What a good day

[Chris]

Thought I would share my great day with the dogs. We took them hiking in the bush which in the past has always been a worry with Ty as there are a lot of Sika deer around and he's run off before.

Well today's walk was the BEST, Ty was an angel I couldn't have asked anything more from him. There was the normal run around making contact with everyone as we headed off, then as soon as we hit the track he fell in beside me. A few times he started to wind deer so I grabbed a stick and did some tug and got a 'sort of' bark from him. We then tramped for about an hour in a mix of rain and hail and a little sun (all seasons in one day today) but it was nice walking. We then got into the open beech forest and all the beautiful streams, in the past this is the area Ty starts heading off exploring but he was great and stayed with us the whole time. At one time he got quite excited about some smell so I grabbed the stick and said 'ready' and he was all attention, we had a wonderful game of fetch/tug by the most beautiful stream, also then we got a full deep bark out of him (I'm sure that told the deer Ty was around ). We then went up to what I call 'our' waterfall, lots of lovely memories up there walking with Zeke and Bear years ago, this time it was Ty's turn. We stopped by a big fallen tree for lunch and still Ty just wanted nothing more than to play tug and fetch, he was having a great time leaping up on the tree, best 'box' he's ever had.

Coming back was a bit slow as Zeke's coming up 11 now and not as agile as he used to be but again Ty just trotted beside me the whole way. What a fantastic day and thank you NDT, a year ago it would have been all stress with Ty running off or me trying to go through the bush with him on lead.

Hopefully when the camera dries out I'll see if I got some good photos and also some video footage of Ty tugging and barking in the prettiest bit of bush I know.

I now have two VERY tired pups

[Sang]

Thanks for sharing Chris. Amazing progress you and Ty have had. You rule

[donnieo]

Congrats Chris. You should be proud. I get a lot of inspiration from your determination.

[Chris]

Thanks guys, it's all so worth it when you get a great day like we did yesterday.

What it's also shown me how in touch with nature our dogs are, not one reactive behavior from Ty all day until we got back to work then he had to react to the lawnmower by the fence it was a pretty weak effort and a quick tug settled him but it was like he was showing me "See I don't handle it out here in the modern world but I'm OK the bush" if only it was that easy

[Chris]

I made up a little movie of us playing with Ty in the bush, keep in mind a year ago he would have been running off after deer and us spending the whole time fretting about him. Oh the difference this year, all he wanted to do was play and be with usl.

YouTube - Ty in the Mangaroa Hunting Block