Tag: dogs

Ah, The Quiet of the Early Morning, Not!

Where is a large bird of prey when you need it?  We’re on vacation this week, which means we get to sleep in past our normal 2:45 am wake up call.  Sounds wonderful, but only in theory.  In reality we have a neighbor that owns two very obnoxious “squeaky toys” with four legs.  They were up and at it barking their heads off at 4:15 this morning.  I know because I looked at the clock.  I laid there for a few minutes thinking all sorts of evil thoughts of different ways of their demise.  Of course, I could never actually follow through with any of my mental wanderings, because ultimately it’s not the dogs fault.  The blame rests squarely on the owner’s shoulders.

Maybe he was lonely, I don’t know, but getting a dog requires a lot more than just being a cure for loneliness.  You have to interact with them, a lot.  There’s training, training and more training. Affection and lots of exercise.  We have labs, and labs have a ton of energy and if left to their own devices, can get very hyper and destructive, mostly from boredom.  Everyone that comes to our home always comments on how laid back they are.  Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have giant rugs here, these guys can destroy a room in no time (and have) if we would let them.  Our neighbor even built a doggie door for them so that he didn’t have to get up to let them out.  Which means now he has even less interaction with them.  He fenced off a tiny little area in his yard for them to run around in. Maybe a six square foot area.  He fenced it off with a garden fence, something my dogs wouldn’t even notice as they walked through.  So now these two loud obnoxious animals rush outside at all hours and bark incessantly. Amazing how something so small can be so loud.  It is beginning to grate on my last nerve.  Even my dogs are tired of their irritating rants.  On our walk yesterday, Charlie turned and started to charge at the dogs with hair raised down his back.  I was almost tempted but I was sure there might have been witnesses.

I’ve even tried to make up to them with no success.  No I really don’t want to see the dogs dead, just quiet.

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.

Mine!

Nothing like a good game of tug o war to start the day on a cool September morning.

Enjoying the cooler weather

AJ letting Orso know he can still hold his own

Walking The Dogs

Walking the dogs at 4:30 in the morning has its’ advantages and disadvantages.  Granted, most people wouldn’t purposely choose to be up, let alone walking their dogs at 4:30 in the morning.  But because of our schedules, Mitch works a very early shift and me trying to fit everything in, walking the dogs at that time is the most convenient.  Particularly since I haven’t showered and put on any makeup yet (I’m pretty scary without makeup).

One of the advantages to walking the dogs very early in the morning is that it is pretty unlikely to meet other walkers with or without dogs.  No one else wants to lose their precious slumber time.  So we’re pretty much alone making our early morning jaunt a pleasant walk.  I can pretend that we’re walking along in some remote wilderness instead of the city suburbs.  The tiny little city we live in has very few street lights making the walk mostly in the dark with most of the illuminations coming from people with porch lights left on overnight.  Another plus- no traffic.  No one else is up yet, so no cars to worry about.  Once in a while the paper man will cross our path, but only if he’s running late. 

It’s a lot cooler in the morning, which is much easier on the dogs, especially after this summer.  This summer has been a blast furnace with temperatures in the 100’s most days and mornings haven’t been much cooler.  So walking at 4:30 definitely has been much more tolerable.

One of the disadvantages to walking the dogs in the dark, is I can’t see any spider webs until I walk into one and this year there has been an abundance of spider webs stretching from the tree branches to the ground.    It’s probably a good thing no one else is around to witness me flaying my arms around trying to get the sticky strands off my face and rubbing my head searching for unwanted guests, while still holding the leashes in one hand.  Occasionally I let out a shriek too, just for good measure.  The dogs jerk around looking for the intruder or intruders ready for fight or flight.  I’ve even made Charlie growl ready to kill something.

Though there are no other people out, we are not alone.  We often cross paths with raccoons, opossums and deer.  We’ve heard some strange sounds in the woods around us that have made the dogs stop, perk up their ears and move in the opposite direction to the noise.  I’m not sure what animal made the cries and I’m sure that I want to meet it in the dark.  I have learned to constantly scan the area ahead and to watch the dogs and their behavior.  If their ears are up and are very alert, sniffing the air or straining on the leashes I know something else is out there.  I’ve been caught off guard too many times in the past.  Nothing like having your shoulders ripped out of the sockets.

The biggest minus to walking in the predawn hours is running across the crazies.  What is it about the dark and the crazies?  I have a neighbor that comes out of his house to water the plants, pick up the paper or get his mail from the day before in various stages of undress.  More undress than dress.  One time he was wearing a very short sarong to unload plants out of the back of his truck.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.  Walking upon a naked man watering his plants at 5:00 am is not the way to start your day.  I have since changed my route in the morning because of it.

But all in all, after weighing all of pluses and minuses, I wouldn’t change the time of our walking routine for a minute, maybe only the location (somewhere on the beach, in the mountains or the booger woods).

Summer and Cicadas

The sound of the Cicada serenade conjures up images of sitting on the porch with friends and family sipping a cold drink, enjoying the summertime evenings.  (For most people) that is.  Not me.  The sound of Cicadas mean a totally different summer ritual. 

I walk the dogs every morning at 4:30 while it’s still dark.  Yes I know at 4:30 it’s dark, but there’s a reason I mention that it’s dark.  And you’re wondering what walking the dogs at 4:30 has to do with Cicadas, well let me explain. 

I discovered quite by accident and pure disgust by the way that my dogs love to eat Cicadas.  One early morning I was walking Buddy, our yellow lab, when all of a sudden he jerked the leash toward something large on the ground and grabbed it in his mouth and chomped down.  As he snatched it up in his mouth, I heard this sound that sounded like a thousand bees buzzing at once then crunch.  As I realized what Buddy had just eaten, my stomach turned over and I thought for a second that I was going to vomit.  I thought for sure that he would spit the bug out, because it had to taste absolutely nasty.  Obviously not, he loved the taste.

After many Cicadas had been consumed by Buddy, I started to lose the queasy feeling every time he ate one and actually started to help him find them.  We currently have three dogs, and all of them love the taste of Cicadas.  So every morning on our walks, as we get close to street lights, I start walking around in circles looking for Cicadas resting on the street so the dogs can eat a bug.  Charlie gets really excited and watches me for any telltale sign of a Cicada so he can rush over and snatch it up before AJ can get to it.

Thank god no one else walks at the same time in the morning, because anyone that watched us would think I was totally nuts.

Summer Sizzles

It’s been as hot a summer as it was as cold a winter last winter, comparatively.  I’ve discovered that I don’t handle the heat as well as in the past.  I’ve never handled the cold well though.  There was a ton of snow and the cold lingered on and wouldn’t go away.  Even the dogs got tired of the cold and lingering snow.  We couldn’t wait for summer, everyone kept saying, “I promise not to complain when it gets hot.” 

We didn’t get to enjoy spring this year.  It was short lived and not very pleasant weather wise.  Too much rain each time it rained.  And I realized the other day that the year is half over and another winter is coming.  We could use some rain and hopefully the heat wave will subside a bit, but I’m not ready for winter.  And as far as I’m concerned, fall can wait a bit before it shows up.  The days move too fast.  At work each day you can’t wait til quitin’ time, one day closer to Friday and on Friday you can’t wait til it’s Saturday.  A never ending cycle.  I found myself wishing my life away.  And I’m too old to be wishing away what time’s left.  (I’m not that old, but too old to be wishing it away.)

So even though it’s hotter than hades right now, I’m not wishing for winter.