DISTANCE: 9.32 km  DURATION: 1:05:46

​Hello Juno! Long time no see! I'm so happy to run with you today! I've brought someone for you to meet, new DGR runner Valeska. The three of us headed out into the lightly falling snow. It felt a little brisk at first, but we warmed up quickly. One of the many things I love about running with Juno is her steady pace. She's pretty chill at the start of her runs, with the occasional sniff or pee break. At around the halfway mark she does start to pick up the pace a bit, but it's still fairly sustainable and other than the odd squirrel sprint, we are steadfast all the way home. The scoop today: one poop and three pees.

Runner: Valeska

DISTANCE: 5.18 km  DURATION: 53:41

We had a bunch of fun exploring new pathways today. They .took us all the way to Lakeview Village and we passed by my good friend's place. We were able to stay out of the wind for the most part as the pathways are nestled in between homes and have many big trees making umbrellas with their branches. The other thing that was interesting was the number of playgrounds that are interspersed throughout the neighbourhood. We would be running and then up pops another playground. Roxy had three pees and one poop and Molson had 9 pees and a very healthy poop. Their poops were well timed today and right near a garbage dumpster😄!

Runner: Liz

DISTANCE: 7.85 KM  DURATION: 1:01:06

Today, Loki and I went into battle; battle against the cold North Wind and his ally, Snow. The North Wind threw everything he could at us. He tried to blind us with pellets of ice but we merrily laughed in the face of adversity and accepted the challenge! Onwards we ran with the cruel North Wind nipping at our heels.  When he could no longer chase us and knew he had been defeated, he ceased to blow, and Snow became calm. Loki and I celebrated our victory with a sniffing break to seek out mice! Sometimes, all you need to win the day is a four-legged companion with an encouraging grin. To the victor, the spoils! In this case, lots of head scratches for Loki. 😄 Three pees and one poop for Loki today.

Runner: Janine

DISTANCE: 8.01 km  DURATION: 1:05:56

Hello.....It's Tuesday isn't it?🤔 The first time ever I have entered and surprised Abby & Reilly with my arrival. When Reilly realized that I was there she feverishly ran to look for a shoe, and then stood right in front of the door so I wouldn't forget her!! Oh, what do I do?! I had to hunt for Abby and after a couple of minutes she sheepishly strolled down the stairs. I am not sure if she was just waking up or was into something that will be discovered later by her humans😉. We hit Baker Park and our timing was really good with respect to the Weather Gods. As we finished our run the wind started to pick up. Our distance was just 250 meters off 8K when we hit A & R's home. "Girls let just run a smidgen more and go to the end of the block." Abby put the brakes on. If she could talk she would have said 'Hey Michelle you just passed our house!' Reilly was like 'No problem for me.' Thanks girls for going the 8🐾. The Doggy Business: Abby 1 & 1 and Reilly 1 poop and several pees.
​
Runner: Michelle

DISTANCE: 10 km  DURATION: 1:00:00

Today was my first time running with Sam. He's a strong guy, but I found that he's very good at not pulling except for when he finds an interesting smell, then he goes straight for it. But this didn't happen very much. He's also a very good runner. We had long stretches of steady runs. And I would get tired before he did. I was a little nervous when we had an encounter with an off-leash Boxer but Sam was very well behaved and stayed at my side. I gave him extra treats for that. I wasn't very familiar with the area, so "we" had to check the map a couple of times but Sam took the opportunity to sniff around some more. I experienced some technical difficulties again, which cut our distance short, but we did about 10k in just over an hour. One poop and many pees.

