Louie and I had a fantastic 2021. We checked a bunch of things off our bucket list. Early in the year, I purchased an Ontario Provincial Parks pass and Credit Valley Conservation Area pass that gave us access to tons of parks and trails throughout Southern Ontario. We made it our goal to hike every weekend and with the exception of a few weekends where the weather was bad, we came pretty close to achieving our goal.

Hiking strengthened our bond. We spent lots of time out in nature discovering new parts of Ontario. We found new trails we never knew existed. Hiking improved my physical and mental health, and Louie also got great workouts as well.

One of the places we loved to visit is the Caledon Trailway. It is a roughly 35 km long trail along a former railway line stretching east-west across the Township of Caledon. It is relatively flat making it an excellent place for easy weekend walks. We visited various parts of the trail and slowly made our way from mile marker zero to the end. Another place we loved visiting was Mono Cliffs Provincial Park. This park has several trails ranging from easy to moderately difficult. It is a great place for a weekend morning hike. We visited the park a few times throughout the year and hiked different trails each time.

Louie also learned new tricks. He has successfully mastered spin and turn as well as jumping over obstacle courses. We will continue to work on some new tricks throughout 2022. Training has provided us with another way to bond. We are learning a lot about each other. Louie needs a bit of encouragement but he is quickly mastering his tricks.

Louie has never been good at recall. So, we worked on that as well. I use to sets of words to recall him - “carrot” and “hustle up”. He gets a baby carrot each time he runs back to me after these calls. After a few months of consistent daily training, he comes to me even without a treat in hand. It has been so much fun watching him grow and learn new things. I can’t wait to teach him more tricks and keep working on his obedience.

What did you and your dog get up to in the past year? Leave us a comment below.