Making Scents of the World

When it rains, the scents of the world rise up from the ground as heavily and thickly as the rain from the skies. When you’re a dog, like I am, it’s hard to do anything else, but put your nose to the ground and decipher the scents.

There are thousands of them. Millions perhaps and so when we go walking on a rainy day or after a rainy day, Gretchen is working hard to keep us all going in a forward direction.

While the rain lifts the scents the most, the wind can also blow in scents that are as enticing as those in the ground. Today, though we had no rain (that was yesterday) we had wind and so, our noses were working in overdrive. You see, for a dog, the world makes sense through our noses. We create olfactory maps in our heads about the world. If your sadly confined to a backyard, let’s say, your dog brain isn’t fully developed. It hasn’t reached it’s full potential with all the neural pathways running at full speed because you haven’t exposed your nose to the world.

And the world is BIG! When I was a puppy, my moms took me on long walks through our neighborhood so I could create a map in my head — this is home, this is playground, this is the place where the cat lives, this is where my best friend lives. As I got older, we traveled to more and more places so now, when we pull up to my Grandparents’ house or down the driveway to my agility class, I know exactly where we are even before we arrive.

Therefore, as a dog dog walker, I do my best to make certain our clients get a chance to build their olfactory maps by taking them to lots and lots of different places. It’s hard, of course, to walk a different route when we only have 30 minutes, but on days like this — days after it’s rained and the wind is whipping up from the south — we don’t have to travel too far to make scents of the world.

Our work day started with a walk with Monty. That was nice — just the two of us — and we walked up the gardens and back down by the dog park with our noses to the ground or held high in the air. Gretchen didn’t take any photos of this outing, she just let us enjoy our time together. When we got back to the house, we had a nice lunch while she headed over to Rosie’s house for another outing.

Rosie’s nose is a lot shorter than mine so I’m not sure if that means she can smell better than I can or worse. Somehow I think it’s better because Gretchen reports that Rosie knows (nose?) exactly where the treats are in her backpack or in which pocket of her pants. They walked the leaf-strewn streets and every once in awhile, Rosie would pull Gretchen off to the side so she could a good whiff of rising scents.

She also lifted her nose to the wind on a number of occasions and then smiled with delight at all that her nose encountered.

After Rosie came Gemma. As a terrier, Gemma’s job is to sniff out rodents. As I’ve written before, Gemma is really good at that since she can spot a squirrel from half a mile away, no doubt smelling the little varmints before any of the rest of us. Gemma go to play at the tennis courts today, which is often a challenge since she’s not that interested in playing fetch. Instead, she’d rather race around with her nose to the ground and record every fragrance in her terrier brain.

Talk about neuropathways! Gemma’s got ‘em in spades.

Next up, Gretchen back to the house, gathered up Monty and me and then we headed next door to walk Oshi and Perrito. They wanted to go to the tennis courts, too, so we worked our way there after smelling every speck of the ground between our house and the courts. The wind and the smells made everyone kind of frisky even Monty though he spent half the time on the bench. We still haven’t figured that one out yet. Maybe it smells better up there. Hard to say.

After the boys went home, Monty and I walked over to Saber’s house and boy, was he ever glad to see us! Gretchen decided we needed a walk first, so we headed up over the hill and then through the Coleman Pea Patch where all of us did our best to pose for the camera while the amazing smells blew past us.

We were going to just head home after that, but Saber asked to play at the tennis courts again and what were to do? Say no? I think not. Monty did what he always does — played and then jumped on the bench — while Saber and I played keep away — me with the ball and Saber with every intention of taking it away from me. Fat chance.

Of course, he did try something he’s not tried before…

…and I had to spit out my ball and give him a stern talking to! He was much more polite after that. Still, he listens to Monty more than to me as you can see here. Saber is lying flat waiting not for Monty to pass by, but for me and then POUNCE! he springs forth like a …well, like the oversize puppy that he is!

We all got pretty tired after our time together and while we took some breaks at the tennis courts…

…when Monty and I got home, we both curled up on our favorite beds for a much needed rest.

It’s Friday and I, for one, am glad. My feet and my nose are worn out from the week and I’m looking forward to turning those clocks back an hour over the weekend!

Have a great one!

Rubin

Stubborn

When I was a puppy, I apparently was rather stubborn. Gretchen says that when she grabbed the leash to take me on a walk, I’d run the other way and bark my head off. She’d wait patiently, but I’d make my way around the house barking my high-pitched bark refusing to come anywhere near the leash. One time, in fact, she sat on the floor with her back to me and waited for me to come to her. I barked, she claims, for 43 minutes until I finally tucked my tail, bowed my head, and walked toward her.

I have no memory of any of this, though every once in awhile I am possessed by some unknown demon that forces me to refuse to come inside when I’ve been in the backyard. I bark then, too, but only on occasion. When Gretchen (or Ann, for that matter) tells me come in with that stern voice, I come in albeit reluctantly. And there are times when I refuse to eat my food. Other dog owners find this hard to believe and so too do my dog friends because I get to eat some pretty delicious stuff — venison, duck, trout, and even wild salmon. I’m not sure why I’m stubborn about my food, but I am. I’ll eat eventually, but apparently not in a timely manner that appeases my mothers.

