One Year Later:

Winter Frisbee at Simsbury Farms

Will and Emma wait for the throw

The cooperative spirit: Emma helps Will bring the frisbee back

Then there's the tug-of-war with the disk

Who will give in first?

A snow-covered Will waits for the throw

More Frisbee in Town Forest Park

Emma, the frisbee dog

Back in Connecticut, one of my favorite places to take the puppies is to the ball park at Town Forest Park. As I've mentioned before, this is about a five minute drive from our house, or a twenty minute walk. Most times when I go there, I'm pressed for time so I drive. It's simply the best place to let the puppies run and burn a lot of energy in a short period of time. It's like getting more bang for your buck. I always take a frisbee or two to keep them running as much as possible. The same routine here: Will is the catcher and then he teases Emma with it to come and get it from him. He just loves this game.

Well, Emma is a little more fickle lately with all the leaves on the ground. This morning was a particularly windy morning, and the oak leaves were blowing up a storm all over the field. She was in her glory running down as many of the leaves as she could. I let her have a little fun with them, but then I had her lie down and told her to leave them, which she does pretty well. She can be a little obsessive compulsive with this behavior and we really want to know that we can control it when we have to.

Here's a few photos from the other day, which wasn't so windy. They had a real blast with the frisbee that morning, frosty cold that it was. I don't know what we're going to do in the winter when the ground is covered in a blanket of snow. Does anyone know if they make winter weather frisbees?

Will catches the frisbee with Emma on his heels

Teamwork

That's mine, says Emma

Will waits with his toy

Tug of war (good thing it's a flexible disk)

Eight legs and two tails

Will watches Emma, as usual

A frosty morning oak leaf

Beautiful autumn foliage borders the park

Tricky Emma

I'm sure you've heard that border collies are known to be intelligent, but did you know that they can be tricky and conniving too? Emma showed us that side of her a few times now. It all started with a couple of big knuckle bones that I got for the two of them. Both Will and Emma love to gnaw on them and they do this endlessly at times. Well, Emma truly has the hording instinct and she can only stand it so long before she has to gather all the bones around her into her own little pile. She can be just peacefully laying there chewing away on her bone, with Will just a few feet away gnawing on his. Suddenly she will get up and race over to Will to steal his bone right out from under his nose, or should I say right out of his mouth. It has gotten to the point that Will knows to expect this and as soon as she makes a move towards him he leaps to his feet and away from his bone. There's no way to stop her when she gets in this mood.

For some reason she decided to try a different tact last week. They were both happily chewing and enjoying some quiet time with their knuckle bones. Emma got up and disappeared from the family room and I heard her barking like she had to go out. I got up to let her out, but she wasn't at the front door, she had gone into the living room at the other side of the house. You can see the family room from where she was standing if you look right through the kitchen, so she could see Will laying with his bone. When I got up to check on Emma though, Will followed me into the living room. As soon as Will was far away from his bone Emma took off back into the family room and scooped up his bone! She was so proud of herself that she had tricked Will (and me!) to get his bone away from him without the usual charge at him. Whatever possessed her to do this, I'll never know. Maybe she was tired of how easy it was to just race at him since he didn't put up a fight.

She's tried this a couple more times, and succeeded in luring Will away from his bone only once more. The third time she tried barking from the living room, Will grabbed his bone and stood there in the family room protecting it from Emma's antics. I guess Emma's going to have to find another way to get Will's bone! He's figured this one out pretty easily!

Frisbee in the Park

Frisbee in Central Park

Teamwork

No matter what the weather, our puppies love to play frisbee. When we are in Burlington at our townhouse, we don't have much of a yard that they can run in, so we take them to Central Park to walk or run or play frisbee, their favorite activity. they have established a little routine by now, that has been the way the play together. One of us will throw the frisbee, then Will runs to catch it, (and he's gotten pretty good at it too), then Emma chases after him to try to get it from him. Sometimes, the actually hold onto it together, and they run along shoulder to shoulder, with the disk in their mouths. This is my favorite thing that they do together. It just looks so cute, and it seems like they work well together when they do this, like a real team. Emma sometimes will give it a jerk and she then has it alone and brings it back for the next throw. It's a regular tag team event.

