Wags n’ Words

Dog Walking & Pet Care – Seattle, WA

Monthly Archives: September 2010

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Septebmer 16, 2010

September 16, 2010 5:42 pm / Leave a Comment /

Fickle (and other words that begin with “f”)…

(I know what you’re thinking, but trust me, my mind isn’t there so come back over to where I’m standing and we can continue on with this blog…)

The weather forecast this morning confused me. Rain and 70 degrees.

Let me say that again. Rain and 70 degrees. That’s a rarity around these parts, but the forecasters were not wrong. The weather was downright fickle today — moments of soaking rain followed by momentary muggy grayish sun breaks that were chased away by thick droplets of rain. Weird. On days like this, I ponder my blog topic and found myself rolling the word fickle around on my tongue. “What are some other words that begin with ‘f’?” I asked Gretchen.

She lifted her brow a bit and then said, “There’s lots of them. Why don’t you try to think of some.”

I swear, once a teacher always a teacher. But I did as I was told and realized that frenzy was a good word for the way Woobie runs out the front door when we first pick her up. She’s usually so excited to see us, she spins frenetically (hey there’s another) and scurries down to the door where Gretchen puts on her leash.

Then she flies out the door and looks for the car because she knows that we’re going to drive to Ollie’s house.

And then there’s finicky, a fitting word for Ollie who fidgeted in the raincoat we brought for and eventually refused to move forward. “Fine,” Gretchen said and took off the raincoat and his harness. “You’ll just have to get wet, I guess.”

But luckily, that’s when the weather changed course, the rain cleared out, and this kind of oppressive warmth descended on us for the remainder of our stroll. Ollie felt validated for his pout about the coat and Woobie just rolled her eyes before deciding that we all just needed to keep moving.

Another word that seemed fitting today was friendship or maybe first friendship because I got to meet and walk with Rosie today. But first, I need to back up. Rosie had a rough night. She broke out in hives and her face swelled up like a puff pastry. No one knows for sure what happened — she inhaled something that caused the allergic reaction or a spider snuck up and bit her. Regardless, she was pumped with Benadryl and therefore was a wee bit fuzzy today.

Rosie waiting at the gate for my arrival.

Gretchen decided to take advantage of Rosie’s fuzziness and walked her (slowly since Rosie wasn’t moving very quickly) over to our house whereupon I got to meet her. Rosie’s usually not super friendly when she’s on leash, but since she was kind of in a fog, she didn’t have a lot of fight in her. Instead, she just looked at me, I looked at her, we both put our noses in the air to catch a sniff of each other and started walking.

Fine. Yep, everything was fine, fine, fine.

Of course, at photograph time, Gretchen kept us a few feet apart just to be certain we’d remain friends on our first walk together.

Generally, when we walk Gemma with Saber it’s time to frolic, but today we just walked, which seemed to be exactly what everyone needed.

Of course, Saber wanted to feed on the wet long strands of grass, while Gemma and I wondered what he was doing.

We finished our walking, but then Gretchen promised me one last word that began with a “f.” Can you think what it might be? FETCH!!!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Ollie, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Woobie / Tagged: , , , ,

September 15, 2010

September 15, 2010 8:39 pm / Leave a Comment /

Photo Shoot

Man, did we ever take a lot of photos today. Not sure why that happened, but when I was uploading them to the blog, there were over 200 shots and most of them weren’t of me. I’m not complaining. Gretchen takes a lot of photos of me and it’s kind of embarrassing, but I was certainly surprised when the photos flashed across the screen and I got to see how much fun everyone had today.

Yes, I had fun too. And yes, I know I’m one lucky puppy. I was just amazed that the camera did so much work today. Of course, we culled through them and chose only 35 photos from the lot, which is still a bundle, but much more doable than 200!

The day started with Monty and we went for a long walk to our secret trail where Gretchen let us both off leash. This is where I like to bust a move and I went after Monty doing my best to get him going. He played for a bit, but mostly he posed for the camera.

He’s kind of a ham that way.

I guess I am, too.

Now this is where it gets confusing because I knew Gretchen went off to walk Oshi and Perrito and she got some nice fall shots of them and of the changing leaves…

…but who the heck are these dogs?

