Getting in Touch With My Labra

I am a dog of mixed heritage. My mother was a first generation Labradoodle and my father was a Moyen poodle — a mid-sized version of the poodle breed. This makes me a F1-B Labradoodle, though as you can tell, I am more poodle than Lab.

Still, there is some Labra in me and on occasion, that heritage comes out to play.

Today, I got to spend time with my Labradoodle heritage as well as spend time with that more latent Labra side. It started with a brisk morning walk and energetic romp on the icy play field with my friend Ollie — another mixed race pup!

Ollie and I play well together, blending our Lab needs (to fetch and run) with our poodle sensibility — silly smiles and pensive looks. It was a great way to jump start my morning.

After our frosty romp, I was left at home to eat my breakfast while Gretchen walked Ollie back to his warm abode. It is the poodle side that gets chilly since we are without undercoats. Ollie loves to be warm, so when they arrive back at his house, he races through the dog door to warm up a bit.

Meanwhile, Gretchen walked to Rosie and Tyson’s house — purebreds all the way — and took them out for a walk. They took a moment to pose on the rocks overlooking the south end of the city, but Rosie, as you can see, got bored and shook her head. She wanted to play.

But these two were frisky, frisky, frisky — Rosie in particular — so before they headed home, she took them to the tennis courts to play. Oh my, what fun purebreds can have!

A tired Rosie and Tyson were escorted home where they happily snacked on their treats while Gretchen headed out to pick up Saber. Saber was in for a treat today (as was I). After a short walk to our house — through the park and up the hill — we all piled into the car and headed to West Seattle to meet up with 3 wild Labs — Hera, Porter, and Haley. While neither of them were pure Lab, I found myself surrounded by Lab energy and if you know anything about the breed, then you know they can be full of beans!

We walked to the West Crest Off-Leash Park and there were set loose to run and frolic with all the dogs who’d come to visit. My oh my was the park every full, but we had a great time — front and back!

Saber was very social, meeting and greeting small and large dogs — some of mixed heritage just like me. Mostly, though, he followed his Lab counterparts around and checked in with me every now and then.

At one point, I got stuck on the other side of the fence. It was very confusing, but I followed everyone from one side while they walked on the other and eventually, the fence disappeared. I guess my Lab part and my poodle part could be a bit smarter, but it all worked out in the end. Whew!

It was fun to meet three new Lab friends and it was particular fun to get in touch with my Labra side. Gretchen says that my Labra side shows up every once in awhile — my need to swim, my love of my ball, the joys of fetch — but that when I’m around “real” Labs (whatever that means) she really sees the poodle in me. “That’s okay,” she says, “because we love your mixed up silly breed!”

Good thing because I wouldn’t have a clue how to separate them! Though I know there are times when she wishes I had the Lab eating gene in me!  Well, maybe not.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin — the Lab and Poodle boy!

Resolutions

Humans are curious animals. Or maybe it’s just Gretchen. We spend a lot of time together and when we walk, she often talks to me. I answer with a wag of my tail, the lifting of my ears, or sometimes even a gentle groan or woof, but mostly I listen. That’s what dogs do. They listen. Even though we’d like to be known for more than our listening skills, we must face that the number one reason humans like us so much is because we listen without talking back.

So lately, Gretchen’s been talking all about the upcoming New Year and a thing she calls resolutions. Resolutions appear to be promises humans make to themselves to stop certain behaviors or start others. Case in point, Gretchen would like to stop eating so much fattening food and start up with her yoga routine again. She’d like to stop listening and reading the news so much (she finds it depressing) and start reading books more.

Okay. But I don’t understand the whole resolution part of it. I mean, why now?

As a dog, I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand how certain times of the year require certain reflections. Birthdays I kind of understand, but this whole holiday experience, why it was extremely fun visiting my family, the whole gift exchange was so human my canine tummy roiled with the excess. One good ball, one nice water and food dish, a solid tug toy, a soft bed, and friends — what more does a dog need? What more does a human need?

Apparently, they need a lot more. They need to lose weight. They need to eat healthier. They need to exercise more. They need to watch less TV. They need to visit friends or at least call them more. They need to plan a certain vacation or vow to travel where they’ve never traveled before.