Will is ready for the throw!

Emma waits for the throw too

Emma knows there's a squirrel over there somewhere! (She'd rather chase a squirrel up a tree than play frisbee, if the truth were known)

Will helps to bring Emma to us when she would rather chase a squirrel

Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend Walk at Hilton Falls Color around the beaver pond at Hilton Falls Conservation Area

Maple leaves give some color

It couldn't have been a more pleasant day for a nice long walk on another part of the Bruce Trail. This time we headed north to Milton, ON to a trail that is part of the Halton Conservation Authority. We found a lot more color than just a little south in the warmer parts near Lake Ontario. As we drove north, only about 45 minutes, there were a lot of maple trees turned to their brilliant fall orange and red. Finally, we had found our fall color. http://www.hrca.on.ca/ShowCategory.cfm?subCatID=1084

On the trail

Our gang consisted of three people and our four dogs: Will, Emma, Cajun and Eevi. They all love to run the trails, exploring every nook and cranny that they find. We figure they cover about five to ten times as much distance as we humans do. They run ahead, then back to us, then ahead again and so it goes, over and over. Sometimes Will runs off the trail, alongside but hidden in the woods then he'll jump out on the trail ahead of us. He seems to love this little trick. It's as if he's playing hide and seek with us, but primarily I think it's Emma that he likes to hide from and fool. He's always a fun lover, and we hope he keeps being the playful pup that we know.

Old Man Cajun and Eevi The Serious

Aaron with Eevi, just hanging out

Emma is so serious about everything, especially all the things that move in front of her. She has definitely an obsession with moving objects, and this time of year we really have our hands full. The leaves are falling and the wind is blowing, and Emma is on alert for every one of the leaves that blow in that wind. She will suddenly jump at one and make the mad scramble to catch the leaf. It startles whoever is holding on to her, which is usually me. In the woods along the trails today it isn't so bad, since we do let them off leash when it's quiet on the trails. It makes for a more pleasant walk for all concerned.

There is also another difference between Will and Emma. Will is much more easy going and loves to meet new dogs and people. He makes friends very easily, and it's as if there is no dog on earth that he doesn't like. He loves everyone that he meets, at least so far. He especially likes little dogs, and will start a romp with them, crouching down to get the other to play with him or chase him. As I said earlier, he 's the playful pup. Emma on the other hand, is moody, and does not make friends so easily. She is the true leader of the pack of our two, and will tolerate other dogs only so much. She doesn't like it when other dogs get too close to Will or to either of us. She will growl at the dog that gets too close, and she might even get into what would be a fisticuffs if she were human. She is not afraid of a fight, and has started many with poor unsuspecting dogs. She is especially not happy when her female 'cousins' are around and encroach on her space. Both Eevi and Jazz have taken their turns at being the center of Emma's aggression, and we have to be always on the lookout for her attack. She can be very vicious when she wants to be.

Anyway, this day was pretty peaceful with all the dogs together. They are best when they can have their own space, and Emma is best when she is allowed to run and have her way without being bothered by other dogs. We all enjoyed the nice walk in the woods along this part of the Niagara Escarpment, and wish that these autumn days could last a lot longer than they do.

Some signs at the park: not the usual signs you see along trails, but this park is known for it's trails for cyclists. Some of the trails are extremely rugged and I wouldn't want try riding them! I'd be on the ground for sure.

Will and Emma take a well deserved break

Five dogs and four people

We're in Burlington, Ontario again, and it's a great time to get out to enjoy the cool fall weather. There's a lot of clouds and some rain this week, but we did manage to gather some family together with all our dogs to get out for some fresh air and exercise. We all need the activity as much as the dogs do, but the dogs just seem to get a lot more than we do. On the trails, they are all off-leash and love to run up ahead, then back again to make sure we are all following after them. They must cover five or ten times the distance that we cover, with all the running back and forth.