Runner: Bryan

DISTANCE: 5.82 km  DURATION: 55:43

Hello Ruby! What another glorious winter day for a run😳! Ruby and I headed out slowly this afternoon. I had no idea where I was going and I think Ruby was a little concerned that I may be a touch crazy. Her instincts were correct! Especially when I tried to get her to cross the Highland ice fields. Who knew we had those in Calgary. Ruby was patient with me for a while but after the third or fourth ice dance my friend put on the brakes. Alright Ruby we shall change up our route, it's a good thing one of us was being smart about the hostile conditions😜 We sashayed our way through the neighbourhood and then Ruby started to lift her back feet. I figured this was her way of saying she'd had enough. I really can't blame her it was ugly out there today. Thanks for coming out with me today Ruby! (you're very brave😁)! 2 pees for Ruby today.

Runner: Tracy

DISTANCE:  7.0 km  DURATION: 1:00:00

Our first date! I was very excited to meet my new running pal Buster! He did not disappoint. He was full of love as soon as I opened the door! Wiggling, wagging and happy to see me (even though we had never met). So, off we went. The sun was shining with a stiff wind and a temp of about minus 8C. I’d had seen a pathway driving in so I thought we would start there, Buster read my mind and off we went. He knew the way, no hesitation! We got into a groove and life was good. We crossed the street and got onto the pathway. Buster was all business, sniffing, scent-marking and generally looking handsome as his lovely velvet ears billowed in the wind. After one loop he looked toward home but I knew he needed more! On the second pass he took a very long look at the crosswalk but we kept going, he may have been dreaming of his comfy couch but I knew he had the rest of the day to spend there. After lots of pees and scent-marks he did one pee by a brick lamppost that he insisted on covering up by doing the 4-paw brush back move…weird? Why did he only want to cover that one? Anyway, a guy needs a little mystery right! I snapped a few pictures right away but then my phone froze up. I’ll get some better pictures of him next time.  He is very photogenic! Love those German Shorthaired Pointers.. I’ll see you soon Buster! Keep on keepin’ on! The scoop: 2 poops and numerous pees.

Runner: Sherri

DISTANCE: 5.30 KM  DURATION:  50:55

When I drove up to the house, I found Maverick patiently waiting for me to spring him free. He seemed to be saying 'Hurry up!' as I struggled with unlocking the door. As we were starting out and I was getting my bearings, Maverick kept his nose to the ground seemingly checking out the neighbourhood. Maverick was a great guide as I looked for the best route. The river was a beautiful sight being partially frozen, especially once it started snowing. The snow didn't faze Maverick, he kept on trucking, as if he wanted to run in the snow the rest of the day. Down to business: 2 poops and 5 pees.

Runner: Sloane

DISTANCE: 8.30 km  DURATION: 1 hour

Good morning Archimedes and Tegan! Big smiles from Archimedes and a barking hello from Tegan. Both settled in for a treat and to suit up into their harnesses and we were off. The alley was icy ❄️ but that worked a bit in my favour as the pups were also slipping and had to negotiate their footing. Tegan still likes to announce our procession to the neighbours, but then settles in after a minute into our run. A bit of sniffing for the first few km until we got to the reservoir for a couple of photos. One with Archimedes' tongue curled out👅. We passed a group of walkers without incident until we came to the head of that pack. There was a bit of lunging that had to be managed. Then we continued on our way. As per usual, we were a little quicker on the way back. These two are great with the negative split runs! The Scoop: Archimedes had 2 poops, 3-4 pees, Tegan had 2 pees, 1 poop.

Runner: Tammy

DISTANCE: 6 km  DURATION: 58 minutes

Love is in the air.  We are closing in on the final days of January and stores have the Valentine's Day candies and cards available.  Today, Jasper, Indy and I saw 2 Valentine's Day trees.  They were quite beautiful.  The weather conditions changed from this morning's run with Billy and the light dusting of snow covered lots of icy patches.  I recently lost one of my Yak Traks so I had one on a shoe and one without. Yes, I wiped out but I must say it did not even hurt and both dogs gave me a kiss.  My phone ran out of steam toward the end of the run so I dug up some older photos of the dogs. We had a few prances with other dogs in River Park and then headed home.  I wish my camera was working when Indy grabbed his soccer ball in his mouth and challenged me to a game of soccer.  Indy, let's play with Jasper  tomorrow.  The scoop: Jasper had 1 poo and 5 pees.  Indy had 4 pees.