Well, with all this talk about resolutions, I have a few of my own:

I resolve to get to know Rosie and perhaps Tyson so that someday we can go on a walk together.

I resolve to teach Perrito to fetch his own ball instead of chasing me around as I go after mine.

I resolve to get Oshi to race around a bit more and not just follow Gretchen.

I resolve to let Saber smell my private parts and not growl at him.

I resolve to teach Saber to walk politely by Gretchen’s side so I’m not pulled along with her.

I resolve to eat the meal served and not beg for cheddar cheese.

I resolve to sleep on my own bed at night and not look longingly at my parents’ bed.

I resolve to try to understand humans more and to continue to be a good listener.

Whew! This could get addictive! I think I’ll just stick to one resolution this year — to be the best dog I can be most of the time!

Until Tomorrow,

Rubin

Generosity

I’m not very good at sharing. Gretchen says that it’s something I need to work on and today I got a lesson. She calls it a generosity lesson and she could think of no better time than this season of generosity to give it.

I was a rather unwillingly student at first, but then this whole cascade of goodness happened today and I got majorly humbled.

But I’ll get to that in a moment. First, this was our day — a full plate of generosity.

It started with Ollie who sprung his way off his porch, down the stairs, and into Gretchen’s arms (and my face) first thing this morning. Ollie has a generous spirit and is perhaps the most appreciative dog we walk. Not that the others aren’t, it’s just that Ollie exudes his generosity from the first step of our walk to the last.

Our walk this morning took us to Frink Park as we made our way down to the lake and up through the tunnel. Ollie likes the park, but I LOVE the park because I run around like a crazy man. Ollie wanders and sniffs. I romp and get wild!

As we walked through the woods (well, I ran and romped), Ollie pondered the deeper meaning of his life of pious generosity.

The weather, just as it did the other day, got colder as we walked and winter peeked through the trees where Ollie and I joined calm forces and posed for Gretchen’s camera.

We made our way back to our house, where I was left behind to eat my breakfast while Gretchen walked Ollie back to his house. She tells me that the whole time he kept dancing and singing, “Thank you for my fun today. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” See, he’s a very generous guy.

Gretchen then made her way down to Saber’s house who was a tad bit disappointed that Gretchen didn’t bring along any canine friends. But she made it up to him by finding two little friends at the tennis courts — two very generous friends who agreed to share the courts with the rambunctious Saber!

Gretchen was supposed to remember the names of these new friends, but she’s not quite certain. One was definitely named Parker and the other she thinks was Bosco, but she could be making that part up. Sorry to the parent of the two brothers. They were really cute, she says, but she’s getting too old to remember names for too long (or so she says!)

Eventually the two new friends had to go home so Saber was left to play with Gretchen, which he appears to have enjoyed…

…and then they went for a walk where Saber was generous enough to pose for Gretchen’s camera!

Next up was Rosie. She’s been in a particularly festive mood these days according to Gretchen — spinning happy Gretchen calls it. They leashed up and headed up towards Frink Park themselves, but then walked along the ridge instead.

Gretchen was really worried she’d messed up her new camera because she couldn’t get it to focus for the longest time. Rosie, who is not one to enjoy waiting, was phenomenally patient while Gretchen fiddled and eventually figured out her mistake. Just in time to snap these adorable photos!

If you notice the drool…that’s because Gretchen was bribing Rosie to be patient and she was doing her best waiting to receive the treats Gretchen had in her pocket. Of course, Gretchen gave them out generously as they made their way home!

It was time for lunch AND time for Gretchen to come get me! I waited patiently for her to finish her lunch and then we headed over to the boys’ house next door. When Gretchen opens that door, the boys are most generous with their affection, flinging themselves at us like we’re glasses of water in the desert.

They love their walks, too, and after a good hike around the neighborhood, we too ended up at the tennis courts where Perrito tangled with a blackberry vine and Oshi tried to figure out how to climb into the backpack for the ride home!

We dropped Oshi and Perrito back off at their warm house (Oshi was thrilled) and then headed over to get Saber. We arrived to find Saber excited to see us (well, me mostly) and a nice gift on the counter. When Gretchen let me open the wrapping paper and I found a new toy, I could hardly wait to get over to the courts for play time!

