I took the younger half of my dogs to get their rabies shots today. It was also good practice for some of the newbies to take their first ride in the truck. Everybody did pretty good except Titan, who also had a collar on for the first time today, he wasn't about to be chained into the dog box, so he rode up in the cab with Cosmos, the Jack Russell. Which was good practice for Cosmos because he has hardly had to share "his" space in the front of the truck before and on the way to Juneau he is going to have to ride with Telesto, Leo and Saturn. He also did well.
So I want riding in the truck to be associated with going to do something fun, not going to the feed store parking lot to sit for 10 minutes and be stuck with a needle. So I took the whole crew to the city dog park. What fun! I had 10 dogs in the park. It was great to see all the different interactions of the yearlings. Cosmos of course stole the stage and had everyone at his will and beckon to throw sticks and balls for him. 2 of the "Solstice Litter" , Eclipse and Corona were freaked out by the other dogs a little, which I thought was strange because they are around other dogs all the time. So they formed an alliance and hung out back in the corner where they city stores the Golden Days Jails. ( Fairbanks has a week long festival called Golden Days, which celebrates the Gold Rush. During that week you can be arrested and placed in one of these "jails on wheels" if you are not wearing a garter or a Golden Days button. It is a fundraiser in that your "friends" can have you arrested, and you have to bail yourself out for a small price.) They were friendly towards any of the Cosmic Canines and one puppy, but otherwise were anti-social. Everyone else had a great time with all of the other dogs. Alcor, Solstice, and especially Zenith were super friendly with the people there too. Zenith latched on to this one woman for some reason and followed her everywhere. The dogs were so happy. It was nice to watch in a full out and out run. I think it is so beautiful to watch dogs run and weave. The girls were very agile. They are going to be super athletes. An Alcor looked pretty good too. Titan was a little lumbering, but he is only 5 months old. He is still figuring out how to work his legs. I still think he is more wheel dog material than lead dog though. He is going to be huge.
The whole day was great for the dogs for mentally and physically. I know they are getting bored, I've been so busy getting things together the dogs have been just sitting in the yard. It was great socializtion for them. They do great with other dogs, though it was very evident that there is a definite sense of "team" within in my dogs. Which is what I have been striving for. I have to remember to donate to the Fairbanks Dog Park. Its a great space.
