AJ and Orso love the cool weather so much and start a pick up game of My Stick. That usually means the Smackdown is close behind. I have to be sure and stay out of range or I quickly become part the melee. That has happened many times in the past.
Tag: dogs playing
My Black Friday
While most everyone else was either fighting the crowds at the malls or surfing the web for bargains, I decided to spend my Black Friday a bit differently. Mitch opted to work overtime, to pay for the new alternator the dog hauler just had to have after I spent a small fortune at the grocery store. Had I known the alternator was going to go out, I would have waited to buy some of the extras. Sorry I digress, (a sign of old age). I thought that since I was on my own for Black Friday and crowds of strangers, each ruder than the next, are not my idea of fun, I took the dogs hiking. They didn’t care where we went as long as they were with me, so it was a win-win situation.
So I loaded them up and headed off for a morning of tearing around out in the woods at break neck speeds. For three dogs that normally spend their days looking like large lumps on the bed, laying around sucking up oxygen and conserving energy, it’s a whole different story when we take them out to the woods, they turn into three energizer bunnies, going and going and going. I parked the car at the top of the hill with about a half mile hike to the bottom where the trail starts. Which means the way back to the car is at the TOP of the hill, about a half mile hike UPHILL to the car. As soon as the dogs figured out where we were, they couldn’t wait to get out and run around. Orso started barking and pacing back and worth, because I wasn’t moving fast enough for him. I opened the tailgate and out came the three happiest dogs. The only thing that could make their day any better would be if there was peanut butter cake there too.
The day was chilly with gusty winds and clouds covering the sky, not the prettiest day but definitely not the worst. We were the only ones around so the dogs could run and sniff to their hearts content. After the hike I gave each one a bath so now I have pretty dogs – Bonus! I can’t think of a better way to work off turkey and all the fixins.
They’re Just Like Kids
I had to do the “hidden objects in the mouth” check again this morning after our walk. This year has produced a bumper crop of large acorns. These giant acorns are the ones with the fuzzy caps still attached when they drop off the trees. It sounds like a hail storm when the acorns start falling down. As big as they are, the acorns gain velocity the farther they have to drop before hitting an unsuspecting object below. I had a car that looked like it had been through a really bad hail storm after being pummeled from falling acorns. Anyway I digress.
All of the dogs love these large acorns and will stop dead in their tracks on our walks to crack and eat them. Orso only likes the fuzzy cap, (go figure) and after chewing off the cap will drop the acorn to the ground, which Charlie or AJ will then snatch up and crack with their jaws, eat the nut meat and spit out the shells. On our morning walks, I don’t have the luxury of standing around shelling acorns for the dogs. Mornings I’m on a schedule and acorn shelling is not on it. As the dogs try to stop and eat acorns, I have to yank on the leash or leashes of the offending dogs to drag them along. I constantly remind them that this walk is not a brunch walk, but a business walk and they need to get to it, just like kids.
So now all of them are getting cagey. They will walk along, dip their heads down and snatch up acorns without missing a step. Yesterday, I noticed that Charlie was walking rather sedately, staying close to me and not wandering around sniffing and peeing on everything. He would turn his head to glance up at me then turn back quickly so I couldn’t really see his mouth. I stopped and bent down to get a closer look, and sure enough there was a large acorn hanging out of his mouth. I let him take it home but made him spit it out before going inside; I wanted to avoid the truly unpleasant sensation of stepping barefoot on broken acorn shells left as a mine field on the dark brown rug.
This morning, both Charlie and Orso had hidden acorns in their mouths to savor later this morning after I left for work. As I did the “Drop it!” command, I heard multiple acorns hitting the steps. Charlie being the smaller of the two only had hidden one, but Orso, having the jowls of a Mastiff, had squirreled away FOUR in his mouth.
Dogs are so much like children, and I had thought that now I could relax and enjoy life with both sons grown, married and with children of their own. But no, now I have to revert to my parenting days when I raised my sons and had to stay three steps ahead of each of them, just to maintain my sanity.
My Three Dogs
We have three dogs. AJ, The Good Dog, Charlie, The Green-Eyed Monster, and Orso, The Drool Machine. AJ, The Good Dog, a seventy pound Labrador, is sweet and loving, soft and gentle and totally devoted to me. Most of the time he has a serious expression on his face, but when the mood strikes him, The Good Dog is full of the Devil. I’ve seen him put Olympic style wrestling moves on a ninety five pound Doberman and take him to the ground, laying on top of Rocky just chewing on his neck. Now at eleven years old, the moments of the Devil are fewer and farther between, but it’s still there when needed.
