Camping with the Min Pins

The Man of the House had a week of vacation, so we decided to spend a few days camping at McIver Park. In spite of checking out the weather forecast, we ended up camping in the rain; the poor dogs didn't get to take their coats off until a few hours before we came home!

The park has a lot of very nice native plants, a lot of them were in bloom. There are many right in the campsites...pretty neat for such a heavily used campground.

Checker Lily (Fritillaria lanceolata)


Grass Iris (Iris tenax)

Geranium

Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)

Morel Mushroom

The Park has a lot of poison oak. We make sure the dogs don't wander off the trails. Dogs don't generally react to poison oak, however, people can transfer the oils from the dogs fur onto their skin when petting them! Poison Oak changes it's appearance depending on the time of year, the conditions its growing in, and just because it is EVIL...remember: leaflets three, let it be! The UC Davis, has information about controlling Poison Oak on their website. For those who are not bothered by Poison Oak, and enjoy flower shows, consider a road trip to the 26th annual Poison Oak Show!

Poison Oak at McIver Park, 18" tall on May 14th

Poison Oak in a client's garden, at least 6 feet tall on May 18th

McIver Park has a very nice (but unfenced) off-leash dog area; the space is over 4 acres, with a few trees for shade, water, a dog bag dispenser and garbage can. We let Berry and Basil run around on long lines (they can't be trusted completely off-leash in rabbit country!)...they thought they were just out having fun, but really, we were practicing recalls with distractions. Berry did great, a solid recall was one of the first things we taught him as a puppy; Basil needs some work, but he didn't do too poorly...especially once he figured out that when he came to us he'd get a bite of chicken and then be released to go explore.

Berry! Come!

Good Boy!

A Chicken Reward!

Relax, go out and sniff.

Basil needs to work on both his recall, and his reading skills!

Thanks to the Man of the Houses fire building skills, we stayed warm despite the damp weather. Overall, it was a great trip, and the dogs came home EXHAUSTED!