Hounds on the Town - Great Falls Park, VA

This past weekend we had an amazing time participating in our doggy school's "Hounds on the Town" event. The outing was to Great Falls Park where we practiced:

* healing on a hike.
* sitting politely when strangers wanted to pet the dogs.
* ignoring other dogs on the trail.
* calmly walking down stairs and not dragging the handler to their death during the decent.
* recall training using 30 foot long lines.
* not eating beef jerky the instructor dropped on the trail on purpose as a way to embarrass handler when her 17 pound dachshund almost manages to drag her down in an attempt to score a major food prize.
* having an awesome time and enjoying the beautiful weather!

All three pups did a great job (not counting Alven's betrayal when he did a nose dive for the jerky) and we had a lot of fun. We always love participating in these outings because it is a such a great way to practice all of their training in real world settings. It's also funny when only seven dogs go to the event and three of them are yours. Makes me feel slightly hoarder-ish...

Family portrait in front of Outlook #2. My smile looks slightly deranged and Dottie is complaining about having to stop the hike in order to take a stupid picture.

Joe and Flash take a moment for a tender photo-op in front of the falls. Flash does not look impressed by the sight.

I bribe Dottie into posing for a picture by using a salmon treat. "Ooooh salmon! Okay, you have my full attention, or at least you have it until I manage to get that treat out of your hand..."

"Mom! Hey, Mom! Look how cute I look sitting on this rock. Give me a treat too!!!"

The pups and I take a little break along the hike. We all drank some water and took in the sights.

It was a perfect day and we can't wait until the next event which is going to be a historic walking tour through Old Town Alexandria later this month.