Saturday brought a new kind of adventure for Luna. Thanks to a wonderful friend (Bosley’s mom), who volunteered to drive us, we were able to join the recently created Pittie Trails group on a walk. You can find more info about them on their facebook page and recap of the first walk on a blog post.
Basically it’s a local group of Pit Bull/Mixes owners who get together to go on a structured pack walk. You may be wondering why on earth we joined in with a Vizsla and a Schnauzer/poodle mix… neither one of which are even remotely close to containing any Pit Bull in them. Basically I went to support the whole idea of these walks (and they are nice enough to be open to non pit bull dogs too). If you read the blog post you will see that they actually have rules, it is not just a big free-for all for pittie lovers. These walks require you only walk one dog per person, keep at least 5 feet between you and all other dogs, and do not let them approach/say hello to each other even if they know eachother. What this allows is a group of dogs from all walks of life to go on a walk together with minimal pressure on the dogs in training and their owners. It allows blind dogs, half blind dogs, leash reactive dogs, shy dogs, and confident dogs to travel together in a structured way. Honestly we need more groups like this out there, both to promote the breed as a good stable breed when in the right hands, as well as to offer the opportunity for growth for those that need a little work.
Anyhow we had wonderful 50 degree weather that morning, perfect for a good hour and a half long walk through the woods and fields. Here are a couple photos I managed to snap while walking with Luna.
I put Luna’s little backpack on, in hopes of it wearing her out a little more. This is honestly a bit of a joke because the pockets are not big enough for much of a water bottle, but it’s the thought that counts.
So most of the photos look like this, as I was trying to prevent a traffic jam and keep moving. And since I did not want to eat dirt I did not chance walking backwards with her but once, and then almost ate dirt because of a hidden rock.
I did stop once to capture these two
But then it was back on the move
We had a group of about 8-10 dogs I think (I did not count)… and some of them were dogs I had known about from blogs
Like Lily the wonder dog… and her great backpack… and I do believe Ginger was there too from another blog, but I am not for sure. You see keeping 5 feet between people does not allow for much talking, so I still need to get to know everyone. In anycase it was a great morning walk, and we appreciate Athena’s owners for being our map/companions for our second loop around after everyone left. After Luna got to run a bit in the bird field that evening she was happy to lay around the rest of the evening.
Thank you for having us Pittie Trails! And great work everyone! I hope to make another walk soon
Vizsla Inspiration 
This is a neat concept. Sounds like a fantastic way to enjoy a beautiful day and let a group of dogs enjoy it too. BTW – Luna’s backpack is really cool!
Thanks, it was a lovely day. Her backpack is really nothing fancy, I think it is the 20 dollar ones that PetEdge sells, but I do think she notices when I put it on her, kinda like her working vest. The attitude changes a bit, plus then she can carry some of the treats and poop bags. I like to think it is mentally stimulating her more lol.
I love that idea and you are right, we need more groups like this!!
BTW: Tag your it. 🙂 http://jodistone.wordpress.com/
We do! And thanks for the tag, I plan to actually respond to this tag and a recent award for once. I am horrible at keeping up with them.
That is a really good idea for a group. I like the rules. They could even work for Chessies.
They could indeed! Really they would work for any dog, and would be good for any dog and owner. Which is why I just had to support something like this. Hopefully we will continue to grow and more local groups are created for this purpose.
i’m so jealous that you have a group like this in your area. there are many meet-up-type things for small dogs around Long Island, but there’s really nothing for pitties unless you go to the city, which isn’t really that doable for us. i love the rules of this group and i love that they welcome leash-reactive dogs. it’s so hard to show your dog that it’s possible to be calm on a leash around other dogs when you don’t have the opportunity to do that anywhere other than on the street–which is a terrible place for it.
thanks for sharing and thanks for supporting pitties!