Levi's First Camping Trip

This weekend I took Levi on his first camping trip up to Truckee, Ca near North Lake Tahoe.  We started off with a hike up Castle's Peak on Saturday.  It was about 6 miles round trip with about 2,000 feet elevation gain.   It was a perfect day for hiking; sunny, clear skies, mid-70's with a breeze.  The beginning of the hike wasn't too strenuous but the last mile up the peak was a good climb and we had to stop for plenty of rest/water breaks.  It was pretty rocky so I'm definitely glad that I made Levi wear booties.  I got him the same type of booties he had before (ruff wear grip trex) but I got him a smaller size for his back feet and I bought him the ruff wear liners (socks) for the front booties which were supposed to help with dogs with dew claws.  They worked perfectly and we didn't have any dew claw issues or rotating booties like the last time!  We'll definitely be using them again for future hikes.

Our destination!

Levi was kind of a dirty boy on this trip and decided to take a little mud bath.

That was followed very shortly by a roll in the dirt.

My cute, dirty boy

At the top of the peak! Just over 9,000ft high.

After the hike we drove to our campsite nearby where we met up with the rest of our group.  Our campsite was right up against a river so Levi got to play in the water and go swimming on Sunday and Monday.  I don't know how he had the energy for it after our hike but as soon as he saw the water it was like he was refreshed.

Our campsite

He was an excellent camping buddy and I hope we can go on another trip soon.  Next up he'll be back at my parents' house for 5 weeks while I'm gone for my last set of externships. 

Happenings Lately

A few weeks ago Levi and I went for a walk along the Putah Creek trail in Davis with ChaCha and Alicia.  It was a nice day so Levi got to go for a little dip in the creek as well.  It was fun to get off of our usual walking paths and onto something more trail-like.  I love living in Davis but sometimes I miss the hills and hiking I had back home. 

Posing by the blackberry plants

Taking a rest break in the shade

Poor Levi had sore paws that evening, which were even more painful the next morning.  I got him a prescription of pain meds and iced and bandaged up his little feet which made him a lot more comfortable.
 

Levi icing his sore pads

I've realized that when he swims and then goes hiking right afterwards is when his paws seem to become raw and sore.  He's such a delicate little flower.  From now on he'll have to wear booties when we go hiking because I hate seeing him limp around the house :-(.

Now he's being babysat by my parents while I'm off on another externship at an equine clinic for a couple of weeks.  He loves visiting my parents house and getting to swim in the pool all the time.

His new favorite activity now that there's grass in the front yard is to swim and then take his toy onto the grass for a good roll. 

He makes me smile every day :-)

Levi's Weave Pole Progress

Levi and I have been training agility weave poles using Susan Garrett's 2x2 method and I'm super proud of how he's doing so far.  We're kind of slow to progress since I'm so busy and have been gone quite a bit, but even after 2 weeks off while I was out of town Levi still remembers what to do.  Below is a little video I took on my phone of our weave pole practice the day we got back to Davis.

He is up to weaving 6 poles but I started them slightly opened to make it easier since we hadn't practiced in 2 weeks.  He did awesome so I closed them to 6-straight in a line and he only had a couple mistakes.  Yay Levi!

Levi's Colorado Souvenir

Levi spent the last 2 weeks at his grandparent's house getting spoiled with love and toys while I was in Colorado visiting an equine veterinary hospital.  I was so busy during my time at the clinic that I didn't have time to venture out to find him a souvenir, but lucky for me there was a pet store in the Denver airport!

I bought him a ball/rope toy and some frosted treats (his favorite!).

He somehow managed to pull the rope off the ball in about 10 minutes but I think he loves it even more now. 

Levi's Yosemite Souvenir

I went on a backpacking trip to Yosemite with 7 friends during the memorial day weekend. Unfortunately dogs aren't allowed on the hiking trails so Levi had to stay home. In keeping with tradition I picked him up a souvenir stuffed bear right before we headed home.

