Gracie went for her first trail walk

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

I plan on walking Gracie on trails. We have some behind our house, so it's a convenient place to start - plus my husband and I like to walk the trails in decent weather (and when it's not too hot!) Today was almost like a spring day for us (plus we did smell skunk - hope they don't think it's spring yet!)

We want Gracie to be walking with us.  I took her on about a 1 mile walk (we've been working up to this - so hopefully it wasn't too much for her.  But, she did let me know when it was time to stop and take a break. Anyway, I wanted to share some pics I took. :)

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Awe Stella looks like a real sweetheart! She looks so happy and muddy - happy to be muddy! I think this will be Gracie in the future! How old is Stella?

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Also - what kind of harness is that? Although I'm working on walking Gracie properly, I have a fear that she might pull a little more than I can handle in the future.

[Lauren Mroz]

Stella is 18weeks now. We got her the Easy walk harness to stop the pulling and to control her to walk with us.It worked great! I highly recommend it for when you take her out on longs walks or to the park. We started her on the harness at 10weeks. She is honestly really good off the leash when we are in an open field or when we go on small trails she sticks right beside us and I would say the harness has helped us with that. Here is a picture of her from this past weekend. 

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Oh so sweet! 18 weeks. Wow. I'm amazed at how fast they grow! Gracie is just 11 weeks today.
Thank you for the info, I will look into it.
Did you train her to stay off leash? I know that I've heard they will do really well until they become adolescents and then all bets are off.

[Lauren Mroz]

I know it is crazy how big they get and in such little time. We are in the process of mastering it, A lot of our neighbors have the shock collar while they have their dogs off leash, but i want that to be my last resort. 

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Yeah. I want to train her to stay by me or at least to come Back to me if she wanders too far. I'm thinking we will probably enroll in doggie obedience classes. I want to do puppy classes, but there aren't any near me except petsmart and the like. From what I've read, I'm already doing the things they cover in those classes.
Anyway, fun times ahead!

[Lauren Mroz]

Yes I was looking into the same thing. I found a few on groupon that I am investigating that could help with off the leash training.. and yes i heard the same thing Stella would look like a smart cookie if we took to the petsmart classes lol she would be well advanced.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

I'm amazed at how smart they are. I guess you don't believe it until you see it!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Gracie is so adorable!

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Thank you!