Only I got a little greedy and wouldn’t let Saber play with me…

This is when I got a lesson in generosity. Gretchen made me lie down and wait while she played with Saber using MY NEW TOY!

The whole time they played, Gretchen lectured me about sharing. She said: “We have the best job in the world, Rubin. We get to play with dogs all day long. The families of these dogs have trusted us to exercise their beloveds and make certain they are safe and well cared for. Not only that,” she went on, “But this is the time of the year when we must remember how important generosity is. These families have given us really nice thank you cards and gifts for our hard work. That’s where this toy came from. It’s really important that we share our good fortune with everyone we know. That means, little man, that you must share your new toy with patience and grace and when we get back home, you need to write into your blog a big, heartfelt thank you to everyone who trusts us with this dogs!”

Wow! That was quite a message and on our way home, I really thought about what she said. She’s right, of course. I should be grateful. I get to spend time with some amazing new friends and play the day away. Gretchen does, too and even though I don’t walk all the dogs all the time, I know that we have some of the best dog walking clients on the planet.

So thank you, from the bottom of my puppy heart. Thank you for trusting us, for letting us play with your sweet pups, and for all the generosity you’ve shown us throughout the year. While we’ll be taking the next days off to celebrate with our family, please know that all of you are in our thoughts. We wish you the happiest of holidays and want you to know how deeply we appreciate YOU and YOUR DOGS in our lives.

Until next week,

Rubin

Solstice

The shortest day of the year. You ain’t a-kiddin’. It’s like it flew by. Of course, I slept in until 9 (that’s really odd for me), but by the time we picked up Saber at 2:30 in the afternoon, the light was sinking fast. I mean really, really fast!

And the day moved at a lightning speed…even though I woke up late!

It started out with my own walk with Gretchen. A short one, for sure, as we hiked through the neighborhood and then back home. I was left with my brunch while Gretchen picked up an excited Rosie and Tyson. We were all excited today. Gretchen says it’s the changing weather and the wind. It could be because the wind kicked up and brought with it some mighty chilly temperatures. These two didn’t seem to mind, though!

They went for a nice walk down to the Coleman Park Pea Patch though the weather was so cold there aren’t many peas left in the patch. The temperature dropped a good 10 degrees between the time I woke up this Solstice morning to the time Gretchen got back from her walk with Rosie and Tyson. Gretchen said she could feel the temperature change as she tried to get another photo of the siblings at the boulder on the hill. They weren’t having any of it, apparently, but luckily, a really nice woman came by and offered to take everyone’s photo! A nice woman indeed!

Between the time Gretchen left our house, walked the dogs, and came back home, the temperature had dropped at least 10 degrees. On top of that, the wind chill made it mighty cold, but that just made everyone of us really frisky! Gemma most of all!

That’s right, Gemma was next for our Monday adventures and as Gretchen says, she was full of beans today. We went for a nice long walk first, and then picked up Oshi, Perrito, and Ann and headed to the tennis courts. Along the way, we ran into Cecilia who was out walking Lulu. Five dogs, three humans, and a tennis court! What fun is that?

At first, Gemma and Lulu hit it off, but the more Gemma kept poking Lulu (something she LOVES to do) the more agitated they both became. Eventually, Gemma was put back on a leash so Lulu could be free of Gemma’s nose in her bottom! Oshi hung out near Ann while Perrito raced around after anyone he could find!

Eventually Lulu had to go home, which meant that Gemma got to be unleashed. The first thing that little rascal did, though, was run straight to the fence and antagonize Lulu only Lulu thought it was the best game ever. Run along the outside of the fence without Gemma being able to poke her with her nose. We all got into the act racing back and forth along the fence pretending there was no fence there…even Perrito!

Eventually, everyone got tired out. Lulu laid down, Perrito stole my ball and then laid down, I stalked Perrito because I wanted my ball back, and Oshi gave Ann some big sad eyes so he could find the warm spot inside her coat.

We all headed back to our warm house after that chilly adventure, but Saber was still on the docket for this dwindling light kind of day. On Mondays, Saber is usually pretty high energy so we headed straight over to the tennis courts to see if he could release some of his beans.

