Category Archives: Zoe

September 12, 2011

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In Remembrance…

The past few weeks have given me pause. Two friends –  Modoc on the left and Zoe on the right — are no longer with me and while I only saw them sporadically of late, they are always in my thoughts whenever we are out walking.

Modoc loved to play fetch and often, when Gretchen and I would wander over to the little field, we’d see him with a ball in his mouth hiding in the bushes. Yeah I know, it sounds kind of odd, but Modoc LOVED his ball and when he saw me coming he knew I’d try to “borrow” it so he’d wander into the bushes, lie down, and chew on the ball he didn’t want me to steal. (When he didn’t have a ball, we’d greet each other like normal dogs — wagging our tails and sniffing all the important places). I will always remember this about him and wherever he is now, I hope he is surrounded by multi-colored balls that get tossed over and over and over again in a huge green field surrounded by bushes in case he feels the need to take a rest.

Zoe loved life. Whenever we went to her house to pick her up, she’d bark and spin and race down the stairs announcing her joy all the way. No matter who we brought by to meet her or where we went on our walks, Zoe was happy — her big, black tail swaying her giddiness. My favorite memory of Zoe was that first walk. We picked her up, Zoe and I greeted and got along fabulously, and then I noticed that she had something on her head. “What’s that?” I asked her. “Paint,” she said proudly. “I helped my family paint their room! Don’t you just LOVE the color?” That was Zoe through and through — helpful, cheerful, and filled with enthusiasm.

Modoc and Zoe’s passing was painful for me and yes, it made me do all those things one does when they’ve lost friends and family — it made me reflect on the beauty of my life – my adventures, my family, and my friends.

In fact, all week the world looked more alive and every step I took, I took in honor of Zoe and Modoc. Every friend I saw, I appreciated more deeply and told them exactly how much they mean to me. And when we ended up at my grandparents’ house and I got to spend time on the beach with a new friend, I reveled in that as well. In other words, I did my best to live life to its fullest and each day I’m going to remind myself that that is exactly how Zoe and Modoc would have done it and that’s exactly how they’d want me to do it.

It was a full week and even though I was busy, Modoc and Zoe stayed at the forefront of my mind. I shared their losses with each of my friends. At the start of the week, it was Rosie and Tyson who didn’t ever have the chance to meet Zoe, but who knew Modoc since he’s a neighbor of theirs.

“That makes me very sad,” said Tyson, who if you didn’t already know, is a very sensitive guy. “He liked to play fetch as much as I do and he was so speedy and fast! I loved watching him run.”

“And that tail!” added Rosie. “I wish my tail curled like that!” As you can see, Modoc made quite an impression and so, while we stood at the lake’s edge, we thought of our lost friends and smiled.

On Tuesday, I got to help Rosie at the vet’s office. She goes in for cold laser therapy for her arthritic hips and back. I get to lie under a blanket and offer moral support while the warmth penetrates her aching joints. She appreciates my assistance and then we pile back into the car (after our walk) and head home.

“Do your joints feel better?” I ask her.

“Oh Rubin, you wouldn’t believe how much more fluid everything feels,” she reports. “You should give it a try sometime. It’s bringing life back into these old, tired bones of mine!”

And we’ve noticed as Rosie is more full of life and bounds around me as we go on our walks. It’s good to see her enjoying life and it makes me enjoy it all the more as well.

Monty knew Zoe and Modoc as well and when I told him of their passing, he was very sad. “Zoe was so cute and playful,” he said. “She was sunshine on a rainy day. And that Modoc, he loved to play as much as you do!”

“Well said, Monty!”

Monty and I took our friend Lulu for a walk on Wednesday and while we talked about our losses, Lulu smiled with glee because she could hang out with her two best friends. “Thanks for sharing this day with me,” she said.

“Any time, Lulu,” I said.  Often, when you lose friends it makes you realize how important friends are and so I really meant it when I said to Lulu, “We should spend more time together.” She agreed with a big smile!

After our walk with Lulu Monty asked, “Can we see Rosie today?” Monty really likes Rosie and the feeling is pretty mutual.

“Sure,” I agreed. “Any special reason?”

“Well, I’d kind of like to tell her how wonderful she is because with Zoe, I was much too shy. And now that’s she no longer of this world, I wish I had.”

“I understand. And I know Rosie would love to share with you how much she loves you,” I said.

So off we went on a short walk with Rosie and found a place where we could smile our love for each other at the camera.

And when the time came, I gave them some privacy so they could share their inner most thoughts.

This week while sad and reflective was also more like August than September. The sun was out and really hot during the day, though the temperatures dropped 30 degrees in the evening, which made sleeping nice. Still, when I got home from work, I was beat — wiped out by the exercise and the heat. Good thing our house stays really cool.

On Thursday, I got to spend time Roux. She didn’t know either Zoe or Modoc, but she did her best to make me feel better by making me laugh. If there’s one thing Roux can do, she can make a fella laugh! And she and Lulu (who we also walked that day) reveled in their new friendship!

Rosie needed another cold laser treatment on Thursday so after my time with Roux and Lulu, Rosie and I headed back to the vet’s office and then we went for a nice walk in the neighborhood. She was pleased.

On Friday, I got to see Woobie — from afar. I had to stay in the car with Monty (we got a walk after) while Gretchen went into Woobie’s house, carried down the back stairs and let her in the backyard for a break.

