Ronan and half-brother Rockie took a trip to Monterey, walking the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail from Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, past the Aquarium and Lover’s Point, turning around just before reaching the Lighthouse in Pacific Grove (which was surrounded by fog by the time they got there).   It was 9 miles round trip.   The map/route can be viewed here.

It was a gorgeous day at the ocean (click on any of the photos to view a larger size)

The boys visited the Aquarium

Ronan did some tide pool exploration

And marveled at the vastness of the ocean

They saw harbor seals sunning on the beach (many of which are about to have babies)

And took the requisite tourist photo with a Sea Otter wearing a grass skirt at Cannery Row

Ronan and Rockie highly recommend this walk, especially on a sunny day!

Lucy from the Jingles litter stayed with us for a week while her family was out of town, and we were able to get the rest of the local Jingles pups (Jackson, River, Rockie) together at ARF to play with their sister who they hadn’t seen since their 1-year old birthday party (almost 3 years ago).  Ronan and Thistle got to go, too, as well as Meigs’ older dog Reilly.

Here’s Lucy:

and the group photo of Meigs’ Reilly and the 4 siblings (River, Lucy, Rockie, Jackson)

Here’s a fun sequence while we were trying to get the group shot set up.   Lucy and Rockie were twisting this way and that, which caused Jackson to break out of the lineup.   Check out the mortified look on River’s face as he watches Jackson run out.

Click on this link to view all the get-together photos.

The spring flowers are out at Fremont Older, and I snapped a few pictures with my phone.   The photos are clickable to see a larger size.

Jennifer and I tried a different hike through Fremont Older yesterday which took us along Stevens Creek Reservoir.  The total hike was a little over 8 miles, and the dogs were allowed on leash on all of it.  Here’s the map if you’d like to see the route!

I took Ronan to meet with Lynne and Chelsea (Artisan Beer litter) for a hike at Fremont Older.   My GPS seems to have skipped a part of the hike, so I think we hiked a little over 6 miles today.  Not bad considering I thought we’d only be going about 4 miles. The map is pasted below.

Here’s a cute picture of Ronan and Chelsea at Hunters Point about halfway into the hike.

View Fremont Older – 02/21/2012 2:34 PM in a larger map

Exciting news- Pat’s Danica (Jingles litter) just completed her agility MX title and already has 5 QQs!   Go Pat and Dani!  Fingers crossed that Dani will finish her MXJ very shortly, as she’ll be hopefully be having puppies this season.  There’s more info about the planned litter on the Puppies page.

Ronan just finished his obedience Rally Novice title (!!!), and from here it’s on to Beginner Novice.   He did some pretty good work for my young, excitable boy.   On the left is a photo of me and a laughing Ronan with his ribbon.

In other news, progress is being made toward other titles.   Sporty just earned another leg toward her MXJ and her first Open FAST leg.   Corina’s Jackson earned his 2nd leg in both Open Jumpers (with a 2nd place) and Novice Standard.   And Meigs’ River earned his 2nd leg toward his Novice Obedience title in Novice B with a 2nd place.

Great job, everyone!!   You make us proud.  :-)  Congratulations to all!

Today we (Don, me, Sport, Thistle) joined Corina/Jackson for a 7.5 mile hike at Sunol Regional Park.   Our trail map is below, taking the following trails:  Camp Ohlone Rd > McCorkle > Canyon View > Indian Joe Creek > Cave Rocks (beautiful view) > Cerro Este > Camp Ohlone Rd .   At some point along Indian Joe Creek, we stopped to lay a short track for Thistle on a hillside, going over a fallen tree on part of the track.   He did a splendid job, finding the articles easily.

View Sunol hike – 1/29/12 in a larger map

We were remiss in taking photos, but here’s one that Don took of Thistle at his dirtiest, after rolling in cow patties a few times. This was taken from the highest point of our hike, close to 1700 feet.

In other news, we just finished Day 9 of the Karen Overall Relaxation Protocol. Sport and Ronan are doing very well with it. I can see a difference in them… they rush to their mats when it is time to start, and are starting to relax more during the sit or down-stay instead of being on full alert the entire time. I’m sure they think I’m being quite silly as some of my tasks today involved my stretching, jumping, clapping, and touching my toes.     At this point I’m also going out of sight for up to 25-30 seconds.

Last Sunday was a fun Tigana family event at the Mission Bell Obedience trial.

• Sporty finished her CD title from the Novice A class under judge Alice Peterson.  Woohoo!  She finished her title with two 1st places and a 2nd place.
• Ronan did very well in his first trial, earning two Rally Novice legs.
• Avalon (Ronan’s sister, owned by Miche Evans) earned her final leg to complete her CD from Novice B.  She was a superstar and finished in 3 out of 3 trials.  She also got a 2nd Beginner Novice leg.
• River (owned by Meigs Matheson), made his debut in Novice B, and ended up with a score of 199+ (!!).  What a team!

