Tennessee Valley

Trailhead to Oakwood Valley



Boon with his stick or log?


Remo with his stick


It's an amazing area where we live. We have so many options of trails to hike right out our back door. A 10 minute leash walk to the trails and the dogs are free to romp. The nice thing about Tennessee Valley it's always cooler outside with the fog hovering on the coast...perfect conditions for a dog.

Our friend Boon came over to join us on our hike. Boon the BIG dog loves to be the leader of the pack. Turbie and Remo love him and always give him lotsa licks and kisses when they see him.

Rattlesnake Aversion Training

Turbie checking out the baby snake

The trainer trying to get Remo to notice the snake

Snake handler

This is something I've been wanting to do, ever since we had a run in with a rattlesnake a couple years ago on a backpacking trip. We were unprepared and although we got the dogs away from the snake safely, it became a big concern on the rest of our trip.

We drove up to Dunnigan to a hunting reserve for the training. It was very interesting and the training only took about 10 minutes for each dog. They are trained with sight, sound, and smell. First they put an electronic correction collar on the dog and they used a 15 ft leash. The first test is the baby rattlesnake. As the dog sees the snake and starts to sniff it, they give the dog a shock with the correction collar. The collar is set for low intensity and the trainer will change the volume, based on your dogs response/awareness. After this process, they bring the dog back to the baby snake and the dog does not want to go near it. That's the response they want to see. The next part is bringing the dog over to a dead snake skin...same response the dog does not want to go near it. The last test is with the adult snake (they can hear the rattler). The trainer tries to coax the dog toward the snake to check it out, but the dog doesn't want anything to do with it...again this is the correct response. Lastly, they asked me to call the dog while the snake is about 10 ft in front of me. The dog will come to me, but only as they go about 20 ft around the snake.

Remo went first and he had a pathetic look while the trainer was working with him. He was practically standing on the baby snake, because he just stood there and looked at me (help). As the trainer finally got him to acknowledge the snake, he went up to sniff it, the snake was ready to strike...perfect timing, because the trainer gave Remo a shock and he jumped back 5 ft. There was no way the trainer could get Remo to go up to the snake again. Job well done! The training went really well for both dogs.

I highly recommend this training if you live or travel in areas with rattlesnakes.

For more information go to: www.socalrattlesnakeavoidancetraining.com

4th of July in Telluride

Parade in Telluride

View from our campsite

Trail from our campsite

Turbie cuddling up with Summer


We loaded up the rv and dogs, and we headed to Telluride for a couple weeks. It's such a beautiful place, with great trails for mountain biking or hiking. On 4th of July they have a big parade that goes down the main street. The red waggers were invited to walk in the parade with the Burmese mountain dogs and their friends. Fantastic trip!

Lillybell - by Stuart Patton

A friend of mine wrote a wonderful children's book about a dog called Lillybell. If you have children and love dogs, this is a MUST READ. Your children will love this book. You can purchase a copy on amazon. com

Go to http://www.amazon.com/Lillybell-Stuart-Patton/dp/0972709223/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308800628&sr=1-1

Remo and the Great Dane

Remo found a new friend that was probably twice his size. I noticed how Remo tried to puff himself up, as they were checking each other out.

Tour of California - Solvang

Chris Horner leading the tour


Brian and I riding down Old Stage road


Turbie catching balls in the water


Remo taking in some sunshine


View from our campsite

We loaded up the dogs and headed to Solvang to watch the TT stage of the Tour of California. Cute town and perfect weather for a bike race. We parked the rv about 2 blocks from downtown and meandered around with the dogs, watching the bike race. The dogs got as much attention as the bike racers. We ran into a friend from Mill Valley and he gave us a good tip on a campground. We went to Paradise road (about 10 miles from Solvang) and we had our choice of 3 campgrounds in the Santa Ynez mountains. It was a great tip. We had a great view of the mountains and a hiking trial that took us right to the river bed. The dogs were in heaven playing in the water.

We also did some fun road rides from our campground. One ride took us to Old Stage road and eventually brought us to Cold Springs Tavern. This place seemed to be popular with the locals...music, beer, and food.

There's definitely more to explore in this area, but we'll have to save that for another trip.