So I’ll admit, I have a stubborn streak, but don’t all dogs?

No, says Gretchen, not like mine.

So today we started our dog day with Ollie and I’d be hard pressed to find anything stubborn about Ollie’s behavior.

Except today. Today it was kind of misty rain and like always, Gretchen had a dog coat (my evil red one that I’m too stubborn to wear) that she normally puts on Ollie. He never makes a fuss about it, but today, after she suited him up and put his new harness over the coat, Ollie refused to move. He wouldn’t budge. He just stood there like his feet where fence posts stuck deep into the ground.

We tried to figure out what was wrong, but Ollie is a man of little words. He stood silent with a pained look on his face. Gretchen checked the coat to make sure the Velcro wasn’t pulling on his curls. She checked the harness to make sure it was cinched up too tight. Nothing. He just wouldn’t move.

So we took off the coat, put the harness back on and what do you know? He was Ollie again. Some people say that dogs can only think about one thing at a time. I don’t know if I agree with that, but apparently the coat AND the harness were just too much for Ollie to wrap his head around. Whatever it was, he was more than happy to play in the misty rain so we headed to the tennis courts for wonderful game of fetch and chase.

When we got Ollie back home, we rubbed him down with a towel, which he greatly appreciated before he ran back into his house to warm up.

See, even Ollie can be stubborn.

Next, Gretchen took me home so I could eat the breakfast I’d refused to eat in the morning (yes, I ate it all up!) while Gretchen headed over to pick up Rosie. By then, the rain was fading, but just to be safe, Gretchen put on Rosie’s coat…or what she thought was Rosie’s coat. It actually happened to be Tyson’s. It still fit, but it was a tight fit and while Rosie has her stubborn moments, the wrong coat didn’t stop her in her tracks.

Other things do though. Rosie doesn’t like it when others walk behind her. She stops, turns around, and stares at oncoming people traffic. Gretchen does her best to keep her moving forward by waving her favorite dog treats in front of her just out of reach. And if there’s a dog who’s coming toward Rosie, well the same thing happens — she stops and stares and waits.

Gretchen says she’s not nearly as stubborn as I am. Perhaps. But what I like about today’s photos of Rosie is that she looks like a fallen leaf in that yellow coat, doesn’t she?

They made their way back home without Rosie stopping, staring, or waiting. She was happy to move along leaving he stubbornness in her wake and when she got home, her Dad was there, which made Rosie dance the happy dance like only she can!

Maybe she was just happy to get that yellow coat off of her. It was a bit tight. Gretchen won’t make that mistake again!

Still, the yellow coat really did make her look like a leaf!

A big leaf, but a leaf nonetheless.

“At least she’s not so stubborn she won’t put on the coat,” was Gretchen’s retort.

She has a point.

On the way back to our house, Gretchen picked up Gemma. Now, let’s talk about stubborn. Granted, Gemma’s a terrier, which means she certainly is bred to be stubborn, but unlike most terriers, Gemma is very happy-go-lucky about her stubbornness. For instance, when Gretchen got to Gemma’s house, she was sitting on the back porch staring at a squirrel on the fence. Not barking at it, not chasing it, not charging at it to get it off the fence — just transfixed in a stare.

Is that stubborn? I think so. Or maybe it’s patient. Still, a walk with Gemma is sprinkled with moments of Gemma’s stubbornness. In fact, it’s kind of a maze to get her out on her walk. There’s the dog next door that she has to bark at, the dogs across the street she has to woof at, the German Shepard at the corner she waits to see before she barks and the tiny mixed breed who sits in the front window of its house just waiting for Gemma can send Gemma into a spinning frenzy of stubbornness. “No,” she protests, “I will not keep walking. I must bark at these dogs. I must!”

Gemma and I played a bit in the backyard where she stubbornly pushed her back end into me over and over until I finally gave in and tackled her. Then we went for a walk, where Gretchen had to bait her into looking at the camera and not at the trees across the way for the possibility of a squirrel.

Once Gemma went home, we went to pick up Bella. Bella was very happy to see us and asked if we could play at the tennis courts before we went for a walk. So off we went with Bella stubbornly trying to race ahead in hopes that we’d get there faster. We eventually got there and boy did we have fun!

We both chased balls, but then Bella got into chasing me while carrying her own ball around. It didn’t matter because the point was for us to run and run we did…around and around and around until finally, Bella laid down and said, “That was great! Let’s go for a walk now!”

So they walked me back home and then up through the neighborhoods back to Bella’s house where Bella did her own version of the happy dance because her Mom was home early from work.

Finally, Gretchen picked up Saber who has grown so big in the past few weeks it’s just silly. Normally, I’d say that Saber doesn’t have a stubborn bone in his body, but sometimes he can be stubbornly persistent about wanting to play with me. But Gretchen wanted me to rest a bit more so she took Saber to the tennis courts by himself. Was he stubborn about playing? Only a little bit, but then he played and with the wild abandon of a puppy.

