Thursday, December 29, 2011

Fig the mini Schnauzer


Say hello to Fig! He's a 1 year old mini Schnauzer pup. He's super sweet and totally rad on the trail. He's got excellent manners and great recall, and he knows all the tricks already! What a smarty-pup!

His mama treats him like a star, and he's very mellow and well-adjusted. This was his first day with the pack, and he did great! At first, we practiced some basic leash manners, so he got used to me. He was patient waiting his turn to run with the other dogs, but we worked on some recall and basic commands while he earned his freedom. Then, he dragged his leash behind him, and we worked on recall some more, then he showed me how good he could be, and he ran and ran and ran!

Here are some shots of him chasing Maddy and Creme around the big open clearing along the Wildcat Stream trail in Tilden park.




© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com 

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Action Dog! Cheesy Holiday Card


Happy Holidays From the Action Dog! Crew 

Kitsu, Kenai, Jeff, Elana, Drake, Sandy, Action man and Zoe in front ;)
© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Hello and happy Wednesday! I made a slideshow of some recent photos. We have some new additions to the Action Dog hiking pack - Rico, Abby and Rocky. They're all friends already and so they are getting along great with each other and showing the other dogs what fun it is to be small :)



 

Abby is a Japanese Chin dog, she's a rare breed in this area, and we are having a fun time with her! She's got a super sweet personality and loves playing with Asti, the little cavapoo. She's cousins with Rico, a rescued chihuahua mix, who is a little timid and shy at first but he is awesome off-leash and has great recall. And, their other related pup, Rocky - a spunky and snifferific Jack russell terrier.

Also mixed in to this recent bunch of photos, our dedicated and trusty trail pals: Kenai the Aussie, Dakota the running mutt, Amber the sweet rottie mix, Nina the hound dog, Zulu the super soft and happy shorty mutt, and Cosmo the ever-reliable Min-Pin.

Enjoy the latest photo updates from the Oakland and Berkeley hills! We have been enjoying the chill weather here in the East Bay - but we're definitely ready to take on the muddy hikes once the rain starts coming again....


Ciao for now!
Elana of Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking Hiking



© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Lab Tails: Limber Tail Syndrome

Even on a fun-filled weekend, tough dogs and tough people get bumps and bruises! It looks like our pal Sandy has either a sprained tail, or what is commonly called "Limber Tail Syndrome"... After a really fun and long hard two play sessions with her uncle Jeff (Drake's foster-dad) yesterday while the Action Dog humans went motorbiking (and got our fair share of bumps and bruises), today she is having a really hard time settling into a comfortable position. We pulled a little splinter out of her tail but it's still really bothering her, it's sensitive to the touch and she barely got any sleep last night. Poor girl!

Doing some web searching, I found a few articles referencing similar symptoms to those our yellow lab is certainly experiencing, here at the Lab Tails Blog the situation seems like it's the same...

Also I found an article here that talks about a lot of cold-water swimming which can bring it on from over exertion, which is probably a lot of what she got yesterday! Swimming at Pt Isabel and the Albany Bulb beach on a frosty winter morning with a lot of other dogs might just have done the trick. Hopefully she'll bounce back to life soon.... So heartbreaking to see her droopy sad Labrador face not its smiling self! A little love and rest ought to do the trick, otherwise it's off to the vet for us....




© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Beagles saved from a caged life experience freedom for the first time!

A Beagle rescue group gives these little guys a shot at freedom and adoption after living their whole lives at a laboratory in a cage. Now we get to see these lucky dogs take their first steps outside their cage in the grass.
It's always great to see good humans giving dogs the chance they deserve at a happy life! Hopefully these pups will get to really see what it's like to be a dog, and run off-leash in the hills with their pals on awesome adventures.

Remember to always use products that are not tested on animals!


Watch A Bunch Of Dogs Experience Sunlight And Grass For The First Time




Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Videos!

Last week at Dimond Canyon on our adventure hike, Levon the border collie lab mix found a toy to entertain himself.