Oh wait…that’s Josie! And her new puppy Dug…but the black dog?

Gretchen just informed me that Josie and Dug are dog sitting and the black dog is Lucky who Dug likes very, very much!

I’m beginning to see why there were 200 photos on the camera (smile!)

Rosie got the short shrift. She neither got to go to the dog park nor get a ton of photos taken of her, but she had a great time posing. It’s taken awhile to get her comfortable with the camera, but after months of practice, it looks like she’s got it!

From the photos I can tell that Gemma and Saber got a special treat today. They got to go to Luther Burbank off leash park and there they met lots and lots of new doggie friends…

I’m surprised Gretchen didn’t take more than 200 photos!!!

I would have been jealous about missing the dog park, but I didn’t mind when I realized that Monty and I got to go on a walk with Paige. Now, if you remember from last week, Paige caught a rat on our walk. While it scared me half to death, it also impressed me so when we headed out on the same walk this week, I kept nudging Monty and saying, “Watch her very closely. You never know what she’ll chase out of the bushes!”

Monty was impressed not because she caught anything (she didn’t, she just flushed out some pigeons on our walk and then barked at them when they sought refuge on a telephone wire), but Monty was impressed because, well, because Paige is very impressive. I know, I know, you’re all thinking she’s a big mean protective guard dog, but trust me, she’s just dressed like that. Paige is actually a sweet, sensitive, and gentle peach of a dog who is, in fact, quite shy.

It’s kind of ironic because when people see me…all poodle-like and fluffy — they want to pet me on the top of my curly head. I’m not a fan of that so when they reach for me, I back away and 9 times out of 10 they’re disappointed. Monty just stands there and lets them. And Paige? Well, most of the time people don’t want to pet her because they believe the myth that she’s a tough guard dog, but today when we passed a little kid waiting for the bus, Paige really wanted him to pet her so she stuck her nose right in the middle of the action and the little boy gently petted her big-eared head.

Not to be left out (and also, I suspect to be closer to Paige), Monty stuck his nose in the middle of the petting action as well.

Unfortunately, Gretchen didn’t have her camera out to capture the tender moment and even if she did, I’m not sure we could have put one more photo on today’s blog! It’s packed!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Monty, Oshi, Paige, Perrito, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News / Tagged: , , , ,

September 14, 2010

September 15, 2010 6:58 am / Leave a Comment /

You can’t always get what you want…

With humans in charge of the world, it’s hard, as a dog, to always get your way. You must be manipulative while still maintaining that cute, adorable quality. You must make the human think that they are in charge all the while ending up with your desired outcome. As the years pass, I’m developing quite a knack for wrapping humans around my paw, but when it comes to manipulating dogs, it’s a whole different story.

Canines are not so easy to manipulate. Okay, if they’re younger than you (like puppies) you can sometimes get your way, but if you don’t know them very well or if they are older, it requires a lot more finesse.

For instance, today we walked Ollie first thing in the morning. Since I’ve known Ollie for quite some time and since Ollie is younger than I am (and since he LOVES and ADORES me), I can pretty much get Ollie to do the things I ask of him. Today we went to the dog park, which is about a twenty minute walk from his house. Of course, it’s all downhill so the walk back up is a thigh burner. We rarely go to dog parks, but today the dog park was relatively empty and everyone seemed like they were friendly so we made the trek down the hill for a romp.

Anyway, when we got there, Gretchen pulled out a ball for me to fetch. She knows that playing fetch keeps me out of trouble. Unfortunately, Ollie isn’t as interested in the ball as I am. Instead, he likes the treats that Gretchen always carries so he sticks close to her. Therefore, I had to use my manipulative powers to pull Ollie away from Gretchen’s side.

Unfortunately, my charming good looks and powers of persuasion weren’t enough. Instead, I had to employ some of the other dogs at the dog park…namely a white, fluff ball about Ollie’s size to entice him to race around and have some fun.

It took some time, but eventually, Ollie found that running around was a blast and while I chased after the ball, he entertained himself in various ways.

