When we walk around the pasture he gets to run free and really gets a good work-out. The grass in the lower part of the pasture is over my head - there are several paths that our renters have beaten through the grass by driving their ATV around the pasture (they did this so the horse would use all of the pasture - the tall grass intimidated her - she's from Eastern Oregon where the grass doesn't get that tall).
Max and Lucy sharing a snack of apples.
We walk down to the bottom of the pasture and through the trees over to the creek where there is a beaver slide down to the water. Max likes to run down the slide and get a drink of water - he needs it by this time since he's RUN about 10 miles. He runs at top speed - and has to leap in the air periodically to see over the grass to where we are. When we change directions or take a different path, I blow my whistle to let him know which way we are going. He covers at least 5 miles for every mile we walk!
The path is narrow - we walk single-file. Max feels the need to be the lead dog. So, when we change direction he has to run to catch up. And this puts him in line behind me. He will walk on my feet until I move aside to let him get by. Then He'll follow Don until we get to a wide spot and he can rush back out to the lead position. I don't know why he doesn't just leap over the grass at the side of the path and go around us - he does that when he wants to cut across the pasture.
Max found a gopher the other night. It was in the path for some unknown reason. Don almost stepped on it and stopped to see what it was. Then he called Max over and let him kill it. We REALLY don't like gophers. Max really does like them. They are fun toys. He carried it around with him the rest of our walk - except for the times he dropped it and tried to get it to run. Dead gophers don't run - did you know that? Max didn't either - he kept hoping.
Gophers aren't as fun as moles - moles have nice soft fur and are just the right size for a dog to carry around and play with. Don has several mole traps set around the yard and Max always has to help him when a mole is caught - running around with the dead mole in his mouth is his job. We have to wait until Max is involved with something else before getting rid of the mole - he has a habit of tracking them down when Don throws them away and bringing them back home. I guess he thinks he's part bloodhound.
Max discovered moles for the first time last year. He happened to be with Don when he checked the mole traps in our paths. When Don set the dead mole on the ground so he could re-set the trap, Max picked it up and carried it around for hours. We finally decided that it was time to get rid of the corpse. I distracted Max with "treats" at the front door while Don took the body down the path to the pasture, out the gate and along the creek down toward the swamp. When he figured he was far enough from the house (and Max) he threw it out into the pasture grass - not just a short toss, mind you. He really heaved the critter as far as he could throw it.
Then he returned to the house. As soon as Max realized that there were no more goodies to eat, he looked around for his new toy. Not finding it on the front step, he back-tracked Don until he arrived at the place where Don had stopped to toss the mole away. We watched him do this and one of us remarked that it would be funny if he found it.
He did.
He stood at the end of Don's trail for awhile, with nose in the air, sniffing. Then he headed into the tall grass and zig-zagged until he found the poor, wet corpse.
We decided he'd earned the right to carry the darn thing around for the rest of the day. When it was dinner time for Max we removed the mole from his dog house and took it down to the "dump" and gave it a decent burial.