Sandy our yellow lab demands to be fed after every single hike. Here she is jabbering away as I try to ignore her impolite insistence :) This ActionDog needs a lot of calories to replenish her energy after a good hike with the pack. 






© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy Veteran's Day to all our Canine Service Dogs!

A big thanks from Action Dog! We know that the people who serve this country would not want to do it without their canine counterparts - dogs who work and risk their own lives alongside their fellows to ensure that they've got support and companionship along the way. 




 Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Monday, October 17, 2011

Photo update - dog walking galore! We've been busy....

Dogs have been keeping us busy - they always need to be walked, or as we prefer - action adventured!! ;) Exercising our beasts is always a fulltime gig, we don't take days off from running the pups around because a tired dog is a super happy dog, and we love coming home to pooped out pooches. Here's some of the latest photos from the action pack on the trail and in the parks, and some of the "after"shots!


Muttley! The new kid on the block - he's a neighbor of ours, and loves chasing frisbees!

Cooper! Big wiggly boy, he's a slobber factory and very happy to play!

Jeff soaks up a beautiful weekend day at Ft Funston.

Fibi! Feebsters... Feeberino... Feebinacci!!

Sandy, post-hike frogging.

Titus Maximus - full frontal mid-hike frog extraordinaire. 

Monkee- cool grass is so satisfying!

Kenai - post hike bliss :) 


© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Monday, September 12, 2011

Pet Appreciation Party @ The Bond!

The Original Action Dog!
Action Dog! was in full force attendance this weekend at an awesome event: one of our clients' cool apartment building threw the dogs their very own party at The Bond! The lucky pups were pampered with their own portrait photographer, agility training, treats, a neat raffle, an owner-dog lookalike contest, and lots of love.

Our girl Sandy donned her alter-ego super costume and was the perfect Action Dog! mascot. Our buddies Juan and Diego showed everyone how much fun it is to be in our pack too. Also in attendance were the nice folks from the service A Lucky Dog and Lori from Pawderosa Pet Care showing off her really neat tool Off Doggy! to help train those beasts from jumping up.


Also representing the network of great East Bay pet care providers was the Montclair Holistic Veterinary Clinic up on Piedmont. I'm sure all our dogs would love to take a dip in their puppy hot tub!


We were really grateful to have been invited to the exclusive puppy party at the Bond. Congratulations to Asti for winning the contest for best owner lookalike, and thanks to Sheila for the Mimosas! Now off to the hills for more playing :)

Diego shows us how to hang on!



The Boyz!

© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Hey from the hills!

Hey from Oakland! It's been a while since we've posted an update, and our dog lives have sure been busy. We've signed up a couple new clients lately and have gotten to know the now veteran pack dogs a bit better every day. Frenchies Molly & Titus have come a long ways with us, sometimes literally! Here's a great shot of Titus being himself, stop drop and frog on Curran trail in Tilden.

Frog butt.
And we said goodbye to a couple of really great packmasters this week, Chica moved away to Sacramento with her mom and we'll miss her, but hopefully get a visit now and then. Here's a shot of her lolling around on the ground with Kenai, Quinn, Diego & Asti during a quick dirt break on the Claremont fire trail in Berkeley.

What do you think this is, Relax-tion Dog!?
Shoola! We'll miss you!
Shoola made a move to bigger and better things last week too, she had a long and happy life and we'll miss her smiling face and bounding energy on our hikes, but we know she's running around doing great things on her next big adventure.

Zoe, Diego & Asti


© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

MacDonald trail hike

Cosmo!
 Here's some awesome shots of the action dog pack today, we hiked at MacDonald trail off of the Parkridge Staging Area in Anthony Chabot Regional Park in the north Oakland hills. 

It's a fantastic trail for days like today - with trusty pack veterans Monkee and Kenai, and the newbs Reina & Rochit and Cosmo, we hiked a good way in since it was the last walk of the day and we didn't have any time restrictions. 