That took a lot of work and energy on my part so much so that the hike back up the hill was a bit slower than normal. Good thing I got to rest at home after that while Gretchen took Rosie out for a walk and her own game of  fetch.

Gretchen’s learned a lot from me about how to get dogs to do what you want. Rosie, for instance, can be kind of stubborn. While she’s good at using her nose to find treats in the grass, she’s not so sure she likes obeying the commands Gretchen’s been trying to teach her. For instance, down/stay and come.  It’s gotten better — especially the come, but while Rosie is happy to do the down, she’s not so keen on the stay. But after months of practice, Rosie is getting it and seems pretty happy with her success.

Perhaps my toughest dog challenge is Saber. You’d think it would be Gemma, but actually, she’s pretty easy to figure out. Gemma is all about the chase and using her mouth and body to move us in the direction she thinks she wants us to go. Saber is all about stealing whatever I have in my mouth (usually my orange and blue ball though today it was a tennis ball we found at the courts) and if he gets that thing in my mouth, I must use my “death stare” to retrieve it or chase him down until he drops it.

Yesterday was a classic example. Gemma was waiting for us to run, chased after us when we did, and then during our wrestling matches, she refereed by biting our ankles and ears. But when Saber stole my ball, she wasn’t much help. Nope, I had to call upon my inner reserve of patience to wait for Saber to accidentally drop my ball so I could retrieve it — well, that and getting Gretchen to employ and liberally distribute the treats in her pocket to entice him.

And once the ball is retrieved, we play — hard and fast and with big smiles on our faces.

It’s not an easy job, but as the years pass, I feel I am perfecting my skills. In the process I’m learning that you can’t always get what you want, but you can sure as heck try!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Ollie, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News / Tagged: , , , ,

September 13, 2010

September 14, 2010 6:49 am / Leave a Comment /

Sporting Events

This weekend we all sat on the couch and watched a human game they call basketball. All these people ran around with a big orange ball and threw it a lot — at each other, up in the air, and sometimes into a crowd of people. It was so weird. Meanwhile, Gretchen jumped up and down and booed and moaned and the whooped it up right at the end of the game when a Bird threw the ball and made everyone in the crowd stand up and cheer really loud.

I was so confused. “That person looks like a person. Why do they call her Bird?” I asked.

“Her name is Sue Bird,” Gretchen said, “And she just made the winning shot with seconds to go.”

“But why do they throw the ball away?” I asked still confused “Why don’t they keep it like I do and walk around proudly?”

I never got an answer. So I did some research. Turns out that humans have lots of sporting events — many that involve balls — and some humans are kind of obsessed with these events. At our house, sporting events like tennis and basketball are big on the list and we’ll spend a couple of hours watching them on the weekends. Not all the time, but when some big sporting event happens (like the basketball game on Sunday) we clear our calendar so we can watch.

Rosie and Tyson, I guess, watch as well because whenever Gretchen goes to pick them up, the TV is on with one sport playing or another. At their house, the big game appears to be football, which makes a bit more sense to me because when one guy gets the ball he keeps it and rarely gives it away. That’s much more canine than tennis where they bat the ball back and forth. That just seems silly.

Rosie and Tyson got to play with my ball today as they went on a nice long walk and then ended up at the tennis courts. Well, Tyson plays with the ball and Rosie waits for Gretchen to throw treats that she can chase.

Landing at the tennis courts is a sport in and of itself, I suppose. During the warmer months, we don’t visit them as much because humans are there swatting at balls and never catching them in their slobbery mouths. But even though today was nice (in terms of the weather), no one was at either of the courts so not only did Rosie and Tyson get to play at one court, Gemma, Oshi, and Perrito got to play at the other.

And there they met up with Modoc, a friendly neighbor dog who is obsessed with his glow in the dark ball…only yesterday, he was obsessed with the ball in Gretchen’s backpack — MY BALL!

At least Modoc has the right idea — get the ball and don’t give it up. Now that’s a sport.

For Gemma, the ball is secondary. Her joy is in chasing the dog who has the ball and even though Perrito loves the ball too, he ends up chasing Gemma who chases Modoc. I think it has to do with the fact that his legs are a fraction of the length of Gemma and Modoc’s, but that little guy can move when he wants to!

