It feels like an age since I got on the mountain, between weather and St. Helens bugs I've stayed close to home, but today was a must to get out! Zeus was quite the knob, but not in a bad way, he was just excited and happy and forgetting that I was on the end of that retractable lead! Sammi was a star, as ever!
The second walk was fun, avoiding people on the left and on the right we found ourselves heading straight for the deepest ditches. Beti was over the moon and gave Meerah lessons on how to get as wet as possible as quickly as possible. Considering what happened on the third walk, which I'll get to in a minute, I've realised that I need to stop calling "Beti Come" relying on Meerah to follow .. it needs to be "Beti, Meerah ... come." I'm still a little uneasy about Meerah's hindquarters, not her movement but she appeared a little stiff again after the walk. Let's hope it's something and nothing.
Orin had taken a leaf out of Zeus' book today and switched his ears to mute! I'm sure there had been a female in season up there as he was like a hoover, and peeing everywhere. After saying that other than going further than I was comfortable with, unlike his mate, the boy did nothing wrong!
This morning's routine was different, Steve needed to go out so Siska and Orin were crated for some of the time I was out with the others. When I got back I had to dry the girls and I could hear Siska having a paddy in her crate. Anyway, with everything sorted I loaded Orin and Siska into the van and went out. As soon as I let them out I noticed Siska was lame .. very lame! We continued for a little and she seemed a little better. With people coming towards me, I popped them both on the lead and went under the fence towards where we've nicknamed Smurf Bridge. (if you know, you know!) I spent sometime there taking photos and thought I'd be good to go, little did I think the people and dog would have circled round to the other side of me. Taking no notice whatsoever of me, Siska ran off barking, I called and called, nothing. Over rough ground, it took me a few minutes to get there, and I grovelled and apologised. The ladies were lovely and told me it was OK, but as I said to them, no, it's not OK, it's totally unacceptable and I couldn't apologise enough to them. So simply, to keep her safe, and for my sanity, Siska now has to stay on the lead on the mountain! Don't get me wrong, Siska is lovely, but would you like a GSD running towards you and barking? So as I said, from now on, Siska will stay on the lead on the mountain!
So where did this start to go wrong? Well, was it my fault? If it was, then I'm repeating my mistake with Beti and Meerah. I used to call Kaiah .. her recall was fab, so it was "Kaiah come" and Siska would follow. I never had any recall issues with Siska until Kaiah died. I've no idea why she thinks it's acceptable to run and bark at people on the mountain, this is not the first time, but sorry Siska it will be the last time! Siska is such a lovely chilled girl, you've all seen photos of her chilling on her chair at shows, she doesn't care about the hustle and bustle, the people, the dogs, the traffic, so does she think this mountain is all hers? I've no idea!
