.jpg)
The Everyday Trainer Podcast
The Everyday Trainer Podcast
Dogs need wilderness as much as we do.
There's something magical that happens when we allow ourselves and our dogs to escape the constraints of urban living. This episode takes you along on our adventure to Yosemite and the surrounding wilderness, where unexpected encounters became transformative experiences.
Our journey began dramatically when we spotted a wildfire starting on BLM land. After reporting it, we continued deeper into the wilderness, where fate led us to a private lakeside property. Instead of being turned away, we were welcomed by Scott, a bearded mountain man with a generous spirit. His stories about how nature rehabilitated both his troubled nephew and once-aggressive Rhodesian Ridgeback resonated deeply with our own philosophy about the healing power of natural spaces.
Contrasting our peaceful lakeside experience with the crowded paths of Yosemite Valley provided powerful insights into what dogs truly need. While Yosemite's beauty is undeniable, the restrictions for dogs (limited to paved paths and parking lots) transform what should be a relaxing experience into what we jokingly called "a mall outing with a view." For dogs with behavioral issues, especially reactivity, the constant vigilance required in crowded spaces creates a feedback loop of stress that reinforces problematic behaviors.
This is why we advocate so strongly for seeking out less-traveled natural spaces like national forests and BLM lands. These areas provide something increasingly rare in our modern world – the freedom for dogs to move naturally without constant restraint. We've witnessed remarkable transformations in our board-and-train dogs when given regular access to these environments.
Whether you live in a van like us or in a traditional home, finding ways to regularly connect with nature isn't just a luxury for your dog – it's essential for their behavioral health and your relationship with them. Have you noticed how different your dog becomes when allowed to simply be a dog in nature?
Hello, hello and welcome back to the Everyday Trainer podcast. My name is Meg and I am a dog trainer. It's been a while since I've had a life update episode, so this is a casual episode. We do have some fun stories for you guys. We've been doing a lot of adventuring lately, so we'll talk about our experience taking dogs to Yosemite and we also had like a really crazy wild thing happen to us on our way up to Yosemite, so we'll tell you all about that. You know the drill grab yourself a tasty drink and meet us back here. Hello, hello, welcome back.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello.
Speaker 1:Toma is joining us today. We are currently parked outside of Yosemite, so we actually went to Yosemite today. This is very, very recent all of this, and we're very tired. I had to drag Toma to record this podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey, we just rolled up. I thought we were getting ready to bed.
Speaker 1:We're potty dogs, he's being very grumpy, I said no, we have a podcast. We have to talk to our people.
Speaker 2:I literally said let's grab the podcast, Kieran, let's get started. So.
Speaker 1:Here we are.
Speaker 2:Our tasty drink of choice today is a hot tea because for the first time in a while, it's actually a cool night, which is rare in California.
Speaker 1:It's been really, really hot. I did not expect that. Obviously, I come from Florida and Florida is very hot, but we are so far north yeah, we're in northern california in the mountains. I was expecting it to be cooler as well yeah, so it's been kind of tricky for us to find cold weather places. We parked outside of yosemite, probably what like an hour outside yeah, and it was infested.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, it was so bad, we were just like swarmed swarmed by mosquitoes and it was like still kind of hot and I was like what the heck like? Are we not in the mountains? What is going on? So we are clearly not california natives because we don't know the temperatures of anywhere. I've been spending a lot of my time in San Diego and it's been surprisingly cool. In San Diego they had like that heat wave where we almost died. That was literally horrible. There was one weekend where or I guess it was like three days and it was like so hot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I don't know San Diego, we hang out more by the coast and then when we were in mammoth, what three, maybe a month ago, I feel like that's like you kind of reach a certain point inland where it's hot, and then you kind of go a little further inland and it becomes cooler yeah, mammoth was really nice.
Speaker 1:If we had more time we would go there, but we have to do some go-home sessions for our adventure board and trains. So ideally, ideally, we would drive through Yosemite on Tioga Pass and get to Mammoth, because the last time that we went to Mammoth Tioga Pass was not open and Tioga Pass is the road that cuts through yosemite, so it takes you from the west coast, not west coast. Yeah, west coast, the west side, we'll say west side, west side to east side, and mammoth is on the east side of yosemite. But that's like kind of what I wish we could do for this trip, because then we could check out all of Yosemite. I feel like we had to cram it into one day and it felt a little bit like Disney.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's definitely a lot of people and maybe we didn't really take that much time in yosemite.
Speaker 1:But no, it would be nice to have like a full week there or a camping reservation so you don't have to rush to see the things like we don't. We think that we saw half dome, but we don't really know. I think that was half dome yeah, but also I part of me is like, I feel like we would know no, that was half dome.
Speaker 2:Half Dome, but not from its best angle.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Are you sure?
Speaker 2:It's such an iconic looking thing.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but there's other domes. I don't know. I literally don't know. I'm going to post a picture and somebody's going to have to tell us if we saw Half Dome or not.
Speaker 2:Nah, you idiots's uh north dome, north dome anyways.