Chase –now there’s a complicated and appealing sport. Of course, it’s only fun if one dog has a hold of something the other dogs want like a stick or, in my favorite case, a ball. Since Modoc and I prefer a ball over any other item, we become the chased and I can tell that Modoc enjoys that part as much as I do. Sure wish I could have joined them for their romp!

Oshi has no use for any kind of sport except perhaps sleeping or playing spectator.

For Saber, every adventure is a sport whether there’s a ball involved or not. Alice’s sport is hunting. She just wants to find a bird or a squirrel and then point out it quietly. We didn’t get to play any sports on our walk yesterday, though I tried my hardest to bust a move with Saber while Gretchen was trying to pose us.

Alice just stayed as far away as she could…

…and after a scolding, I tried to behave…really, I tried.

I did better at our next stop…

I’m trying desperately to appreciate human sporting events, but it’s taking every fiber of my being to grasp the joys of throwing a ball away. I know we’ll be watching more basketball in the next few weeks, so I’ll really focus on the intricacies of the game and see if my acceptance of human sport changes at all. Meanwhile, I just want to hang with my friends, play some fetch, all the while holding onto my ball as tightly as I can.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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Posted in: Alice, Gemma, Oshi, Perrito, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Tyson / Tagged: , , , ,

September 10, 2010

September 12, 2010 7:41 am / 3 Comments /

Friday’s Treats

Recently, I felt like I’ve been chasing my tail. This is not a good thing. It means that I’ve been so busy I’m spinning without a purpose, turning round and round trying to achieve something absurd. In fact, I’ve been spinning so wildly of late, I’ve not kept up very well with my blog. I mean, here it is Sunday and I’m finally finishing up (actually beginning) my Friday entry.

My apologies. It’s tough being a dog who is so much demand.

So let me reflect back on Friday and why it was such a treat.

Well, first off it was Friday and that meant I got to relax this weekend. I got to relax, but Gretchen didn’t since she worked Friday night and all day Saturday at the pool. The next reason I liked Friday is because it’s a day I get to spend with Monty, my best buddy. (I hope my other friends don’t take it the wrong way when I say that Monty is my BFF. It’s just that he’s known me the longest, seen me through my ugly puppy phases, and has taught me more than any dog I’ve ever known about manners, playing fetch, and most importantly, the importance of cleaning up my food bowl with every meal.)

Another reason Friday was such fun was really Gretchen’s treat. She got to walk with Rosie and Tyson again for an hour, something she rarely gets to do. Usually, they only walk for a half hour, but last week, every day they were scheduled for an hour and that was fun for everyone, so it seemed. Walking for an hour means they get to go to new places and on Friday, they headed down to the lake for a walk along the water.

First, they stopped by a beautiful hydrangea plant (hard to see in the background, but it’s mixed in there with all the ferns and posed, though Tyson was a bit fixated on something moving up the street and Rosie was excited to be heading somewhere new so it took a little bit to get the right shot.

They were going to pose by the lake, but other dogs were off-leash and romping around so instead, they walked up through the little tunnels and posed on the grassy hillside. Now, I should let you know that Rosie hates walking through the long tunnel. In fact, she won’t get within 50 yards of it without putting on the brakes, so Gretchen thought they could practice tunnel walking through the short ones.

Rosie as a bit hesitant at first, but since she could see to the other side, she moved on through without much problem.

Good for you, Rosie! Of course Tyson didn’t understand the big deal, but when Gretchen asked him to “be strong for Rosie” he put on his most serious face and helped out. I know, I know, his face ALWAYS looks serious, but trust me, this one is different.

Another reason Friday was a treat is because we got to play fetch and if you know me at all, you know I love to play fetch. Monty does, too. Gemma? Well, Gemma likes to pretend she’s playing fetch (which always fools Monty), but really she’s all about chasing us.

The day ended, as did the week, with one big long walk with our buddy Saber. As you can see, we got tired, though Monty was only interested in a treat from Gretchen’s pocket!