A 52 pound puppy, but a puppy nonetheless.

Wait? He weighs 52 pounds? He’s only 5 months old, right? How can he weigh so much?

Oh yeah, he’s not stubborn about eating his breakfast. Got it!

The only hint of stubbornness he showed was when Gretchen said it was time to leave. He didn’t want to go, but when she told him they were coming back to my house to pick me up, Saber about leaped out of his skin!

(Okay, he was just shaking his head in this photo and Gretchen had to laugh at how it turned out!)

Saber and I went for a walk down to the school where we got to play a bit with our student friend. By the time Saber got home, he should have been worn out, but was he? No, no, no! He was too stubborn to be tired. Instead, he raced around his house doing his puppy rendition of the happy dance because his Mom was working from home! What a lucky dog.

It was a good day today. I’m tired, but I also lost some of my stubborn streak by eating my dinner without any coaxing. I guess that means I’m growing up!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

Oblivious!

I know I’ve talked about squirrels before, and I’ll try to promise that I won’t talk about them again, but today they were possessed and tormented me relentlessly. They tormented us all, actually.

Monty was first for walking though he only got a walk to and from the groomer today. He needed a spa day, as you can tell from his before photo since he has grown into a Wooly Mammoth. I asked him if that was going to be his Halloween costume, but he said he hadn’t decided yet.

But back to those rodents. So we’re walking up to the groomer and down every tree (or up it as the case may be) a squirrel raced and scampered taunting us with their bushy tails and those chompers. They were oblivious to the canines in their presence and often just rested at the base of tree or on a lawn nervously chewing on a nut or two when we approached. Of course, we did everything we could to alert them to intentions (CHASE THEM), but not until we’d stretched ourselves out to the end of our leashes, dragging Gretchen in our wake would they dart up the tree or race across the lawn, often passing right in front of us! Oblivious, I tell you! Oblivious!

After we dropped Monty off at the spa, Gretchen took me back home so I could eat my breakfast. On the way, 20 more squirrels risked their furry lives dashing across the street or under a bush RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Oh how I whined every time they passed, but Gretchen refused to let me off the leash. Arrrrgggghhhh!

While I ate breakfast, Gretchen picked up Oshi and Perrito and together they walked to Quillette’s house. Later, Gretchen would complain that her arms were 10 inches longer, growing every time the dogs — all three of them — would go on high alert when they saw a tail or a rodent’s ear. I know what it’s like. Every leaf, every piece of garbage in the wind, every glint of sun off the wet sidewalk looked like a potential squirrel and since they are at the peak of their season (or so it seems) everyone was pulling this way and that checking out for the possibility of a squirrel.

Usually when Gretchen takes photos of the boys she just lets them drag their leashes, but with those squirrels frisking about, she had to wrap their leashes around a tree lest they take off in pursuit. Even Quillette licked her chops thinking about a bite of Autumn Squirrel!

Gretchen dropped Quillette off at the house while she went and picked up Saber for a solo walk. Saber’s not been feeling so well, but today he was back to his old self. He was so happy to see Gretchen he about knocked himself over wagging his tail. And when he got outside and realized it was squirrel season, he too became obsessed.

Saber and Gretchen headed to the tennis courts to play, but there were people playing tennis so they instead, Saber got to play some fetch in the small grassy area near the courts. Gretchen thought this was a safe spot for leash-drag fetch because the squirrels were not as abundant. Saber didn’t seem to care. He just wanted to run and run and run. Soon, I understand, we’ll have a play date and for that, I will be very happy. I’ve missed the little rascal and I have a thing or two to teach him about squirrel hunting!

After Saber came Gemma. Now, I think I’m a pretty astute squirrel spotter and when I see one, I can throw a decent tantrum trying to get at ‘em, but no one — and I mean no one — can compete with Gemma. She is a terrier after all, but when she sees a squirrel, it’s all Gretchen can do to stay on her feet! That’s why their walk headed out of squirrel country and up to the gardens that are now in their last days as the cold weather is setting in. Hard to believe, looking at these photos, that this calm dog is a squirrel fanatic, but trust me, Gemma takes the cake for squirrel obsessiveness!

Bella was next for a walk and while Gemma is the Queen of Squirrel Safaris, Bella is a close second. She pops up her ears, stands super still, and then with the full weight of her adolescent body, she lunges after those furry critters with wild abandon. That’s why Gretchen took her to the tennis courts before they went on their walk. She wanted to burn off some of that squirrel energy before they attempted to walk through the neighborhoods.

And walk through the neighborhoods they did, down through the tunnel and back up over the hill where Gretchen tried to get a photo of the snow in the distant mountains. It was much to gray for such a photo, but trust me, the snow is there!

Yahoo!

