[SeattleDoodle]

Quin discovered his inner nature-dog this past weekend. We car-camped in a National Forest campground (on the Mountain Loop Road in the North Cascades) Saturday and then did a short / easy backpacking trip the next day / night. (We pick our trips from Best Hikes with Children in Western Washington and only do those rated "easy" so far - our 3.5-year-old daughter loves backpacking … so we don't want to spoil it for her by making it too hard too fast.) We also did a day-hike to the Big Four Ice Caves. Quinnie love, love, LOVED playing in the snow. And he was so entertaining - bounding around! I should've sold tickets - he got so much attention. :wink:

He did great hiking - crossed streams on wooden planks as if he'd been born to it. We brought a long lead with us and just set him up with a bully stick and he was pretty happy watching us go about the business of setting up camp, cooking, etc. He slept in the tent with us - which he loved, of course. On the second night we camped by a river on the Monte Cristo Road hike. The next morning I was hanging out on a sandbar reading and my husband and daughter were exploring upriver a bit. Quin was hesitant to cross to where I was, but I lured him with a treat … and then it was like something clicked and he thought "well, if I can do that then I can do ANYTHING!" and he became crazy-running-jumping-digging-river dog. It was hilarious! He ran back and forth over & through the streams, tossed sticks in the air, and dug dug dug in the sand. And to think he is an urbane city boy from Seattle. You'd never have known it! He slept really well that night!

Then last night, he graduated from "Puppy 1." He performed the trick that I taught him for homework - shaking paws (it took him all of 10 minutes to learn - with a clicker and yummy treats). I think we'll do "Puppy 2" since he seems to really enjoy the classes.

Will post photos ASAP of the camping trip.

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Here are a few photos:

 

[Jorja'smom]

Sounds like Quin will be a wonderful camping and hiking companion.

You drove by so close to my house! We live just south of Lake Stevens. We've hiked the Big Four ice caves many times. That's a great hike and my husband loves to ride his bike up to Monte Cristo.

We use to do so many hikes with our kids when they were small. It was a cheap and great way to spend the day. We always took our dog with us too. We'll have to take Jorja on some hikes. She'll love them too.

Can't wait to see pictures of Quin's adventure!

Just curious what word you say to get Quin to shake paws. I've taught my dogs to "shake" when they are wet especially after a bath so I need to come up with a different word to shake paws. Maybe just "paw".

 

[SeattleDoodle]

Bumping up so you all can see the photos I just added. The problem with photographing Quinnie is that sometimes you just see a pile of black curly fur. Which end is which? For example: bedtime stoy shot. Oh well. :wink:

 

[Jorja'smom]

Looks like Quin and family had a fantastic time! It's beautiful up there. The one really big ice cave was way over on the far right. It took some climbing over a lot of rocks to get to it but it was really cool. The doggies sure get dirty though, don't they?

 

[tojak]

Wow, that Quinn has a great life...I think I want to be a doodle in my next life.... :?