I don't know if you all remember when I was writing about what a difficult time I was having, trying to get Max enough exercise. He's so strong and energetic, I just couldn't tire him out. Well - I found the perfect answer last week! I took him kayaking down a long, slow river. The river I chose had a slow current, so he was safe. As I kayaked, he alternated between swimming beside me and running up and down the river banks, doing belly flops in the water and having a blast. Since it was in the wild and he's so loyal and worries about me so much, he never got out of my sight even though I had him off-leash! I'm going to get him a life jacket and take him down some more rivers, too.
He was so good during kayaking that I decided to try him off-leash during a hiking trip. Although I only walked about 3 miles, Max probably went 15 because he ran around so much. Once again, he stayed within sight the entire time. When I had to use the outhouse, he sat right outside the door and guarded the outhouse until I came out. I ordered him his own backpack from ebay and now he's going to come camping and hiking with me all the time!
Hiking and kayaking off-leash work well for him, but I couldn't even consider doing anything in town with him off the leash because of all the people and cars.
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