Runner: Ruth

DISTANCE: 10.58 km  DURATION: 1:00:21

It is always an adventure with Billy and today I have so many things to write about.  1) I saw the most glorious sunrise on my drive to Billy's house.  2) when I arrived at his house, my iPhone was reading 1%  so I decided to take a photo before setting out the door.  Billy had this magnificent pose where he is on a small section of the stairs and his paws are on the landing.    Third, my iPhone was able to track 99% of the run on 1% juice.  I think this is a miracle!  4) We ran one of our fastest 1K @ 5:01 even in icy conditions .  The last event to write about was the blue shovel and the coyote.  Billy's mom had told me how a friend of hers had a close encounter with a hungry coyote and a her dog prior to our run.  This was the foreshadowing of the event to come.  Billy and I ran into a coyote who proceeded to run towards us.  There was no one else in sight but I saw a truck with shovels  so I grabbed a blue one and made myself look big and was quite loud shooing away this coyote. We finally got to pass the coyote and I ran up a hill carrying a shovel.  I am sure we were quite  sight! Thanks again Billy for the great workout and some good snuggles post workout! The scoop: 1 poop and 2 pees.

​Runner: Ruth

DISTANCE: 10.06 km  DURATION: 1:24:20

This was my third run with Desi and now I think she trusts me. She did not have to take the leash in her mouth and lead me to Griffith Woods.  She knew that was where we were heading.  When we got to the park, I saw what I had expected. Yesterday's warm winds and last night's cold temperature turned all the trails to ice. We took to the pathways in Discovery Ridge instead and I was able to discover some new options with nice views of the mountains. Desi did not enjoy the views though. She was too busy keeping her nose close to the ground reading all the text messages from her friends. The pathways climbed up and down the ridge giving us a total of 133 meters of elevation gain. As you can see in the photos, she took a well deserved rest on the way back to cool off in the snow. Scoop: 1 poop and 1 pee.

Runner: Mario

DISTANCE: 9.70 km  DURATION: 1:00:44

I was not expecting much of a run today after getting home from a 3.5 day boys' weekend full of skiing, driving, drinking and eating (not necessarily in that order.) But I picked up Happy Harley, and started out and felt great and refreshed. Harley was into it as well and we pushed along and ran about 1K longer then normal. We passed quite a few people and dogs on the pathway today and we got a lot of smiles for Harley and Hello's to me. I think some Spring Soul was in the air today. Harley had 3 pees today.

Runner: Brian

DISTANCE: 8.5 km  DURATION: 55 minutes

It was a little cooler than it was on the weekend, but it was still a nice day to go out running with Nell. She was very happy to see me and you could tell that she was ready to go. We took the pathway out to the Peace Bridge and back. I was the one slowing us down, but Nell was happy to go at my pace. Two pees and no poos.

Runner: Bryan

DISTANCE: 10.01 km  DURATION: 1:09:38

Into the wild or at least that is what it felt like when new DGR Runner Geoff, Billy and I headed into Fish Creek Park.  The deer were out in full force which pleased Billy immensely.  I was just describing to Geoff how Billy's speed adjusts according to the wildlife in the area.  Deer speed is definitely not as fast as coyote speed.  How do I know this? Billy picked up his speed and I saw out of the corner of my eye a coyote.  We  had planned to run in Fish Creek but the pathways were pretty slick and with a fast dog like Billy it is better to have Yak Traks on or in this case to retrace our steps and head towards Weaselhead.  There were a few off-leash dogs out and about; some friendly and some a bit testy so we continued on our way.  It was a great start to a Monday with wildlife sightings,  running with a strong runner (Geoff) and an athletic doggy (Billy).  The scoop:  1 poop and 1 really long pee.

Runner: Ruth