Once Bella went home, Gretchen came back and got Quillette and me. We headed out for a game of fetch. Since the schools let out early today, we didn’t get to visit our student friend, but Q and I made up for it by scouting and scouring the neighborhood for squirrels! And boy, did we find ‘em!

At the field we almost both took off when we heard the whine and hiss of two fighting cats. Luckily, we were pretty tired from playing fetch, but let me tell you, if we’d heard squirrels, we’d be off in a flash!

Finally, the groomer called right after our game of fetch so we headed back up the hill to get a newly coiffed Monty. Doesn’t he look nice? I went into the store with Gretchen to pick him up, but Quillette HATES the groomer so she waited outside only peeking in with much caution!

Monty was feeling very frisky so we went for a nice long walk along the ridge and then down by the school where I sometimes “teach” in the mornings. Gretchen has always wanted to take a photo of me on the school student-made cob bench. She thought it was a perfect time to do it since Monty was looking fine and Q and I were pretty tired. Of course, we refused to look at the camera and when we did, well, Monty was busy flipping his newly combed ears back and forth. Yeah, you look good dude!

As we made our way from school to Monty’s house, the squirrel action was fast and furious. Gretchen was happy to drop off Monty and when we got back to the house, she gave a big sigh of relief. We’re about to head out to take Quillette home, but I don’t think we’re going to see any squirrels at night, are we?

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

What’s In a Name?

I was named because my moms thought I was going to be a red head. I’m more apricot, which is kind of red, but not really. Still, when they named Rubin, it stuck. In fact, it more than stuck. It really fit me. They knew it, they said, from the very beginning when all they saw of me were pictures. “You had a Rubin smirk,” Gretchen told me later and when I look at those first photos, I guess they are right. I do have a Rubin smirk.

I’ve been thinking about names today because we met two dogs who, I think, had the coolest names. One was named Bucket — a mixed breed- and the other was named Holla — a black lab. Aren’t those great names? But then I got to thinking, all the dogs we walk have names that fit them.

Take, for instance, our first two dogs of the day — Ollie and Gemma. Both real red heads, there are no better names for them than what they have. Ollie is so much an Ollie it scares me at times. He’s such a good natured fella whose names lends itself to goofy nicknames — like Ollie by Golly. Gemma, on the other hand, fits her unique dog-a-nality. She is a “gem” in many ways, though a bit wild at times, she’s also incredibly social, friendly with just about every dog (except the dog next door to her house, but he’s kind of different), and goes through life as if she’s walking on jewels.

The three of us went for a long walk today and for a moment, I wondered if we were going to spend the day with red heads. Not that I have a problem with that, but red heads are a special breed. Even though we didn’t walk all red heads, four out of the six dogs we did walk were all red heads. I wonder what that says about us? Do we attract their feisty natures? And of those four red heads, three were girls. Hmmmm…I’m still trying to figure out what that means.

Ollie and Gemma enjoyed their long walk, but Ollie and I are both waiting for Gemma to be 100% from her broken toe so we can get back to getting wild like we used to do in the past. We played a bit in the backyard, as you can see from the photos, but it’s still not like it used to be. Yes, red heads are wild, let me tell you, so that’s why I think it’s important to have one or two (or four, in our case) in your life.

After Ollie and Gemma, Gretchen walked Rosie — another red head. Gretchen says Rosie is always so happy to see her that it makes Gretchen very happy to climb the stairs of Rosie’s house and be met by a bouncy, snorting, dancing dog. They went for a nice walk through the park where Gretchen and Rosie played chase. It wasn’t Gretchen’s intention to play chase, but whenever she tried to get a photo of Rosie from a bit of a distance, Rosie would pop up and run after her so Gretchen just kept running and calling Rosie to her.

I’m not sure Rosie was coming after Gretchen. Frankly, I think she was more interested in the treats in Gretchen’s pockets, but I’ve decided not to tell Gretchen that.

Hey, now that I think of it, Rosie’s name really fits her — she’s red like a Rose. Gretchen says that while Rosie isn’t as spunky as Gemma and Ollie, she still has a bit of red head in her. She likes to frolic, if given half the chance and IF she feels safe, and when she does, she has a typical red head smile on her face.

But Rosie is older than all the other red heads we walk so much of her reserve can be attributed to her maturity than her red hair.

After her walk with Rosie, Gretchen picked up Bella. Now Bella’s name is a curious one. It means beautiful, which Bella certainly is. She gets comments all the time when Gretchen’s walk her. “That dog is very beautiful,” people say or “What a beauty!” So in that sense, she is a perfect match for her name. It also means “devoted to god” and while I’m not so sure about Bella’s devotion, if we inverted god to dog, well, then the name totally fits because Bella is devoted to playing and being with any dog she can get her paws on!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to be that dog today. Bella got to play all by herself at the tennis courts and then got a nice long walk up to Woobie’s house. When Bella first sees that she’s going to walk with another dog, she goes a little crazy, but after a few minutes she settles down and walks as beautiful as her name.

