Lulu's One Month Vacation With Us

Lulu is a young husky who stays with us at least once a year while her humans travel.  Her stunning appearance gets her a lot of compliments while we are out walking. People love the idea of getting a husky because they are pretty. Many first time dog owners don't realize they are also a lot of work. Huskies are high energy working dogs. As pets, they get bored easily. I was mentally prepared to take her out for two walks everyday and each walk would be at least 30 minutes. If she doesn't get her exercise, she could potentially start tearing things apart or digging big holes in the yard. In other words, she'd need to let out her energy in other ways. Lulu likes to wake me up in the early morning between 4 to 7 a.m.  I took some photos (with Wifi cam) of her pounding on my bedroom door in the morning. It's not exactly how I like to wake up in the morning.

Albany Bulb

Since she does not like Point Isabel, I have been taken her to other trails such as Albany Bulb, Motorcycle Hill Trail, Memorial Grove, etc. The other day I remembered that I have doggy backpacks that I got for Kelsey years ago.  I put them on Lulu we took a fast walk to El Cerrito Recycling Center to drop off some dead batteries and light bulbs. With the packs on her, she started walking in a straight line instead of trying to pull in different directions. We felt that we accomplished something after dropping off those items. When we hiked up Motorcycle Hill Trail, she also carried all of our drinking water.  Both Lulu and Cracus were super thirsty as we reached the top of the hill and couldn't wait to drink up the water.  

Arriving El Cerrito Recycling Center

My little helper, Katy, also tried some urban sledding with Luly using her skateboard. Lulu wasn't quite sure what we wanted her to do, so I had to run with Cracus in front of them for her to chase after us. Once she started running, it was too fast and scary for Katy, so I had to stop running.  We need to teach her some commands for pulling the skateboard.  I am a firm believer that a dog is happiest when he/she has a job to do whether is doing some funny tricks or carrying a few things.

Wildcat Marsh & Landfill Loop Trail

I have been thinking of Crockett Hills Regional Park ever since I was there a couple weekends ago. When I got home from work at 4 today, I thought it would be nice to revisit Crockett.  After getting on the freeway and going at 5 miles per hour speed, I thought I would got to Point Pinole instead just so I could get off the freeway and start hiking.  I got off at the right exit in Pinole and was following the signs to Point Pinole, but suddenly the signs have disappeared. Apparently it was not clearly marked at the end, and I had missed the turn somewhere.  I kept going on Richmond Parkway and ended up at Wildcat Marsh & Landfill Loop Trail.

I parked the car in the empty parking lot and started walking down the trail with Kelsey.  We passed by fields and fields of giant solar panels on one side and marsh on the other side. The trail is all flat and easy to walk.  I would have kept going and make the loop; unfortunately some of the gates were locked up at 5 p.m. I had to turn around as I reached the locked gate. I spent almost an hour just walking in the sun without another person in sight. It was nice to be in the open air and surrounded by birds and plants after a long stuffy day in the office.  Next time I will make sure I know how to get to Point Pinole.