Hiked three hours of the Ice Age trail with Roxie today. She did an excellent job, pulling me up hills and helping to keep me from falling on the down slopes and where there was ice. I LOVE my Stillwater ring harness. It's great for hiking.
I wish we could have done a longer hike, but Roxie's not used to pulling consistently for that long in that kind of situation just yet, after our long winter break so I had to turn back. Also, we left later than I'd hoped and I've never hiked any portion of it, so didn't want to get lost.
Another bonus- came across four off-leash dogs (the trail said dogs had to be leashed, but then we saw a sign later on that it's only after April 15th) but none tried to eat Roxie. That is incredibly uncommon, to come across FOUR dogs that're all friendly.
Anyways. New goal for me and Roxie. See exactly how far we can hike that trail in a day. As well as to get both of us over our fears of seeing loose dogs. Roxie's not super reactive, she just gets stiff and is always ready for action, not moving until the other dog is far from her sight. I... just hold my dog (as there is NO moving her, except for picking her up and that can encourage a dog to attack us both, giving me no way to really protect either of us), ready to keep her safe from any action. andthenIshakeforawhileafterwards.
All in all, good progress. I <3 hiking with my dog.