Now Woobie is probably the most perfect match of dog to name. I mean, she totally fits her name. It’s something about he hair and her incredibly gentle and soft spirit. While Woobie got to walk Bella the beautiful home, she also got to come to our house where we hung out until we went for a walk to the tennis courts and met our new friends Bucket and Holla. Woobie had a great time and so did I because Bucket and Holla enjoyed playing as much as we did.

Finally, after we played for awhile at the tennis courts, we walked up to Alice’s house. Now Alice is sometimes afraid of other dogs. She’s not afraid of me so Gretchen thought it would be a good time to introduce her to Woobie. Because Woobie is so gentle and non-reactive, the meeting between Alice and Woobie went really well. Does Alice fit her name? It’s funny because I have another dog friend named Alice and I guess I just never thought of naming a dog Alice before I met these two. The other Alice is a boxer and what they both share in common is both a cautious and frisky nature. I mean, when they first meet  people and dogs they are cautious. Then, after getting to know the dogs and people, they are very frisky. Alice kept demanding that Gretchen take the ball out of the pack and throw it for her, but we had to take Woobie back home so there was not time for a game of fetch. Instead, we got to pose with the pumpkins and then later, after we’d dropped off Woobie, Alice and I posed by the library because frankly, when I think of the name Alice, I think of a dog who probably enjoys reading a good book!

After work, I got to go to agility class where the names of dogs could spawn a complete other blog from me — Caper, Ki, Kili, Spark, Jill, Altair — but my paws are tired from walking AND from jumping the jumps, weaving the poles, racing through the tunnels and chutes,  and running up and down those ramps.

Have a good evening,

Rubin

It’s Not For Wimps

Humans have some of the funniest expressions. Today’s was: It’s raining cats and dogs. Who, I politely ask, thought of that?

Yes, it was raining quite heavily this morning, so heavily it looked like the inside of a washing machine, but I, for one, did not see any cats or dogs falling from the sky. I did see a cat — the one across the street — but she was neither falling or wet, rather she was hiding under a car keeping her prissy self dry. I barked at her, but she didn’t budge.

So today I did a bit of research. Where does this expression come from?

Oddly, there are mixed origins. Some say it had to do with the time when humans had thatched roofs where the animals would sleep to keep warm – like dogs, cats, goats, etc. When it rained really hard, the thatch became slippery and the animals — cats and dogs among them — would fall through.

Others say that the expression has to do with the animosity cats and dogs feel for each other (no kidding!) and so when it rains really hard, it’s like cats and dogs fighting and falling from the sky, metaphorically speaking.

Whatever the origins, let me tell you, it rained this morning like I haven’t seen for a long, long time. Luckily, when we started walking dogs, the rain diminished a bit and eventually (and surprisingly) went completely away. But not so for Oshi and Perrito, our first dogs of the day. They had to walk in the rain, and I had to walk with them.

Yes, that’s Gretchen all bundled up protecting herself, no doubt, from falling cats. We didn’t take a lot of photos this morning because the rain made it difficult to keep the lens dry. Luckily, Ann went with us so she could snap some photos in between the downpours.

After we all got dried off, Gretchen headed out to walk Rosie and Tyson. She was all set to suit them up in their raincoats, but unexpectedly, the rain just stopped. Lucky them.

As you can see from the leaves behind them, the rain knocked down a lot of them, but not all. The maple trees around the neighborhood are slowly shedding all their fall foliage so much so you could say it’s raining gold and orange.

But no, humans use us (canines and felines) to make such comparisons. Curious.

Rosie and Tyson got their feet wiped when they went home, but only needed minimal toweling off. Next up was Bella who was the luckiest of all as the sun actually came out for the first part of her walk. Gretchen walked her with me to start and the two of us made our way (with Ann in charge of me) to Woobie’s house. Earlier in the day I worried that Woobie’s long coat would suffer in the moist weather for unlike Bella’s sleek coat, when Woobie got wet, who could guess what happened.

But we got lucky, too because the sun showed itself for brief period and though those clouds reappeared, it never rained the entire time Bella, Woobie, and I walked together. Woobie and I headed to our house, while Gretchen took a very frisky Bella to the tennis courts in hopes of burning off some of her energy.

After a lot of throwing of the ball, Bella wore down just a smidge, enough so that Gretchen felt comfortable walking her back home. Gretchen says I used to be that energetic, but I don’t believe it. Bella runs on electricity. I’m more solar powered. Anyway, they had fun at the tennis courts while Woobie and I played at my house! Woobie really liked that and I liked it too!

From these photos it may not look like we’re having fun, but trust me, we are. That’s a smile on Woobie’s face to the left and above, she’s asking if we can play some more. And yes, she’s sniffing my hair. Not sure why, but I let her do it just the same.

Woobie hung out with us for awhile and got nice and comfortable on the office floor while Gretchen tied up some work ends.

But eventually, Woobie had to go home, so we walked through the leaf-strewn neighborhood and marveled at the wet and yellow.

