Walks and hikes with young puppies should be pretty short and easy. Lots of meandering and breaks. Lots of sniffing and exploring. Nothing serious. Nothing strenuous.

At just under 4 months old, this is Zooka's first trip up into the Rocky Mountains. We made a day of it at Snow Mountain Ranch to enjoy the nice weather and take a day off.

This video clip is a piece of our walk. We have him on a long line so he has room to explore. We don't want him hitting the end of the line constantly as our main priority is giving him a chance to explore a new area.

While our main priority is exploration, we are still getting started on our leash manners. So you will notice we do stop when he hits the end of the long line.

Our goal at this point is not for perfection but to start getting the idea of being tuned in with us WHILE he explores.

Depending on how interested he is, we will give lots of treats for checking in with us. In this case, Zooka is pretty invested in exploring and not as interested in treats. We still have them to hand out when he wants and when he makes good decisions. But the main reward for him right now is the exploration.

Since he is still so young, this was a very leisurely hike with no set destination in mind. We never venture too far at this stage. But we do give him some exposure because we hope to do lots more hiking once he has more stamina and is able to do some longer hikes!