Speaker 1:So the reason why we took a little adventure is because it was recently toma's birthday. Yay, happy birthday toma thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you decorated my van, we decorated the van and we decided to go on a little adventure. So I have been doing so much driving recently. I am I am past the point of burnout. I haven't been here in a bit and I've been really stressed out just in my day-to-day and I feel very irritable and I had to like sit down with myself and be like why do I feel this way, like why do I feel so angry and tired and irritable? And I really just think it's because I've been doing so much driving and especially the adventure board and trains like it's starting to take a toll on me. I need to take a break.
Speaker 1:You yeah fair like we're like six, six dogs in right, yeah, five into doing adventure boarding trains, yeah, yeah so yeah, five, five or six five, because duke right yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So I ended up keeping Mayan longer. He was just a behavioral case and he's not that difficult for me and we were able to make a lot more progress if I did keep him longer. So it's been like six weeks that I've had Mayan. He was supposed to go home like three weeks ago. I kind of doubled the amount of time that I wanted to have him. So we picked up two more adventure boarding trains, one of which was in Arizona. So I was in Northern California and then, wait, where was I? Oh, we were in San Diego. And then I drove up North and then I drove back down South and then I drove to Arizona, and then I drove back to San Diego and now I'm back up here yeah it's been so much.
Speaker 1:And then I'm like why am I so irritable?
Speaker 2:oh, we've been, we've been putting miles on our vans and I I mean you went to Arizona alone, that's uh yeah, but I had to drive to Arizona in.
Speaker 1:I did two days so I split it up. I drove like halfway there and this is from like the la area, so I drove halfway there the night before and then the other half picked up the dog you were.
Speaker 2:You were in northern california.
Speaker 1:You drove like down I drove down, but I stopped in LA yeah yeah but even that, that's like you know.
Speaker 1:That's another six hours yeah, so I'm breaking it up into like three hour increments, but it's just the fact that every day, driving three hours like it's really starting to take a toll on me and I'm sure like to take stops it. I feel like the dogs help me with that. I have to make sure that they get time to experience something Each day. It's like, okay, are we going to go for a hike? Am I going to let them run around off leash? Are we going to walk through the city? For example, we did my group class in San Diego. That was their event for the day.
Speaker 1:Every day is like a new event, or park training session or camping, or like there's always something every day, and I want to make sure that I do that because of the driving, you know, but I try not to get more than like max four hours driving in a day, which I feel like is not that bad. Anyways, been doing a lot of driving and it's really starting to burn me out a little bit. So we decided to go on a little adventure and it's been kind of tough for me to find places that we can go and adventure because it is getting so hot and one of the issues is my van is not built out, but my van has the passenger air conditioning. Toma's van is built out, but toma's van doesn't have air conditioning, it just has fans and is insulated versus yours isn't.
Speaker 2:But yeah, the the factory ac pumps, yeah, but it only like it gets so cold.
Speaker 1:If you are a dog trainer or if you have a bunch of dogs, I highly recommend getting a passenger van solely for the air conditioning. Like it sucks that. I just have to like leave my van running all the time but my van is freezing. I remember when I was in Florida and I parked outside of my friend's house and I just slept in my van. And do not recommend, I know people are going to come for me. Toma came for me even before we were dating. He was like I don't think you should leave your van running overnight and I was like, well, I needed air conditioning.
Speaker 1:But it would get so cold. It was like icy and it would be like 95 degrees outside and then inside my van it was like 50. Like it was, it was so cold. So it gets really cold, which is super nice. But we still have to like be mindful. You know, know, like I never leave my van, I never like walk away from my van. Um, that's like a whole other thing with Tomas van.
Speaker 1:We also don't want to like go too far. He has fans, which is very helpful. I really like the fans and I hope that I can get a fan, because it just keeps the air circulating, like you don't get the hot air that you would normally get in a car. So we were kind of looking at places that we would go. It would either be the coast or over by Yosemite, and I've been wanting to go to Yosemite for a long time. I've never been there. But my hesitation with national parks is that they are so crowded and you typically have to stay on the paved paths with dogs if dogs are allowed. I know a lot of places like it's super strict with dogs. I feel like we saw a couple dogs yeah, there were a handful of dogs there was.
Speaker 1:There was a handful of dogs there, so I knew that we weren't going to be able to get reservations for camping in Yosemite, but on my iOverlander app there was a lot of camping outside of Yosemite. So that's kind of what we did day one. What did we do before we got to scott's house? Where were we?
Speaker 2:um primal. No, we didn't stop anywhere before that okay.
Speaker 1:so we went from gilroy and I founded a spot on I overlander. That was bl Land and if you don't know, blm Land is Bureau of Land Management and you can pretty much do whatever you want on BLM Land. There's typically like a 14 max, a 14 day max stay, but it's where we go. When you see us camp and we're just kind of like letting the dogs run around, like you typically don't run across any other people or it's other people who like don't are there because they don't want to be around people yeah, you know, like you're never gonna have like people come up to you and like want to chit chat, you know yeah, it's not always like the cleanest, safest places.
Speaker 1:I will give you that. Like it's not. It's not a national park or a state park. Like there's like shotgun shells in some places and like a random shopping cart yeah, there's always like weird trash, it's just like weird, you know, and it's kind of like outside of the desert and I feel like the desert gets kind of weird.