And I suppose that’s what makes Friday so awesome…TREATS! While I scolded Monty for breaking his “stay” Gretchen didn’t seem to mind and we all got some goodies from her pocket. She’s much more generous on Fridays.

Hope you all are having a great weekend. I’ll try to be more on top of my job this week, so stay tuned!

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Monty, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Tyson / Tagged: , , , ,

September 9, 2010

September 9, 2010 8:46 pm / Leave a Comment /

13 Degrees Below Normal

There’s been a lot on my mind lately. What with Ann (my other mom) heading back to teaching after a nice summer break, the changing light (or lack thereof), and this fickle weather I’m finding it hard to keep a rhythm to my days. Then this morning I woke up and read the newspaper and there was an article on how the temperatures of late have been on average 13 degrees below normal.

Wow. That’s a lot of degrees! Still Gretchen continues to wear shorts while we work and I just can’t understand. “Shouldn’t you be more bundled up if it’s so much colder?” I asked her today.

“Walking all of you keeps me mighty warm, Rubin,” was her response and I suppose she’s right. I get mighty warm myself, but then again, my body is covered in hair. Still, I keep waiting for her to bring out the fleece, which I have a feeling is on the way since she tends to bundle up at night after our long day of work and her much needed shower.

But that just explains how the weather is out of sorts. It doesn’t help me get back into a schedule that has any rhythm. I suppose that will come with time. Gretchen says I was just getting used to waking up later and now we have to rise at 6 when it’s still not quite light out. I guess she’s right because this morning, after they both got up and were busy with their morning routines, I stretched out on the human bed (don’t worry I don’t sleep there until the morning when I’m called up to snuggle) and fully enjoyed the extra hour of lounging.

Duty called though and so up I got, though I refused breakfast. I only got a short walk before Gretchen headed out on a nice long walk with Rosie and Tyson. They got to play a bit at the tennis courts because last night’s rain made it less than optimum for tennis players. Do you see the hint of all behind Rosie’s pose? It’s a comin’!

Then they went for a nice walk through one park and then through the next whereupon they sat upon a bench and watched the birds land in the field. The worms were up (because of the rain) and you know how much Rosie LOVES birds. Tyson gave a worried look that if they didn’t get their treats soon, Rosie might race off the bench and chase one of those birds.

Gretchen picked me up after dropping off the siblings and we drove to Woobie’s house. Talk about excited, Woobie did a special Woobie greeting dance when we got her from her house and an even bigger Woobie dance when we loaded her into the car.

“Where are we going, Rubin?” she asked excitedly.

“To Ollie’s house!” I told her.

“Yahoo!” she yowled, which is exactly the sound Ollie made when we arrived at his house.

Then off on our walk…down the big hill to the lake with a stop on the way for a photo shoot at a really pretty front yard garden. Then a photo shoot by the lake. You can tell by the smiles on our faces we were having a great time!

Then up the big hill (lots o’ stairs, let me tell you!) where we dropped off Ollie and then piled back in the car to drop off Woobie. Funny, she’s equally as excited to go home as she is to go with us. Gretchen says she’s a dog who enjoys just about everything and that’s why she and Ollie get along so well since he has the same good nature.

The final walk of the day was with Gemma and Saber. When those two get together it’s almost impossible to walk, but we managed until Saber looked at Gretchen with that pleading look and said, “Please, please, please can we go to your house and play?”

Now the thing with Saber is that he LOVES to have something in his mouth when he wants to play. At our house, that thing is one of Ann’s outdoor shoes. What he particularly likes is the insole and in a matter of seconds, he’s ripped it from inside the shoe and is prancing all over the yard with it. The insole was a secret code, though, and Gemma and I knew it meant it was PICK ON SABER DAY, so we did our best to pester him! He didn’t seem to mind.

Gemma’s favorite thing to do is to push us around. I mean that literally.

My favorite thing to do is go up on the forbidden wall (I’m not supposed to be there) and watch the look of awe on Saber and Gemma’s faces when I disobey direct orders.

At one point, Saber heard the chickens who live next door and boy, did he ever get worried!

Whew! What a play date, but even though I had a good romp, I was appreciative of the quick game of fetch Gretchen and I got to play after we dropped Gemma and Saber at their respective homes.

