Winter Hike

Saturday afternoon, Robb, Charley, and me went to Chapin Forest for some hiking! The weather was decent enough, and Charley had to practice in his boots. We are teaching Charley to hike with boots on, because sometimes we encounter terrain or snow that would hurt his paws. He has really really fuzzy and webbed feet that suck in snow and it gets matted and packed into his paws. Ouch! So, dog boots are the solution. This is the second time he'd worn his boots, and has no problems at all! He walks and runs around like they don't bother him at all! When he gets all grown up sized we'll buy him a nice pair from Ruff Wear, like these!

Look at these example dogs! They love their boots!

Charley's feet were dry and warm the whole time! Wait till he gets professional boots!

Charley and Robb running through the trails!

This is a usual sight... Charley with all four paws off the ground in the air! He's a very bouncy boy! Poodle in him!

Talking about something...

Sweet happy puppy face!

Me and my Charley!

Happy with his boots on!

This water made the most relaxing sound as it trickled down the almost frozen creek.

We saw this really neat chunky bark tree on our hike.

Very happy Charley loves the park. Here he is with the sun on his fur and wind in his hair!

Charley is amazing us with how quickly he learns. He's always been a very smart puppy, but continues to show his intelligence with everything we do. Since it's been very cold and snowy, we haven't been on too many walks, except for in puppy school. These last two hikes, we taught Charley to heel, and he really gets it. Most of the walk, he actually wanted to walk right next to me, and didn't pull at all. There was literally no slack on the leash, and he walked right by my side. When he got just a few feet in front of me, he'd stop and wait for me to catch up, and then walk next to me again. This is a very good thing for comfortable walks, and off leash training. Except, now, we have to teach him how to be in front and pull, which apparently doesn't come naturally to Charley. We need him to do this for rollerblading and cross country skiing, where he needs to be in his harness, in front, pulling. To try to teach him this, we run through the park with Robb in front, then Charley "pulls" me when he tries to catch up. I think this will take more work to get him to understand "GO", versus the little work it took to teach him to "HEEL". We hiked on Sunday also at North Chagrin Metroparks, but didn't take any pictures. He did just as good!