And speaking of breaks…yep, Woobie broke her foot! Oh how Woobie wanted to go with us on our walk, but her activity is restricted and much to her disappointment, walks aren’t in her future for awhile. Still, as only Woobie can do, she stayed cheerful and was thrilled to see Gretchen, who broke the news to her about Zoe (and Modoc, though Woobie only knew Zoe). Woobie sent her condolences to the families and told Gretchen to give me a hug for her (which she did).

Get Well Soon, Woobie! I miss playing with you! (Oh and Woobie missed the squirrel climbing up her tree! Boy, she’s really not feeling 100%!)

And the week ended as it began…a walk with the siblings, Rosie and Tyson.

I was feeling like a pretty lucky fellow by then. “I have good friends, don’t I?” I said to Gretchen. She agreed and then, much to my surprise, she loaded me, all of our luggage, and Momma Ann into the car after her work at the pool and we drove through the night to Grandma and Grandpa’s house!

What a way to end a week! I love my grandparents very very much and was so happy we got to spend time with them this weekend. When you’ve experienced loss like I have, it’s great to let the arms of family love envelope you and that’s just what I did.

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Gretchen and I got up early Saturday morning and headed to the beach in Port Townsend (Momma Ann wanted to go, but she was knee deep in the first week of school teacher-work and so stayed back and was pampered by the grandparents).

Not only did I get to play on the beach, but I also got to meet a dear friend of Gretchen’s – David — and his 2 1/2 year old pup, Ruby. Ruby is a Northwest Farm Terrier and as you’ll see in the photos below, the Border Collie genes are very strong!

While I may have lost two friends this past week, I’ve gained a new one and in honor of Zoe and Modoc I will do my best to be a good friend to little Miss Ruby Tuesday!

Ruby, I should let you know, is not only good at herding, but she’s a talker! Still she’s adorable and I really enjoyed meeting both Ruby and her Dad. My only regret is that we didn’t get to spend more time together on the beach.

Even though Ruby and David had to part, our time on the beach didn’t end.

And for that I was eternally grateful…what a beautiful day it was and I love spending time with Gretchen alone on a wide open beach where the life of the world vibrated all around us!

We spent time search for interesting rocks (one I posed on) and playing fetch both in the sand and in the water. (I prefer the water fetch myself, but I have to say, that water is not only salty, it’s mighty, mighty cold!)

Still, life was all around us…oyster catchers and herons…

And time with my Momma G on one of my favorite beaches in the entire world!

We sure hope you have time to pause and reflect on the joys and loves in your life. Time is short and it’s important to spend each moment not only in appreciation for what you have in your life, but also who you spend your time with. I’m lucky to have known and to know such great people and dogs, but not to sound prejudice, it’s knowing the dogs that’s best of all.

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August 31, 2010

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Confession

We stood before the closet for the longest time this morning.

“What are you doing?” I asked Gretchen.

“Trying to figure out which coat to wear,” she said.

I laughed. You see, the closet is filled with coats. I will go so far as to make a confession for Gretchen — she has a coat obsession.

“Why are you laughing, Rubin?”

“Well,” I said as tactfully as I could, “You have a lot of coats to choose from.”

“Yeah, I know,” she confessed (on her own), “But it’s important to have options.”

She then went on to explain how the weather in Seattle requires two raincoats — one for the light and occasional rain and one more sturdy for the endless cascading rain (the kind we had today). But a raincoat, she tried to explain, doesn’t keep you warm in the winter nor does one always need a raincoat. So apparently that explained all the other coats lined up in the closet.

“Do I wear a lightweight vest under the raincoat today?” she asked, “Or something a tad bit warmer?”

Now, if we just focused on the vests, the decision is still not very easy because there are lightweight vests, heavy fleece vests, and even a down vest. “I don’t think it’s too cold out there,” I suggested.

“Then maybe I’ll just wear a long-sleeved shirt over my t-shirt,” she said.

“Sounds like a plan,” I snickered.

If the weather were colder and something more than a vest were required, there are a plethora of long-sleeve coats to choose from as well. Many are fleece (the Seattle staple), but some are lightweight and some are down. A couple are even boiled wool.

I, on the other hand, have one coat — which I hate — and when we finally got ready to go (Gretchen wearing her sturdy, bright-green raincoat with a long sleeve shirt underneath), she pulled out my red coat (which acts as both a raincoat and a fleece coat). “Noooooooo!” I screamed and ran up the stairs to hide in the bedroom.

“Oh, Rubin,” Gretchen said, “It’s pouring down rain! You’ll get soaked.”

“Why is it,” I asked from my perch under the bed, “I’m allowed to go swimming and get soaked, but when it rains, I have to wear a coat?”

There was silence in response to my question, then finally, “Rubin, I don’t really have time for this. We have dogs to walk — Ollie, Rosie, Zoe, Gemma and Saber — we’re on a tight schedule buddy.” (You can tell how gray and rainy it was today by the dark nature of the photographs and the fact that most photos were taken under some kind of cover so we didn’t get super wet!)

I held my ground. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Because when you swim, it’s warm and you dry off fast,” she finally said with a bit of a huff.

“Today isn’t that cold,” I pointed out.

“True, but once you get wet — and today you’ll get soaked it’s raining so hard — you won’t dry out as fast since it’s cooler out and you’ll get cold,” was her explanation.

“Have you ever seen me get cold?” I asked.

“Only after you’ve been swimming for a long time,” she admitted.

“Can we just try it without the coat today?” I pleaded.