And then I got to take a nap while Gretchen headed off for a much needed massage. I wonder if I’ll get one tonight? That might make me adjust to the 13 degrees of difference in my life these days.

Until tomorrow…which is FRIDAY!

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Tyson, Woobie / Tagged: , , , ,

September 8, 2010

September 8, 2010 9:16 pm / Leave a Comment /

First Day of School

There was a time when I went to school, but now that Gretchen is no longer a teacher, I am no longer a school dog. I have mixed feelings about it all, but when I was out with my friends/clients today, I was happy about where my life has landed me. What I miss about school is hearing everyone say, “Good morning, Rubin!” the moment I walked through the door. I think Gretchen felt a little put out since rarely did anyone greet her with such enthusiasm, but it’s something I really miss these days.

I also miss the way I could wander around the classroom and lick up any food droppings on the floor. I usually don’t do this at home, but the food at school was a lot better than what we eat around here (no offense).

I thought that I wouldn’t miss the getting up early, but it seems that’s not going to change. We got up early this morning to make breakfast for Ann’s first day back in the classroom and then we raced home at the end of the day to make dinner for her too. I guess, since we both know what it’s like to be a teacher, we need to support her in every way that we can, but still, it would be nice to sleep in late.

But our day was busy, too. True, Ann has 29 kids in her classroom and we don’t have nearly that many clients, still we walked a lot today and I for one, am as tired as if it were my first day of school.

First up was Monty and I was kind of dreading it. Not because we were going to be with Monty. I LOVE hanging with my BFF. No, what I dreaded was the rain. Gretchen looked out the front door and then looked at me and I knew something awful was about to happen. When she headed to the closet to get my raincoat, I raced upstairs and tried to hide.

I guess it was kind of turning out like the first day of school. “Mom, don’t make me wear that! My friends will all laugh at me!”

But wear the coat I had to and I was none too pleased. Especially when Monty decided he needed to shake off the rain at the pea patch. He didn’t wear a coat and I suffered, as you can see, the consequences!

Rosie and Tyson didn’t have to wear their coats on their walk, but lucky for them, the rain stopped about halfway through their walk. Unfortunately, the clouds were pretty heavy and the light was really dark as they headed down to Leschi and then up through Frink Park. Only one photo turned out okay, but still, you can see they are without raincoats!

By the time Gemma was retrieved from her house, the rain had gone away and the sun actually came out. Oshi and Perrito were happy about that — Gemma could have cared less. She was far more interested in the squirrels that kept racing across the telephone wires behind Gretchen and her camera.

Still, no one got wet and no one had to wear a raincoat.

And I didn’t have to wear one either when Monty and I picked up Saber from his house.

Instead, we got to walk in the sunshine and once again, Gretchen headed down to Leschi for a sweet shot of us by the marina.

Of course, Saber was disappointed that he wasn’t going to go swimming so he refused, at first, to look at the camera, but once Gretchen said the word “treat” he behaved.

Monty, too, who was slowing getting up from his sit/stay to see if Gretchen really was really going to cough up a cookie!

By the time I met up with Paige, there was actual blue skies and man, was I ever happy because that raincoat dogged me all the way to Paige’s house (Gretchen left it in the back of the car RIGHT NEXT TO MY BED!).

When I was a dog teacher, exciting events would happen occasionally, but basically, not much changed from day to day. I liked the predictability of it all, but I also like the variety of my work now. Take, for instance, going on a walk with Paige. We visited Jack Block park and then walked up onto this high tower to view the city.

What Paige and I  saw in the distance over our shoulders(the black spot in the water) was a seal munching on some sweet seafood…

…the Seattle skyline in the distance…

….and the LONG WAY down from the tower to the ground. It might not look like it, but I was totally freaked and when Gretchen asked me to sit, I sat as close to my friend Paige as I could get. Paige, being the good friend that she is, let me lean into her and I really appreciated the support. Finally, she told me just to line down and the world would stop spinning. She’s so smart!

But things got even more exciting on our way home. Paige and I were walking side by side, gently bumping into each other when all of the sudden, with the force of a powerful huntress, Paige stabbed into the bushes and emerged with something big in her mouth.

