Wlyd Won

   Oh, boy... His 5k medal from Run Wyld arrived in the mail today & I'm afraid it will go to his head! Atta boy, Tay! Here's his new theme song:

Running WYLD!

   This morning Taylor and I ran "wLYd" at Shawnee Mission Park, in a benefit for Kaw Valley Young Life (hence the "LY" in the name). We did the 5k, since this would be my first race since my ankle surgery, and we just started running together again last week. It turned out to be a challenging day: the weather was cool (60) but very humid, and the course was paved, but very hilly. Tay & I were up for it, though, and we squeaked in just under the thirty minute mark. Meanwhile, Aki hung out in the car & enjoyed the open windows & the sun roof. We collected her after our run so she could join us and meet the crowd and have a treat. As usual, the dogs drew a lot of attention and they LOVED meeting all the kids! Several kids were enthralled with them, but approached them quietly & respectfully, so the adoration was mutual.

   Before the race, the program directors spoke over a loud speaker, and the crowd drew around them. Tay must have been able to feel the excitement in the air, and started howling... LOUDLY. Everyone turned and laughed. We lined up at the start line and waited for the call to start the race, and again Tay fed off the crowd, producing a crescendo of yips. When the crowd surged forward, he got even louder and pulled intensely on the harness. This continued for the first quarter-mile or so, despite my attempts to calm him down so he wouldn't wear out immediately. It was really funny!

   I love these photos of Tay—I never realize how small the Shibas are until I see them next to me in photos! He did so well and looks like he is having so much fun... I was very proud.

   In reading a bit about Young Life on their website, I found that I love their mission statement: "Young Life doesn't start with a program. It starts with adults who are concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture, building bridges of authentic friendship. These relationships don't happen overnight — they take time, patience, trust and consistency." It's an important mission that I believe in and am glad to support, and personally, I'd compare it to building a relationship with an animal—the same tenets hold true.

   UPDATE: We won first place in our age group!!! (I know, I totally don't believe it either!) Sherrie, the race director, emailed me to ask where she should mail the medal. If I had an suspicion that we had placed, I would have stayed for the awards ceremony. Guess Mr. Taylor has earned himself a new collar ornament. It was HIS race to win, after all... he pulled me the whole way.

You can see Taylor ramping up to run on the left side of these shots:

Happy Hounds

   To lighten my mood, I headed over to Shawnee Mission Park shortly after I returned from the vet this morning, hoping that Joni & Alan, Wager, Kippy & Asher; and Kay and Bella; and Kristi and Brandy would still be there. And what luck! The park was PACKED, but just as I drove up a parking spot opened... right next to Joni's car!
   The Shibas and I jogged down to the beach, and we met them on the hill. Everyone had a blast, and all dogs got along great. The Borders swam, and my guys skirted the shoreline. Taylor spent most of the time off-leash and did VERY well with recall! I never had to "go get him", a real milestone. It helps to be surrounded by awesome people with well-behaved and balanced dogs!

Ash takes the high road, Tay takes the low road

Wet Asher

COMIN' THROUGH!!! Tay almost gets intercepted by a Dane

Waterlogged dogs

Aki love

Adorable Brandy

Krazy Kippy

Nyaah-nyaah!!! Puppies are brats!

Seeing double

Beggars

Beggars x3

Oh, THERE you are!

Kip & Wage

Kip & Wage

Border Boys

Beggars multiplied!!!

Psst... Taylor! I didn't get a treat yet, did you?

Happy hounds

Leaders of the pack

Heading home

The Aftermath

3 Chicks + 7 Canines

   Renee invited Joni and me (and our associated canines) for a hike at Shawnee Mission Park this afternoon. Great fun was had by all, which included: Renee, Rosie & Boo; Joni, Wager, Kip & Asher; myself, Aki & Taylor. 45 degrees is great for a late December day, but it's a little cold for swimming! Didn't stop the dogs!!! (Other than Aki, who clearly must be the smartest of the bunch.)

This is what a very happy Shiba looks like!

Bordermobile

Shibamobile

Muttmobile

Surprise 10k Day!

   This morning I set out at 7:15 am (in freezing weather, no less) for what I thought would be about a 3-mile trail run at Shawnee Mission Park with my 2 Shibas + 2 friends, Rafael & Brett. Brett brought his pup, Sam, with him too. I *always* let Aki off the leash, and she *always* stays in view & comes right back to me. Not today. About 2.5 miles into the run, she took off after a squirrel. We kept running, as we always do. She loses the chase and then catches up. Today, apparently, she got lost.

   Rafael, Brett and Sam continued on the orange loop, looking for her. I went back out across the street and down to the lake, because I had heard a lot of geese honking and assuming Aki was out there chasing them. Nope. I ran all along the north side of the lake, calling for her, and at the northwest corner where the trailheads are, I hopped onto the violet trail, not wanting to leave any stone unturned. As violet looped back into orange, I heard Rafael calling for me. Aki had been following a couple of women, then saw Rafael and remembered him, and followed him. Brett stashed her in his car.

   I ran 6.2 miles before she was found. And do you know where she showed up? Same place where we last saw her. And there I am, running around ALL the other trails thinking she was far afield!  Naughty, naughty Shiba!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   On the bright side, Taylor and I ran a 10k! And we've both been lounging on the couch ever since. I wish more races allowed dogs to run, too... this guy is awesome!

