Sun Dog Week Adventures – This week we saw a really neat phenomenon – a sun dog. We don’t see them much where we live so since it is a rare thing, we decided this week would be our sun dog week!
Sun Dog Week Adventures!! 4/22/2023 - 4/28/2023
Saturday - 4/22/2023 - Isla's fear returns
We left for our walk this morning and Isla was immediately concerned that it would be scary with the noises she hates. At first, I was able to convince her to continue. But we did not get extremely far and then we heard loud booms in the distance. Not surprisingly, she immediately wanted to turn around and go home. After trying to convince her everything was fine and the world was not ending, we ended up going back home to drop her off as she did not believe me.
Rex and I then made our way out to go on our walk. Of course, once I was walking with just Rex, the loud booms had subsided. At that point, we decided to turn around and get her and have her try one more time. If we made it home without hearing any booms, we would see if she wanted to try and join us. Fortunately, we did not hear anything, and she was able to join us on our walk.
Sunday - 4/23/2023 - Isla's fear continues and a sun dog!
This morning started off the same way. Isla wanted nothing to do with going on our walk as she heard the loud booms again. Despite my best efforts to convince her that it was okay, she did not believe me and thought the world would end if she stayed out. So, she ended up staying home. And, unlike yesterday when the booms stopped quickly, they did not stop right away today. So, Rex and I continued our adventure without her.
For the most part, our walk was uneventful. We decided to venture down coyote way. Although we did not run into any coyotes. Lately we have not seen them out, it has been at least 2 weeks now since we have seen or heard them.
But towards the end of our walk, we looked up towards the sun, and there was a beautiful sun dog. It seemed a little odd as it was not cold and normally these are associated with colder areas. Occasionally you can see them even in an area that has snow or ice or cold. It was beautiful, so Rex and I decided to take a break and enjoy the beauty of it.
After that we headed home, as I did want to get Isla out on her own for a short walk so I could convince her that everything was okay. And I was able to get her out, we walked around the block and to our neighborhood park and back home. Despite her initial concerns, we made it back home and she got to enjoy her shortened walk.
Thursday 4/27/2023 - Low Bunny Counts & a Surprise
Today was a super low bunny count day – only two bunnies, plus a road runner. Not sure where all the bunnies were hiding!
But we did have a big discovery – we think it was a rattlesnake! Isla was walking on a curb between a rocky area and a yard – beaming it as we call it. She was about a foot away from the next bush and suddenly stopped and jumped back from it. She then made a point to walk around it as far away from it as she could get while still watching it. This was exactly how she acted to the snake at rattlesnake aversion training.
Obviously at that point, I did not want to get too close. And I also did not want to have the dogs get any closer. So, I took pictures of the bush/area, that way when we got home, I could look closer. After I took the pictures we continued our walk.
I have posted the pictures I took here. There are two or three places it was most likely hiding. Although I can’t find a snake in the picture and did not see one when we were there, I am sure there was a snake. Isla has never acted like this in the past, except when we were at rattlesnake aversion training. I wasn’t sure how they would react if we actually encountered one. As this was our first encounter, I was happy to see her not want to be anywhere near where she thought it was.