Speaker 1:That's something that we have learned, but we haven't had any sketchy situations. But this situation was kind of sketchy. So we're driving into this like mountainy desert area, this like mountainy desert area, and we get to the blm blm land and we pull up the hill and there's a fire. I see a fire and then I see a person like scurry across the street and then they run back over to the fire and they run like back over to the street. They had like a trailer and like a pickup truck and it looked like they were doing sketchy things. I'm not gonna lie. Uh, they had like a tiny fire extinguisher, as if I don't know. It looked like they started the fire and they thought that maybe they could like control it with their tiny fire extinguisher and then it just got huge it got huge.
Speaker 1:so I'm like driving up and I see and I call toma and I was like toma, there's a fire. And he was like what? And I was like, do I like? What do I do? Do I keep going? And I was kind of like at the point of no return. So I saw the people and I was like, ooh, they look sketchy, I'm definitely not stopping. In my mind I was like, oh my God, somebody got hurt or somebody's car caught on fire. We need to help them. And then I saw them and I was like we don't stop for everybody. So we drove through, we passed it just like two minutes past it and we're watching the fire literally grow. It's a california wild, I mean not really a wildfire.
Speaker 1:Like they definitely started the fire, but it was, it was taking off, so it it started in like 10 feet square feet and then, just like as we were past it, it was growing and the smoke was kind of like starting to billow out. So we're like, okay, what do we do? First we need to call 9-1-1 and tell them that, like, the mountain is caught on fire. So we pulled up a little bit further until we had service toma called right yeah, I called 9-1-1.
Speaker 2:I mean you can tell the brush was like super dry, it was pretty windy and realistically those people were not going to call oh, they definitely were not going to call so, yeah, we call 9-1-1, reported it, you know, gave the coordinates, and then they asked for my name and number. I was like, hmm, I wonder if they're gonna think like I started the fire. I was like, oh fuck, but it was the right thing to do, obviously, to like report the fire did you give them your name and number?
Speaker 2:yeah, okay, and then yeah, because it's even shady.
Speaker 1:You're like no, I don't want to give my number. You know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, I was just like whatever. So I reported, I reported it, gave my, my digits and we hang up. And then the real question is okay, we're on a forest logging road, you know, it's one way in and out. Do we turn around? And drive through the fire yeah, and, like you know, face these people again, or do we just keep going? The destination that we had in mind was an hour further along.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was 11 miles, but it took an hour because it's bumpy yeah. Like it's an off-roading road.
Speaker 2:So I mean, I don't know. I kind of figured the fire was still small when we called it in. You know, firefighters are being dispatched out. We should be good. So we keep driving towards the destination.
Speaker 1:I was a little bit paranoid, but I always have like those thoughts that's like, oh, we're gonna die, you know.
Speaker 1:So I try not to listen to those as much as possible, um and I was like, rightfully so yeah, I know, but you just you can't like act on those all the time, or I feel like I would be just like a crazy person. So I was like, okay, do you think that this is stupid if we keep driving in the? The like saving grace of the situation was that there was like a giant lake. I'm like, you know, like at least we're moving towards a body of water.
Speaker 2:It's not like uh yeah, I mean not just that it was pretty hot and kind of wanted like to let the dogs like go for a swim. So I was like let's, let's, let's go yeah.
Speaker 1:So we drove an hour and on my map we got to like the camp spot that was like on I overlander and I was like okay, here's the camp spot. And it was just a little pull off on the road but it was really high up Like we couldn't access the water. We would have to hike down like really far to access the water and I was like I'm just going to keep driving and see where we can get water access. Basically, so we just keep driving down the road and nothing is like marked, like there's no like signs or anything, and eventually we get to like right by the water and there's a gate, but the gate is open and all I saw on the gate was a sign that said like no hunting. But apparently on the actual gate part, like that was swung open, there was a no trespassing, like private property sign, which I totally missed.
Speaker 1:I I am so paranoid. I do not like being in places where I'm not supposed to be, like toma doesn't care, toma will literally go anywhere. And he's like it's fine and I'm like no, this is the united states, you cannot just be on somebody's property like we're gonna get murdered, you know. So I am the one who's super paranoid. We pull up like past the gates and I'm like I don't know what this place is. So let me just look it up and it pops up as like a recreation area and I was like, okay, maybe it's like kind of like a fish and wildlife area. You know, it said like no hunting, but maybe people like pull boats up here to go fishing and shit. That's kind of what I was thinking. Yeah, because it said like no hunting, but maybe people like pull boats up here to go fishing and shit.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what I was thinking yeah, because it was like um, what do you call that? Like a, not a loading dock, but like a ramp. A ramp, yeah, into the water and honestly it was gorgeous. We're like wow, like where did we just? Like?
Speaker 1:yeah, it was so pretty, like the water was so clear. On the other side were like mountains like we. We thought that we got so lucky, but it was actually somebody's property. So we drive over and we pull up like right by the water and we're like letting the dogs out and we're swimming like we're having the best time wow, I find the best spots, this is so great.
Speaker 1:And then we hear a truck, so I like call the dogs over. I'm holding Minka and a guy in a pickup truck pulls down the ramp and kind of like blocks us in and I was like what the heck is this guy doing? Like there's no way he's about to come out right now.