Lori, Jim and Aaron on the trail

Aaron and five dogs

Our little group consisted of my sister Lori with her springer, Jazz, my son Aaron with his two Kerilian bear dogs, Cajun and his puppy Eevi, and Jim and I with Will and Emma. It was the first time for all of us to walk together like this, and it was fun. We found a good spot that was not too far from the city, and is part of the Bruce Trail system that runs from Niagara to Tobermory in the Bruce Peninsula. This is a trail system that was started in the 1960s by some forwarding thinking Canadians who wished to preserve the green space along the Niagara escarpment, a unique geological feature that dates back millions of years when the entire area was under water. Our hometown lies right along this natural treasure, and we've always found wonderful places to hike, some right within city limits, and others that are just a few minutes drive out of town. This place is in the north end of the city, and is high on the escarpment, and at points there were great views of the city and Lake Ontario to the south. For some information on the Bruce Trail Association, check out their website: http://brucetrail.org/

View of the city, Lake Ontario and the Skyway Bridge

Soybean field, asters and stormy sky

The dogs all know each other, and loved to romp together. We noticed that Cajun was especially fond of Jazz, and they ran along together, having fun along the way. The only time Jazz was a little disagreeble was when Cajun tried to take a drink from her water bottle. She can be very possessive and snapped at him when he came too close. He took the cue from her and didn't bother her again. Other than that incident, Jazz loved the walk with everyone else, and Lori said that our two hour hike was the longest walk that Jazz has had. I'm sure she had a great sleep after that run!


Eevi was the smallest of the whole gang, but certainly didn't let that stop her. She was the only one not to get off the leash, since she is only just four months old and not really trained to come to her name yet. I know our pups were probably six months before we let them off-leash and even then I was a little uncertain about it. They are pretty good about coming when they are called, and always run just a little ahead and return regularly to check on us. It's all part of their herding nature, but even Jazz and Cajun behave that way, so it may be just the general nature of dogs to check on their people. Eevi will be joining the crowd soon enough, but for now it's much safer to keep her leashed.


Will has a habit of running just off the path to the side, just far enough in so he can see us but he thinks we don't see him. He will run ahead of us fifty feet or so, and jump out onto the path facing us, as if he's surprising us. He thinks this is great fun!


Cajun, Jazz and Will

Cajun flirts with Jazz

Then plays hard to get

Jazz takes a drink

Walk in Tulmeadow Farm pasture

Almost every day (and sometimes twice a day) we take the puppies for a walk in the woods and through the adjacent pasture that backs up to Tulmeadow Farms in our little town of West Simsbury. This is a series of trails that we can access just down the street from our house. These trails through the woods have been there for eons, according to our neighbors who are long term residents in the area. To us, they are a fairly recent discovery, and the puppies are happy we found them! The trails meander in many different directions through the woods, and we have now explored almost all the them, but our favorite daily walk takes us winding through the woods to a bit of a clearing, which is really a tractor road. Then, a right turn and a short jaunt takes us to an open meadow which then looks towards the series of small hills that make up a pretty view of the Farmington River valley. We have hills with descriptive names, like Sugar Loaf Mountain, Hedge Hog Hill and the Barn Door Hills in the distance. It is quite scenic and presents a pretty walk to us, whether it's in the morning dew or the early evening light.

Will and Emma know the way now, and love every step. I especially like coming out of the woods to see the first view of the hills, and one of these days I'll take my camera at just the right time to catch the perfect sunset. I'm waiting for the fall color of the trees to come, and I hope to catch it all with the sun setting over the hills. I'll be sure to post that when it happens. Autumn color seems a little late this year, but we are starting to get some vibrant oranges in the sugar maples, and reds of other trees, but mainly we are treated to the yellows of early autumn. I'm not wishing the time away, but just noting that the color is off to a late start.

Here's just a few photos of the puppies enjoying the clover meadow and hills in the distance.

Will lollygags in the clover

Emma is always watching for something to move, while Will watches her

Emma, still on the lookout

They both check on something interesting

The clover meadow, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Hedge Hog Hill in the distance

Clover pasture

Will hides in the grasses

Emma heads back on the trail through the woods

Just another note about the trail. The farmer that owns the property has an annual Halloween wagon ride through the woods and has been setting up over the last few weeks. We walk past a few of the little vignettes that are being created in the woods and each day we never know what we'll see. The 'tour' of the haunted forest starts at the Flamig Farm, which is at the end of one of the trails through the woods. They sell tickets to fill a hay wagon and pull it past all of the scary scenes in the dark woods. We are having fun watching the set-up and don't want to spoil the surprise, but here's a peek at one of the little vignettes of a what will be a haunted graveyard, nestled in the woods.

