Big Sticks, Big Antlers

Every time we are out walking, Angus is bound and determined to find the biggest sticks. I have even seen him stare at a stack of trees that had just been cut down with a look of contemplation of whether or not he could pick one up. Boy loves his sticks and will run with them until his jaw gives our or he's hit me in the legs enough times for me to say 'leave it'.

Sunday afternoon we headed out with our friends, Laine and Jonathan and their Brittany spaniel, Bailey for a hike around Loch Muick (pronounced Mick). Even though Angus is a Labrador and is born to swim he has been a little skiddish about actually swimming. He'll get in the water and splash around with the best of them but as soon as the water gets to a point where he can no longer touch, he turns right around. I kept asking myself 'If Labs are supposed to be natural born swimmers, why isn't he swimming?' Well, we learned Sunday that he hadn't had the right motivation to get out there and show us his inner Michael Phelps.

When we approached the part of the loch that was easily accessible, Ryan found a stick that he thought Angus would want to fetch. He tried numerous times before he gave up (Angus was not interested in the puny little stick Ryan found) and just let Angus carry about his splashing around. Upon coming over to where Jon, Laine and I were enjoying our snacks, Ryan found a much larger stick log. This thing was so big we weren't sure that it would even float much less be a fetching object for Angus. However, Angus seemed excited (ie. wagging his tail) so Ryan said 'what the heck', he lodged the log out in to the lake and as soon as Ryan released Angus he was off and what do you know, he was swimming! We still weren't sure if he'd be able to lug it back but boy we were wrong. He not only lugged it back, he kept going back for more. And once we were ready to move on with our hike, Angus kept that stick with him for about 5 minutes, hitting Jon a few times on the back of the leg in the process, before he said 'forget it, I'll find another one' (it had to have weighed at least 10 pounds).

 

There he goes

We carried on with our scenic route. We had the lake view the whole time except for a little detour to see the Glas Allt Waterfalls.

After emerging out of the woods, we came across another great spot for Angus to prove to us he is really a lab and that he loves to swim. Since 'the stick' was left behind, Ryan searched for another that was substantial enough for our boy (even though it didn't hold a candle to the log).

I got this one on video. Please ignore my crying laughter; Angus swam past the stick and I thought he was going to head across to the other side in search of it.

Needless to say, I am a very proud dog mom! (I think he could beat Michael in the pool ;-)

And here are the rest of the views of our hike. This was my third time (hike1, hike2) to hike Loch Muick and also my third time to see deer on the side of the mountain. Hunting (or stalking as they say here) starts at the end of the month so the stags had their full growth and some still had velvet. This is probably my favorite hike that I've done and I'm okay doing it at least 10 more times :-)