Speaker 2:There's kind of like this weird like standoff moment where we're like you're holding your dog, I'm holding Walter, and he's also got a dog in the car.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he was like what the fuck is going on? Like that's the look that he had initially. And then, like he gets out of his car and he is like beard down to like his belly button, you know, like a true mountain man yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's funny because you know, we ended up talking to him and he lived in um the city, but anyways. So he gets out of his truck and he's like you know, this is private property. And we're like, uh, like we literally just stood there, we're like, um, I'm so sorry, like he's like this sign is literally on the gate and we're like we didn't see it. We're so sorry, like, oh my gosh, we will leave. You know, like it's like are you guys boondockers? Are you guys boondockers and tomas like?
Speaker 2:uh, he's like you can be, and I was like, okay, sick. I was like yeah, we were planning on sleeping here, and then he kind of like warmed up, he was chill yeah, he was super chill.
Speaker 1:He was super, super chill so he was like, yeah, you guys can stay here. Um, the only reason the gate was open was because there's a fire. Do you know that there's a fire going on right now? And we were like, oh yeah, we actually like drove past it right as it was starting, we called it in and he pulls up like his watch app and the fire is at like three acres and he's like yeah, I'm friends with cal fire and they called me and told me that somebody called it in and basically he told us that the people who started the fire what got caught for?
Speaker 2:like stealing a trailer or something no, from my understanding, they had a trailer that was on like blm land for like way too long, and so they got a notice that they had to remove it.
Speaker 1:And instead of removing it, they just they were gonna burn it on fire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were just doing some sketchy shit and he said he's had problems with these guys for a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he he also said, didn't he say that they were like living further in and he kind of like they like pushed them out to yeah, he bought the property like two, three years ago and he's been pushing them further and further away yeah, out of the blm land, um.
Speaker 1:So he was just kind of like telling us about that and we're like, oh yeah, like those were the people like we definitely call. We called that in and he was like, yeah, so the fire is at three acres right now and if the wind switches, then we got to get out of here. And I was like, how do we get out of here? And he's like, well, you find a big log and you put your dogs on a log and you float across. And I was like, oh my gosh. And he's like I've got a buddy with a barge that will come and pick up, you know, my truck. I'm like, okay, like great, cool, um, but yeah, he ended up being cool.
Speaker 1:So he actually lived like in the city outside of well, I guess in Orange County, and he bought that property two years ago and his goal of the property is to have it be a recreation area, so he wants people to come and enjoy nature and that's kind of like the whole reason why he got it. And it was so nice of him to share his space with us because he definitely did not have to. And I feel like anytime we come across people who have private property like that is not the kind of welcome that you get. You know that you very rarely get a person that's like, hey, you're on my property, but like, you guys are cool pull a chair sit down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, come hang out yeah and he ended up chatting with us for like literally a couple hours. He had a rhodesian, which was kind of cool because we also have Ziv who is a Rhodesian. We didn't have them out at the same time because Ziv is not fixed and his female wasn't heat. He was like, yeah, probably, you know, not not a great idea. I'm like that Fair, fair enough, you know, but he had his dog out. His dog got to meet Moose, one of our board and trains, which was really cool, and he just kind of talked to us about his life and why he got the property and his vision for the property and how he wanted to really just like have a space that people could come and escape into nature.
Speaker 2:Life goals right there. Like his property was a cool gem. Yeah, real hidden gem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so he just had like a trailer and a generator and had everything set up off grid so that he could live there. And he was telling us all of the like small town drama that was going on around there. And you know, I was like, oh, it's actually it's Toma's birthday. And he was like, oh my gosh, happy birthday, toma. He left, he ended up coming back and he brought us like watermelon and cantaloupe and it was just, it was just so, so cool, because I feel like we don't always get to have those cool, stranger interactions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was awesome.
Speaker 1:And it was also very fun to meet another person who prioritized like just being out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely very like minded and I think he was also just grateful that we called in the fire when we did, because I don't know what the odds are of that happening, like we literally drove by the fire when it was just starting and like if we hadn't called it in, it would have probably got a lot bigger before, like you know, anybody would have known about it and maybe he would have lost the property, like who knows, you know yeah, and that's kind of the craziest part of this story is just like the timing of everything like this.
Speaker 2:We did not see a single other person on this blm land, you know like the only reason that gate was open was because he opened it, because he knew the firefighters could potentially come all the way to his property to get more water, to switch off, like to turn off the fire, because, like last time that it happened, they just like ran through the gate.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, like I don't know, we would have never even have met him if there wasn't a fire, because the gate would have been locked.
Speaker 1:Yes. So we drove in at the exact moment, past, past the fire, the exact location of the fire, as soon as it was starting. At that time called it in. We were only able to make it past his gate because there was a fire to meet him. And also, another thing is I have been telling myself that I need to do YouTube forever. And so random. He was like, oh, are you guys YouTubers? And I was like, uh, not really. And he was like, well, you should be. They're buying up all the land like you should do it. They make a ton of money. And it's just like the universe is so crazy because I, literally two days before, I texted toma and I was like we need to, we need to get on the youtube game, like that needs to be our priority. We need to do youtube. We're living the life. We might as well record it and post it like we live a really cool life.
Speaker 2:You know for sure and I think, like I don't know, if it would have been a younger person telling us like you know, start youtube. Be different, but it's like funny, coming from like a guy like him, like he's got like such character. You wouldn't expect him to start youtube yeah, you like I don't know.