We went for a walk up to Dog Mania after our romp and I think, though I’m not so sure, that someone (is it me?) got a grooming appointment. Hmmmmm?

We stopped at the boulder to take this photo and the one at the top of this blog…

…but when we came down from the hill, Saber started to do what Gretchen calls FRAPping (Frequent Random Acts of Play). Here we thought he was tired, but he was raring to go, so back to the tennis courts we went until eventually Saber was worn out enough that he flopped down on the ground in exhaustion.

By then, the sun was just a bump on the gray horizon and the temperature had probably dropped another 5 degrees. Brrrrrrrrr.

While today is fun, I’m looking forward to tomorrow when hopefully the temperature remains stable and the light shines just a bit longer than today!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

Read the Instructions

At our house you’ll often hear Ann ask Gretchen, “Did you read the instructions?” Gretchen’s like me. She likes to experience the world as it comes and not “plan” ahead. She fiddles with things, instead of reading the instructions, and when her curiosity yields positive results she’s a genius. When the results are less than positive, Ann says, gently at first, “Did you read the instructions?”

This was the case with Gretchen’s new camera. She’s fiddled with it these past few months and when her photos didn’t turn out the way she wanted — blurred, too dark or too light — she got frustrated. Well last night, she read the instructions and learned a lot. She practiced on me (that’s the first photo) and then she practiced more today. There’s still more to learn and there’s still more to practice, but hopefully she learned that reading the instructions can be a good thing.

Our instructions today were pretty clear. It’s Friday. The day was warm…almost like spring (shocking)…and we had five walks on the schedule, but even before all of that, Gretchen had to go to the doctor for her annual check up. She came back with more instructions to read plus needle marks in her arm and her two shoulders. The first for a blood draw and the others for a tetanus shot and an H1N1 shot. She was worried that her arms would hurt all day, but they didn’t!

When she got home, we walked up to pick up my buddy Monty. He was happy to see us and even happier when we set out on a walk up to Bradner Gardens where Gretchen practiced with the settings on her camera (per instruction manual!)…

Monty and I were served lunch after that while Gretchen headed out to pick up Gemma and then Saber. Oh boy do those two love each other. No instruction manual needed here! Just a lot of running around until they wore themselves out.

Don’t let these photos scare you…they may look vicious, but the next thing you know, the teeth are put away and Saber is flopping onto the ground in happy exhaustion and Gemma is practicing levitation…

After the two lovebirds wore each other out, Gemma walked Saber home and then hustled up to Oshi and Perrito’s house for some more fun! Well, actually just a walk as Gemma, believe it or not, was kind of tired. So the boys walked her home and then posed at the park for their shot in the almost sunny weather. I think the weather gods lost the instruction manual. It’s December, remember?

After the boys went home and Gretchen had her own lunch, she took out Monty and me for a nice game of fetch at the little field. We love that, as you can see.

Then we picked up Saber again and headed over to the tennis courts where we met up with Bella and new puppy, Emmylou! Saber fell in love and even though I reminded him of his affections for Gemma, he let himself get carried away with the little one! And Bella tried not to smash into everyone!

Meanwhile, Monty got kissed by Bella and I did my best to win back Saber’s affections.

While some of the photos show how much Gretchen learned, you can tell that others still need her to revisit that instruction manual. I’m going to prod her this weekend and I’ll let you know how it goes on Monday.

Remember, we’ll be taking some time off starting Wednesday of next week to celebrate the holidays with each other and then again on the following Wednesday through Friday to celebrate the New Year. I wonder if there is an instruction manual for 2010?

Have a great weekend,

Rubin

Technical Difficulties

Well, it’s early morning, the day after this blog was supposed to be posted. I’ve just learned how to fix a lot of things on the computer though I’m not sure the information will serve me in any useful way in the future. Basically, I’m behind schedule and for that, I apologize. I must also apologize for the fact that this will be a shortened blog because today is as busy as yesterday and time cannot expand.

So quickly, here’s what we did yesterday…though think of it as today if you want…

Woobie spent the day with us so we all got to go to school, which pleased just about everyone. Then we picked up Ollie, dropped me off at home (breakfast time) while Ollie and Woobie walked over to get Gemma…and let the fun begin.

