Grant Park with Rob

We went for a walk at Grant Park today with Unkie Rob. Teagan was crazy insane because there were squirrels out and about. Here Rob is trying to calm her down.
A different park is always a real treat for the dogs.
We have our regular parks which are Lake, Jacobus, Washington, and Curry, which the dogs like well enough. But anytime we go some place different, they consider it a special treat!
We went on the Seven Bridges Trail for a while.
And then we walked on the beach for a long while.
It was a beautiful day and there was a nice breeze coming off of Lake Michigan.
Teagan cares very little for scenery. All she wants to do is go! go! go!
But Keeley loves walking on the beach and staring out at the lake.
Keeley tried to entice Teagan to play with him on the beach, but she wasn't into that.
Rob was having a hard time with Teagan because all she wanted to do was drink gross lake water and hunt for squirrels.
Keeley likes to play tag with the waves and get his little doggy paws a bit wet. He had a big smile on his face while we were walking on the beach. And walking in sand is supposed to be good exercise for his bad leg.
Near the end of our walk, Unkie Rob posed for a nice picture with the pups.
What a great walk! We're all tired now!

A Springtime Walk at Washington Park

Since I've been so busy with school, I haven't had much time for blogging lately. But today, I took my camera with me when we took our morning walk at Washington Park. Here are some of the photos I took.
The dog parks get so muddy in the springtime with all the melt and the rain, so instead the dogs and I have been taking our walks at different parks with their Unkie Rob who moved in with us a couple of months ago.
Spring is an exciting time of year for the dogs because there's so much to smell and lots of wild animals about. Check out these little baby geese!
Keeley really loves going to different parks. He likes to check everything out.
Teagan, on the other hand, just wants to go, go, go! Her motto is "Forward Ho!"
Keeley always falls behind because he stops to sniff something and then we've got to try to run to catch up to Teagan.
Today, there's apparently some music thing going on, because when we walked past the band shell, there were some musicians rehearsing this morning. There is also a community rummage sale from 8AM to 2PM today at the senior center.
We've had a lot of rain lately, but so far, the weather has been great today.
Rob and the pups stopped to pose for a picture with these German composer dudes.
Keeley and Teagan really wanted to chase some squirrels, but we didn't see any there today.
So instead, they chased birds here and there. It was a nice little walk and now the dogs are tired and I'm going to work in the garden for a while.

Autumn at the dog park

I took some pictures of Keeley and Teagan at the dog park yesterday. It's been several months since I've blogged so I think it's pretty obvious that I'm taking a break from it. I'm going back to school so that is taking up most of my time. However, I will still try to post some pictures occasionally.
Keeley and Teagan are adjusting fairly well. They don't like the days that I'm in class all day and they don't like that I'm always telling them that I have to do homework. But they're good little dogs and are trying their best to be patient with me.
We still go to the dog park everyday but the schedule is a bit unpredictable. Keeley and Teagan have become quite a pair. They are always together and don't often allow other dogs into their little group anymore. Teagan still thinks she's the boss of Keeley but he has become more assertive with her and will only put up with so much now.
I think this picture is hilarious. Look at Keeley's expression; the poor guy! This is how Teagan chases Keeley. She really sticks her head under his butt and then like lifts up. It looks ridiculous! No wonder, her noggin always seems to smell like butt!

At the Dog Park

This is what Teagan does at the dog park. She chases tennis balls. For 45 minutes, she chases tennis balls.This is how she looks when you're about to throw the ball. Isn't she cute?
And this is what Keeley does at the dog park. He walks around sniffing things and peeing on things.
I'm not kidding. He pees on benches while people are sitting on them. He pees on trees, fences, clumps of grass, toys, posts, old dog poop, etc. He pees on other dogs if they're not careful about where they're putting their heads. He pees on water dishes. If someone sets their bag down, he'll pee on that too. Well, to each their own I suppose. Maybe peeing on things makes him happy. I don't know.
They are 2 very different dogs with their own agendas.
After Keeley is done sniffing and peeing, then he makes the rounds and gets petted by every human at the dog park. He's so freakin' charming that they usually give him treats too!
The whole time Teagan is still just chasing tennis balls. I tried to teach Keeley to fetch when he was younger and if I tried really hard I could get him to do it like 3 times in a row before he walked off and ignored me. Now I just let him do his thing. I'm too busy throwing balls for Teagan now and Keeley really seems to enjoy his independence too.
After he's done sniffing, peeing, and making the rounds, then he just watches things for a while.
Teagan chases tennis balls. But she won't chase just any ball. It has to be one that's thrown by me or her grandma. Sometimes someone else will try to throw one for her but she doesn't even budge for it.
I always thought it would be cool to have a dog that fetched. It's certainly one of the coolest things about Teagan. And she's so tired afterwards.
Before we leave the park, she drinks a bunch of water and then goes right to sleep once she gets in the car.

New dog park at Currie Park

I forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never!

We were driving around and noticed that there's a Dog Exercise Area at Currie Park now.We decided to go check it out. Apparently it opened in October last year.
We met this cute dog named Cola there. He's a cross between a Westie and a Miniature Schnauzer.
Unfortunately, it was all icy and frozen on the day we went and conditions like this are hard on Keeley's bad leg. But I think he did alright.
Teagan was her normal goofy self.
The only problem with this dog park is that they built it on a hill. So on the day we went, it was an ice slick. And when it melts, it becomes a mud slide. Sometimes I really wonder who they've got designing these things! Do they even have dogs themselves? Have they ever even been to a dog park before?
There's Keeley getting a butt rub from his grandma.
Keeley really likes to explore new places so I think he had a good time even though it was icy.
After Keeley had sniffed all there was to sniff, then he played a little with Teagan before we left.

Dog Park at Estabrook finally open

Whoops! I've been really falling behind on my blogging lately! I can't blame Mitch for that but I do blame Facebook. I was all set to blog about the doggie bootcamp that we attended last Friday and Saturday when I realized that I had started this post about Estabrook 3 weeks ago and never got around to finishing it. That's lazy I tell you! So I decided that I better finish this before starting another one. Here goes:Alright, so we finally heard that the dog park at Estabrook Park was open for business. Keeley, Teagan, and I went to check it out.
This dog area was supposed to be open by Memorial day, but didn't actually open till sometime after Labor day. That's very behind schedule if you ask me.
I think Keeley and Teagan thought it was okay. But I'll say that there's not much too it. It's supposed to be 3 acres, which in my opinion is already fairly small for a dog park. Plus once you subtract out the small dog area, the entrance gates, and the pavilion, it's probably more like only 2 acres. There's already a few mud pits too. I'd like to know who is in charge of planning these things. Do they even have a dog themselves? Have they ever been to other dog parks? I just think it could have been done so much better.
At least Keeley and Teagan enjoyed it for variety's sake. They like going some place new. There weren't many dogs there to play with but Keeley still had fun sniffing everything. I would think that for being so small that people could at least clean up after their dogs a little better. I was disappointed that there was poop everywhere. I really had to watch where I stepped.