Speaker 1:It was just. It was so funny. He was like, well, you should. And I'm like, yeah, you're, you're fucking right, I should, you know. So it was just also crazy because it was one of those days where I was like, wow, life is so wild that we kind of saved you and you showed up, have like it was the best day we got to let the dogs all swim, like they had so much fun. All of our dogs got to swim, all of the board and train dogs got to swim. We got to like let them off leash and not worry about anything.
Speaker 1:Because he was cool, it was like private property, we know nobody's gonna like come on the land, you know. And so that was kind of that was the start to our little Yosemite trip. And the next day we hung out with him again. He came down by the lake and was letting his dog swim and we were talking to him some more and he told us a story about how his nephew was kind of getting into some not so great things. He was hanging around the wrong people, getting into like a crowd of people that were just kind of like partying and doing drugs, and he came out to his property? For what? Three weeks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically he said the first three days the kid didn't talk to him at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he said the first three days he didn't talk to him at all. And then he got up one day, got into the lake, swam across the lake and it's like it's a big lake. It's a big lake, it's not like a small lake.
Speaker 2:Swam across the lake and it's like it's a big lake.
Speaker 1:It's a big lake Like it's not like a small lake. Swam across the lake, then swam to the middle of the lake and what Just started like he said he floated there for like four hours, but basically he said he's like I thought he was going to like unalive himself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Basically.
Speaker 2:But he basically, but he was like just floating there and then I don't, I don't even think like he meant like in that moment. I think he just meant like the three days before he was just sitting on the deck and it's kind of like mopey and I think like him going out into the water.
Speaker 1:He was like, oh my gosh, like what are? You gonna do and yeah.
Speaker 2:So he came back into the house and he was like all right, let's get to work. What do you want to do?
Speaker 2:yeah, and he told us this story just to kind of talk about, like the healing, healing that nature like yeah can allow people and dogs to have, because he had a kind of a similar story with his rhodesian was like a rescue. That you know, aggressive and nobody could take the dog and the dog was chill, I mean this guy was by no means a dog trainer, but like his dog was like social around us and yeah um, essentially just fulfilled, like. He's like, oh, this dog needs puzzles at.
Speaker 1:You know, at the end of the day, she's just roaming around like in nature and you know, digging up holes and whatnot, and yeah, it's a fulfilled dog yeah, and that's something that we're always kind of preaching is the importance of getting out in nature, like I just don't think that we're built to live these crazy busy lives that we're living, and I think that's why people struggle with so much like mental health issues and physical issues and it's, you know, it's it goes back to kind of like the animals that are living in a zoo, that have zookosis, you know, like we're.
Speaker 1:We're living in an environment that isn't made for us, it's not fit for us, it's not healthy for us. And you really really see it when you do take time to kind of get off grid a little bit, to go out into the middle of nowhere. And that's why he bought that property and why he wants to share it with other people is because you know he does live in the city, he lives in Orange County, like he lives in a busy area and he has this space that he can go and escape to. That really grounds him and that's kind of why we do what we do and why we do adventure, board and trains and why we spend so much time out in nature is because we understand the importance of it in our lives and our dogs lives.
Speaker 2:And how big of a role it is, you know, in behavior and in our overall health. Yeah, now, we're not telling you. You necessarily need to. You know, drive to blm land or buy a property in the middle of nowhere or, you know, even have a sprinter van. But even national parks like yosemite, it's a great way to get into nature with, like, all the amenities yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we left there yesterday. We hung out with uh, his name is scott. We hung out with scott in the morning and I have never been to yosemite. I've always wanted to go to yosemite. I feel like it's one of those things that you just gotta do right, like it's absolutely gorgeous. So we left there and drove to Yosemite.
Speaker 2:It was like it wasn't too far, it was a couple hours yeah, completely different scenery, um, because as we drove in, you know, then there's the big sequoia trees and or the redwoods. You know completely different from where we were before, but it was very nice rolling into Yosemite.
Speaker 1:Well, before we got to Yosemite we parked in a camping spot outside. I think it's in a national forest outside of Yosemite, so we came in from, like, the south entrance. If you guys are familiar with the area, you probably know, know the national forest. I do not remember the name of it. If I had to guess it starts with an s, like stralius or something. I have no idea. I'm gonna have to look it up anyways. So we pulled to the spot and I was like, oh my, my God, toma's going to love this spot because it's all like mossy and has like the big trees.
Speaker 1:Toma loves a dark forest, yeah, Like you love like a dense dark forest, like in by, like Santa Cruz and like up that area you like. Yeah, like big, big trees the redwood forest, like he really likes those. So we pulled up and it kind of looked like that and I was like, wow, we got so lucky. This is such a good camping spot like this is amazing. And then we opened the door and we're immediately swarmed by mosquitoes and I was like, oh, that's why nobody is here in this parking spot.
Speaker 2:That makes a whole lot of sense we literally had to like rush it, just like we just like pottied the dogs.
Speaker 1:I'm like it. I I cannot do the mosquitoes like that, like I mean, it was pretty bad so I mean, I've only been to one place in florida.
