Camping and a paddle in the river

21/12/08

My partner got up when Amika did, some time after a cloudy dawn. They went for a walk down to the Blackwood River and he let her go in off lead to splash around. She slipped off a log and had a brief swim too. They got back while I was at the long-drop (phew) and Amika was distressed that I wasn’t where they’d left me. But she was quiet and only whined and wiggled when I returned, able to keep her lead loose most of the time as she waited for me to close the distance. Good girl!

We then went for a walk on the trail they’d taken for her swim. If she hadn’t been on lead, she would have been straight back in, but we went on past for probably a km. My partner took the lead so I had some opportunities to look at stuff (rather than just where my feet and the dog were), and he did the stop when she pulls until she looks back thing. She was a sniffing crashing anxious but happy dog. We climbed another log- this one a huge tree that spanned a dip. Once she knew we were going along it, she was across with no problems. Again, agility dog wannabe.

After we doubled back to camp, I attached her leash to a post about 2m from us and the car so we could pack without getting tangled. She was showing signs of VSA so I tossed her the much ignored stuffed kong. Finally, she took an interest! She didn’t get really stuck into it, but actually laid down with it a few times, for moments at a time to lick at it.

We hit the road at 7.30am before the other campers had crawled from their beds. We went down to Boranup, saw a kangaroo and a large rabbit in quick succession, both of which were enthusiastically barked at. It was a “let me at ‘em” kind of bark that she wouldn’t quit on. She whined and carried on when we stopped. We left her in the car while we went and looked at some very cool (and chilly) forest. She barked her protest and we didn’t listen. On our return she was quiet, and my partner ran her around on lead for a bit before we headed home.

She slept like a log most of the way, and got heartily stuck into her kong as soon as I had her in the back gate.