“Sorry buddy, but I think you must wear the coat.” And with that, I crawled out from my hiding spot and donned the unbearably awful coat. “Think of it this way, Rubin,” Gretchen tried to console me, “Ollie has to wear one, too, so you’re really helping him feel more comfortable by wearing yours.”

I didn’t respond, but thought to myself Why do I want to help him adjust to this awful coat-wearing experience?

Luckily, by the end of the day — after Ollie, Rosie (who didn’t have to wear HER coat), Gemma (who likes to wear a coat), Zoe (who didn’t need to wear one because it hardly rained), and Saber (who never wears a coat) — the rain subsided and I was able to go out in the world sans coat. Gretchen even took off her raincoat (though she kept on her rain pants — too hard to pull them over her rain boots) and we all eventually dried out.

“Gretchen,” I said later that afternoon, “I think you need to winnow out some of your coats.”

“Yeah, buddy,” she confessed, “I think you’re right.” And then she added, “Winnow? Where did you learn words like “winnow?”

I didn’t respond. I just smiled and thought about bringing up the need to winnow out the shoes and backpacks that have collected in the closets just under all the coats!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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August 25, 2010

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Cobwebs

Gretchen did some complaining today, which is rare because she usually doesn’t complain. But this morning I heard some grumbling.

“Darn cobwebs!” she snarked. “Seems like everywhere I turn, I’m running into spider webs and cobwebs!”

She thinks she has it bad! She should try being a dog who walks through them all the time and I don’t even have any hands to wipe them from my face! Instead of joining in on her rant, I calmly tried to console her. “Yeah, I know. They seem exceptional abundant this year.”

“And persistent,” she added. “Seems like every morning I walk right into the same spider web at the gate. You’d think I’d learn!”

It’s true. The webs we’ve run into have been sturdy and plentiful and quickly repaired. I don’t mind them that much unless a spider drops out of them and onto my curls. That kind of creeps me out, but generally, the web itself, while irritating, doesn’t send me over the edge like it does Gretchen. Of course, those fine threads seem to really hang on her and hours after she’s walked through a web, she’s still pulling strands from her hair, off her glasses, and trying to fling them from her hands.

It doesn’t help that she can’t tell if it’s her gray hair stuck on the rim of her glasses or a spider’s web. I guess both are annoying. And I guess it doesn’t help that the sun was so bright today it glared out any evidence of cobwebs so we walked through a lot of them. And let me tell you, we did a lot of walking today!

First up was Monty. He was, as usual, happy to see us and particularly pleased that we came for a walk before it got really hot. “I just wilt in the heat!” he told me. I know how he feels.

Together we walked up to get Woobie and after our nice long walk up on the ridge and back down to our house, she hung out with us for awhile. Doubly nice was that the house was still cool and we didn’t have to hoof it out in the unusually warm weather.

Gretchen did though, and her she told me she sweated like a pig.

“I didn’t know pigs sweated?” I said.

“Oh yeah,” said Monty, “It’s amazing!”

“When have you seen a pig sweat?” asked Woobie.

“Uh…well…”

“I thought so,” Woobie smiled.

Meanwhile, Gretchen was out battling the heat and the cobwebs first on a walk with Oshi and Perrito…

…and then on a walk with Gemma and Zoe.

None of them seemed to notice the cobweb issue, though all of them noticed the climbing thermometer! It’s especially tough on Zoe with her black hair, though the two of didn’t seem to mind too much…

…especially when the squirrel raced up the tree right above Gretchen’s head!

Monty and I didn’t have to walk Woobie home either. Saber had the honors and he wasn’t pleased that the photo took place not in the cool shade, but right out in the hot open. Gretchen told him, “Sorry, Saber it’s just that I pass this cool ceramic mural all the time and I’ve always wanted to get a photo of some dogs here.”

“Yeah, but it’s hot!” moaned Saber.

“Just grin, Saber,” Woobie told him, “And we can be on our way.”

“Oh, okay! I can do that!”

Saber swung by our house to pick up Monty and me who were resting quite nicely in the cool breeze of the fan. “Come on, Monty,” I told him. “It’s our turn to walk Saber home.”

“Alrighty!” Monty sprung into action and got particularly happy when he realized that after Saber got dropped off, we’d get to play some fetch!

Not too much, though because it was hot hot hot out there so we’d fetch our balls and then just crash in the shade.

Usually that’s the end of our Wednesday’s activities, but today I got to go with Gretchen over to Paige’s house and pick her up for a visit and a walk! When I brought her home where Monty was waiting, boy was he every happy. He really likes Paige and followed her around until eventually, we all just rested in the shade of the backyard.

Monty went home after that (he was a little sad…he really likes her), but Gretchen said that three big dogs at the lake was just too much for her to handle after 10 miles of walking today!

So Monty went home, while Paige and I walked another 3 miles down to the lake and back with a brief stop to cool ourselves off in the water! No photos of that as Gretchen was in the lake with us and she didn’t want to get her camera wet!

But here we are resting on the bench above the lake and as you can see, I’m a bit wet while Paige looks very dry. She’s not, she just looks that way!

Paige came back to our house and we hung out. Well, actually Paige hung out and I did everything I could to engage her in a game of chase and wrestling. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do with me! Instead, she just hung out with Ann hoping that she would be saved from my craziness!

Eventually, we just rested in the shade and then Paige went back into the house and rested on the cool bamboo floors right where the office window blows in a really nice breeze. She’s one smart dog, that Paige!