Woobie lives in a really cool place. There are many little houses in their courtyard, but once the gate it closed, dogs can run free. Usually Gretchen only lets Woobie off the leash to race up to her house, but today, we both got let off the leash and we frisked and raced our way up the stairs. It was great fun! I even got a cookie at Woobie’s house. Nice.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back, but those cats and dogs never once fell from the sky. They’re supposed to do so tonight, but thankfully, I’ll be sleeping. The day wasn’t too busy, but the week looks like more things will fall from the sky. Maybe even goats! Whatever happens, this weather is not for the wimpy.

Stay tuned,

Rubin

Excuse me, but it’s wet out here!

Unpredictable. That’s what today has been. Rain first, then no rain. More rain, then a rainbow. Wind followed by sun and then more rain. It was comin’ and a-goin’ today like rats at a cheese party. I have to say, it wore me out.

It was a full day and so full I’m going to take the easy road and post all the photos without much commentary. I know you’ll forgive, but frankly, it was kind of hard to take photos with the rain coming at us sideways and the wind trying to knock us over. Yes, we were surprised when the sun came out, though the rainbow came first, but still, it rained and therefore Gretchen didn’t pull out her camera to capture the moment, albeit schizophrenic as it was.

In fact, we didn’t take that many photos because the rain made them all a little blurry or unpredictably blurry, which I suppose is fitting since everything was unpredictable today. But on the docket (which could actually be “dog”et”) were Monty, Oshi, Perrito, Saber (twice though we only took photos once), Gemma, Bella and Wilson. We’ll leave it to you to fill in the commentary!

Have a great weekend and we’ll see you on Monday (if that’s when we’re suppose to see you!).

Rubin

Recharged

First, our apologies. Well, it’s really Gretchen’s apology, but since I’m in charge of this blog, I get to make it. The apology, that is. Here’s how it went down:

Every morning we get up. Really early. In fact, too early, but that’s a whole other story. Gretchen makes breakfast — mine and hers — though I refuse to eat mine while she eats hers while reading the news. Then she packs up the dog backpack after she takes a shower and gets dressed. I love watching her pack the bag because all my favorite things go in there — treats, the orange and blue ball, sometimes a tug toy or two, and the camera. Yes, I like the camera because it means we’re going to work and I like work.

So today, I watched her do all that stuff that she normally does for the morning routine — treats, ball, toys, camera. Check, check, check, check. Off she goes to school and then returns with Ollie and Gemma in tow. Boy, are we all excited to see each other. We head out for a nice long walk, searching for a place to play but the tennis courts are being used by tennis players (the nerve!) and our favorite field at the park is getting mowed. So we head through the tunnel and down by the lake on our way back to Ollie’s house.

Gretchen pulls us off the side of the road for what she thinks will be a really nice photograph — the three of us by some flowers in bloom. We sit, we wait, she pulls out the camera and turns it on. But it doesn’t go on and instantly, we remember — the battery is still in the charger. Darn it. Darn it. Darn it.

Now our apology to Ollie and Gemma’s families. We are so sorry we didn’t get photographs of your canine companions. Instead, we took them for an extra long walk and promise we will take lots and lots of photos when we see them again. Instead, we pulled up two photos from this summer when Ollie and Gemma were playing in the backyard. Enjoy.

Okay, I feel a bit better, but I sure wish we’d put that battery back into the camera.

Live and learn.

We did put it back in once Ollie and Gemma went home and we were on our way to pick up Alice. Maybe because Gretchen hadn’t taken too many photos earlier in the day, she felt compelled to take a lot of Alice –that and Alice was having so much fun at the tennis courts (no more tennis players) that she just couldn’t stop snapping photos. Whatever. We had a blast, that’s all I know, and Alice had a great time playing fetch, chasing me, and letting me chase her. Woo hoo!

Not only did Alice have fun chasing me and letting me chase her, she really had a great time playing fetch.

Only she’s kind of a ball hog. I mean, really.

After Alice went home, we picked up Saber who was excited to see us, too. We headed back to the tennis courts for some fun times before we headed over to the school where we met our good friend, the young student. If you’re counting, that’s three good days in a row. Gretchen says it’s because he gets to use the camera and then, after he takes photos of us, Gretchen prints out the photos and gives him to the next day. “He likes that,” she said, and I think she just might be right. I mean, he took photos of Saber and me, but when Lulu came by with his mom, Cecilia, well, Lulu got her photo taken too. Nice.

When we finished at the school, we took Saber home and then were planning on walking over to Wilson’s house only Gretchen thought that I might need to rest since I’d been on every walk today. So back to the house I went. I even gave her my sad eyes, but she insisted I rest while she walked Wilson. They played fetch at the big field, which Wilson really enjoyed…

…but then Gretchen felt bad that I wasn’t having as much fun so she came back and got me and the three of us headed to the recently mowed field and played more fetch. Wasn’t that nice of her?

And yes, that made me officially worn out. So worn out I ate my entire dinner. That’s rarity around her, but I’d worked hard and really felt like I needed it. It actually tasted pretty good.

