Walking Dogs

One of our newest activities is working with the Yavapai County Humane Society. A couple of days a week, Carolyn and I walk and groom the dogs there. We underwent five hours of training (Not just anybody can walk a dog, you know!) and are now fully certified dog walkers.
The Humane Society, just a few miles from our home, is next to one of our favorite hiking and bike trails. We take each dog out for a two mile walk. It's good exercise for us and the animals love it.

Here's Carolyn with Luna and Buck on the Peavine Trail. They have both since been successfully adopted!




After their walk, we take each dog into the "Bark Park," an enclosed playground, where they can run free for a while and play with the toys.

Here I am with Murphy, an exceptionally smart golden retriever mix. He's teaching me to give the signal for sitting down. It wasn't long before Murphy found a home.

Here's Sampson, my current challenge! He's a great dog and very loving. But he is high energy and pulls your arm out of its socket when he walks on a lead.

I am working to teach him to heel. Being well-behaved will increase his chances of being adopted and of not being returned. We're making progress (slowly).

Sampson loves the water. After a long walk, he loves to go to the park and jump in the pool for a cool down.

Sampson and I had a great adventure recently. We encountered our first rattlesnake. It crossed right in front of us. We were on top of it before we saw it. It rattled. We stopped. It sauntered off into the brush beside the road. We gave it wide birth and it rattled again as we passed. (Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera!)

One of Carolyn's favorite dogs is Gracie, an Australian Shepherd mix. She's a wonderful dog, loving and gentle. She was adopted but came back after only a week because she scaled an 8 foot concrete wall and got away from her new owner. It breaks your heart to see a dog come back after being saved. Some people don't want to invest the time to train an animal and give it time to adjust to new surroundings.

Here's Carolyn with Dolly, a sweet black lab puppy. She was adopted today. Someone got a super dog!

These two sweeties, Trixie and Maggie, were kennel mates. We hoped one family would adopt them but they had to go separate ways.


Reno is no weiner dog ... he's more of a kielbasa!