West Maui Kennels Dog Hike

Video of the Day:
West Maui Kennels Dog Hike at Ironwood Ranch.

WestMauiKennels.com
IronwoodRanch.com

The owners of Ironwood Ranch started doing dog and cat boarding a few years ago.  I have helped them out a few times over the years and they asked me to take over the boarding duties for a few weeks while they were off island.  I was happy to do it.  Working at the kennels is a lot of fun, but very tiring.  These are some lucky dogs.  The kennels are large and the dogs get to hike twice a day an hour or more each hike.  There are many amazing trails that we get to hike, that the dogs share with the horse tour rides.  This video features just a few of the amazing views we got to see everyday.  My dogs have very much enjoyed being able to tag along and go hiking with the pack.

Jack

We recently had a guest dog with us, Jack, a 10-year-old black lab.  Although Jack is a very sweet boy and great with other dogs, he reminded me how important training really is.  This dog had ZERO leash skills and was extremely pushy around doors and with food.  In the two weeks he spent with us, I significantly improved his leash skills (at least he wasn't dragging me around any more), and taught him patience and to respect the leader, which of course is me.  His behavior improved greatly during his stay.  Below are some picture of the fun stuff we did.

Jack.

Jack's favorite activity is fetching a ball.

He's a little out of shape, so he had to lay to drink after playing fetch.

Lazy, but happy.

Caravaggio & Jack playing fetch at the beach

with new friend, 4-year-old Jason.

It's true, labs love to swim!

Jack & Caravaggio shaking off.

Many people I train are often concerned about taking away the "natural dog" behaviors.  Sometimes people believe that giving dogs rules and boundaries takes away from them just being a dog.  To that I have only this to say, look at the pictures above...do these dogs look happy?  There are rules, boundaries, and limitations for every single dog that comes into my house, but my dogs (and guest dogs) are very happy.

Caravaggio, Nekita, & Jack enjoying sunset with us after a hike.

Happy Jack.

I think he had a good time :)