The Pups

We went off to Fort MacLeod yesterday for our dog walk.  It is a town about 30 minutes away and their off leash area is usually deserted. We don't understand it as it is a great place to walk.  But we don't mind having the place to ourselves!

There are so many things to see and sniff and explore that we've never brought a toy to play fetch with and it is the perfect place to walk if we don't want Coulee running.

The only problem is there is quite a bit of wildlife here.  They never seem to spot it, but they do find lots of poop and bones.

And of course there are plenty of sticks for chewing and attempting fetch.  She gives up pretty quick though when we ignore the stick at our feet.  It is never more than a half hearted attempt at best.

It is also the home to my favourite fence line.  :)

I was hoping there would be lots and lots of yellow but we had missed most of it. There was still some up in the tops of the trees but everything at ground level was pretty brown.  We managed to find this small patch of grasses though.  It was near where there is standing water in the spring so it is obviously a different species than the other stuff.  I even got Lacey to pose in it and not look beaten!

I only need to ask Coulee if she is beautiful for her to not look beaten.  ;)

I love the dreamy quality of the photo below.

I think it must be the colour of these bushes that make them so cool.  This photo didn't go exactly as planned but the shot where she is where I wanted her, she has a funny expression.  But I don't mind the runner up.  :)

The bushes were too tall to get a decent picture of Lacey walking through - so I had to satisfy myself with grasses.

You've probably noticed the girls are wearing their "emergency" leashes (the bright red tab you can see is the end). They are leashes that wrap around their neck like a collar so if you need them, they are there and already attached.  I HATE having them in all my photos but in public places, I feel like we need them.

On Coulee you don't usually notice it as much.

Speaking of not noticing... We also saw this cute little bird nest that was right along the side of the path at chest height that we never would have spotted if the trees still had leaves.

This girl was hard to miss though and I was very thankful the girls had their leashes.  He came up to "chat" which made the girls go wild.  We had seen him coming so we found a patch on the trail where we could pull way off but he stopped anyway.  Marlin left me with the dogs and walked about 10 feet away so he didn't feel the urge to come any closer than he already had.  He was very nice, but his big friend was really causing mayhem for us.  The girls did eventually settle... but would start up again if the horse moved or made a noise or looked at them.  LOL.

I wish I'd had a different lens on, but I had two excited dogs attached to my arm, and I didn't think a lens change would have been wise.

Someone was feeling a little insecure after he left but once they discovered the fresh poop along the trail, everything was good again.