We got Charlie, The Green-Eyed Monster, when he was ten weeks old. AJ acted like a proud papa watching over him and playing with him as Charlie grew up. It was pretty amazing watching AJ play to Charlie’s level, never too hard, only as hard as the puppy could handle. As Charlie grew the play got rougher, teaching him how to handle himself. Charlie is a sixty five pound half German Shorthair half Labrador and total psycho dog. Even though he was almost raised by AJ, he will get extremely jealous of the attention we give AJ or Orso. At seven years old, he will still look at you with an expression that says, “I’m the baby! Don’t play with him, touch me.”
I didn’t want Orso, The Drool Machine, didn’t want to even go look at him. A coworker of Mitch’s has a son that had a nine month old Chocolate Lab who needed to get rid of him. I kept telling Mitch two dogs was enough. The was no tension, both dogs got along, nothing was getting destroyed, life was good. But Mitch said, “Let’s just go take a look see. We don’t have to bring him home.” What a crock. Mitch knows me well enough to know that if I see him, we’ll be bringing him home. So long story short, we came home with a ninety five pound puppy. At five years old, The Drool Machine has wormed his way into our hearts, so he is here to stay.
The Mom Voice
Everyone knows it, everyone has heard it. Everyone has felt the power of it. The Mom voice. It has nothing to do with volume. It isn’t even determined by sex. Mothers and fathers both have the Mom voice. Most of the time the Mom voice is spoken at normal volume, maybe even softer than normal. The tone and timber are what is used to make the Mom voice so powerful. It’s a no nonsense tone with such finality in it that makes the recipient cringe in terror. I used it on my sons when they were growing up. Nothing made them stop and take notice that I was not fooling around with them, more than the Mom voice. When used, even the most hardened adult succumbs to it.
I use the Mom voice on Mitch occasionally. He hates it. He would rather I screamed like a fish wife and throw a rant than to look at him and speak to him in the voice. Mitch has said it makes him feel like a kid again that had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Even the dogs know the Mom voice. I use it on them when no one will listen and it’s a free for all. I used it tonight when the wrestling got out of hand with dogs careening off the walls, leaping on and off our bed, totally out of control. After the Mom voice came out dogs scattered. AJ laid down by my chair, Charlie and Orso made themselves very scarce, going to lay down in the bedroom. All is quiet for quite awhile after the Mom voice.
It’s good to be Mom.
Charlie Has One Speed – Fast
My Burr-Fect Dogs
All three covered in stick tights, happy and tired after a three mile hike.
Charlie always on the hunt.
Orso, watching the others and waiting.
Games dogs play
Cooler weather means more wrestling
A great game of keep away
Come on in the Water’s Fine
Cooling off before finishing the hike
My Mental Health Day
I took a mental health day today. It’s just the dogs and me today and I decided that I needed a day to do something that I really love to do, (besides going wine tasting). I mulled over all the different things I would really love to do if I had a day all to myself. The winner hands down is taking the dogs hiking someplace pretty rugged and primitive. There is a place not far from here that fits the bill perfectly. The only problem is that I’ve only been there once and am not sure how exactly to get there, so I came up with the most logical solution. I co-oped a friend of ours that takes his dogs there all the time to take us along.
I’m so excited, the weather will be great, 58 degrees this morning with a high of 70. The dogs are already out of control, using the front room as their personal wrestling arena, killing time chewing on each other’s faces. I know, we’re really warped.
I promised that I would wait until 8:45 before calling our friend, but could only make to 8:30. Thankfully he was up and had started on his first cup of coffee. I loaded up the dogs and headed his way. The morning was beautiful. Sunny and cool, perfect for a hike. The dogs were so excited, pacing around the back of the station wagon on the drive over. We parked the cars, unloaded the dogs, he brought one of his, Stella, a Belgian Malinois mix. She weighs in at about 65 pounds and the sweetest little girl. The dogs could barely contain their enthusiasm, all the smells calling them, teasing them. They were in sensory nirvana. They all headed off down the road, sniffing and peeing on every weed, AJ immediately took a dump right in the middle of the road. The first of many this morning. That’s my AJ.
Charlie ran back and forth across the path and into the underbrush and woods around us, always on the hunt searching for a promising scent. What surprised us both was Stella was right on his heels the entire hike, following him everywhere. Charlie acted like they had been hunting buddies forever. For Charlie, that’s really something. AJ and Orso stayed pretty close to the path and us, not wandering too far, but we would have call Charlie and Stella back often. Neither one of us wanted to try out my de-skunking kit.
We were the only ones out there. It was wonderful. A truly refreshing, relaxing and invigorating mental health day. I can’t wait to go again.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 