Gemma and Woobie walked Ollie home, then Gemma walked Woobie home (where I was waiting excitedly) and finally Gemma headed back to her own house.

Next up was Rosie who just wanted to look at the views of the city! “No rain,” she observed, and she was absolutely right about that. No rain.

They walked up to the gardens and then headed back to Rosie’s house and then Gretchen headed home to us. We all went up to Alice’s house and went on a walk up on the ridge together. We all sure get along! And oh what good dogs we are.

Alice went home and then Woobie and I went back to our house while Gretchen picked up Saber. He was bummed that he had to walk by himself, but when they came across Stella at the tennis courts, he showed off his fetching skills to the beautiful, older woman.

Gretchen got fascinated by Saber’s growing feet/paws. Yes, he’s getting mighty big. She even put her large foot (size 10 and in boots!) next to his just to show how big he’s getting!

I’m not sure she was that impressed, but it wore him out enough that Gretchen could take him for a nice walk back up to the gardens and then home.

Woobie and I got to go north in the car while Gretchen had a massage. She needed it. Heck, I need it, but I think I’m scheduled for tonight as a reward for my hard work this week.  But this is a yesterday today and not the real today today so I’ll hold off writing the rest until later.

Cross your paws that we don’t have anymore technical difficulties!

Until…today?

Rubin

Every Intention

Today we had every intention of taking photographs, but as you can see these photos of our back porch and kitchen window illustrate the amount of water falling from the skies. Gretchen decided NOT to get her camera wet, even though halfway through walking Gemma and Saber the rain stopped, it started up again with a vengeance in the afternoon.

Other items were on our agenda, too. I’m not allowed to use the computer except under supervision. Supervision was hard this evening because Gretchen had to attend her school’s performance and Ann had to go out for her holiday shopping. Therefore, it was the computer and me staring at each other waiting for someone to tell us we could get to work.

Not much work since there are no photos, really, to upload and no fun commentary about the said photos.

There’s only this:

Monty and me on a walk this morning…in the pouring down rain.

Lunch while Gretchen walked Gemma to Saber’s house and then to the tennis courts where it rained a bit, but not too much. Too bad because if Gretchen had packed up her camera should would have had some funny photos of the two lovebirds — Gemma tugging at Saber’s collar and Saber shoveling Gemma around the tennis courts like a Sumo wrestler. Saber was so tired from his romp, he just flopped down about a block away from his house. It took a lot of treats to get him home and once there, he flopped into his crate with a happy smile on his face.

Gemma got to continue on a walk with the sponges…I mean, dogs next door. Luckily, the rain was light though by the time the boys made it back to Gemma’s house and then home again, the rain really picked up again. Not much to do but towel everyone off.

Gretchen came home pretty soaked, changed into her third set of rain gear, ate some lunch, and then took Monty and me out for a game of fetch before we headed over to Saber’s house…once again. He was sound asleep when Gretchen opened the door, rolled over on his back like a baby.

But that didn’t stop him from being excited to see us and off on a walk we went, dodging raindrops the whole way.

While we didn’t have a camera to document the whole craziness of the day, hopefully you were able to picture our wet excursions anyway. Here though, is another photo of the back porch…wet, rainy, and dark as it reflects the sky.

Until tomorrow!

Rubin

Indoor Recess

Rosie was not the first walk of the day, but this photo exemplifies the kind of day we had. Wet, lonely, and wet. When Gretchen walks Rosie through the park, they often stop by the schoolyard where the kids usually come running over to point at us or ask if they cay pet us. Rosie loves this so she often gets quite gleeful when they round the corner to the playground.

But today it was indoor recess. No kids, no pointing, no points, and not questions — “How old is that dog?” “Is that a boy or a girl?” “Why does she have on a coat?” — and on and on and on. Nope the kids were at indoor recess.

We, unfortunately, don’t get that option. When it rains, we go outside anyway. Today was such a day. Very wet and even though the temperatures are warmer than they’ve been, the wetness made it mighty cold. Brrrrrr.

