Since you've seen pictures from that hike, I didn't include any here other than one of a dry river bed we hiked up this time that we hadn't done before. If you just glance at this picture you don't even realize Boogie is there as he blends right in.
The trail was a little more crowded today...ie - there were actually people! We met some very nice people along the trail and gave each of them some guidance since we now know our way around here very well. But still most of the time we were on our own on the trail.
At first we just had the girls off leash but decided to let Boogie off as he had a lot of energy and certainly wouldn't bother anyone.
On our way back a guy came toward us with two small white dogs - they looked a little bit like Westie's but were larger. They were both off leash and as they passed us our three big dogs just ignored them. Boogie on the other hand thought they might be good playmates so he started to follow them. I went down the trail to get Boogie back. But as I got there the guy said "oh let them play, this is really good exercise for them."
The dogs were racing around just chasing. They were taking turns on who was the chaser and who was the chasee. All three dogs were having a great time and the guy was laughing as he watched them play. Then totally out of the blue he takes his water bottle and starts shooting water in Boogie's face while telling him to leave. Before shooting the water in Boogie's face, he never said anything like "I think that's enough" or "Call your dog, please", he just starting shooting water right in Boogie's face and yelling at him to leave. It didn't phase Boogie in the slightest. He'd just shake off and go back to playing.
I was stunned. In hindsight I have a lot I would have liked to say to this guy. But in the moment I was just trying to get Boogie out of the situation. I called him and OF COURSE he came right to me. Easy! That's all that needed to be done. There was absolutely no need to start shooting my dog with water. I'm really upset....but I won't go into any more detail.
After a nice take-out lunch from our favorite Sedona restaurant we headed over to visit a friend of ours that owns four houses in Sedona that she rents out (all have fenced yards and allow dogs). They are gorgeous homes that are very nicely decorated and extremely well apportioned.
The home we went to today is right near the very famous Sedona Chapel. I'd seen this chapel many times in the past but never from up close. I actually think it looks more impressive from a distance as you can see a lot more of the surrounding red rocks. But it is very interesting as it is built right into the rock.
Anyway, our friends have two large Leonbergers. The younger one, two year old Murphy, is just a total goof ball - and he loves to play with other dogs. The split second that Murphy saw Boogie he took off at a run to chase Boogie. This was really scary to Boogie as Boogie is only 16 pounds while Murphy comes close to 160 pounds. Boogie ran for his life and quickly learned that Murphy can't get under the table.
It was only a couple minutes later that Boogie then started teasing Murphy from under the table. And moments later Boogie quickly decided that size didn't matter. He was sure he could take Murphy down. To me it looked like Boogie was riding a horse.
You can't tell at all from my pictures but these dogs ran around the deck wrestling non-stop for almost two hours. Here you can get an idea of the size difference between the two dogs. What you also can't see is that Boogie's entire head is in Murphy's mouth. Boogie's entire body was one big slobber ball. We couldn't even touch him. We had to pick him up with a towel and try to dry him off three or four times during the play session. He used to be really soft but now he is sticky gooey!
Notice how Murhpy's paw is bigger than Boogie's back.
After a couple hours of chasing they were getting pretty tuckered so the play changed to wrestling on the ground. Look what raw feeding does for teeth - talk about pearly whites.
Once Murphy was down, Boogie decided...well I'm not really sure what he was thinking. But he took a huge mouthful of Murphy's neck (I'm sure he only got hair) and shook it back and forth like when they shake a small animal to kill it. He did that for a long time - taking big bites and shaking as hard as he could while growling.
Murphy laid there like he was just resting and had no idea that anyone was yanking on him. After Boogie realized he wasn't making any impact at all he started pulling with all his might...as you might guess he couldn't move Murphy even an inch.
Boogie then tried to dive under Murphy to grab his neck again. By now Murphy was really tired and decided that Boogie would make a really good pillow. Boogie must have been tired too as he didn't resist one bit.
I'm guessing Boogie is going to sleep well tonight!
Debbie
12/6/07
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