Pup's first camping trip

[MightyThor]

We just got home from our first outing with Thor. He's about 5 months old now. It went great! I can tell that he will grow into being the great outdoor partner we hoped to find in a lab. This weekend was a whole bunch of firsts:

First long (6+ hours) car trip
First camping trip
First campfire
First night sleeping outside (in his crate)
First night sleeping without his crate (inside the bed of the truck cuddled up between me and my husband)
First hike (a short one, but it was so much fun to see him build confidence in all of 15 minutes on the trail).
First exposure to gun fire (took him to an outdoor range and I shot the .22 while the husband treated Thor at a distance. Guess what? Thor didn't care one iota about the gunfire. Good dog!)
First swim in 'real' water (not the kiddie pool)
First time to play fetch off-leash in a really big area
First time walking in snow

He was so good and well behaved. Even at 5 months old, his 'come' and 'stay' were rock solid even with distractions in an unfamiliar area. He comfortably got to stay off-leash in our campsites (dispersed, middle of nowhere, big open areas to run around in) and didn't try to pick up everything with his mouth like I thought he would. A couple of emphatic 'OFF's were needed, especially around the wild horse manure near last night's campsite, but for the most part I think he was better behaved out there than he is at home! It probably helped that he was so tired!

Thanks for the conversation around the crate vs expen vs inside the truck bed with us. We went with a combo of the crate and putting him in between us when sleeping, and he was super happy the whole time.

The only time he seemed cranky was when we went down a bouncy 4x4 road. We learned that his "stop it, that's annoying" sound is just like the Marge Simpson growl.

I took a ton of photos i still need to go through, but here are a few.

Stop loading up the truck and let's GO!!!



Soggy doggy



Campsite where Thor ran laps and laps around the center of our circle with friends - our truck is the one in the back left, you can see Thor in his crate behind the tailgate. He slept there the first night, then with us in the back of the truck the next two nights.



After his first hike. So tired. "Mom, can you nudge that Nylabone a bit closer? It's so far away!"

[4Thelove]

what a good boy, sounds like a ton of fun was had by all!

[Maggie's Mom]

Good puppy Thor! Glad you had such a nice time with him.

[POPTOP]

What a fantastic job Thor! Good puppies get to go on all the fun trips.

Awesome camp site.

[Labs4ever]

That's a great list of Accomplishments for Thor on his first long trip. Good boy, Thor! Looks like a nice place to go camping.

[MightyThor]

The campsite is at a place called the Alabama Hills on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. Towards the right of the center of the photo is mount whitney, highest point in the contiguous US. It's a very popular place for movie filming, especially old westerns. The campsite we had was close to the spot at the beginning of Iron Man where Tony Stark demos a new weapon that blows up some hills in 'Afghanistan'.

[ZRabbits]

Was so hoping all went well! Agree 100% with Labs4ever, lots of accomplishments for Thor. Really glad he was able to snuggle with you the last two nights. Sounds like a Great time. Beautiful place. Love all of your pictures of Thor and look forward to more. Handsome little guy, loving the outdoors.

KAZ

[Candy and Spike's Dad]

I haven't taken my dogs to a camping trip yet. Hoping to do that this summer.

[BaconsMom]

Good job Thor!!! Bacon will be going on his first trip in a few weeks here!

[ckfalz]

Sounds like a great time. I've had Sam camping several times but have never taken Ava. I'm not up to both of these dogs on a camping trip. It' nearly too late to do any more camping this season, too hot/humid for me and the dogs.