I jumped. Gretchen jumped and immediately reached for Paige’s mouth to pull out what she thought was going to be a hamburger wrapper or some garbage. But no…the “garbage” had a tail…a really, really long tail and the whole thing wriggled in Paige’s mouth. I ducked behind Gretchen’s legs, my eyes as wide as they could get and Gretchen jumped back realizing that the thing in Paige’s mouth was a LIVE RAT!

Not just any rat, but a huge wharf rat about the size of a small cat. Gretchen yelled, “OUT!” and with a swift shake, Paige shook that ugly thing and then dropped it onto the path.

OH MY DOG! Gretchen checked Paige who, with blood all over her mouth, smiled proudly. I stood by in amazement and just kept saying, “WOW!” over and over again. The blood didn’t really belong to Paige. Nope, it came from the belly of the rat she’d killed (yippee, one less rat in the world!) and a slight cut on her lip.

All the way back to Paige’s house I kept asking her questions, “How did you know it was there?” and “How did you learn to be so fast?” Paige just continued to smile, her ears on alert, and finally said, “Shucks, Rubin, it was easy. I’ll teach you how if you wanna learn?”

Oh my dog! Stuff like this NEVER happened in the classroom.

So, while I’m sad not to be curled up underneath of a student who needs some dog love, I’m really happy to be out in the “wild” spending time with my friends and learning all sorts of cool stuff I never even dreamed of when I was a teacher.

Until tomorrow!

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Monty, Oshi, Paige, Perrito, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Tyson / Tagged: , , , ,

September 7, 2010

September 7, 2010 9:25 pm / Leave a Comment /

Don’t be fooled

This is the time of the year when it’s really easy to be fooled. Take this morning, for instance. I looked out the window and saw gray clouds and rain. By the time we headed out the door on our first walk of the day (with Oshi and Perrito) there was no longer any rain, but the gray clouds looked threatening.

Still, we headed over to the tennis courts because when it rains, they’re usually empty and we get to play!

Well, Oshi doesn’t play…

Gretchen walked Rosie and Tyson both today (not a usual event, but apparently they are on the schedule for the whole week, an hour each day!) and while I rested at home and then ventured through the many trails, even the gray clouds started to part!

Gretchen was so fooled by today’s weather she wore long pants and then, after she’d dropped off Rosie and Tyson and picked up Gemma, she swung by our house to change into her shorts. When I saw that I was pretty excited!

Gemma was really excited because she got to go see her old friend Ollie and by the time we got to his house, there was actual sunshine!! You can kind of see it as we posed in the shade of the trees, yes?

But the best part of the today’s fooling around was by the time we picked up Saber, it was warm enough to GO SWIMMING!

Of course, Saber went swimming after the ducks instead of the ball and while there was a moment of worry (“Will I have to go in after him?” Gretchen asked me) Saber spun around and headed to shore whereupon he dunked his own head. Silly dog!

Then we dried off on the bench before we headed home in the bright sunshine of the day.

As you can tell, neither of us wanted to head home. We wanted to hang out on the beach and play in the unexpected sunshine, but Gretchen had to go to work at the pool tonight so no extended play dates for me!

Still, I guess I should count my blessings because sometimes, as I know to well, the fooling can go in reverse. I could have woken up to sunshine and then been fooled into thinking the weather would be grand and end up in my dreaded raincoat! Let’s hope that doesn’t happen tomorrow.

Until then,

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Ollie, Oshi, Perrito, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Tyson / Tagged: , , , ,

September 6, 2010

September 6, 2010 12:56 pm / Leave a Comment /

This is not what it appears to be…

I took today off. I’m not supposed to be walking dogs or taking photos of them and technically, I haven’t and I didn’t, but since we went away for the Labor Day weekend and since we flew out of here Friday night like Wendy and the Lost Boys out the window, I didn’t get a chance to post the blog on Friday. So I’m posting it today.

Technically then, I am not working. Right?

Not like anyone is going to pay me overtime now is it? In fact, I need to talk with Gretchen about my “cut” of the profits. She claims I eat them in my food or play with them whenever I get a new toy or bed. Hm, something feels fishy and since it’s Labor Day, I may have to protest about my “free” labor.

