The Best Medicine: Pension Olive Nasu

Five days in Nasu with Luna and the family, five blissful days of Mum's undivided attention, great food and tantalizing tidbits from meals, running free in Pension Olive's giant dog run, and cuddles, the best medicine for Luna...here's hoping :)

Before the Rain!

 

 Nobu had a great day at B-wood where we went to get a bit of exercise before the afternoon rain sets in. Unfortunately the friendly Weimaraner-Doberman (rescued as a puppy in the belly of his abandoned Weimaraner mother) was very interested in Luna, so she and Claire fled to the safety of the small dog run while Nobu stayed on to play...and play he did!

Winter sunshine

 No snow here yet, fortunately, today was a perfect warm day in the dog run, where I was too exhausted from the end-of-term stuff to get inspiring pictures, just warm sunshine smiles.

 Claire always manages to look perfect whatever she does. Luna had a go at the athletic hurdles for the first time, not so keen on the tunnel but enjoyed jumping once she got the hang of it, and walked across the beam when fed with a constant supply of treats so she didn't realize what was happening and get scared. Claire is great at everything, the only thing I haven't tried on her is the see-saw, I personally don't like the bone-jolting thump when the balance tilts.

 Nobu had a great time playing with a husky friend which is why he's all smiles.

 Warm enough to merit a dip in the stream for a quick drink.

Happily snoozing on the back seat on the way home, Luna on the floor!

Salty Swim

A perfect sunny day, not to be wasted, so off we went to Umi no Koen, literally Sea Park. After a romp in the two dogruns to blow off steam - and here is Nobu inviting me to play - we head for the beach....

Nobu doesn't like to get more than his feet wet, although he's happy to splash in the shallows...I'm proud to say he did swim for the first time this September when I went in together with him in my swimsuit, but he always stayed between me and the shore, so I had wade out quite far to get him actually swimming.

Taking turns, veteran Claire just loves to swim, trots in without any hesitation and swims like a fish, or, since she's such a lady, maybe I should say like a mermaid, in her element...

Meanwhile Luna refused, standing at the edge of the wet sand and not the least bit interested, so I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up my spats to try and coax her in...pretty cold, but not unbearable...after a little encouragement, she kind of heaved a sigh. oh very well, and then suddenly off she was swimming like a veteran, I was so surprised :) I guess she judged it too cold and late in the year for such trivial pursuits.

Corner shots

Frost on Fall Leaves

Autumn dog run

Claire always looks fantastic with the autumn tints

Nobu has become a real splash dog!

B-Wood Dog Run

Thursdays is doggie day, and we go off to the dog run if weather and energy permits. Although Claire and Nobu like the country dog runs off the Tomei, this time we stayed in the city and headed for B-wood, where they do a delicious plate of spaghetti with egg plant and zucchini. Claire actually got up the spirits to growl and play a little with Nobu, and I had a bag full of toys to switch with their attention span...which is about one to three tosses or tussles, not big fans of fetch, my babies. Claire likes to do a standing jump in the air to catch things, and Nobu likes to play tug of war and will fetch for about three goes before the excitement fades...

Rhino genes

It's getting too hot for the dog run, so the early morning is the time the dogs are most alive.This is Nobunaga in pure samurai mode. Warrior!

The best pillow

Tug of war

Agility setter Claire

Not that we're timing her or anything, but Claire quite enjoys navigating the agility run obstacles, and even though it looks as though I'm coaxing her with tidbits, in fact I didn't have my waistpouch with me, so my hands are empty...she's doing it for FUN, and obviously feeling proud of herself :) Meanwhile Nobu avoids anything to do with man-made agility courses.This dog run is a free one on the outbound Tomei expressway at the Ashigara Service Area just before Gotemba: they have two, one for smaller dogs, and this separate one for large canines. 
On our way home we wanted to go again, but the Ashigara dog run in the Tokyo direction was reserved for small and medium dogs, with no run for big dogs. Fortunately the next parking area, Ayuzawa, had a fantastic grassy dog run of ample size with free tissues, plastic bags and a poop post, so the humans and dogs had a coffee break at Ayuzawa Parking area on the way home too.