this week in snoots

and then there were two

After hosting two silkens in our home for the past two weeks, we had to bid them farewell last night. Although we will miss being woken up at 5 am, being snooted out of the blue, and having tiny paws using us as a standing platform, it's nice to be back to normal. The saddest part is that all the silkens were really starting to get into a routine together—they were snoot jousting and bodyslamming each other like a bunch of noodles in boiling water. Abby is just grateful that she's back to only having to contend with one pair of thin lips instead of three. Below is an example of the struggles Abby went through trying to be the fun police for three dogs instead of one:

As a pick-me-up after sharing their house for the past two weeks, we signed the girls up for a fun run lure coursing event at a local humane society. Abby literally lives, breathes, and dreams of lure coursing; it’s one of the few things that make her cry with joy instead of sadness. When we showed up, we could barely contain the girls because they were so eager to get on the field. The funniest part about lure coursing is that Cleo acts like she CANNOT WAIT to get out there, but once on the field, she usually says, “immediately no, I’ve seen what I needed to see,” and takes a sharp turn right off the path. She's more of a hunter/stalker/sprinter than a long-distance chaser. After one lap, she gets the point and wonders why we expect her to run in circles like a crazy person. This is probably because we have done a few Fast CATs with her, and I feel like once she gets past the straightaway, she thinks it should be done. Abby, on the other hand, would run herself into the ground and through the earth’s core chasing that plastic bag if we let her. There is nothing in life she is more obsessed with and confused by—does she love that bag, does she absolutely hate it? We will never know for sure, but the dedication is there. I will say Abby has definitely slowed down over the years, which is very sad to see, but her enthusiasm for it never diminishes. We did one solo run each and then a combined run; see below (I did not get Abby’s solo run because I was holding Cleo back from trying to crawl through a crack in the fence so she could run too and steal all of Abby’s glory):

Since we wanted to make sure Abby was in tip-top shape for lure coursing, I took Cleo on a few solo hikes during the week without Abby (don’t come for me). Cleo and I went on a long hike together on a segment of the Ice Age Trail, and on a different day, we did a little hidden loop near our house to get our steps and sniffs in. Cleo is the perfect little hiking buddy; she is not only travel-sized but also extremely adaptable to whatever activity I bring her along for.

Cleo’s solo adventures :)

Excited for a chill weekend that will most definitely involve Abby recovering from over doing it at lure coursing. More adventures to come next week!