But I’ll save that until later because right now I should tell you about Friday.

Surprisingly, it was hot on Friday. Why that’s a surprise is because right now (the Monday following), it’s darn chilly and the rain has washed away pretty much any memory of summer. But I digress. Friday was warm. Warm enough, in fact, that Tyson, the first walk of the day got to go to the lake and swim. Clarification. Tyson doesn’t really swim, but since Gretchen didn’t know that she threw the ring-toy out a bit too far for Tyson who had to use his best problem-solving skills to figure out how to retrieve it.

As you can see, while Tyson used some clever moves, he ended up swimming to get the toy, which pleased Gretchen to no end because if he’d let it float without retrieving it, she’d have to wade in and get it. She was not at all prepared for that!

Gemma got to walk with Oshi and Perrito and while no one really wanted to look at the camera (there were little soccer players everywhere and all of them wanted to run and play with the kids and not pose for photos), eventually they all submitted to the will of the camera…sort of!

Monty was with me the whole day and we’d taken a long walk in the morning, before it got too warm, and then another walk with Saber which lead us first to the tennis courts…

…and then up to the Bradner Gardens where we dined with some children who were celebrating their last weekend of freedom before they were “forced” to go back to school. Only these kids weren’t worried at all about returning.

It was a short day, as you can tell, but still one I didn’t want to miss. And even though it’s taken me until today (technically a day off) to get this post done, I can now wash my paws of the obligation. Whew.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Monty, Oshi, Perrito, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Tyson / Tagged: , , ,

September 2, 2010

September 2, 2010 9:06 pm / Leave a Comment /

Funny Faces

These past two years, as a dog dog walker, I’ve learned a lot, but perhaps the biggest thing I’ve learned is how to pose for a photo. Gretchen takes way too many photographs during the day and when she uploads them onto the computer, I laugh because there are a lot of funny photos. Lots of them.

Today was no exception. We started with a morning walk at Seward Park with Ollie and Gretchen tried desperately to get us sit patiently in front of the lake with Mt. Rainier in the background. I sat patiently, but she had to snap quite a few before she got Ollie behaving.

And then later, as we wandered through the trails at Seward Park, she tried again to get us posing in the woods. We kept hearing noises in the trees, so both of us had a hard time focusing on the posing.

Gretchen walked Rosie after that and they played treat fetch at the little, little field — the place where I first learned to play fetch — and Rosie struck a pose numerous times for Gretchen’s camera.

Before I go on, though, I want to stop and make sure everyone sends out special thoughts for Rosie tomorrow as she goes to the vet to get something checked out as well as to have some lumps removed (and her teeth cleaned). We want to make sure everything comes out well for her, so keep her in mind tomorrow, okay? We’re thinking of you Rosie!

Gemma was next and she’s not very good at striking a pose though when she does, she’s pretty cute. Same with Woobie and when the three of us behave, we’re all three pretty cute!

Saber came over to our house after a walk with Woobie. Saber and I love to play, but Woobie is pretty reserved. So reserved, in fact, I bet you can’t see her in this photo…

…trust me, she’s there!

Meanwhile, Saber and I played tug and wrestled and he barked at me a lot, especially when I had the tug toy, but I wasn’t about to give it up!

The day ended where it began — on a walk at Seward Park — but this time with Paige! We went swimming and then struck a pose by the lake…

…and then went hunting walking on the trails. When Gretchen posed us on the log for our last photos, both Paige and I were very distracted by the sounds in the woods! “What’s that?” “Did you see that?” “What’s that sound, Paige!”

And then Paige and I hung out in the backyard where we practiced our poses and Gretchen took photos of the finally ripening tomatoes!

Before I sign off, a heads up to everyone that we’re going to post our Friday blog on Monday. Sorry about the delay, but there’ll be no time to spin a yarn tomorrow =-)

Until then,

Rubin

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Posted in: Gemma, Ollie, Paige, Rosie, Rubin's Buddies, Saber, Tail Waggin' News, Woobie / Tagged: , , , ,