena, a pretty shephard mix, and Tori was there with Poppy, a standard Schnauzer who you all met last month when I went hiking at Lake Hodges.

Just like at mom's Easter weekend Iron Mountain hike, there were lots of wildflowers out.

This orange stuff is called Dodder, its a parasitic plant that latches on to other plants. Its pretty common to see it around Southern California and even though its a parasite Mom thinks the bright orange color is pretty.

If you are ever in Escondido...check out Daley Ranch. It was a super fun hike and Mom plans on going back to check out more of the trails in the near future...before it gets to hot!

Walk for the Animals

The typical May Gray day mean it was nice and cool for the San Diego Humane Society's Walk for the Animals. The turnout was grrreat, and me & Mom ended up raising almost $500! A special thanks goes out to everyone who donated to this grrreat cause!

There were lots of adorable puppies available for adoption. This lil American Bulldog mix was especially cute. She had several brothers and sisters who also needed homes...hopefully they went home with somebody at the end of the day.

There was a big turnout for the event, and we later heard that they raised a LOT of green paper moneis for the animals.

I got to meet all kinds of really sweet dogs and people! This lil up was adorable, and not scared of me one bit!

This pretty girl was a recent amputee. Her Mom said she had some sort of club foot that was causing her all kinds of discomfort, so they decided to amputate. She didn't seem to notice a bit!

I thought she was super pretty and pulled out all my best moves tryin to impress her.

The walk itself was less than a mile. It was probably good it was so short, cuz there were lots of lil pups walking and I don't know if they coulda made it much further.

Lots of humans wanted me to take their picture with them. I didn't mind at all...especially the little people!

Arden Moore, of Four Legged Life, came out to walk with her pooches as well. She's one of Mom's favoritest people. A huge heart and an even bigger sense of humor, Mom is always laughing when Arden is around.

Everyone always wants me to pose with their littlest pooches. I don't mind too much, but sometimes its the little ones that are the meanest! This lil dachsund kept tryin to bite me, even though I was being quiet and gentle.

Another one of my favoritest peoples was at the walk too. It was Ginger's Mom!

It was fun to see all the different types of doggies. Everyone was so well behaved...with only a few snarky incidents that Mom noticed. Most were not even the doggies fault...its those darn bipeds who aren't paying attention to their doggie's body language!

Eden got some good lovin...belly rubs are the best!

Presley is a handsome boy!

Since Mom & Arden were the top fundraiser's for the Leash Your Fitness team, they just had to get a picture together!

I definitely give this event a 'paws up' and plan on doing it again next year!

Just a walk in the park

Balboa park is in full bloom at the moment.

All of the flowers are so happy to have had all the water over the winter, and now the sun's warmth!

It was a beautiful night for walking...the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky.

The daisies were happy to see us!

Mom, of course had to make all of us sit for a picture. Ugh. She is so embarassing!

Falkor is fitting right in. She still seems a little depressed, but her Mom tries to come visit her every day and I think she's understanding that she's gonna be here for a while and that its not so bad living with me, Fergie & Phoebe. I even got her to play a little the other day!