Here are Sporty and Avalon in their mother-daughter title photo:

Next is a video of Ronan’s Rally trial on Sunday, where he earned a 4th place and score of 96.   We could have had a 99 if I hadn’t started the serpentine exercise incorrectly.

Next is a photo of Meigs and River in the “Heel Free” exercise.

Cute photo of Avalon and Miche.  Ava is clearly happy to have Miche returning to her after the Sit-Stay exercise in Beginner Novice.

Lastly, it seems appropriate to show Sporty in the Long Down exercise, which had been our nemesis the last couple trials.

Speaking of long stay exercises, I have started working toward the out of sight sits and downs exercises for Open, using Karen Overall’s Relaxation Protocol with both Sport and Ronan as structured practice for staying and relaxing through distractions.   We just finished Day 3.    An example of something that made Ronan excitedly pop up out of the stay yesterday was my counting out loud, and also clapping.  Today those things didn’t phase him.  I think these will be good exercises for us.

See Miche’s blog post for more about the trial.  Congratulations, Miche and Meigs!

Today’s hike was an 8 mile loop at Mt Madonna County Park, with an elevation gain of  1450 feet.   The uphill portion was on Sprig Lake Trail which is a beautiful trail through the redwoods, so that made the climb a little more bearable.  :-)   We did the hike described by this page, but had to do the modified version of the hike (cutting out the Tan Oak section) since our time was limited.   Still, we managed to finish the loop in well under 3 hours and before sunset, so we did pretty well.

Sprig Lake Trail > Bay View Trail > Blue Springs Trail > Meadow Trail > Upper/Lower Miller Trails > Loop Cutoff Trail > Loop Trail > Merry-Go-Round Trail.

View Mt Madonna, Jan 8, 2012 in a larger map

Here’s what the trails mostly looked like on the first half:

Here are Jennifer with Rockie, and Don with Thistle (cell phone photo with poor lighting).   This is on the last 1/4 of the hike on the Merry Go Round trail where the terrain changed and became wide open with very few trees.   It wouldn’t be a good trail to take during the heat of the day.

The next picture is in the same location, but taken with Don’s Canon G9 so it’s much better quality.   This is me and Ronan in all our hiking gear.   He is wearing a Ruffwear Singletrak water pack, and I’ve my hands-free leash waist belt as well as a waist pack that I usually use for tracking.

Afterward, we went to Creasian, our favorite sushi restaurant in the South Bay, where we ate entirely too much!

Also this year we hiked at Joseph Grant County Park.  We chose an easier trail to do after the holidays, and I inadvertently made it even easier by taking the wrong turn and cutting the trail short by 1.5 miles. We followed this guide.   He left out one trail which is why I messed up.   The Eagle Trail should be listed between Brush Trail and San Felipe Trail, and Brush Trail forks at one point and should be taken toward the Dutch Flat Trail junction.

Trails on this hike: Dutch Flat Trail > Dairy Trail > Brush Trail (toward Dutch Flat Trail) > Eagle Trail > San Felipe Trail.

We ended up hiking elsewhere in the park so we got 6 miles of hiking in.  My phone battery died so I only captured the first part of the hike.

View Joseph Grant County Park in a larger map

Don took a gorgeous photo of Sporty close to sunset.  We were next to Grant Lake at the time.

Corina took us hiking at Marin Headlands, and we met with her, Jennifer, and Corina’s friend Carla who has a lovely Aussie.  I’ve wanted to go hiking there for a long time, but just never made it up there.  Now I want to go back many more times– it was so beautiful and wild!  The weather was perfect, and the day was clear so we had a fabulous view.

Here’s our hiking route.   We only walked about 4.75 miles, as we decided to double back after we got to the top.   The route includes our time back at the beach after the hike.  LOL I just took a close look at the route on the beach, and it shows me running back and forth.  This is when Ronan was stealing things off of people’s beach blankets (while they were there) and I was running to try to stop him!  He thought it was hilarious!  What a naughty dog!

View Marin Headlands – Rodeo Beach in a larger map

Here’s a picture of Don and Thistle during one of our stops to take in the view.

Here’s Corina and Jackson- photo taken by Carla.

Here’s a landscape photo that Don took when we were halfway up to the top.  Click on it to see a larger size:

Afterward we went to a restaurant in Sausalito called Fish.  The food was delicious, and they have a big outdoor patio so the dogs were able to join us.    There’s also a big West Marine store right there- great for buying sailing gloves for tracking!  :-)