Running in the Rockies

AM: 5 with pups on trails in ~12:47 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500', 800' gain/loss. Legs felt a little heavy this morning, especially on the uphill sections. Probably just some fatigue from the longer day yesterday (I don't deal well with less than 8 hrs of sleep per night). It was a beautiful morning though with the snow melting off the trees in the morning sunlight. In the deeper parts of the forest it felt a little like the trees were crying on us and in the open sunlit sections it was a brilliant display of sparkling gems falling. Really very pretty. There was not a cloud in the sky, so the views of the snow capped mountains against the brilliant blue was also a nice touch to the morning run.

The negative aspect of the run occurred on our way back when we met a gentleman and his rather large australian shepherd and the little one refused to come back when called. My older dog is really very nice and submissive to almost all dogs he meets on the trails. He used to get excited (and he still does somewhat) and go running up to strange dogs and I was always more worried about him than the other dog or person. We finally got him trained so that when we call him, he comes back 99% of the time even if there are other dogs on the trail. The little one is a bit more aggressive though. She barks like crazy with all her hair standing up, it's less of  'yay! another dog for me to play with' and more of 'I am really not happy to see you on this trail and I will protect my person if I need too' .. So this is no good. There is always the possibility of meeting other people and dogs on the trails near our house and her behavior this morning was unacceptable. At any rate, we let the dogs meet (because she was NOT coming back to me anyways) and the other dog was growling at her (I would too- she was being super annoying) and I managed to grab her and put her leash on. I apologized to the man and he seemed to understand that she is just a dumb puppy. I kept her on the leash the entire way back home, which was just as painful for me as it was for her because she is a handful on the leash as well. But, I think it is going to be necessary for the next few months until she learns to come back when called. It is probably a good thing to start getting her used to running with me on the leash anyways.