It's a good sloped trail, but nicely shaded and covered most of the way with lots of good spots to take shade breaks when it's hot out. Everyone met all the other dogs on the trail very politely; it was pretty popular with other dog walkers and they got to meet lots of waggers on their adventure.


Kitsu
Kenai chills
Reina



Group pose!

Monkee


Rochit blowing bubbles
Rochit taunting Monkee
Cosmo so proper!


© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Doodle Madness!

Mulligan and Sophie - two of our doodle mixes were having a blast together today at Leona Canyon in Oakland. I was able to get a minute of it on video - check their agility! Sophie goes up, Mulligan ducks under, and this went on the whole hike! Amber and Drake tried to get in on it too, but the doodle dogs were just too fast!



 
© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Thursday, June 16, 2011

When the weather gets hot, the dogs get thirsty....

Well this spring sure took a turn for the worst! Or best, depending on how you look at it :) Rather, Summer's here, finally! Jeff and Elana have been wearing shorts, lathering up on sunscreen, wearing hats to shield our faces and carrying plenty of water to quench our thirst. But what do we do to ensure that our four-legged friends are also protected from the heat, when the sun bears down on us all day?

Elana with Zoe, Oskar, Monkee, Sandy & Kenai

Well, Sandy wears the saddle bags, and since she's a Labrador, good for working and eager to please, she's happy to bear the weight to make sure that all her dog friends are healthy. We take a lot of breaks in the shade and dish out the hydration, where all the guys get a good dose of digging and chasing after butterflies while everyone drinks their fill.

Sandy, after a good swim at Lake Anza
Or, we hike to someplace with lots of fresh water, like our favorite swimming hole up at Lake Anza, in Tilden. Here, the big swimmers can launch themselves into the cool water, swim after balls and bask in the tree shade.

Monkee and Sam rolling around in the shade

Every chance they get, Monkee and Sam tear around in the dry duff from the Redwoods or Oak trees up near Redwood Bowl in the East Bay hills.
Kitsu and the pack at Pt.Isabel


© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Friday, June 3, 2011

Friday hikes with Action Dog!

Sandy and Bella, digging for critters!  

     Here are some shots from our hikes on Friday - we went up to the Grass Valley trail heads in Anthony Chabot park with the first group, and to Pt Isabel later in the day. It was cool and moist from the rains, but that doesn't deter us from having a ball!

The dogs were digging fools, on the critter hunt on the trails, and the new additions to the pack Angus and Bella got along great with the Action veterans!

At Pt. Isabel, new kids on the block Cooper and Duke ran and ran, and Cooper and Kenai seemed to know that they were painted by the same artist :)
Jillian and Brannagh
Mulligan, Brannagh, Sam and Maddy
Go Cooper!!

Kenai, with Cooper, Monkee and Duke
Drake, Remy and Poa

Duke!
Kenai, Bugsy, Cooper & Duke re-hydrating after a good romp

Bella, Angus in his "stop, drop n' chill" mode

Digging for critters!

© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com




the pack at Pt. Isabel

Yesterday we went to Point Isabel dog park in the morning, where we met up with a lot of great dogs!

Taking a dip at Pt. Isabel


© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day walk in Oakland with the Action Dog! Pack

Bugsy meets Sophie, with Sam on her heels

Great day on the trails! It was just a little breezy, a lot dusty and extremely gorgeous... We ran into a handful of people on the trails enjoying their day off, including a huge great dane who dwarfed everyone, a horse with his own dogs leading the way, and everyone had a great time, including the new girl Jillian! Here are some shots of everyone rambling along West Ridge trail today. 


Sammy wrestles with Brannagh and Sophie

Bugsy!
Brannagh and Sam getting dirty ;) 

Beautiful day!

Jillian watches the crazy kids play.
Incoming!!

Brannagh and Sam going at it... Fun, fun!

Sammy smile :)
Jillian checks in after a great hike in the hills.




© Action Dog! East Bay Dog Walking ~ Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda www.goactiondog.com
Jeff Winfrey  ~ goactiondog@gmail.com