[Merciel]

We're in Nantucket for a couple of weeks, vacationing with the mutt monsters. They like it here -- there are tons of good adventures to have on the island if you're a dog.

Arrival in town:

Nerdpuppy practicing his jump outside our cottage:

Out on the "Serengeti":

Tom Nevers Beach:

Milestone Bog trailhead:

Milestone Loop Trail:

Windswept Bog:

Altar Rock (detour off the main trail):

 

[JakodaCD OA]

gorgeous pictures, it's so beautiful up there!

 

[Bridget]

Your dogs are really pretty! Looks like they are having a great time. I wish I could go on vacation with my dogs.

 

[Merciel]

Thanks!

We take our dogs vacationing whenever possible, but this is our favorite destination.

On Friday we did Shawkemo Hills:

...and yesterday we went out to the Middle Moors, which were amazing. We were out there until well after nightfall, and we only did maybe a quarter to a third of the trails. So many incredible views and terrain changes -- and, of course, bunnies!!

Dog Mob sprang seven or eight bunnies on that hike. I had been a little nervous about how Crookytail would handle it -- as I've mentioned elsewhere on the board, he had some major recall problems during our previous vacation and although we'd been working on it in the interval, this was going to be our first real trial by fire -- but he was fine. No issues whatsoever, recalled flawlessly even with bunnies abounding.

 

[LifeofRiley]

Gorgeous! It looks like you and the "dog mob" are having a great vacation! Enjoy the rest of your time there and post more pics and videos when you get a chance! : )

 

[doggiedad]

that must have been a blast for you, your family and the dogs.
i just said to my GF "babe, lets vacation in Nantucket next year".
she said "i'll be happy to". i'm sure we'll like it and i'm sure our dog
will like it. nice pics.

 

[Merciel]

It is a magical island that allows me to combine my two favorite things: going on long walks with Dog Mob and racking up ridiculous checks at dinner.

Seriously though, if you do decide to go and haven't been before, feel free to shoot me a pm and I will happily blather on about what little I know on doing Nantucket with dogs. We usually come for the last two weeks in July -- it's a nice little mini-lull in the high season right before the biggest crowds hit in August.

Yesterday we did Sanford Farm, a very popular walk that is always crowded with joggers, families out strolling, and other dogs in the easier/more accessible portions of the walk. I left this particular walk until fairly late in our trip because, like the bunnies in the Middle Moors, I thought it might present some challenges for Crookytail. He's been a dog bully in the past and I didn't want to try him at Sanford Farm until I was confident he could handle it.

But once again Crooky gave me a pleasant surprise and did absolutely fine, even with the little dogs. It's nice when work pays off.

This Weimaraner followed us around for probably 15-20 minutes, during which its actual people were nowhere to be seen.

We also ran into a couple of Dobermans, a French Bulldog, and a pair of Labs out jogging with their owner. No other mutts besides Dog Mob, which is usually how it goes around here.

Madaket in the background:

Just some scenery.

 

[Shade]

Wow, I love the photos of them on the hill with the sunset. It looks gorgeous there and all are having a good time!

 

[Merciel]

Yesterday was one of those incredible dreamlike gray foggy days on the island. Once again, I spent some time wishing I had a better camera (but, then, when I do have a better camera, I am too incompetent to use it correctly, so the pocket-sized point-and-shoot will remain my life for a while yet).

We took Dog Mob out to Gibbs Pond. Never saw another dog or person the entire walk. The dogs did spring two deer and a bunch of rabbits (including one mother-and-baby pair), and I learned that I can, at least sometimes, recall both of them off a deer. So that was nice.

The dogs were also very patient with letting me pose them for all these pics. I love my little boogers.

 

[Gharrissc]

Beautiful photos, the Weim looked like he had fun anyway.

 

[Merciel]

The Weim definitely had fun.

Another visit to Tom Nevers Beach:

In the cottage, being tormented by a squirrel. This squirrel taunted them for over an hour. It would run right up to the other side of those glass panes and all but make faces at them going "NEENER NEENER." Then it would scamper up the bird feeder and do somersaults in slow motion. Drove the dogs insane.

Waiting to go on another adventure:

Caught in a torrential downpour. We got hit with the tail end of a dissipating tropical storm, which resulted in heavy winds one day and heavy rains the next. Although the mutt monster HATE rain at home, they weren't bothered by it one bit on vacation. They were perfectly happy to stand in an ankle-deep river of mud, with rain pelting them so hard in the face that neither of them could even open their eyes, and hold Stand-Stays until I was satisfied with taking pictures and released them to run off again.

It was p. funny and (although I didn't really intend it that way) good proofing. I'm proud of them for being so patient with me.

Perched on a picnic table, for no better reason than it's been a meme going around my Facebook feed and I wanted to see if Dog Mob would do it. I'd never asked them to do the table Sit (or Down) before, and Crooky's always been a total failure at platform work, but they both jumped right up there with very little coaxing.

Cooling off on a hike:

On the last walk of our last day there, we ran across a group of four big deer, including a six-point buck (which is pretty big for Nantucket). My camera is no good at long range, but you can just barely make out three of the four deer as little blobs near the top of the grass line. The fourth one is hidden behind a bush in this shot.

About a second after I took that picture, the dogs saw the deer and took off after them. I wish to god I'd been taping it, because when I called them off the deer, Pongu gave me one of the most BEAUTIFUL stop-on-a-dime, flip-in-the-air recalls I've ever seen, and came running straight back to me as fast as he'd been chasing the deer a split second earlier. And I am probably never going to get another chance to catch something like that on camera. ARGH.

Crookytail, however, showed the limits of his recall and did not come back until after he'd lost the deer. I can't really fault him, though. When's he ever going to get another chance to chase a group of four big deer across the wide-open moors of Nantucket? It was probably the happiest moment of his whole entire life. And he, too, came running back at top speed as soon as he was convinced he'd lost the deer, so I am okay with that at this stage in his training.

And that was it for our vacation. Now they're back to their normal boring lives as city dogs.