Levi also wanted to let any concerned blog readers know that Frederick is still alive and doing well (after some minor repairs) ;-)

San Francisco Beach

A couple of weeks ago my roommate and I had a short day at school and we had a few errands to run in the bay area so we decided to take the dogs along so they could go to the beach. It was a sunny day but very windy! The dogs didn't mind but I sure wouldn't have wanted to go in the ocean! Levi had tons of fun frolicking in the sand, playing chase, and retrieving his bumper from the water. Alicia kindly took all the photos since my hands were covered in doggie slobber and sand. :)

Agility Training

Levi and I have been taking agility lessons for a little while now and as we slowly progress I get more excited about the day that we'll finally be ready to start trialing. I've gotten to go watch 2 agility trials in the past month or so, one of them even featuring Levi's superstar mom, Sport, as well as half-brother, Jackson, and litter-mate, Thistle. I didn't get to stay to see his Thistle's runs but it was still a lot of fun and I can't wait till we're there trialing too! Here's a little video of some of our agility practice from a month ago.



We've now started weave pole training and we just started contact training in class on Monday. I started Levi on the 2x2 weave training method which I'm excited about and I'll try to post some videos of our progress.

Just wanted to say thanks to my awesome Dad for building me my agility jumps and weave poles!

Folsom Lake Walk

Levi and I apologize for neglecting the blog so much the past few months.  Don't worry, we have still been up to lots of fun stuff we just haven't had time to blog about it.  So look for a few blog posts in the upcoming weeks.

Way back at the end of April I took Levi for a walk on the American River Parkway to where it ends at Folsom Lake.  It was about 4 miles each way with some swimming time at the lake in-between.  I've walked other portions of the Parkway in Sacramento and they were more secluded and trail-like.  This section was not as pretty and was a super popular path for cyclists since it's paved.  Unfortunately I had to keep Levi on a short leash since we had cyclists zooming past us every few minutes.  It wasn't quite the tranquil walk I had in mind.  Oh well, it was good exercise for Levi and me and it led to the lake at the end which was the ultimate goal anyways.

Happy 2nd Birthday Levi!!!

Levi is 2 years old today!  Yay!  I remember when he was a puppy, thinking that he would be past his puppy antics by 2 years old which seemed like forever to wait.  Now looking back it feels like it's flown by!  He really has matured into a great dog, I couldn't be happier with him.  I've also come to expect some of his antics as just Levi-isms that aren't going anywhere no matter how old he gets, like bringing me shoes and socks when he wants attention.  Or maybe that's his way of telling me it's time to go for a walk and he's just trying to be helpful? 

We went for a birthday walk on the Bob Jones Trail in Avila Beach and it reminded me of the times I walked him on that trail when he was a puppy.  My he's grown up a lot since then!

11.5 weeks old compared with 2 years old

In the evening we had a little birthday celebration for him and he got to eat his homemade doggie cupcake and open all of his presents.  The cupcakes were Apple & Chedder Pupcakes from my baking heart adapted from The Dog Ate It.  Levi thought it was delicious and tried to eat it in one bite. I also made him some peanut butter dog cookies as well as some special tuna treats that were highly recommended by his doggie relatives.  He was quite a fan of all of the treats and attention (maybe not the hat though). ; )

Cute doggie cookie cutters that I found :)

Afterwards he got to open all of his presents.  I got him a little bit fancier of a bag than the paper bag he had last year (only $1 at the dollar tree!).  He was quite a fan of all of the toys and couldn't decide which to play with.  I made it easier on him by putting some of them away after he "opened" them to save for later.

Levi says thanks to all of those who wished him a happy birthday and he wishes a super duper birthday to his siblings Avalon, Chelsea, Jamie, Ronan, and Thistle!

Marin Headlands Hike

Today was day 2 of the three day weekend and Levi and I spent it hiking in Marin with 4 of our friends and their three dogs.  We had quite a diverse pack of dogs including Aedan (golden-doodle), Jill (terrier/dachshund mix), ChaCha (pit/ridgeback mix?), and of course Levi (most wonderful breed-golden retriever).  We got lucky and it was a gorgeous, sunny day in the Bay Area.  Levi enjoyed frolicking on the beach for a little bit before we headed out on the hike.  He even met a 5 month old Golden Retriever puppy named Axel that was very cute and wanted to follow us around.  Unfortunately I was thinking all about hiking when getting ready and forgot about the beach part of it so I forgot to bring him a ball or toy to fetch in the ocean.  We made due playing fetch with some sticks though.

Puppy Axel

The humans of our pack

Fisherman fishing off the huge cliff

Careful!!!

Levi says that he had a fun and busy weekend and he's ready for a nap now!