On our way out the door to return Paige back to her Mom, Gretchen ran smack dab into another spider web. It was, in fact, the same spider web that set her off to complaining this morning. “Jeez,” she said a bit perturbed and then we both laughed. “Oh well, what can I do, Rubin?”

“Keep your mouth closed?” I winked at her. Even Paige laughed at that.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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August 24, 2010

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Are You Out There? Can You Hear Me?

I’ve learned a lot as a Dog Blogger. For one thing, I’ve learned that every day I can check my “stats” to find out how many people have visited our site. While at first the number was around 50 or so, recently the number has skyrocketed. I mean last Friday there 1,015 “hits” on our site and only 46 of them were what are called “uniques” meaning that 46 new people visited the website. In other words, 969 people have visited us before!

Whoa! How can that be? No one ever leaves us a comment on our comment page (well, rarely) and we only have 11 full-time clients. So as I was working today, I asked myself – Who on earth are these people?

I asked our clients today. “Hey Ollie, who do you think is looking at pictures of you and me play?”

“People are looking at me? Where? When? I don’t see them?”

“They’re not here,” I told him, “They’re on the website.”

“There are people on the website? I thought we were just there?” he said.

I tried, really, I tried to make him understand, but my buddy Ollie is all about being a good boy, posing for the photos, so he can earn a treat. He’s such a good dog , but he doesn’t know much about blogging.

So then I had Gretchen ask Rosie. Rosie response?

“Gee, I bet they’re people who like Boxers,” she said, “Or maybe they like flowers because whenever you take me walking, you take as many photos of flowers as you do of me.”

Gretchen’s response, “That’s because you’re as beautiful as a flower, Rosie!”

“And named for one, too!” she smiled.

I was hesitant to ask Gemma because sometimes Gemma never really hears me. She’s too busy scouting out who or what she can pester, but today, on our walk with Zoe, she said, “They’re Irish people who want to look at an Irish dog!”

“Wait just a minute,” Zoe interrupted. “I’m not Irish. I’m Bernese.”

“Where is Bernese?” Gemma snorted.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s close to Ireland,” said Zoe.

“Jeez, you guys,” I said, “Bernese dogs are originally from Switzerland. They a really old breed, sometimes known as “yellow cheeks” and I don’t think that’s why people are clicking on our site.”

“Could be, you never know,” said Zoe.

“But I think they’re Irish not Switzerlandish,” said Gemma.

“That’s Swiss,” I corrected her.

“Swiss? Do you have lisp or something?” she asked.

Oh my.

Sometimes my job is a lot harder than it looks!

As you can see, I wasn’t getting much help and while Saber is young and I didn’t have much hope that he’d know a lot about the internet, we were all out of clients for the day so I thought I’d give it a go.

“So Saber…” but before I even got the question out, he was off fetching a ball in the lake. Boy, that guy likes to swim, but even more, he likes to fetch the ball that I like to fetch, which means that he waits to jump on me as I swim in.

Hard to ask questions when you’re swimming, but on the way home, I asked. “Saber, do you know much about the internet?”

“Sure do, Rubin. What do you want to know?”

I told him about the “uniques” and if it really means that 969 people are revisiting our site. He said, “Well, it could be, but it might also be that people are searching for something like a dog photograph, of which you have many, or perhaps are searching for a certain thing, like a Saber, and they click on the website because those are all things you can find there — Sabers and dog pictures.”

“But are they always the same person?” I wondered?

“Could be, but more than likely they access the site via the same link like Facebook or one of the other websites where your site is mentioned,” he explained. “Still, that’s a lot of hits. You should be proud!”

Wow, what a wealth of information Saber was! Gretchen told me that’s because he’s young and the youth of today are far more technologically savvy then the older generation.

Does that mean I’m older? Wait a minute!

Regardless, if you are visiting the site and you like what you see, drop us a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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August 18, 2010

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The Circle Game

I’ve been having a hard time keeping up these days. The summer is a busy time and if we aren’t working we’re off on errands, visiting friends, or entertaining friends at our house. It’s made it difficult to keep up with the writing part of my job since I’m either not here until late at night or I am here, but enjoying my friends.

I think all of this is about to change, that life is going to slow down a bit more because this morning, when I woke up, it was dark. You may be asking, what does a dark morning have to do with being less busy, and it’s good that you ask because it’s exactly the same question I asked myself. “Why do I have this sense that life is going to slow down soon?”

It took me awhile to figure out the connection, but after I did my morning stretches, went outside to take care of my morning business, and then curled up on my bed downstairs to wait for the start of the work day it hit me — Autumn is coming. In other words, the seasons are changing.

Summer is a wonderful time — it’s warmer (for the most part), it’s lighter for longer, and each day is filled with amazingly fun activities — hiking, swimming, vacationing, visiting, and on and on. But as much fun as it is, around this time of the year (mid-August) I start to get tired and I wonder how much longer I can keep up the pace of summer activities.

That’s when the light starts to change. The sun goes down earlier and comes up later. Clouds often cover the morning sky and there’s a chill in the air early in the mornings and late in the evenings. Many people I know don’t like the change of seasons. They are happy with sunshine and blue skies and hate to see the days shorten and the nights lengthen.

Not me. I love the cycle of the seasons and even though I’m sad to know that soon I won’t be swimming in the lake anymore or jumping into my friend Ben’s pool, I’m looking forward to the leaves changing colors, to the fall hikes in the mountains, and most of all, to the possibility of snow.

