A dear friend, who recently moved to a nearby island, saw our summer passport list and invited us over for a little puppy hike. And we learned a few things. First, puppy might need to wear pants on future hikes because she has a tendency to pick up twigs and leaves with her fur. Every few steps she would stop. Dead in her tracks. It took us awhile to figure out that each time she had amassed a bundle of forest debris between her hind legs. That can't be comfortable! It was indeed tedious to have to bend over and clear it out every few steps. Hence my idea of puppy hiking pants. We are also going to try trimming her in her little nether region.
The other thing we learned is that burrs can be quite evil. The ones that got stuck in her leg fur were fairly easy to get out but the poor thing had gathered half a dozen or so just under her chin. They were so badly embedded that the fur had completely wrapped itself around most of them. A few snips with scissors was required. Not sure if we should get her a matching balaclava for her hiking pants or what?!
Overall though, had a gorgeous hike, tuckered out the pup, and the kid, and us! It was a lovely day with gorgeous weather and lovely company. Exactly what summer days are made of.
Here's our full Summer Fun Passport List for 2013 and our passport we made to keep track of everything we accomplish this summer!