Coloma

Turbie & Remo chased a squirrel up the tree



I found out about the Coloma RV resort through another Vizsla blogger. Last weekend, we decided to go there for a few days. We had a great time, our site was right on the American River and you could watch the rafters go by. The campground was a little relaxed with their dog leash policy. We found a couple places on the premise to let them run around and play ball. We also found a couple swim holes with gentle water for them to cool down. We took a couple walks to the historic part of town and there were wide open fields for the dogs to run. Also, a nice park close by.

In the afternoon Brian and I did a couple bike rides and the road riding was awesome.

We were warned by a couple people about rattle snakes...luckily we didn't see any!

Jalama Again!

Just throw me the ball!


Another day of running on the beach...life is tough being a Vizsla.



Remo strikes a pose looking for a bird.

We had a nice long weekend at Jalama Beach with the dogs. A full 5 days of running on a long stretch of beach...what's not to love.

Wounded in Action

It's a great hike when Turbie finds a tennis ball on the trail. Proudly she prances around with the ball she found. She loves to put the ball at the edge of a ravine, give it a nudge and go barreling down after it. Remo has no interest in running down the steep ravine after a ball. He has better things to do.

I never heard a peep out of Turbie, but I'm guessing she went flying over a branch that maybe caught hold of her. When we got home from our muddy hike, I put the dogs in the shower. When I was drying Turbie I noticed some blood on the towel and I found the wound...another trip to pet emergency in San Rafael. It seems as though everything happens after our vets office closes for the day.

Turbie's wound wasn't too bad, it just required a few staples and some antibiotics. She was back in action the next day, but has to wear a t-shirt until she gets the staples removed.

Rubber Chicken

Not dog related, but this morning we did the rubber chicken ride. This ride has been going on for 20 years. The ride goes every Friday at 730am from Mill Valley and loops around Tiburon to finish in Corte Madera. Today, Brian and I won the rubber chicken on the tandem. NO ONE could come around us! hee, hee We get to hold on to this prestigious prize until next Friday.

I think I better hide the chicken from Remo.

Jalama - Hidden Treasure

I'm a little slow with my blog. A few weeks ago for Brian's b-day we went to Jalama Beach for a long weekend. We picked the perfect weekend, because the weather was warm and plenty of sunshine. Check out the beautiful sunset from the wagger mobile.

This place is very dog friendly, with a lot of beach for the dogs to run.

For Brian's b-day I got him a nice cigar to enjoy while the sun was setting.

Looking forward to another trip to this place.

Waggers Conquer Paradise Royale

We just spent 4 days in Humboldt County at Paradise Royale/Tolkan Campground. It really felt like we were out there in the middle of no where but, we were nestled in a beautiful forrest and with an ocean about 4 miles away. Paradise Royale is a really cool mountain bike park. There's a 14 mile cross country loop, a terrain park (jumps & stunts), and a pump track.

After talking with a few people they told us the cross country loop would take about two and half hours. I was a bit concerned about the distance for the waggers, but they go for 2 hour hikes every day, so we decided to take them on the ride. It was really perfect conditions; cool temperatures, lotsa shade, and several creek crossings. It was a fun singletrack trail, but 75% of the time we were going up hill. Remo is really good at conserving his energy, he would just trot or walk behind us on the uphill...not Turbie, she's full speed ahead. I only saw her start to slow down the last couple miles. We did the mountain bike loop on our first and last day there. Great riding and hiking in this area. The dogs loved it!

The campground was perfect because it had access to the trailheads. There were 9 campsites and they had so much space & privacy. I'm looking forward to going back there in March.

Unfortunately our photos didn't turn out that great. Hopefully, I'll get better ones on the next trip.

p.s. we just got our new license plates "rdwggrs"

Happy New Year

I'm a little slow with my New Years posting. We went back up to Dodge Ridge for a few days over New Years. It's amazing how much snow they got in one week. It seemed like 2 more feet, since our trip over Christmas.

We had a great time snow shoeing with the dogs. I think about 2 hours is their limit in the snow/cold. Even with the jackets on, they get chilled if you stop, so you always need to keep moving. We spent some time blazing our own trail and it made hiking a bit more difficult. The dogs didn't wander to far from the trail, because the powder was deep. They tried it a few times and decided it was better to stay on the trail (that's a first).

We're looking forward to some more trips to the snow.

Happy New Year!