Speaker 1:Is that bad? It was so bad Like I was like are these gnats? And then I was like yeah, these are gnats. And then I was like no, these are actually mosquitoes. This is so wild. So the mosquitoes were really bad. Last night we had to like rush to let the dogs out, put them back in the van, and then we like hid in Toma's van. We did not come out, come out. But I mean we pulled up pretty late too, so it's not like we were doing like our final night potties, and then you know, we went to bed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just a tad earlier than normal, I guess yeah.
Speaker 1:So we woke up in the morning, let everybody out it was still a pretty like we didn't really see any other people so we could let the dogs off leash at our campsite. It was pretty chill this morning and we drove to Yosemite. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous because I had been seeing all of these TikToks of like the long lines to get into Yosemite and I was like, oh no, this is gonna be one of those things where we're gonna have to wait forever. So I was a little bit like anxious to go there, because I don't really like going places where there are a ton of people. I think it's different if I know how to like navigate it and what to expect.
Speaker 1:But when you have other people's dogs, I like the place that I go to to be a little predictable. You know, like dog training it's itself. You want to be able to control your environment and it just makes me a little bit anxious when I don't know what the environment is going to look like or like where we're going to park or how many people are going to be crammed into a parking lot. Like I don't love when I'm trying to take dogs out and I'm like squeezed next to somebody else's car, you know. So I was a little bit hesitant of that, so we drove in. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the park and no wait, no wait at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it was also middle of the week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:It makes a difference.
Speaker 1:So we get into the park. No way I was so excited. It feels like Disney. I don't like Disney, but it feels like how people who like Disney might feel. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I was like oh my gosh, this is so exciting.
Speaker 1:I've never been to Yosemite. This is such a fun thing. So we drove in and we went to. What part of yosemite did we go to? The part that everybody goes to?
Speaker 2:yeah, like the main hub. I don't know um the valley, yeah, yeah, the valley, sure, yosemite valley um very busy yeah, it was definitely hard to like find a parking spot and like even like where to potty dogs initially, but we we drove around a little bit and found a secluded area yeah, we drove around and we found like a little parking lot on the side that we could let all the dogs out cook lunch and ended up being really cool.
Speaker 1:So the rules rules for yosemite are the dogs are only allowed in parking lots and paved paths, essentially. So you are pretty limited if you bring your dog to Yosemite and it's so silly because I know it's such like a big name thing, you know like to be able to go to Yosemite it's like so cool, everybody, everybody wants to go there. But I don't really think that it's the just want to take your dog on a quick little walk in Yosemite. Or even I had the idea of like, oh, it'd be really cool to do like pack walks and in Yosemite, but like on that main road that we went to, it's kind of like an obedience outing, like where trainers go to the mall yeah, it's literally like going to the mall like there is so there are so many people there's bikes, there's kids, there's scooters, there's skateboards, there's like buses and cars and like there is so much going on.
Speaker 1:That's. The other thing is like this is not that's.
Speaker 2:It's not like a relaxing, like let your dog decompress place literally at all I mean I think there's like other, obviously, like we did yosemite, you know, in a single day yeah, that's true I think there's a lot of like nice hikes and whatnot where your Yosemite experience can be totally different, but the dogs are only allowed in certain places which seem to be very busy areas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So you have to have Like a well-trained dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like your dog has to be like pretty solid to be able to do that. So when we first pulled up to like the busy area, we were going to take the walk, the dogs for a walk. We took zoe and lucy. It is so nice to have easy dogs, easy dogs, being like they're golden retrievers. Lucy is like I would not necessarily describe lucy as an easy dog, but she's well trained and she's very social. I don't have to worry about her biting somebody if somebody reaches into her space type of thing. Like they're not reactive, they're my, they're my first line that I'll take out. You know, like if we're in a place where let's scope out the area, yeah, let's scope out the area, we'll take the goldens with us.
Speaker 1:So we took zoe and lucy on a little walk with us and we kind of got like a quarter in and I was like I don't really know if we're allowed to bring dogs here. Like on the map it's like, hey, anywhere that's like a paved bike trail, you can take your dog. And I was like okay, and then it's kind of like I don't know, you couldn't really tell it like started out paved, and then there's like yeah, and then it turns to dirt and you're like, oh okay, well, I'm a lot, am I allowed to take the dog here?
Speaker 1:and like, as somebody who is, who has an audience in the dog world, I don't like to do things that are not allowed. I want to set the tone for that. It could be like, oh, I'm just going to take my dog there anyways, but that ruins it for people with service dogs and that's not a good example to lead by. So I am a stickler on I'm not going to take my dog where my dog is not allowed. And it was just stressing me out a little bit. So I was like all right, let's bring the dogs back into the car.
Speaker 1:Zoe was already like she was done by that point. She was like dragging behind us, so we had to take her back. So we took the dogs back to the van and I was like all right, me and Toma, let's just go and scope it out and see where we can take the dogs first, because also, we have board and trains like they're training dogs. They're not perfect and we have to make sure that we're taking them out in an environment that they're like prepared for. You know, yeah.
Speaker 2:We want to set them up for success.
Speaker 1:Right, so we go for a little hike. Where do we go? Do you remember mirror lake? Yes, so the the trail that we took is mirror lake, which you can take dogs. So there's a trail that runs alongside, like the road. Is it a road or is it just the bike path?
Speaker 2:no, it's a road.
