Day Six: Okay, Who Pissed Off God?

Favorite DogGear: Big Anges's little Agnes sleeping bag. Being a boxer and a pit bull, I was worried the girls would get cold out in the woods. I looked for a decent dog bed for them, but couldn't find anything. So I bought a child's sleeping bag. The Little Agnes I got is good to 15 degrees F, and the perfect size for two 50lb dogs who like each other. Between their sleeping bags and their Chilly Dog coats, the girls stayed nice and toasty all week!

Close Encounters on the Wild Side: ticks, mosquitoes, and slugs, oh my. 

It's raining. Not the gentle, easy rain rain we've come to know and tolerate, but pouring, punishment-of-god rain. I'm just glad I upgraded my tent before this trip. And applied about ten pounds of seam sealer. Eesh. 

But hey - at least my boots are dry. 

Between the rain and my fat old lady knees, we decided to hunker down and lay low for a day. This means we're spending the day at probably the homeliest campsite I think I've ever seen in the BWCA. It's tiny and over grown and right on the trail and none of that really matters because we're all stuck in our tents hiding from the wrath of the gods anyway. 

I don't know that I can write a whole other entry about what it's like to be stuck in a tent in the rain, so instead I'll touch on some of the commands that have been useful for the girls to know on out trip. 

Let's Go - Our general let's move out cue. It means walk in front of me at a normal pace with a loose leash. 

Easy - Slow down to the pace of a snail so that I can get around, down, over, or under what ever obstacle is in the way. Or, if you're the girls, it means "slow down to the pace of a snail for no reason until mom tell us we can go again."

Wait - At home, this is my general "stop moving until I release you" cue. Up here, it's been getting quite the work out. It's been particularly useful for getting over fallen trees on the trail. The girls have to jump over these, but if they jump while I'm still at the starting line, they get yanked around by the leash. So now I tell the girls to wait, stagger, trip, or fall over the dead fall, and then release the girls to jump over it. Rubi and Piper have gotten so good that they don't really need me to cue the wait anymore: the stop in front of any dead fall they'll need to jump over and look back as if to say, "hurry up, lady, you're holding us back." The tree has become their cue to wait. Good girls!

Move - This is my "get out of my way fast before I fall on you" command. The girls know what "move" means because it's what I say right before I fall on them. They're smart girls. 

Recall - I haven't had to use it, but I'm sure it's important. The last thing I want is one of my girls lost in these woods. 

The rain finally lets up enough that we can refill our water bottles and -ahem, use the facilities. I bring my camera because what's a journal post without a few pictures? We may be stuck at the saddest little campsite in the Boundary Waters, but, well, there really aren't any ugly places in the BWCA. 

Rose Lake cliffs, just down the trail from our campsite.

View from the latrine.

View inside my tent. :)