Dog Park [very img heavy]

Photo dump! Click any photo to enlarge it. A bunch of photos from the park. My dogs are Denali, Kaytu, and Diesel the foster.

Denali: female Siberian husky (white), 2 years old
Kaytu: female Siberian husky (red and white), 2 years old
Diesel: male Boxer, 1 year old
Kai: male Siberian husky (grey and white), ~8 months old
Jafar: male Siberian husky (black and white), Kai's uncle
Penelope: female Labrador (yellow), ~8 months
Jaxx: male Jack Russel, ~6 years old?
Ringo: male Standard Poodle, 4 years old
Lilah: female Pitbull (bluenose), 10 months old
Unknown 1: Labradoodle (black/brown)
Unknown 2: Australian Shepherd (blue merle)

Kai, Penelope, Denali, and Kaytu

Penelope, Kai, Denali

Greeting a new dog

Diesel is looking good!

Kai

Lilah

Jaxx and Penelope

Ringo

Jafar, unknown, Penelope, and Kai

Lilah checking out Jaxx

Jaxx

Jafar

Kai

Jafar

Take down!

Ruuuuuun Kaytu!

Denali saying hello to a boy

Busted Booties

So much for those booties. They were recommended to me by a source I trust and apparently most people have success with them. I'm not sure if it's the way Denali runs, the surface of sidewalk and dirt, or a combination of both, but those booties I was so excited for less than 3 weeks ago have been destroyed already. I'll try to find tougher ones. The problem is that the tougher they are, the stiffer they are. Her wrists still need to be able to bend and her foot still needs to be able to spread as she sets it down. I got 4 of these booties and only the first 2 have been ruined. At least I have an extra 2 while I try to figure out what kind to try next. On the plus side, they have done a great job protecting her feet. No more peeling. She's running much better and more confidently.

First Foster

Meet Diesel! He is a male boxer, 14 months old. His owner has left for a deployment, and never expected herself to have to do so. Shortly before she left, Diesel escaped her yard. He was in the wilderness having adventures on his own for almost 2 weeks. When he was found and returned to the owner he was emaciated and had many wounds from coyotes, or other animals, or barbed wire fence, or who knows what. His face was also full of cactus. She got him to the temporary foster where he lived for over a week until he was given to us. The temporary foster family quickly grew attached to him and since they live close and have a boxer of their own we plan to meet at the dog park regularly and to keep in contact. The owner has a very long deployment so we may end up splitting the foster time between us somehow.

He is getting along great with the girls and also with the cats. He is understandably very excited about the cats but Everest avoids him and Zebulon has been giving him plenty of warning swats.

He is a bundle of energy and we're having a blast with him!

Booties

Denali got her booties today! I've noticed that her front paws often peel and sometimes get small cracks in them. This is apparently due to her gait, the way she likes to trot when we mush instead of loping or running.

I ordered booties from dogbooties.com. I chose the heavier 1000 Denier Cordura® ones as I wasn't sure the lightweight ones would give enough protection and traction on the sidewalk and dirt.

I let Denali smell them all over first. I asked for her paw and held the bootie on it, not sliding it over her paw. I did that on both paws. Then I slid them on and encouraged her to walk.


This is the result.




She pranced and bounced all over the place!

I took her outside and did a few long distance Sit-Stay-Comes to get her running. She got better and better each time and wasn't lifting her paws as high or bouncing up as much. She also has excellent traction on both the sidewalk and the grass. I took the booties off so she could eat and I'm about to put them back on again so she can wear them more before we mush to the park today. If she's having trouble with them I'll take them off and we'll go for walks and such to get her more comfortable with them, but I think she'll be ok.