But mostly, I love the cycle of the seasons because it makes me realize that there’s something bigger than us, that we aren’t really in charge. We like to think we are (humans especially, but sometimes dogs, too), but really it’s mother nature and no matter how much we may mess with her, she does things that bring me comfort — diminishing light, chilly dew on the grass, the slant of morning sun, the scent of winter’s arrival.

Gretchen says she likes spring and autumn most of all the seasons because they are those in between times when life is transitioning between birth and death. She also likes the coming of autumn and winter because she loves to wear sweaters and frankly, it’s been way to hot to think about anything even resembling a sweater.

But lately, I’ve noticed she’s donned a sweatshirt in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings as well. She’s turned on lights in the morning as well and has slept better because the sun hasn’t knocked on her eyelids as early as before.

I like the coming of the fall as well if only because it means a little less activity around this place. My other mother, Ann, will soon return back to teaching and while I’ll miss hanging out with her, I look forward to the changing routine — rising earlier and Saturday naps to name a few changes.

After I woke up this morning and realized that autumn is around the corner, I paid closer attention to the leaves on the trees — some are turning yellow even now — the last of the summer flowers, and way the sun sits lower in the sky. As you can see from many of the photos, Monty and I hung out together a lot today and even though we didn’t hang with Gemma and Saber, I think they both noticed the seasonal changes as well.

Okay, maybe they didn’t, but they will soon enough. I mean, it’s hard not to notice the darker mornings and the chillier nights, but sometimes Gemma and Saber have one-track minds (each other) and are perhaps too young still to grasp the immensity of it all. It’s a circle game in many ways that what goes around comes back around again. For them, of course, the circle game is really a game of chase, but I know they’ll come to understand the bigger picture soon enough.

While some of you may dread what’s coming, I welcome it and encourage you all to embrace the coming changes.

After all, what would it be like around here if nothing changed?

That’s the question Monty and I were pondering today…we hope you get some time to ponder it as well.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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August 17, 2010

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Learning Opportunities

Gretchen made a minor mistake at work last night and stayed up half the night worrying about it. She’s like that. Little things carry a big weight with her and if worry were edible, she’d consume her body weight in the stuff. So you can imagine, I had to have a consoling conversation with her that went something like this:

ME: I don’t like to think of them as mistakes.

HER: Oh really, Rubin, what do you call them?

Learning opportunities.

(Smile) And what mistakes have you made lately that you’ve learned something from?

I can think of one from today as a matter of fact.

Do tell.

You know how I don’t like to always eat breakfast, right?

I would have to say you rarely like to eat breakfast unless we’ve been swimming or one of your friends is here to encourage you on.

Yes, those are both truths, but we’re not going to discuss what makes me eat, okay?

I was just sayin…

Okay, as I was saying, I don’t always eat my breakfast, which is a mistake because as the morning progresses, I get hungry, really hungry.

So hungry you sometimes eat grass and then throw up.

Let’s not go into gory details. The point is that you’re right, eating breakfast is better for me and when I don’t eat it, I feel kind of crummy later on.

I appreciate your admitting that…

Well, thank you…

…but I’d like to point out you still go without eating breakfast so I’m not sure how you’ve learned anything.

I’m in the process of learning. That’s the beauty of mistakes — you can make the same one more than once and the world still doesn’t fall apart.

Do you stop making the mistake once you’ve learned?

No always.

So I guess I’m missing your point.

You can’t be perfect all the time, in fact, you can’t be perfect most of the time, which means that mistakes are a part of our lives from now until we die.

What about really big mistakes?

I wouldn’t know. I’ve never made a really big mistake.

Oh you haven’t, have you?

You doubt me?

Let’s just say I have a different perspective.

Come on! I’m a dog. How many really big mistakes can I make? I mean, I didn’t cause the banks to fail or cause unemployment. Those are really big mistakes.

Do you think people learned their lessons?

I don’t know those people. I just know you and I know you are way too hard on yourself and that if you made a really, really big mistake like that, you’d learn from it after feeling really, really bad and contrite.

Contrite? Wow, your vocabulary is really expanding.

Thank you, but that’s beside the point.

So could you please review the point so I’m sure I really get it?

Humans. Sometimes I wonder how on earth you became our masters.

I wonder sometimes too, buddy because frankly I learn far more from you than I do from most humans.

(Blushing) Shucks, thanks.

So your point?

You’re going to make mistakes in your life, Gretchen — big and little. You have to forgive yourself just like you forgive me when I bark uncontrollably at our weird neighbor or hog the bed or don’t come when you call me. You have to be as gentle and as loving with yourself as you are with me. Last night’s mistake was minor and no one thought otherwise, especially your boss. She just wanted you to learn from your mistake that’s why she pointed it out.

(Silence)

Do you understand?

Yeah, I get it, but I was just thinking…

Oh no, that always gets us into trouble…

(Smile) Thanks, but I was thinking that you are one special little fellow.

(Wag, wag, wag, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle) We’re pretty lucky to have each other!

And we’re pretty lucky to have such a great job.

That’s “jobs” in your instance…

Yeah, I’m pretty lucky to have two great jobs where I’m allowed to make mistakes, learn from them, and be forgiven.

Today’s job was pretty sweet, don’t you think?

Hot, but sweet.

We shouldn’t complain because remember in February when it rains for days and days on end and all we can think about is warm sunny weather? Now we have the warm sunny weather and…

…all I can think about is cooler temperatures and snow!

Oh, that does sound good!

You have to admit, it felt warmer today than yesterday even though the thermostat said otherwise.

I do admit that. I think it was warmer because it was more humid and there wasn’t a breeze.

