The Day started out a bit rough. As we tried to get Samantha and Freya out for a walk before the long ride, Valkrys and G'kar snuck out and took off running down the road. The two old dogs on the loose is not a good thing, as neither of them has had to deal with traffic. So, I gave James the leash for Samantha and went off after them. No sooner had I gone a hundred feet from them then Samantha and Freya got in to it. Instead of chasing G'kar and Valkrys I was forced to turn and deal with the fight. Not having a lot of time, I took a risk and grabbed Samantha by the collar and pulled her back from Freya keeping her on two feet and not four. A very risky move, and something that should never be done by those that do not know where a dog can turn and bite you thinking you are another dog. I cannot stress enough that this is something most people should never attempt to do to break up a dog fight, and very risky. The best method is water, a hose, or a bucket would do fine. The only reason I attempted it was one, my son was at risk, being in the middle with both leashes and not knowing what to do, and two, I had to break it up fast and get the two loose dogs. Fortunately Freya cooperated and did not lunge back at Samantha, and I was able to put an end to the fight immediately and prevent more than minor scratches to both dogs.
Hearing the commotion, my husband came out and I handed him Samantha's leash with instructions to take her inside as she would not be going with us. Annoyed at her for starting the fight, I was not about to take her and risk not only another fight with Freya, but with a strange dog. I'm not sure what got in to her, but decided it wasn't worth the risk.
With that crisis averted, I ran after the old dogs. Fortunately being old dogs, they quickly tired of running, and lazily trotted down the road, just happy to be free for a short time. I caught up with them at the bridge and was able to get Valkrys to come to me and G'kar turned around and trotting back towards the house. James intercepted G'kar and we were able to put both dogs in to the back yard. Then I went and got Yukon. He's a big sweetheart, and in all the time my boy G'kar was being mean and growling at him, he never once growled back, simply wagged his tail and stood still. He has also been friendly with the neighbor dogs, and didn't have any issues socializing. So, he became the new choice to go.
<-Yukon drinks from the collapsible bowl after a long hike. With the choices made, James walked Yukon and Freya while I loaded the truck with the things we were taking, 2.5 gallons of water, backpack with people and dog snacks, 2 frozen powerade drinks, baggies for poop, collapsible bowl, and directions to the event. It took us about fifty minutes to reach Nicholasville, and we had hoped there would be signs to the event when we got there as the directions weren't very specific. No signs... We drove towards the shelter and the dog park, couldn't find the shelter, but did find the dog park. Since it had been a long ride, we walked the dogs in the park so they could relieve themselves, then went looking again. We stopped a nice lady on the street walking a chin (the dog, not the facial feature, although that would have been an odd sight) and asked if she knew where the event was. Drawing a blank, I asked if she knew where Camp Nelson was. That she seemed to know was south of town, so we headed back to the highway south. We reached the event about twenty minutes late, seeing only a "Caution Runners on Road" sign as our only clue. Creeping down the road, not wanting to come up on any runners or dogs on the road, we got to the event and found a parking spot. Since it was a bit late for the race, we donated to the event and decided to go hiking around the trails. In appreciation of our donation, James got a 2XL and I got an XL shirt and we each got a packet with information and greenie treats for the dogs. For ease of control, James connected his leash to Freya's harness and I took the 10' horse lead and connected it to Yukon's harness and the other end to my backpack. I then connected my leash to his collar, and we hiked back through the monuments.
<- The old fort 
<- 
Camp Nelson Graveyard marker.<- Freya chews a greenie snack
It was about a 2 mile hike through the green fields of horse country. Very pretty, and it was about seventy-three degrees, the dogs were loving it. We had a great time, and decided to rest in the shade of a building, water the dogs and take turns at the port a john.
We got a lot of nice compliments, for our pups and they behaved themselves quite well. On the way back, we stopped by McDonalds and picked up forty nuggets which we shared with our good dogs. They were well content and sleeping contentedly for most of the way home.
Later my huband wanted to go for a drive, so more to come for Saturday once I get the photos, as you won't want to miss them.
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