Our day started with school and amazingly, we walked there and back NOT in the rain. We brought Ollie home with us, as is our routine, so I could be left behind to eat my breakfast (which I didn’t eat until 1:30 this afternoon…I know, I’m very picky).  Ollie and Gretchen headed over to Saber’s house where they picked up the big boy for a walk down through the tunnel, along the lake, and then up through Frink Park. And yes, it started to rain right in the middle of their walk.

Saber loves Frink Park, but when he saw all the stairs they had to hike up, he was a bit worried.

Saber dropped Ollie off at home (a bit wet, but not too bad) and then walked with Gretchen back to his house. He was happy to get out of the rain and rest up until we met him later in the afternoon.

That’s when Gretchen headed up to Rosie’s house and then walked, raincoats and all, through the park and around to the school. Rosie was none too pleased to find the playground empty, but she gave a big sigh and let it go, especially since the rain was really coming down by then.

Rosie got wiped off at home and then Gretchen headed to Gemma’s house. Because of the rain, Gemma had to wear her raincoat so by the time they made it back to our house, I was worried I’d have to wear my raincoat, too. Not sure why I didn’t wear it, but Gretchen just leashed me up and the three of us headed over to the tennis courts to play some wet fetch! Well, Gemma doesn’t play fetch. She plays “stalk Rubin” and she is very good at it! She pops out of nowhere scaring me half to death!

We took Gemma for a short walk after our romp and then we headed home so both Gretchen and I could eat lunch. My required a sprinkling of cheese before I ate it, but give Gretchen enough of the “sad eyes” and I get my cheese!

Finally, the rain really started to come down when we headed over to Saber’s house for the last walk of the day. I thought for sure I’d be wearing the raincoat, but still Gretchen held off.

Saber and I played at the tennis courts too, but since it was raining so hard, we didn’t get a ton of photos. Can you see all that water on the courts? It’s more like a pool than a tennis court these days!

Saber and I went for a short walk as well and then we kenneled Saber again before heading home where I was rubbed relatively dry and then loaded into the car for agility class. Good thing the arena is covered. I know for sure I’d have to wear a raincoat if it wasn’t covered!

Stay dry — until tomorrow,

Rubin

No Snow, Rain

I am a dog who loves the snow. I love to swim, too, but the snow is extra special in my book. So when the weather folks starting pounding the drums warning us of 6 inches of snow, I was beside myself with excitement.

I know humans don’t like snow much. Anything that stops them from using their cars they consider a pain, but for me, snow is gift from the dogs and I relish the thought of it.

When I woke up this morning, I looked at the sky because that is where the first signs always arrive. When it has snowed, the sky is bright white as if someone has set the earth a-light and the globe we rest on ignites the heavens. But this morning, no ignition, no glowing sky. And I was said because it meant no snow.

Still, I looked out the window just in case. And what did I see? Rain. Bummer. But that, of course, didn’t stop us from working. First our time at school where the students read their stories to me and then to walking. First up? Rosie and Tyson. I rested at home while Gretchen took them out for a walk up on the ridge and then down through the park. Gretchen hasn’t seen Tyson for awhile so she had him pose his most elegant pose with the foggy, rainy city behind him.

Rosie wasn’t much interested in posing. She was mostly interested in the sounds across the street and the treats in Gretchen’s pocket.

After they went home, Gretchen picked up Gemma who is having her house bathroom remodeled. Gemma didn’t seem disturbed by the strange men in her house, but was very excited to know that she’d be going on a walk with Gretchen AND with Oshi and Perrito.

Of course, once they all head out it really, really started to rain! See Gemma’s ears? She keeps them down so they don’t get so wet!

It didn’t stop Perrito though. He chased Gemma and pushed the ball around the court while Oshi begged to go home! Oshi doesn’t do snow, rain, wind, or anything cold. He’d rather be on a beach in Hawaii.

After Oshi and Perrito got toweled off, Gemma came over to our house to pick me up and the two of us walked through the park and eventually back to her house. We were going to play fetch or at least get a photo together, but the rain was miserable by then so we just walked.

After Gemma we got a little lunch. Gretchen did some work while I dried off and warmed up before we headed over to Saber’s house. Luckily for us, the rain had stopped and while I was still hoping for snow, it was nice to not get so wet.

Saber and I played at the tennis courts for awhile.

