Let Freedom Ring

Valley got her first taste of off-leash freedom while we were out skiing on Friday. She's been ok off leash while out hiking, but she is terrified of skis. So she's stayed on leash all winter. After towing me up to the ridge:

I decided that I would let her go, just let her off her leash. She danced the happy jig for about five minutes:




Then the chase began, now I had to catch her again. How do you catch a dog mortified of skis. Well after 3 hours I finally caught her laying down and then just walked up to her using all the calming signals I could. It took 20 minutes after I got out of my skis. When I look at these pictures, it was all worth it.