We Celebrate a Doggie Milestone With a Trip To the Mountains
Fitz Roy passed a recent milestone in his career as a dog when he graduated from Beginner Dog Education. He is now a fully certified dog!
Of course, Fitz already knew how to be a dog. Trying to act like a GOOD dog around human and other dogs has been more of a challenge for him.
As his certificate shows, Fitz passed his exam with…well, he passed. And he’s ready for the next level…maybe. But no matter what, we’re extremely happy with Fitz Roy’s progress.
One of our main goals is to turn Fitz Roy into a true hiking dog. His excitability and tendency to pull on the leash make him difficult to manage. We long ago decided that we will never take him off leash. You simply can’t hike on difficult terrain with a difficult dog on a leash. If this training pays off (and there is evidence it already has) perhaps Fitz will be ready for a real trail soon.
Beyond this though, we want to be able to enjoy everything in life with Fitz by our side. The easier he is to manage, the more likely we will be to achieve this worthy goal.
We chose Pet Smart, by the way, specifically because Rene, the trainer at this particular store (which is not the one nearest to our house) knows, owns and works with Husky’s. Even she considered Fitz to be a…challenging student. But she knows her craft and has given us some excellent advice. She is the third trainer we have tried, and by far the best.
For all his hard work we decided to take Fitz on a trip over the Presidents Day weekend to try out some of the things we learned.
We set out for Boone, NC, where there are solid dog friendly hotels to be found. Fitz is not quite ready for camping yet.
After stopping at Five Guys for lunch, where Fitz made some friends, we set out for a drive and a walk along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Seldom do more than a few months go by when we aren’t driving along some section of this road. It’s like a familiar friend to us.
After stopping to take in the views we proceeded to Julian Price Memorial Park, where there are level, easy trails that can be hiked.
The Boone Fork Trail is one of these. You can pick this trail up right from the picnic area at Julian Price. Normally, this area is mobbed with sightseers and picnickers, but on a February day under a slate gray sky, we had the place almost to ourselves.
Though parts of this trail are somewhat more rugged, the section that follows the creek is flat, wide and advertised as kid friendly. This makes it friendly as well for excitable dogs.
Fresh out of class, Fitz could have shown us a thing or two about what he had learned. Instead, like many a bored student, he decided today was a day to be stubborn.
After a short walk we returned to our motel in Boone. As we entered and exited through a side door to reduce encounters with hotels guests, Sylvia joked later that she never saw the lobby…she came and left like one of the dogs.
Tomorrow we would try another hike to see what Fitz had learned!
Next Up: Mr. Fitzroy at the Cone Estate