My Two Pitties: PITTIES EXPLORE LAKE TAHOE

We loooove Lake Tahoe. It's all hiking, swimming, perfect weather, beautiful scenery and the luxury of my parents big house with big yard to hang out at! This was my first time bringing Shaka here at all, my first time bringing Norman here(without snow on the ground) and Kaya's first summer visit since she was a puppy last year!

Kaya's first trip to Tahoe, I only had her for a month!

Little puppy on a big rock @ Emerald Bay.

With my mom!

Probably the last time my mom was able to hold her.

Norman's first Tahoe trip last February.

Must keep up with sister!

This stuff is cold!

I see something cool over there!

Look, I got it!

Let's go home...need hot chocolate!

My only concern was how we would handle things with my mom's German Shepherd, Zoey. She has a long history of bad dog aggression and it has been about 7 years since she's had other dogs at her house. We planned ahead to keep the dogs separated between the yard, the upstairs deck and the house. And we were hoping, at best, that Zoey would tolerate them on walks and hikes.

Zoey with my mom @ Emerald Bay.

Zoey is a true Tahoe dog!

I had a lot of success managing Zoey's "rage" when I was taking care of her last year. I used an ultrasonic remote trainer to distract her when she started to zone in on a dog. It breaks her focus and calms her down, but will not do much if she has already started to attack. She can do alright away from her home if other dogs do not get in her personal space or come near her ball, stick, etc. Luckily, my dogs are not young puppies anymore and no longer have that need to play with every dog they see! The other good news was that Zoey becomes completely blind to the presence of other dogs when she is in the water. I swear they could climb on top of her and she wouldn't even notice.

German Shepherd/Sea Lion

Doesn't matter what the season is!

Don't make me get out!

So happy.

So we went on our first hike together with all 4 dogs and it went great! We always try to encourage Zoey to told onto something like a stick or ball, which acts like a "pacifier" as we call it and seems to help her nerves.

Zoey's "pacifier"

Everyone had a lot of fun and we found an awesome place to cool down! On top of that, this was my parents' first time meeting Shaka and they really fell for her like I did. My mom confessed that now she really understood why I wouldn't give up on her. And the hike was a great way for Shaka to get to know my parents and learn that they are super cool people that she will be spending the next few days with...ya!

This was my first time to that hiking spot. I loved it so much, we went back a few more times on our own.

Zoey ended up being super cool about her new pittie friends hangin' at her house. We had the house to ourselves one night and I decided see how Zoey would do if I let her in while my crew were calmly lying down.

Are you sure they're ok?

Come'on Zoey!

I guess so...

What's all the commotion about?

Seriously. What's the big deal?

We give up.

This was a huge deal for Zoey, who spends her days barking down anyone who dares to walk by her fence! She is a real martyr in her other neighborhood in Maryland (she comes to Tahoe in the summers) because it is a super-Stepford, white picket fence, manicured lawns, Poodles and Dalmatians kind of place. And there is Zoey, a 90-pound wolf look-a-like, behind her picket fence, shouting at a Papillion out on a poop mission. It was such an exciting sight, I had to send photographic evidence to my parents to get them to believe me. I think they forwarded the picture to everyone who has even known Zoey. I was so proud of her!