And while we played, Gretchen spotted the hawk she’s seen over the past few weeks. The lighting has been all wrong and she’s never been able to get close enough to identify it, but she did try to take a photo of the big bird in the tree by the courts with a crow pestering it to fly away.

Later we went for a walk up to the gardens where Gretchen tried to pose us near the sign so the foggy city was in the background. Hard to see the city or the fog, but we’re pretty cute, aren’t we?

And on our way back down from the gardens, we spotted that hawk again. This time it sat perched on the fence and while Gretchen didn’t have her camera accessible, she finally identified that bird as a red tailed hawk. We got within 10 feet of it before it flew off to a tree high above us. Amazing!

The weather forecast says they’ll be a smidge of snow tonight, but nothing’s predicted to stick. Bummer. I sure hope they’re wrong, but that sky is looking pretty dark!

Until Tomorrow,

Rubin

Benched

Gretchen tells me that in human games there is a concept of being benched — pulled out of the game and made to sit while everyone else plays. She said it wasn’t a good thing to be benched, that it was more like punishment for not playing well.

In the dog world, being benched is by personal choice and the King of Benches is, of course, Monty. For Monty the bench is more like a throne or a regal perch where he can monitor the events in the world. Today there were many events in his world since he spent a good part of the day with us as he does most Fridays.

The events started when I got left at home while Gretchen went off to school. Normally, this would upset me, but I’ve been going to school for quite some time now and frankly, I needed a break. I told Gretchen so and she was kind enough to let me relax in the morning while she worked with the students. They missed me, she said, but they understood my need for a 3-day weekend.

But when Gretchen returned from school, she brought with her the King of Benches – Monty and together we all went for a nice walk up to the gardens and then back through the park. Monty would have liked a bit of a romp, but Gretchen was saving that for later.

After our walk, we had a nice lunch and got to rest some more while Gretchen took Saber out for a walk and a romp all by himself. At first he was disappointed when we weren’t there to play with him, but once Gretchen pulled out the ball for fetch at the courts, he was thrilled to be running around.

Then they went for a walk where guess what they found? A bench. Saber was more than willing to pose for a rather regal pose, don’t ya think?

After Saber came Gemma who walked with Gretchen to Oshi and Perrito’s house. They’ve become fast friends of late and once again enjoyed their walk through the park where they found, of all things, the perfect bench on which to pose.

Once Gemma dropped the boys back home, she came over to our house for a romp in the backyard. At first, Monty wanted nothing to do with the romp and sat by Gretchen observing. You could say that he made the porch into a bigger bench, but later he even found a place to watch from the yard while Gemma and I do what Gemma and I do best — frolic!

Of course, once Monty saw how much fun we were having, he joined right in and I was the designated “it” while both of them tried to tag me.  It wasn’t an easy job, but I kept those two running, but believe me, I had to employ all my clever moves to keep them at bay!

Eventually though, it was time to take Gemma back home though she continued to bump into me the entire way there saying, “Come on! Let’s keep playing!”

Once Gemma landed safely at home, Gretchen took Monty and me for another walk. At first I thought we’d head back home, but then she took us through the tunnel, up over the hill, and then to bakery where Gretchen treated herself to a little lunch while Monty and I waited patiently outside.

After lunch, we headed to the tennis courts where Monty and I got to play some fetch and yes, Monty practiced his many and varied bench poses.

Until…Bella showed up! She was thrilled we were there and we romped around the courts catching balls and practicing our dance moves. Well, Bella did anyway.

But then it was time to pick up Saber. This time he was overjoyed that Gretchen brought us along and while we were going to go for a walk, we headed back to the tennis courts to play a bit before we headed out on our walk.

By the time we were done walking and playing, Monty and I were pretty tuckered, but there was a lot of activity at our house. Apparently, a party was played for the evening, which meant that Monty had to go home early and I got to go to Jessica and Quillette’s house. What fun! And before we hung out, I got to go on another walk. Can you imagine?

It’s been a full week and though I’m a bit antsy this evening, I know once I crash I’ll crash. I guess in a way, it’ll be another version of being benched when Gretchen says, “Go to your bed, Rubin and nighty-night!”

Nighty-night to all of you! And have a great weekend!

Rubin