Charlie makes a great pillow for AJ
AJ can still take Charlie
Charlie checking out Frankie’s ear
Tag: pet ownership
Swim Day
Charlie’s turn
AJ ready to go again
Always time for a belly rub
It’s Too Hot To Go Outside
It’s hot and the dogs don’t want to go outside, but still want to play, hence the house has become their personal play zone. The living room is the wrestling ring, the bed is the trampoline for their jumping on and off point to get a better vantage point in the wrestling ring and the dining room is the challenge zone. That is where one of the dogs will square off on one of the other two issue a challenging bark, make a threatening lunge and then turn tail run to the living room and wait in the wrestling ring for a challenger to show up. Of course with 3 male dogs, even though they are all neutered, they are still male dogs, there is always a challenger. Then the fight is on, barking, charging each other from opposite sides of the room for a “vicious” chest slam and finally crashing to the floor for some serious neck chewing.
Orso will pull away jump up and run to the bedroom, leap on the bed and stand there barking at the other two. What a lame-o. If no one accepts the challenge, he will then leap off the bed and rush back into the fray, because it’s more fun to be chewed on. I don’t know why, I’ve watched them chewing on each other and it looks very painful. Grabbing the jowl or face with their teeth and pulling back, makes me hurt just watching. These three will do this all the time. Go figure.
After much barking, chest slamming and chewing all three will collapse on the floor panting thoroughly spent and happy, watching me right all the knocked over furniture. I think we need more dogs.
Happy Birthday AJ
We acquired AJ when he was two years old. He was a shy black lab with somber eyes that were slightly hooded, like a bird of prey. His flight instincts were and still are very strong. He was afraid of just about everything. We discovered very quickly that we would have work very hard to get him to overcome his fears of the unknown. AJ had never seen stairs and had no idea how to walk up or down them. He had never walked on hardwood and tile floors. The first week he was with us, we had to run a trail of throw rugs and towels throughout the house in order to get him from one side of the house to the other. People terrified him. He would hide behind me in order to get away from well meaning strangers. AJ was and still is the most beautiful hunting dog I’ve ever seen in the field. Graceful, fast and always in the right place to point, yes he’s a pointing lab, and flush the ever elusive pheasant. He is most alive out in the field working a hot scent.
Ten years later, AJ is one of our “official greeter” dogs, ready to greet anyone that wants to give away a few pets or ear scratches. His eyes are still soft and sweet when he looks at me, there is a complete devotion that I don’t think I will ever see in a dog’s eyes ever again. AJ loves me as much as I love him. He lays next to the bathtub when I take a shower and is a constant companion.
He has slowed down a bit over the years. His clownish antics are fewer and farther apart, though he will still wrestle briefly with Orso, but he can’t hang with the big dogs for long. AJ has some gray hair on his chin, but not that much. His hips are still strong and can jump in and out of the station wagon easily. His depth perception is starting to deteriorate. AJ struggles going from bright rooms to darker doorways, which breaks my heart, knowing that he is aging so I have to be grateful for the time I still have with him.
But not today. Today is AJ’s birthday. He turns twelve years old today. For breakfast we had peanut butter, one of AJ’s favorites and for dessert tonight, it will be frozen pumpkin yogurt pops. Even if AJ doesn’t quite get the reason for the special treats I do. AJ was and is truly a gift to me and I’ve been so lucky he came to live with us.
Five Tired Puppies
Swimming was a huge success as usual. The day was beautiful, clear skies, warm around 85° a bit windy though, which kept us from baking. AJ couldn’t wait to jump off the dock and will jump into the water, retrieve the drop, swim back and race to the end of the dock to do this over and over until he is totally exhausted. Happy and wiped out. Charlie won’t jump off the dock but wades out until he can’t touch anymore then gingerly steps out and starts tentatively swimming until he remembers, oh yeah, I can do this. He’ll retrieve the drop only if no other dog is close to him in the water. Strange dog, I know. Orso will get in the water, paddle around to cool off then stand on the end of the dock wistfully watching the boats go by hoping someone will come take him for a ride. He’s a gentlemen’s dog wishing for the good life.
Our friends dogs, Murphy a large German Shepherd, loves to swim just for the sake of swimming. He will paddle around in circles, back and forth enjoying the moment, just being in the water. Stella, a Belgian Malinois Chow mix loves jumping off the dock to retrieve a pink Frisbee. She’s also good at retrieving the wayward drop or Frisbee that one of the other dogs gives up on. We’ll just point at or throw a rock out where we want her to go and she’ll jump off and go get it just like a champ.
The afternoon is not just swimming though. Oh no, in between the dock diving and swimming, there is tag, keep away and MMA Style wrestling. Charlie is the usual instigator of keep away, he’ll come out of the water with a drop in tow and take off running begging everyone to give chase. Tail tucked, butt down and head up jinxing and jagging running around like a lunatic with three other dogs giving their best effort to run him down. If one of the other dogs catches up with him, then the chest bumping and neck chewing begins. Orso is the usual recipient of the neck chewing. A rousing game a tag follows neck chewing, Orso runs away and the other try to tag him and drag him down. Finally a cooling dip in the water rejuvenates the gang of hooligans. This is repeated about three or four times before the dogs are finally spent and ready to walk back home for a bath and dinner. Frosty pumpkin pops for dessert. Life doesn’t get much better than this. I wish my life was as simple.
