Friday, May 01, 2009

Runyon Canyon with Muffin & Sophie

Me & Muffin

Me & Muffin

Muffin & Sophie

Muffin & Sophie

So a few weeks ago we hiked Runyon Canyon--right in the heart of hollywood, ca--it’s a nice hike with some stunning views--but the best part--it’s all about the dogs. Dogs rule at Runyon Canyon and thats really what makes it special. Many dog-centric celebs frequent the park too, but I really couldn’t care less about that stuff. It was a rare chilly, windy day in socal--wish it could have been a little more balmy. Anyway--if you’re headed here from the 101 freeway via the Barham exit--DO NOT trust the directions given on the iPhone! Navigating the myriad steep, narrow mountain roads with tons of little turn-offs proved too challenging for Sharon’s iPhone--as much as I love the thing.
We started the hike from the top--off Mullholland, worked our way down and back up again. Certain sections were designated off-leash and I wanted to just keep Muffin off the leash the entire hike.
BUT--
my last hike with Muffin went very badly through no fault of her own. We hiked Coral Canyon in Malibu. Usually Muffin leads the way with a big smile and lots of energy. On this hike about halfway through she became very clingy with me and seemed uncomfortable. Finally when we took a water break I saw something crawling on her little head--TICKS!! I panicked! I tried to pull them off her but there was little I could do until we got back down. I put her on a bench, and Sharon had a brush but there were still too many all over the place. I was having a heart attack as Sharon drove to the vet where Muffin got a tick bath. After getting her home we pulled about 6 more dead ticks out of the poor little girl and for the next month I was feeling her constantly expecting to find more--and a couple more turned up!! I said NEVER AGAIN--our hiking days are OVER!! Until Runyon Canyon.
These memories were still fresh when I asked a nice dog walker about the tick situation here in Runyon Canyon--he said there are definitely ticks out there but his dogs had Frontline on and it kept them at bay. Well, I try not to use these poisons unless absolutely necessary and I’m striving to be all natural these days with my flea and tick treatments. Muffin had nothing on--no poison and no natural stuff. SO the entire time I kept here on shortish leash in the middle of the trail while thoughts of ticks jumped around my nervous noggin. Naturally we did not enjoy the experience as much as we should have, but at least she emerged tick free.
For all of you that don’t have my hang-ups it’s a great way to spend a couple of hours and finding anyplace that welcomes dogs in LA is not so easy. There were more dogs than people and all were well behaved, except for the few people that were too busy to notice their dogs were pooping. We read a few reviews saying that poop was everywhere and be careful not to step in it--well that really wasn’t the case. I’ve seen more poop on my beach in Marina Del Rey and on New York City sidewalks than I witnessed on this hike, so don’t worry about that. If Muffin had some kind of tick repellant on her and I wasn’t such a nervous nellie, we could have had a much better experience. But simply spending time with my little girl is ALWAYS a great experience!

1 comment:

designergirl said...

Sophie had a great time too!!!! It's a bit steep and her tongue was dragging on the ground by the time we got back to the top, make sure you bring water for your pooch and take several water breaks :-D

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