Speaker 1:There were cars and like buses on that road okay, so there's like a road, but there's also people riding their bikes down that area and, from what I could tell, that is where you're allowed to take the dogs. Yeah, so that path, that like paved road, takes you to mirror lake? I'm curious, because I had somebody else dm me and they're like, oh, you should do the like mirror lake trail, but I wonder if they did like the trail part or like the paved yeah, I mean, they're literally like two trails that go like side by side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're right next to each other um, and at certain points they're like across the river from each other. But yeah, it's a small loop. I think it was like two miles yeah, and it was nice.
Speaker 1:It was a nice little hike. Tomo got his zoomies out, he got to jump on some rocks and jump in the lake.
Speaker 2:It was the coldest California water, coldest water I've been in California so far.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were like frozen afterwards.
Speaker 2:Glacier water.
Speaker 1:So we walked back, grabbed the dogs and took them for a nice little hike or a little walk in what I can only assume is in front of half dome, but who really knows where we were well, we got some pictures of it all and some videos.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I'm gonna have to.
Speaker 1:Somebody has to tell me like where we were, because I don't know. When I see like pictures or videos of half dome it, that's not what the front of it looks like. I almost feel like we were on like the back of it yeah, we're on like the side, for sure if that was half dome, or it's like north dome or like literally nothing, who knows, it's just a red rock there. There were people like standing over there at sunset, though.
Speaker 2:I think it was half dome, but like a bad angle.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Someone will correct us.
Speaker 1:I'm not convinced. Somebody needs to tell me where we were. I actually did post it in my story. So if anybody is listening to this and knows where we were and can let me know that would be wonderful. This and knows where we were and can let me know that would be wonderful. But something that I think would be really cool if I weren't so busy all the time is doing like day hikes in Yosemite with trained dogs. You know, like dogs, that you've already run through a program to do some exposure training, because like it really was good exposure training, like it was so good for Ziv. Ziv is the Rhodesian who's scared of bikes Not anymore. He did so great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he really pulled up.
Speaker 1:He did great around the bikes. He didn't react at all.
Speaker 2:He was neutral.
Speaker 1:He was super chill. He was a little stressy, but that's expected. He's stressy about, like existing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel, I feel like in that setting he did very well for himself don't go in thinking that you're going to go on a nice little nature hike.
Speaker 1:You're going in to train your dog to take them in a busy area it's a mall outing with a view it's a mall outing with a view.
Speaker 2:It's the disney of nature yeah, that's a fair way to put it you know like it literally does feel like disney I feel like that's what happens with all those like touristy national parks, so it's always jam-packed yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 1:That's tough for me like I'm glad, I'm glad that we went and like I definitely want to go back. But I think I would love for us to get a backpacking permit and then we could do like backpacking in yosemite, like that's always been a dream of mine.
Speaker 1:But we're gonna have to find somebody to watch the dogs to be able to do that yeah, that would be fun I think, if your goal is to truly spend time out in nature and get your dog out and like, let them be a dog and not have to put so much control on them, because that's the other thing too is like they had to walk at heel like there's there is literally no world in which I would use a flexi lead in yosemite no, I I think the national parks like it's just a cool thing to do.
Speaker 2:It's just like a a check yeah, but it's also like the amenities like make it very easy for like your average, like what? Like a bathroom? No, not just that, like the, the very smooth roads, like those are freshly paved roads, versus like the other place we're talking about that we went to like the roads are gnarly, that's a.
Speaker 2:You know our 4x4 like trek. You know you need a. You need a proper vehicle to do it and you need to be a little ballsy at times, like not everybody's comfortable driving down these steep hills yeah, that's true, but it is.
Speaker 1:It is always like worth it yeah, we find the best spots. Every time we get to a spot, I'm like I'm so good at finding good spots.
Speaker 2:You really are. Yeah, you don't have to convince me, I find the best spots. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really do. I'm like an expert at finding good spots, but it does stress me out a little bit when we have to do it too much. I'm like like, oh my gosh, every single day we have to like find a new spot. It would be nice to hang out in one spot for a little bit longer, yeah you know, and not kind of have to like rush around a bit which I've heard is kind of the mistake of first year van lifers is you're just kind of like rushing around all over the place.
Speaker 1:But I do feel like it's a little bit different because of my job yeah, you know it's not like I'm just a van lifer, it's like I am a dog trainer and I do lessons and we train with other dog trainers and you know I have a trainer in san diego who I go and see, and all of that yeah, we're.
Speaker 2:We're up and down the California coast all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It is a lot.
Speaker 1:You work with people, so we're just kind of all over the place.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I highly recommend checking out state parks or national forests. I would say not even necessarily state parks. National forests is where we've had the best luck like that is what are the roads called? Like logging roads yeah, it's like forest logging roads yeah, so the logging roads are typically easy to drive on and where you camp is just like a pull off off of those logging roads and we normally don't see a lot of people when we go and do things like that.
Speaker 2:It's where you get to truly kind of just escape into nature and chill, chill with your dogs yeah, like even I don't know if you have like a reactive dog or whatever, like in nature, like in a place like that you don't have to worry that you're going to bump into someone Like the chances are so small.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, that's like one of the only times where I can actually just like breathe, be like stress free, like letting my dogs out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's nice it is. It's free, like letting my dogs out. Yeah, it's nice, it is, it's super nice, and I feel like it's important for us as like dog owners too, especially if you have a dog with behavioral issues, like you're on guard all the time yeah like it's a.