The haunted graveyard in progress

The Tomato Eater

Have you ever heard of a dog that eats tomatoes? Well, this is a new one to me. I was in the family room the other evening, and I was startled by Will's bark. It was coming from the kitchen, which is connected to the family room. While he does like to bark, it didn't seem like a 'let me out to go duties' kind of bark, nor did it sound like his bark warning me that someone was coming to the door. Besides, it would have been Emma who barked first, as is the usual. I thought I had better check it out, so I got up to see what the proble was, and there he ws, standing in the kitchen with front legs splayed and head down, ready for the next bark. He looked at me, then looked over to his right, to make sure that I would look there too. What I saw was Emma, madly chomping into a big red tomato that was nestled in the half bushel box of tomatoes that I had just purchased. There were set on the floor where they were waiting for me to make chili sauce with them. Emma did not even stop to look up at me, she just kept munching away at the tomato, while Will and I watched. She seemed baffled when I told her to stop, and even more so when I picked up the box to remove the temptation. It was as if I had just taken away her favorite toy.
When I examined the damage she had done to the tomatoes, it was as if she took a little bite out of the side then sucked the juices out of them. Very strange indeed. Who knew that dogs like tomatoes. I definitely won't be leaving any more boxes of fresh tomatoes on the floor. And I will listen to Will when he is barking - you never know what Emma will be doing next!

Tomatoes by Emma

Kent Falls, Connecticut
Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and we’re now full blast into September! The weather has been just beautiful, and we were able to get out to a couple of new hiking places over the long weekend. What a month it’s been already! Most mornings there has been the feel of autumn in the air, with temperatures overnight falling down to the 50s. Daytime temperatures have been in the mid 70s, with mostly sunny skies. Really, you couldn’t ask for better weather for the last long weekend of summer.

Will at the top of the falls

Emma on the trail
We took advantage of the days by getting off to an early start, since we figured the trails would get pretty busy as the day went along. We set off about 9 am to drive to Kent Falls, a pretty place in the western hills of Connecticut, nearly bordering on New York state. There were a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived, and a few picnic tables had been claimed by families ready for a day at the park. Barbecues were already smoking, and we couldn’t figure out what was being cooked for a mid-morning meal, but some people eat anything anytime, so it wouldn’t surprise us if burgers and dogs were on the menu for brunch!

On one of the lookout landings

Looking over the top of the fallsTop tier of falls

Our legs took the two of us and the puppies (who are pretty much full grown now at 10 months) along the green trail to the top of the falls. These really are a long series of multiple falls, with short ones at the bottom and taller ones at the top. The walk was a little tough going up, mainly due to the way the path has been built. There are large blocks of stone built into the hillside to create steps, some of which are about 18 to 20 inches high. This made for a long step, which was tougher for the people than for the dogs. Their little legs took them up pretty easily. We reached the top, about 1/4 mile up the steps, without too much trouble, stopping to enjoy the falls at each of the landing points they had made. The view from the top of the falls was quite pretty, looking out over the mountains to the west. It will be even prettier once the fall color arrives.
Our walk down took us to the other side of the falls, where another less-trafficked set of trails had been made. Not far along the trail, we came to a group of inukshuks, statues made from boulders that were plentiful along the trail. At first we saw about a dozen or so of these stone men, then a little further along there were dozens of them! It was quite strange. Emma was pretty interested in checking them out, but Will just wanted to run in the woods around them, and was not quite as interested in figuring out what these things were all about. Jim had to put one together to leave as a sign that we had been by and appreciated the gathering.

Emma waits while Jim builds an Inukshuk

Emma likes the Inukshuk

A little further along the yellow trail, where the trail takes a 90 degree turn, it overlooks a farm field where there were a couple of jersey cows grazing. The puppies were taken by surprise, and had to have a good look and a little bark at them, and the cows wanted to get a good look too. We kept the two pups well away from the cows, though, envisioning what a good kick from an aggravated cow could do. We figured that our little curious pups don’t need to have a broken leg or rib as a reminder of how dangerous large animals can be.