After breakfast we left to take Mom and Dad on one of our favorite hikes in the red rocks. If you've followed our blog for a while you'll recognize Faye Canyon. This is the hike where you can go to the only arch in Sedona. Look up with my Mom and you'll see the arch in the distance.
Most people walk right by here and never see the arch. It is quite hidden unless you actually know it is there. We didn't hike up there today as it is quite steep but take my word for it, it is worth the hike if you can do it. If you look carefully you can see the arch just over my Mom's right shoulder.
One of the reasons we like this hike so much is that there is such a variety of rock formations visible from the nice flat trail.
There may be names for each of these rocks but I'm not aware of them.
This is one of our favorite formations...probably because it is so different from the others.
This one is very massive. I couldn't begin to get it all in one picture.
Maybe it's due to my background but this one looks like a cruise ship.
This one was interesting due to the dark marks on the red rock.
The dogs like this hike as they can be off-leash the whole time (except Slugger). They had a great time running around being dogs. But the highlight for me was that Boogie continued his good behavior of coming immediately (and FAST) every time I called him. I found it interesting that when we're just in a yard he tends to ignore me. But when we're out hiking his recall is better than perfect.
Probably the highlight of this hike for the dogs is the rock climb at the end. They all love rock climbing. It's not an easy climb by any means as you can see here. Mike and Dad are working hard to make it up - but if you look carefully you can see Sparkie way above them looking back wondering what is the hold up.
It's not a short climb either. This is how it actually looks from the bottom. Those two little white dots you see are Mike and Dad working there way up.
In the amount of time it took Mike and Dad to go up once, Sparkie and Boogie had gone up and down numerous times.
I think Sparkie went back and forth so much just because she thought it was so much fun.
Boogie went up and back often because he really wanted to go to the top but he didn't like leaving me behind.
He would stop half way up and then stare back down as he struggled to decide which way he should go.
While Slugger loves climbing, he isn't nearly as nimble as Sparkie and Boogie. So he was careful to stick with Mike just in case he needed help here or there...which he did in a few places at the top.
Looks like Mike and Dad are taking a short rest. I think they're about half way at this point.
Coming down Slugger did pretty well on his own.
While Sparkie likes to see if she can set a record for the fastest time up and back, Slugger likes to take time to stop and enjoy the scenery. And there is a lot of scenery from the top!
Is he a handsome boy or what?!
Mike and Dad made it far enough that they could see into the canyon behind this rock and back into town - the direction we came from. When they go that far they go out of sight of us from where we were waiting at the bottom. It is really steep and at times up there you have to walk on a very narrow ledge. I think Mom was relieved when she saw them come back into sight.
Speaking of Mom, here she is doing her version of mountain climbing. Hey, give her some credit...she had to climb ten feet or so to get up to this rock!
Here they are reunited again. I think Mom could finally relax again knowing that Dad made it down safely.
Still to come down for the fifth time was Boogie.
Like Slugger he really blends into the rocks.
This afternoon Boogie had an agility lesson lined up in Cottonwood. So we left Dad to go golfing in Sedona while the rest of us headed down to Cottonwood for Boogie's lesson.
I was really happy to have a chance for Boogie to do a group lesson. And I was really excited because Billie was the instructor - and Mom was going to get to see Boogie do agility. As it turned out, they do exercises each week except for one week during each seven week session. This week just happened to be the one where they work on doing a course instead of exercises.
Boogie hasn't done a real course before so this was going to be fun. First we had to walk the course. My initial observation was that this wasn't a NADAC course! There was a double jump which Boogie has never seen before and there were some really hard angles. In addition, it included a teeter. We've been working on the teeter but Boogie is still a bit frightened by it. Well, this was going to be a huge challenge for us.
Wouldn't you know, Boogie was up first! We started off with him doing a perfect "spot", "stay" and "charge" - way to go little guy. I was really excited to see him take off just as fast as he could when I released him. (Notice that the field has lights for night work!)
He did a perfect contact at the end of the dogwalk even though we had to do a sharp left turn. From there he had to do two jumps then a left (which was a call off away from the yellow jump you see in the below picture) into the weaves. As you can see, there are still guides on the weaves but even though they are slightly above his eye level, he entered and executed them perfectly.
From the weaves he had to do the jump you see in the foreground, then a sharp right to the next jump (you can only see the cone) and then up the a-frame (notice Boogie taking air!) and into the tunnel straight ahead.
After exiting the curved tunnel, there were two jumps (one was a double) straight to the teeter. Being this was all a straight shot from the tunnel, you had to run really fast to keep up with the dog. Boogie did the teeter like a pro - no fear at all. Yippee!
After the teeter there was a sharp right to two jumps. We finished the course and Boogie had done it all perfectly! He got every contact, did all his directionals correctly, and did the whole course with amazing speed. Wow, I want to bottle this perfection!
Well, I thought we were perfect until I watched the next team and noticed they had done a table that was off to the right after the tunnel. Since there is no table in NADAC, that obstacle didn't even register in my brain that it was part of the course. Whoops. Oh well, we were going to get another try at the course so we'll do it next time...even though Boogie has never seen a table in his life.
We added the table in our route the next time and Boogie was still perfect! He did a perfect wait on the table until released. I could even walk away from the table and get in position for the next obstacle and he didn't move a muscle until released. Once again, he was perfect! I was really on cloud nine when even Billie was super impressed with Boogie's performance. How cool is that.
I did however notice when looking at this picture that Boogie and I have to work on our teamwork. I need to get my commands out sooner and he needs to trust me so that he can look ahead instead of looking to me.
But overall, I am so pleased. Pretty good for a little guy that rarely gets to see equipment! He is one smart puppy.
On the other end of the spectrum (in size) from Boogie was classmate Voltaire. Just too cute.
When we got back to Sedona, I was saddened to hear that Dad's cold prohibited him from going out golfing. One of the fun things about golfing is the scenery you get to see while playing the course. The scenery here in Sedona is absolutely beautiful. Fortunately, he did at least get to go hit a few balls.
I sent a camera with him and asked him to take a few pictures of his outing. This is one of pretty views he got to see.
Since he didn't get to do the course he didn't get to take many pictures. I had asked him to have one of the people he golfed with to get a picture of him. But since he was just by himself he took a picture of himself. How cute is that!
If he had been able to go out on this course (just a few hundred yards from the house they rented) he would have seen views like this:
Boogie figured since he was such a star at agility he deserved to rest like a king. How's this?
When we all got home, Mike made another nice barbeque dinner for us. I'm really trying to figure out a way to get Mom and Dad to stay longer as I'm really enjoying all this super nummy food! Well, I guess since Dad didn't get to go out golfing they'll just have to come back again sometime! I'm already looking forward to it.
Debbie
4/2/08
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