Speaker 1:it's a good way to practice like regulating your nervous system around your dog, because if you have a reactive dog or a dog that like stresses you out because they're like a little bit sketchy, then you're always kind of on edge when you're with them and we're just kind of like feeding into that more because your dog's like wait, why are you on edge? And it's like why are you on edge? And it's just like this vicious cycle of like the two of you being stressed out about like potential triggers.
Speaker 1:so it's nice to go out into the middle of nowhere and just know that you're not really gonna run into other people yeah we are always mindful, you know, like that, one time we were in the middle of nowhere and a dirt bike like ripped by us yeah, like it definitely.
Speaker 2:It definitely happens like we're not like truly alone.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I don't know like my dog still has like an e-collar on, but I feel like you can still decompress so much more yeah, which is really nice one thing that we really want to get is like a cable that we can tie between the vans so that we can like hook up the dog leashes yeah, just like a zip line doggy, doggy, zip line yeah just for any times where we want to have the dogs out but we don't't have to worry about keeping an eye on them the whole time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it would allow us to be in the van and start cooking, and you'd have the van door open or whatever, but you're not constantly watching the dog, so that'd be nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if our dogs are off leash, we're always watching them. We're always like listening for cars or bikes or people you know, like we can't have people walking up on us with like our five dogs out at once yeah so we are always kind of on guard, but not necessarily in like an anxious way. Yeah, and it's really nice. I feel like the dogs really. We get to see how happy they become when we get to places like that.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:You know, like even Minka, like Minka like was so happy this morning. She was like, yes, Like they just don't like being in the city yeah, I mean it's just.
Speaker 2:It's a different. I don't know what to call it, like a hobby, like they're like. Oh, we're in field trip mode yeah, but even like chai oh he's hilarious yeah in nature, he's like having the best time yeah, we have a small little white dog.
Speaker 1:He's so freaking cute. He's like a problem, for sure he's.
Speaker 2:He's like a malinois and like a tiny this morning he decided he didn't want to be white anymore. He was rolling in the dirt rolling in the dirt.
Speaker 1:He's like barking at us to get us to like do something with him. He's barking at all of the other dogs, like he's just a funny little dog, but I was like he doesn't want to live in this city, like having the time of his life he's having the time of his life.
Speaker 1:He like got in the lake and you know he's like rolling in the dirt, he's like rubbing up on zoe, it's it's just. It's so funny to see the dog's personalities kind of like shift whenever you do get to take them out and just like, let them be dogs for sure it's so much fun even hawks, like super derpy, like he's, like rolling in the dirt and stuff yeah, the malinois get so dusty yes, very funny, very funny.
Speaker 1:It is funny. So if you do plan on going camping with your dogs or going on a little adventure with them, I definitely recommend having some long lines or even like our 10-foot slip that you can just let drag. The thing that I like about our slip lead is the clip at the end, so when we do get the cable, we can just clip the leashes to the cable. Yeah, you know. So have something like that, have something that you can tether your dog to. Um what else? You need a bug spray. You definitely need bug spray. You need bug spray for yourself and I would get a tick repellent spray for your dog. I think we got I don't know the name of it Scouts. Maybe it's just like a herbal spray, but it worked pretty well, just with the mosquitoes, with the mosquitoes. So we'll spray the dogs if we are in an area where we think that there might be ticks or bugs or anything that will you know get to them.
Speaker 2:Other than that, we keep it pretty simple.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I should have probably put sunscreen on the other day, but sunscreen that's a people thing, that's it. Yeah, anything else for the dogs? Um no, we keep it super simple. We just have leashes, the metal dog bowls jugs of water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jugs of water are important. You underestimate, like, how much water you can go through in a day yeah, the dogs will drink like max a gallon water each.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if there's a day where we're like in somewhere dry or the dogs have been running around a lot, like they're gonna drink a gallon of water each definitely burn through water so fast yeah, that's probably our most limited resource but, yeah, I encourage all of you guys to find something that your dog loves.
Speaker 1:You know that could be going out in nature, it could just be going to a park and like sitting in the grass. But our dogs and us are not meant to live a life cooped up inside all the time. It leads to behavioral issues. It leads to, you know, anxiety and other mental issues in our dogs that manifest as other problems letting the dogs swim as well.
Speaker 2:It's really nice, like zoe and walter, kind of like our older dogs.
Speaker 1:It's good for the joints it's good for the joints, it's just so good. I could not recommend enough. Every time we go out into the nature, into the nature, into nature, I'm like man, I hate obedience, every single time. So, yeah, I encourage all of you guys to find some time in your busy schedules and get outside for you and your dog. You got anything else?
Speaker 2:I think that's what I enjoy my dog the most, to be honest Nature. You don't have to worry about the structure and all that. It's nice.
Speaker 1:It is Especially when we spend so much time implementing structure and doing behavioral mod and, you know, being kind of the drill sergeant sometimes.
Speaker 2:It's really nice to watch dogs. Just be dogs.
Speaker 1:Let dogs be dogs, all right, y'all. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time, thank you.