You’re probably right and I’m not working at the pool tonight, which is always a really cool place to be in weather like this!

Yeah, I’m kind of envious.

You’re just envious because you LOVE to swim!

I do indeed.

Did you enjoy swimming with Ollie today?

Yes, though he’s kind of funny about the water.

He did a great job swimming out to fetch the ball.

But then he swam overhand to bring it back and that was kind of funny.


Well, not all dogs can swim as well as you can.

Does Rosie like to swim?

No, she doesn’t like water too much though today we walked up to the Bradner Gardens and saw Laurie at her pea patch.

Did you say hi to her from me?

Yep, I did, but it was actually Rosie who said hello and then, because Laurie was watering her patch, we decided to hose down Rosie to cool her off for the walk back home.

Uh oh, how did that go?

Amazingly well! She stood there and let us get her wet and then she lifted her leg up so we’d spray down her belly!

It was hot enough that Rosie liked the water?

Yep, I guess it was.

Zoe LOVES the water like me, doesn’t she?

Yep and because it was so warm, Gemma and I walked her to the lake where they both took a dip!

And it looks like Gemma did a little rock climbing.

Yes, well, you know Gemma…always an adventurer though she struggled with how to get off the rock, as you can see.

And then there’s Saber.

Yep, he loves the water and has learned to really enjoy the kiddie pool.

Only he doesn’t fit in it so well, does he?

He makes it work.

And he loves to steal my ball.

He loves to steal what you want, Rubin because he adores you!

If he adores me so much, why does he taunt me?

Because despite his size, he’s still a puppy.

A big puppy!

(Laughter!)

Are you feeling better about last night, Gretchen?

Much better. Thanks for talking me through it and thanks for being such a great dog dog walker!

You bet. Hey, can I get a massage now?

Anything for you, Rubes!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin


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August 11, 2010

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Social Mathematics

Every day I get to practice my math skills. Six dogs plus four hours with three dogs at a half hour and three for an hour. “Hm,” I say to myself measuring the day out on my toes, “That means eight miles of walking in four sessions.” But the math gets complicated at times and it’s not the numbers that stump me, but rather the combinations of dogs I must walk when, where, and with whom. There are nights when I have a hard time falling asleep because I’m trying to figure out the possible configurations. “Gemma can’t walk with Alice, Gretchen can’t walk too many other dogs with Zoe, Monty loves everyone, but he gets tired, and Oshi and Perrito always cross leashes.”

Gretchen’s made the calculations more difficult now that she has a job in the evenings at the pool, but I guess it’s an added challenge for me — a way to stretch my mathematical mind throwing in the social conflicts of our clients.

Don’t get me wrong — all our dogs are sweet, but sometimes their personalities don’t mesh nor do their geographical locations so I’m left with moving the schedule around like a Rubik’s Cube…or perhaps that’s a Rubin’s Cube! Luckily, today wasn’t so complicated because Gretchen didn’t have to work at the pool and Saber wasn’t on the schedule (he usually is with us daily, but he had a vet appointment — hope you’re doing okay, buddy!)

The day started with Monty and as usual, we took a nice long walk all around the neighborhood to limber us up and energize our appetites. Well, mine got energized — his doesn’t need much help! I asked Gretchen not to take photos because this is my special time with my good friend and we like to stroll along without worries about posing or smiling. She was kind enough to oblige.

While Monty and I brunched on yummy goodies at home, Gretchen took Oshi and Perrito out for stroll. Now Oshi and Perrito pretty much get along with everyone, though they aren’t very fond of barking dogs behind fences. This is exactly how Gemma feels, too, so walking the three of them together is kind of a nice fit only all three of them are pretty unruly on the leash.

Unlike me, they don’t really know how to walk right next to Gretchen so even though it’s a lot of work for her, there are times when Gretchen is cursing the decision to walk them all together.

Today, though, they were pretty could though Gretchen always thinks she’ll need to schedule an appointment with the chiropractor after a walk with these three!

Oshi and Perrito are half-hour clients, while Gemma is with us for an hour, which means that Gemma got to walk with Monty and me, too. She liked that very much, but she really liked it when I rolled around on the ground and she could jump on me!

Once we walked Gemma with Alice and that didn’t work at all. Alice is kind of nervous with new dogs and Gemma, being the confident and outgoing-type made Alice really nervous so we’ve avoided that social combination since the first time.

Today, though, we decided to try Zoe with Alice because 1) they live in the same neighborhood, 2) Alice got moved this week from Monday to Wednesday, which is also a Zoe day and 3) while Zoe is energetic and bubbles with happiness, she is a pretty mellow gal and would most likely not make Alice very nervous.

It worked! The two got along famously, which means that that social equation can happen again IF all the factors (day, time, location) align again.

So yes, today was pretty easy in terms of the math. In the end, we walked about seven miles in four walks and everyone seemed very pleased. Let’s hope tomorrow provides us with such easy calculations, but I won’t worry about that now…I’ll worry about that tonight before I fall asleep.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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August 10, 2010

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Word Play

As you may know, I am fond of human words. Well actually, I am fond of the many uses for human words. While you might think that a bark is a bark is a bark, a dog’s communication system is much more nuanced than a humans, but one thing we don’t have is a good pun. Today, as I was thinking about the blog I wanted to write, I realized that many of the photos Gretchen took today have word play built right into them.

