A training walk can be a lot of fun for a dog because nature can be so fun. Last week while I was at the spa getting my furs spiffed, Mom took Bailie to one of our favorite local walking spots, Lebanon Hills Park. There are miles and miles of trails through the woods and around some smaller lakes. We love to walk at this park.
Bailie and Mom headed down the trail to Jensen Lake to get started. Luckily, I would be at the spa for another three hours or so. Mom has been known to get lost here despite the trail maps and an hour walk is suddenly two! Mom couldn’t read a map if her life depended on it and she refuses to trust us to get her back to where we need to be!
The trails used to be really a muddy mess on the shady side of the park, but recently, they built some really nice wooden walkways. No worries, Bailie still managed to find plenty of mud to walk through along the way.
Bailie will be doing an obstacle skills class in August, so Mom wanted to work on some core and balance skills along the way. They started out easy with a fallen tree. Bailie added a touch of difficulty by looking up while sitting and balancing on the log.
The lake was lily pad heaven! It was covered in those green things and they heard a lot of frogs but didn’t see any. They did see a turtle or two sliding into the lake, though.
The crooked bridge is always a good rest stop. Every year we think it will be falling into the water, but so far it is still standing. We don’t know why it is so crooked, but it makes for an interesting look. Mom and Bailie were also working on Bailie’s modeling skills – staying in a position, and looking at the camera. She is catching on.
Sitting on a tree stump is always fun for Bailie. Compared to me, she has an excellent sense of balance and can stay on pretty small surfaces. This photo provides a nice view of her dirty legs and belly. Such a little dirt ball!
This trick was a new one for Bailie. At first she was not sure about it, but once she understood how it worked, she could have stayed forever. She is pretty good at tricks or modeling, but combining the two skills needs more work.
Mom and Bailie walked for just over an hour and had a super fun time. It was another fun event for Bailie’s birthday week. Now Mom needs to work on her cell phone camera skills as she always gets her fingers in the shots! Do you work on training when you are out walking your dogs?
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that looks like a totally wonderful place to walk and do some training and you did so good with all your practice
Bailie loves to do that kind of stuff. Me, not so much.
What a fun place, perfect for obstacle course training.
It keeps that little whipper snapper in shape!
What a fun walk! Bailie is doing great on her core and balancing skills. You all are in my heart today. XOXO, Sparkle
Thank you. It is not easy these days, but as your family knows, sadness will never go away, but the good memories will start to change tears to smiles.
BOW WOW, my mom makes sure each one of my daily walks is a TRAINING WALK. When I don’t expect it and we’re walking, she tells me to sit or spin around or stay. Because I’m a show dog, she’ll also stack (make me stand a certain way) me at random times. It’s so much fun!
With two of us usually walking it is tough to train, but when we walk alone we do more training. I used to stack as a puppy, but since Mom doesn’t show us, no more stacking.
That really is such a pretty place to spend the day!
It’s gorgeous there all year with the different seasons. We love it.
What a fun walk. It’s so nice when they build those nice walkways
Lily & Edward
The walkways have really cut down on all the mud that used to be there.
Gorgeous park! Such a fun place for a training walk, and Bailie showed great restraint in modeling beside the pond and not diving in. I don’t think my little sister has quite reached that trust level. By the way, your mom’s beautiful nails look fabulous in her cell phone pics. 😉
Mom has real strong nails and always has them painted. Bailie is growing up, but if a critter ran by, she would be gone!
Bailie is getting good at these things. It looked like she was having fun.
I have to be careful she doesn’t secretly try to take over my blog with all the things she is into these days.
That looks like a gorgeous walk! Tell your mom that if she has a smart phone she should try the “Map My Walk” app. I use it all the time and it’s helped me from getting lost!
Thank you. I will have to check on that app as she is always getting lost 😉
It can make a walk so much more fun and interesting! Even if you have such a nice and pretty place to walk like that, doing some training can make it more of workout too.
It’s also a good chance when you have one dog with you (and I mostly do that with Luke) for the humans to work on their photography skills! 🙂 I know I always need to!
With one dog everything is so easy, two or more it gets pretty challenging for one person!
Hi Y’all!
One question…did Bailey get her “furs spiffed” afterward?
Looks like a wonderful place to spend time.
To answer your question…even though I’m 10 years old my Human takes some time every walk to work on some simple training routine, even if it’s only a sit stay. Keeps me from getting “sloppy” and keeps me obedient. Not to mention the mind stimulus.
Y’all come on back,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Bailie’s dirt all dried up and fell off, but she did take a dip in the dog pool when she got home because she was so hot and that pretty much cleaned her up!
When we go on a hike, Mom loves to stick me on tree stumps, logs, and rocks to take my picture. We don’t think of it as training, but now that you mention it…..
Love and licks,
Cupcake
It is modelling training and core work. Good for you! Now you know working out can be so fun you don’t even know you are doing it.
Great job, Bailie!!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
She sure did have a lot of fun.
Looks like Bailie and your mom had some much-needed fun that day. And I bet you feel good after your spa day too. ?
It was necessary to get some of those furs off me. Now I’m set for summer.
What a lovely training walk, Bailie and your mom had. I suspect they both needed it. 😉
They had a fun time together. One on one walks are always extra fun.
Looks like such a nice, fun place for a walk! And the photos are gorgeous, too!
Thank you. It is one of our favorite places in the area.
What a great walk! Fabulous photos.
Thank you. They had a fun time.
Looks like a nice place for a walk.
It’s one of our favorite places.
What a fun walk! How funny about your mom getting lost, I’ve tried to tell mine a few times which direction to go and she doesn’t listen either! Love Dolly
My mom just doesn’t listen to us dogs, but she is starting to get a bit better about it.
Mostly we are just lazy on our walks. 🙂 But we do work on them staying with me and leaving things. We do have the one that likes to scarf down crazy things on our walks. 🙂
One thing we are good at is drop it. Katie always ate stuff and always got sick. We only do training if we are on one on one walks, otherwise it’s too hard.