(Almost) Unspoiled Beauty

   After a lovely evening hike on Shawnee Mission Park lake's north shores, I returned to my car to see this spectacular view of the sunset. I loaded up the dogs and drove over to the overlook, to catch the last of the sunset from above the trees.

    The "view" at my feet on the overlook was less spectacular. Ah, teenagers. (Actually, this totally cracked me up.)

Oh, Deer!

   I was wiped out from Hallmarket last night and fell asleep early, after unpacking the car and putting all of my artwork, props, and supplies back in their right places. So this morning I was up bright & early, ready to go! I had planned to meet Kelly for breakfast at eggtc., followed by a 2-3 mile hike at Shawnee Mission Park with the Shibas. I felt a little guilty that Taylor had joined me yesterday as my booth mascot/greeter, while Aki spent 11 hours alone in the kitchen at home. Today would make up for that. The dogs LOVE to run through the woods, chasing squirrels and pretending they're on a real hunt. Turns out that they were. (More on that later.)
   While I was at Hallmarket yesterday, it occurred to me that that was the longest amount of time the dogs had been separated from each other ever since I adopted Taylor in July 2008. They are inseparable, and even when one has to go to the vet, the other comes along for the ride. I chose not to bring Aki because she quickly tires of crowds and strangers, while Taylor can't get enough of them. But I got a little nervous as the day went on, wondering if Aki was tearing the walls down in the kitchen, looking for her buddy. When I got home, to my relief she had been a complete angel—but pranced and howled and sang and rejoiced when Taylor walked in the door. It was the most adorable reunion ever. I rewarded her by letting her off-leash for the duration of the hike. (Unlike Taylor, she can be trusted to return when called!)

   Breakfast was great (as always), but their portions are never light—we were glad to go hiking to walk it off. We drove to the marina area north of the lake, parked the car, and hit the trail. I have hiked and run on this particular trail several times. It's narrow and heavily wooded, up and down, and littered with tree roots and rocks. Even though it's not remote, it can feel that way. Perfect! The one difference I hadn't factored in was that I've always hiked it counter-clockwise, and today I went clockwise. (More on that later.)

   We hiked. And pretty quickly, we passed a sign saying that we had completed 1.2 miles of the 2 mile loop. I was disappointed in how quickly it was going! I glanced down hill toward the fire road and beyond the road and trees I could see a beautiful, sunny meadow with very tall grass, flanked by colorful trees. We walked down so I could get a closer look and take a few photos. The trees' shadows made an interesting shape on the grasses.

   I set my pack on the ground and looped Taylor's leash over my boot. He waited until I wasn't paying attention and then bolted, and the leash flew with him. He bounded into the 4' tall grasses like an idiot gazelle, leash trailing behind, and after a couple of leaps he disappeared. I hardly bothered to yell his name. I knew it was no use. Every few seconds I could see the tops of the grasses swaying just enough to allow me to have some idea of where he was—further and further. Like when Bugs Bunny tunnels underground and you can see his trail on the surface. Then... nothing.

   Aki took off after him. They both vanished and I began to sweat it... we had only planned to hike for about an hour. Were we going to spend the entire day looking for them? Kelly stayed put, since he was on a hill, to keep watch. I jumped into the grass. Since it was 4' tall and I'm only 5' 1.25" (that last quarter-inch is critical) I couldn't see well. I zig-zagged for a minute before I saw a dark shape ahead of me, hugging the ground. I knew from the pointy ears it was Taylor. He appeared to be stalking something. As I approached I saw Aki on the other side of a small clearing, facing him. She was standing and had her paw up like a Pointer, body rigid.

   They were staring down a very large, very dead deer carcass. It did not smell pleasant. It was a pretty fresh kill, although something had been picking at it. It was a young buck, judging from the size of its antlers. The grass must have concealed its smell (from me, not the dogs) until I got up close. I struggled not to gag as I stepped on Taylor's leash and picked it up, said, "C'mon Aki—leave it." And the three of us headed back up toward the main trail to continue our hike. The dogs were pretty much on cloud nine at this point, having found their quarry and brought me to see it.

   We hiked and hiked, and I started to get the sense that we should have come to the end of the loop by now; it felt like we had gone well beyond 2 miles. We saw a clearing ahead, a fence, and a field full of baled hay. We had absolutely no idea where we were.

   There was a park sign on the fence that announced, "END TRAIL. 15% COMPLETE". Not helpful. We had followed every sign along the trail and it led us to a dead end! The counter-clockwise path is well-marked, but someone must have stolen the signs from this direction. We backtracked and came to a bluebird information area with a fantastic lookout. All we could see were trees.
   We kept along the path, and Kelly spotted a large bone next to the trail, and shortly after, a sad-looking face on a walnut. We hoped that these were not bad omens. They sure didn't look like GOOD omens!

   We came to a large pond covered in algae—which looked like grass! We stopped to rest for a minute, and Aki managed to get up to her elbows in thick, black muck. Guess who's getting a bath later?!

   We headed back down the trail. As we were walking, I glanced to my left, kept going, then stopped in my tracks. I felt like we were being watched. I backed up a few steps and about 15' up the hill was a pretty deer watching us from a shady group of trees. I got a quick photo before she vanished, white tail flagging.

   Slowly we found our way back to the fire road, where we found the deceased deer earlier. From here we knew how to make it back to the lake where my car was waiting. All told, the hike was 2 full hours, twice the length of time I'd planned. But it was an interesting morning, and we returned home tired and satisfied with the excitement we found this morning.