For instance, on our first walk with Ollie, we posed in front of some Canada geese foraging at the lake. Since Ollie just got his hair done, we were forbidden to go into the lake, so I bid my time by thinking of puns. This is the one that struck me…

"Hey Ollie, don't get goosed!"

And then I realized that I wanted to watch for puns today so I asked Gretchen to see if she could find other word plays in which to pose the dogs. But first, back to those geese and to the newly sheared Ollie!

Since Gretchen went out alone with Rosie, she didn’t have me to advise her, but I think she figured out a good play on words for Rosie’s photo!

"Hey Gretchen, tell Rubin you were stumped with the word play assignment!"

Very funny, you two! Glad to see that you capture another picture of Rosie in front of the sunny world, though!

I was actually stumped when we picked up Gemma next and then headed to Zoe’s house. I kept my eye open for signs of puns and then we met Chili and that’s when Zoe said…

"Rubin, does it feel a little chilly out here to you?"

I had to laugh, while Gemma had to play with our new little friend!

Of course, by the time we got around to picking up Saber, my head was sore thinking of all the possibilities and Saber had absolutely no interest in thinking at all. He just wanted to play so I showed him my ball and then we played keep away, bark at Rubin, and splish splash in the pool!

I mean, why mess around with word play and when you can have the real thing — PLAY PLAY!

Saber gets some X-rays tomorrow so we want to send him a special message for a good news report, but I think I need to write it in dog-speak! Woof, woof, bark, growl, yip, yip, yip, bark, bark, bark! Love ya, man!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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August 4, 2010

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Boyish New Me

If you know me — I mean, if you are in my inner circle and I wiggle when I see you — then you know I’m pretty much a boy’s boy. I like to be rough and tough and throw my boyish weight around. If you don’t really know me, then you’d think I was pretty much a fella who is in touch with my girlish side not necessarily because of my behavior, but because of my haircut. The Page Boy ears kind of make the boyish side seem oxymoronic. Every time I go to the groomer, they puff me up and my friends kind of tease me because the look doesn’t fit my personality at all.

So today, when Gretchen walked Monty and me up to the groomer, I was expecting the same foofy look. Boy, wasn’t I surprised!

Ann, my other Mom, says I look like a meerkat. I had to look that up to see what exactly what she meant and I guess I kind of see the resemblance, though I still have one question: What exactly IS a meerkat?

But since today was muggy and hot, the shorter hair (and ears!) was worth the time at the groomers. And I have to admit, I look kind of cute except that the gender confusion thing still happens. During one of our walks (in my new hairdo) a woman stopped us and said, “My, isn’t she a beautiful Doodle!” Oh well. It’s a good thing I’m comfortable with my androgynous appearance.

Of course, I didn’t get to walk with all the dogs today. Nope. Monty and I got to walk up to the groomers and then Gretchen went about the business without me for most of the day. When she brought the photos home, I did take a look at them to see the various hairdos of my friends and that’s when I realized, not everyone has to get their hair done. Monty, yes. Me, yes. But there are many in our crew who don’t. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The first dogs of the day were (after Monty) Oshi and Perrito. Yes, they get groomed because their hair, like mine, grows and does not shed. While not shedding makes our families happy, it means we must submit ourselves to the snip snip snip of the razors. Okay, it’s not all that horrible. They’re very nice at the groomer and they talk to me in Spanish something that makes me feel very manly for some reason!

I don’t think Rosie would like the groomer very much. Fortunately for her, she doesn’t have to go because she has fur not hair and instead of it growing, she sheds it. She doesn’t mind the shedding if it means she doesn’t have to get in the car to go somewhere (doesn’t like car rides) and if it means she doesn’t have to hear loud noises (like blow dryers) or get a bath. This, as you can see, makes her very happy!

Two other happy dogs are Gemma and Zoe. They are happy for reasons far too numerous to recount. While Gemma doesn’t shed, she must get “striped” to keep her hair short and red. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but just the word “strip” puts a chill up my spine. Zoe, on the other hand, must get brushed to keep her coat so shiny and beautiful. As you can tell, both of their families do a magnificent job keeping these two gorgeous even though the two of them are both outrageously goofy…especially when they are together!

On their walk, they ran into another dog named Lambeau — yes, named after the football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Gemma saw him first and boy, did she ever want to play some football with this guy!

Even after Lambeau left, Gemma (and her tail) were on high alert! Zoe, on the other hand, was just happy to be taking a rest away from the heat!

Being a Mountain Dog, I imagine Zoe gets mighty warm on days like this when the humidity is high and the temperatures are high as well. Gretchen says that her coat actually protects her acting both as a cooling system as well as an insulator.

“Do I have that?” I asked.

“Nope, buddy,” she informed me. “You just have one coat. Zoe actually has two.”

Wow. That’s pretty impressive. I can’t imagine what it’s like when she gets brushed out! When I get brushed there’s maybe a handful of fine, soft hair in the end. When Zoe gets groomed, I bet there’s enough hair we could make another dog out of it!

On the way home from walking Zoe and Gemma, Gretchen got the phone call that Monty and I were all coiffed and ready for pick up! So Gretchen got Saber first and then headed up the hill to fetch us! Boy, was Saber surprised by our clean scents and new dos!

Saber said, “I don’t have to have a haircut to look manly!”Monty and I had to laugh, but we made certain that Saber didn’t hear us! Instead, Monty said, “Dude, it’s not what’s on the outside. It’s what’s on the inside!”

And I added, “It’s important to let yourself be who you are, Saber. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!”