Tomorrow’s Friday. I’m pretty excited about that. And tomorrow, we won’t forget the battery!

Until then,

Rubin

Some Days it Do and Some Days it Don’t

We meet a lot of people (and dogs) on our walks. Many of those we meet, we see many times throughout the week. They say hello or comment on the number of dogs in our pack or comment on Monty’s black and white hair or Gemma’s spunky prance. Often when we meet the “regulars,” as I like to call them, we talk about the weather. Today’s weather, while not anything out of the ordinary, seemed to be the topic of much conversation.

There’s an elderly man that we see probably two or three times a week. He walks through the park using a cane to assist him. He tips his hat to us often and says things like, “Nice day, today,” or “Better get your raincoat ready.” And then he laughs. I like when this man laughs because it’s like the laugh is so large, it’s another person altogether. It carries it’s own weight, so to speak, and so, when I see the man with cane and the hat coming, I perk up a bit because I’m always ready for the other man — the laugh man — to pop out and say hello, too.

Our day started in the rain. Lots of rain. So much rain, in fact, Gretchen didn’t pull out her camera. Instead, Monty, Saber, and I went for a nice long walk (albeit wet) while the camera stayed safe and dry in Gretchen’s bundled up backpack. We knew, of course, that we’d be together at the end of the day so Gretchen wasn’t worried that we’d wouldn’t have any pictures of Saber and Monty.

We ran into the man with the cane and hat on this walk. “Do you think it’s going to clear up?” I asked him.

“Some days it do,” he said, “And some days it don’t.”

Wow. He’s a very wise man who has a laugh living in his belly.

The rain was really coming down and the horizon looked bleak and gray. We dropped Saber off at his house, then Monty and I got lunch while Gretchen walked the boys next door, Oshi and Perrito. After she leashed them up, she couldn’t believe it, but the rainclouds parted and the sun, yes the sun, actually came out. Lucky them!

They headed over to the other park where Oshi refused to do anything — run around, come when called, chase a ball –except lick for treats though when Gretchen offers them, he never eats them. Perrito, on the other hand, ran around and wondered why he was being chased by his leash.

Next up was Gemma who was a bit disappointed that Gretchen came to her house without any dog pals for her to play with. They went for a walk up the hill to get a shot of the rainclouds in the distance. Gemma feels about the grate at the overlook the way I do. She hates it. From the photos, it almost looks like she’s going to get sick waiting for Gretchen to snap the photo. She didn’t, of course, but still, you can see those gray clouds hovering in the distance. Luckily for Gemma, they didn’t show up to rain on her walk.

Nor did they show up for her walk with Bella. In fact, the sky sort of came alive while Bella and Gretchen played fetch at the tennis courts before they went on their walk.

That Bella, she sure knows how to pose, doesn’t she?

Once Bella went home, Gretchen fetched Saber again and then picked us up as well. We went for a walk through the park before checking in at the school to see if our student had had a good day. Guess what? He did! So we went for a short walk and the student used Gretchen’s camera again to take photos of all of us, each of us individually, and most importantly, the sun. See those shadows?

After we left the school, we took Saber back home and then Monty and I made our way over to Wilson’s house…right when those pesky rainclouds decided to hover over us again. It didn’t matter really because we headed over to the park to play fetch — all three of us. Do you know how difficult it is to find an orange ball among orange leaves? Let me tell ya…it’s hard! Gretchen probably played more fetch than we did every time she had to search for a lost ball among the leaves. But that’s why it’s good to have Wilson around. He can sniff out a ball under a mountain of leaves and over and over again, we called upon him to save the day.  Good job, Wilson!

It didn’t rain as hard this afternoon as it did this morning, but still, it was nice to get home — after dropping off Monty and Wilson — to a warm, dry house. The weather is a fickle thing around here. You can never quite tell which way it will turn. As my wise man friend with the laugh living in his belly would say, some days it do and some days it don’t. Ironically, today it did both!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

A Fog in My Throat?

We woke up to fog this morning. Thick, cool fog that made me realize our sunny days are numbered. Plus it was dark. Like dark dark. You know the kind that makes it really hard to get out of bed in the morning? Yeah, that kind. Gretchen says she’s living with a teenager these days. That would be me. I don’t get up on time, she has to nag me in the morning to roll out of bed and eat my breakfast, though I often refuse to eat anything. This morning was no different. I mean, would you want to get up when you’re all nice and warm in your cozy bed?

That’s what I’m saying!

But out I got and soon we were making our way through the fog and the dark to school. Yep, I got to go again. Not sure why, but maybe it was because the students still needed my help on writing. But by the time we left school, it was still foggy though not very dark. Gretchen had a bit of a cough and when I asked her if she was feeling okay, she said, “Sure, buddy. I just have a fog in my throat.”

Say what? I mean, yeah, it was foggy, but it can get into your throat? Weird. Humans are definitely weird.