A Three Day Weekend Awaits for Swimming
Memorial Day Weekend here we come!
AJ practicing for the upcoming weekend fun.
Charlie takes a turn at retrieving the drop
Orso would rather go on a boat ride.
Just My Luck
After two weekends of back breaking work (literally), unloading 2 cubic yards of dirt by shovel and sweat from the bed of my son’s pickup truck then shoveling unloaded dirt into countless wheelbarrow loads pushed carefully downhill to the two raised beds Mitch built for me, I finished planting ten tomato plants, four cantaloupe plants and three cucumber plants. There is still room for more in one of the beds. I was so excited about getting more vegetable planting space after we had a tree cut down and realized it opened up a larger area of sunlight to the ground. Perfect for tomatoes. Did I also mention two trips so far to the chiropractor and more in sight?
We already have a small raised bed that has ten pepper plants and three tomato plants that we’ve been planting in for three years. But I wanted more and this year I got it. Tonight after dinner I took the dogs out with me to water the new plants and while I was watering the small bed, Charlie was walking in one of the new beds and promptly stepped on one of my tomato plants and snapped it right off at the base. I couldn’t believe it. Not even two days had gone by, I haven’t even had a chance to get to Lowe’s and buy some tomato cages to protect them from just this calamity. Imagine my frustration.
I love my dogs, but lord there are times when I speculate on a dog less day. I would never wish for them gone, but…
Spring Fever
Spring has brought out the playfulness
AJ Preparing for battle
Orso checking to see if anyone will chase him
Charlie with his game face on
AJ How Could You?
This day started very early as all Sundays do. We get up at 2:30 in the morning because Sunday is Mitch’s Monday and has to be at work at 4:30 in the morning. I get up with him, feed the dogs, fix breakfast and take him to work. We started this routine years ago when we worked different schedules and this was the best way to get to spend as much time together as we could, snippets of time. It has worked for us mainly because we like each other. We like to spend our free time together. Odd I know. Anyway, I dropped him off at work came home and took the dogs for a nice long walk. That’s one of the bonuses of Sunday, I don’t have to go to work so the dogs and I get to take a really long walk very early before anyone else is up. It’s quiet and the only things I run into in the morning is deer and small critters.
After the walk, we curled up on the bed and the dogs napped while I read the newspaper and enjoyed my morning coffee. The day looked like it would turn out nice, no storms as the weather service predicted. I decided that we should go to the lawn and garden store and buy some herbs to pot. I like to grow herbs and dry them. It has worked out well so I decided to branch out and add more variety to the mix. I take the dogs with me for company and they wait in the car barking and scaring anyone who walks past the car. Plus when they are with me then they’re not getting into trouble at home. Bonus.
I potted the herbs I bought and decided to plant the five pepper plants I bought too. I thought that I would wait another week on the tomato plants but saw a Poblano pepper plant and haven’t tried that variety before so I snagged it. Plus four more red pepper plants, I couldn’t help myself.
The dogs were just hanging out sniffing stuff while I planted the pepper plants, I looked up and noticed no AJ. He had wandered off. I looked around to make sure he hadn’t gone over to the neighbors to poop in their yard, no sign of him there. I looked up the hill and spotted him up under the Cedar tree. I called him to come down to me and as he got close I was sorry I had called him. He stunk to high heaven. He had dropped his head into something and mashed it all over his neck and side of his face. Now I had to stop what I was doing, take AJ to the basement garage and bathe him. And of course I had just put Frontline on the dogs this morning. AJ how could you? You’re supposed to be the good dog.
One Week and No Shopping
It’s been a week now and no more shopping in the kitchen while we’re not home. Fresh batteries make all the difference in the world. That and moving the transmitter closer to the entryway hall. Evidently someone or some ones got shocked and got the hint. Stay out! Now Orso and AJ wait to be invited into the kitchen. Maybe I should feel guilty, but I don’t. It’s not that I enjoy their pain, in fact I can’t stand see any of them get shocked, but lord I am so tired of cleaning up after the mayhem and destruction or re-purchasing things that have been broken when they get bored.
Does that make me a bad pet owner? Maybe, but I like to think that this was the best decision we could make under the circumstances. We can’t afford to take them to doggie daycare four to five days a week. Crating didn’t work for AJ, he just destroyed crates, both the metal and the plastic airline crates. A dog isn’t much of a watch dog in a crate anyway. He can bark, but little else. I don’t think Cesar Milan would come to our home. Our problem isn’t television viewing worthy. How would he even correct the problem? We could set up webcams to see who the culprit(s) might be. Then what, hide in the bathroom off the kitchen to wait for the culprit to come shopping, then jump out and issue a correction? My luck Cesar would jump out to catch the dog or dogs in the act, startle them so badly they attack him and we get sued. Now that would be television viewing worthy, us in court.
It is really maddening because when we’re home everything is wonderful. It’s like having three large rugs that occasionally change location on the floor. I keep the television on when I leave so they hear human voices and don’t feel alone. Maybe that’s the problem, I have the wrong channel on. We just don’t know what gets them going and when. Is it right after I leave, sometime in the middle or right before I get home? I guess we really should set up a webcam, if for nothing else than the entertainment value. I could upload the antics on You Tube then everyone could feel my pain.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 