Now Woobie…I know she gets brushed because when she stays with us, Gretchen will often give her a grooming. Woobie, surprisingly, seems to like it, but I wonder if she’s ever had her hair cut?

She was happy to see us, but had all sorts of questions about my new haircut. “Does it hurt?” Monty and I reassured her that it was a painless process and we could tell she was relieved!

Woobie thought Monty looked particularly beautiful and I had to admit, Liliana did a particularly nice job on making Monty maintain his manly appearance at the same time making him look gorgeous!

As you can tell, today was a busy day. And while we spent most of it at the groomer, both Monty and I were tired after Woobie went home.

In fact, Monty was so tired, he decided to take a nap. I didn’t realize he’d made this choice until I went around the house looking for my best friend. I couldn’t find him anywhere and then Gretchen whispered, “He’s found his favorite bed!”

And guess where he was? Upstairs in my bed! He barely opened his eyes when I went to check on him! And he quickly fell back to sleep!

I kind of wanted to sleep after Monty went home, but apparently Gretchen had a surprise in store for me. We all piled in the car and headed over to the pool where Gretchen works. She’s been trading time in the pool by walking her boss’s dog, Paige. Generally, Gretchen swims me in the pool, but she wanted me to experience the joys of a massage and swim by a veteran expert. Let me tell you, there is experience in that woman’s hands! And the swim was fantastic, too!

While I relaxed in the lap of luxury, Gretchen and Paige went for a nice walk, though it was mighty hot so they had to stop and rest, which of course meant photo time!

Paige and I hung out for awhile after that and she told me all about her grooming regime. “I get a bath like once a week!” she told me.

“Really?”

“Yep, and when Gretchen brought me back from the walk tonight, she hosed me down to cool me off.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “Do you ever go in the pool for a swim and a massage?”

“Yep!”

What a lucky dog, I thought. I could get used that kind of life!

But really, I have a pretty wonderful life myself. I get to spend the days outdoors with my best friends, and only occasionally do I have to be beautified.

And now I get massages not only from Gretchen, but swim time and massages from Gretchen’s teacher.

Nice, really really nice!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin (aka Meerkat!)

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August 3, 2010

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The Dog Days of Summer

August has arrived and it did so on quiet feet. Not sure how it snuck by me, but the dog days are here and while I have mixed emotions about the arrival of autumn, I’ve decided not to dwell in the past or the future. Instead, I’m living in the moment and playing hard while the sun is high in the sky.

The thing about summer is that when we are out walking, there are a lot more people (and dogs) out there, too. It’s like everyone crawls out of the woodwork, opens their arms to the sun, and walks around a tad bit happier than they do in February. Since I’m out there every day — rain, shine, or otherwise — I find this phenomenon quite interesting. Really, when it’s cold and rainy out it’s really just as fun as when it’s warm and sunny out. It’s just all a matter of perspective.

I guess I’ve had to learn that in the almost three years we’ve been doing this business. Those first few months were killer. I’d squint against the icy rain, brace my paws on the ground during the wind storms, and find a cool clump of shade when the sun burn the air around me. Now I’ve come to realize that there really isn’t any weather I haven’t seen (or walked in) and there’s nothing horrible about any of it. I mean really…wouldn’t it be boring if it was the same every day? I think they call that Phoenix and from what I’ve heard, I don’t want to live there.

So today, in the first dogged days of August, I enjoyed the cool overcast morning just as much as I enjoyed the hot sun in the afternoon. And I think my attitude is rubbing off on our clients.

First up was Ollie and he likes any kind of weather on any kind of day. His walk started in the cool of that overcast morning I just referred to, but it heated up quite nicely even though the sun didn’t come out.

We walked through the schoolyard by his house, posed by the beautiful sea mural and then wandered down, down, down to the lake. Bummer, though because we didn’t get to go in. Instead, we had to huff it back up the hill to drop Ollie off in time.

Whew! Good thing the sun wasn’t out yet!

The sun did start to make an appearance on our drive home whereupon Gretchen dropped me off so I could eat my brunch while she headed over to Rosie’s house. Rosie, poor girl, had a bit of an upset tummy so the two of them took it slow. Of course, when the sun is out in full force, Rosie always takes it slow.

Today though, she did really well, hiking herself up to the Bradner Gardens where the second round of summer flowers were in bloom. As you can see from the first photo of this post, Rosie likes to look at the flowers in the garden.

Particularly roses…tee hee…

…though she also found the pink ones and the yellow ones and all the ones in between so beautiful she had Gretchen take pictures of them. Gretchen, who has a large collection of flower photos, obliged.

You can see that Rosie liked the flowers so much, she started to drool in the last photo…or maybe it was because of the treat in Gretchen’s pocket!

By the time Gretchen got back to our house to pick me up, there was sun, sun, sun everywhere. So much sun, in fact, that when we walked Zoe, we both got kind of hot! That didn’t stop us though. We found more flowers to pose in front of and Zoe put on her happiest of smiles!

I was happy, too because the sun was out, Zoe was in a good mood, and I think I look really good in purple…

…Zoe does too…look good in purple, that is!

The fun in the sun had just begun because once Zoe went home, we picked up Saber, then walked to Gemma’s house, then went for a nice walk in the park and then…

POOL PARTY!!!!!

As you can tell, we got a little rowdy…especially Saber when I took the tennis ball away. He went from happy to grumpy quickly, but luckily Saber gets over his grumpy really quickly and he, like the rest of us, enjoyed the dog days of summer the rest of the afternoon.

Hope you get a chance to enjoy them too!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin

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