But the fog in her throat didn’t stop us from a full day of dog walking. First up was Ollie who is sporting a whole new collar system that took us a moment to figure out. Funny, too, because the harness Ollie has is the same one Saber just got. By the time Gretchen got the harness on Ollie, she had no trouble putting the same one on Saber and off we went for a nice, long walk. See the fog in the background?

After our walk, Saber and Ollie dropped me off at my house, Ollie escorted Saber back home and then he and Gretchen picked up Gemma who also wears a harness though slightly different than everyone else’s! Gemma was very excited to see her buddy Ollie, though Ollie’s excitement revved him up all the way to Gemma’s house. Gemma then walked Ollie home where they posed for some photos at the park.

By the time Ollie got home, it was just Gretchen and Gemma. They had a nice walk before Gemma headed home. Next up, was Bella who was equally excited to see Gretchen. I was resting at home and yes, finally eating my breakfast. Ironically, I was very hungry. Imagine!

Gretchen and Bella went for a long walk and on the way back, the stopped for some fall and fog shots. Yes, still socked in. I wonder if that fog was still in Gretchen’s throat?

Once Bella went home, Gretchen came to get me and then it was Saber’s turn again. We got to play at the tennis courts, which were now free. Earlier in the day, despite the fog, people were playing tennis so no dogs got to play there, but ironically, as the sun burned away the fog, the courts cleared up too and Saber and I had a great romp.

We also got to see our student friend at school and Gretchen showed him how to use the camera so he could take some photos of us. Gretchen rarely gets her picture taken with dogs because she’s always in charge of the camera. But the student really enjoyed snapping photos of us. He did a pretty good job, too!

We took Saber home after that and then I got to rest at home while Gretchen took Wilson out for a game of fetch. I was bummed to know they were playing fetch, but then Gretchen swung by the house to let Wilson and I play a little in the backyard. I teases Wilson with the ball and Wilson did a lot of barking to try to get it back. Sorry, Charlie!

It was a busier day today than yesterday, but after my rest, I was prepared for it. I was hoping we’d get to go to agility class, but Gretchen still has that fog in her throat. Or maybe she said frog in her coat. Hard to say. Whatever it is, I sure hope it leaves so she doesn’t talk so funny anymore.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

Monday-Lite

Originally, Monday was a seven dog day. It ended up being a three dog day. You might think I would be disappointed, but frankly, it was nice to have a Monday-Lite kind of day. Gretchen is still recovering from a bout of laryngitis and I’m recovering from my weekend with my Grandparents.

You might think that a weekend with the Grandparents would be relaxing, but when the raccoon showed up under their deck, things got mighty exciting. Unfortunately for me, the deck was too low and I couldn’t get under it to rout out the pesky fur ball, but boy did I have fun barking my head off at that guy. What was he thinking burrowing himself under MY Grandparents’ deck.

Anyway, the journey was fun, but tiring. I mean, I love my Grandparents, but you know how tiring family can be. Oh, and at night, while I slept soundly with Gretchen in the double bed, coyotes howled in the distance. That sure made me antsy, too, so I didn’t get as much rest as I might have otherwise.

So, a limited light day was exactly what we both needed.

It started with a morning at school where I got to help kids with their writing. I think I’m a pretty good writing teacher. Heck, I sure get enough practice keeping a blog every day! Then we came home for some lunch (though it was really my breakfast…Gretchen has decided that since I don’t eat breakfast she’s going to stop feeding it to me) before we headed out to get the boys next door. Boy, were they excited to go for a walk and romp at the tennis courts!

Normally when we go to the tennis courts, Perrito and I race around playing fetch. Oshi sidles up to Gretchen and demands, in his silent and endearing way, to go home. As you can tell from the photos, Oshi was a frisky boy today and never once asked to leave. Not sure why that was, but it made the day fun!

We headed back to the house after this, making our way through the park so we could rustle through the leaves. Our next dog was a few hours later, so Gretchen and I both rested for awhile before headed over to Saber’s house.

Boy, I tell you, that dog grows every weekend. At the end of the week he’s one size and at the beginning of the week he’s one size larger. What are they feeding him? We walked some today, but again ended up at the tennis courts where Saber tried to show me that his ball was better than mine. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that both balls belong to me.

Not only is Saber in the middle of a growth spurt, but he’s really learning how to play fetch. Heck, he goes after that ball like a pro!

He also goes after me as well!

After our romp, we headed through the park for a visit to school, but unfortunately, we didn’t get to play with our student friend. Too bad because he feeds us lots of treats and that always makes for a good day!

By the time we got to Saber’s house, our tongues were hanging and our legs were tired. Saber is such a great dog that when it’s time to go into his kennel for a rest, he barrels right in excited to receive a few treats and his peanut butter Kong. He waves goodbye, but doesn’t seem to mind that we’re leaving. Good dog.

Because it was a light day, Gretchen took me for a bit longer walk, which I appreciated, and then we rested again at home before she “encouraged” me to finish my blog for the day.

The rest of the week doesn’t look as light as today, but luckily having a light day today means I’ll have enough energy to make it through the rest of the week.

Until Tomorrow,

Rubin