Working-K9: May 2008 Posts

Saturday, May 31, 2008
Nap in the Lap

Ok so with my pillow absent I'd had to resort to finding other comfortable substrate to rest my weary head upon. Lacking pillows, blankets and other such fluffy amenities I settled in for a cozy little slumber on my humans mothers' lap.

Such is the life!

Friday, May 23, 2008
Rolling in the mud

Last night Annie and Riyka stopped in for a visit. Riykas' human was watching Annie for the night and since he was in the area he stopped by to see the humans of the house and to let us dogs play.

We had to stay outside in the bark yard mostly because my humans' new hip is still on the mend and there was concern that in our playfulness we'd accidentally injure her. The humans were probably being wise this time. Let's face it when we gal pals get together things get a little wild.

What the humans hadn't planned on was the weather being uncooperative and a small torrent of rain came crashing down. For awhile we all stayed under the covered patio. None of us ladies really enjoy the rain. In fact given the choice we'd all rather stay dry. However since we couldn't come inside and we got bored lying about on the patio doing nothing; we decided to just go for it.

Ya that's right, we played in the rain. Once the raining lightened up a tad of course. We weren't crazy after all, just bored. Riyka didn't stick it out long. In fact she pretty much only ran out to pee and decided not to get any wetter.

Annie and I braved rain drops and started running around the yard. Now I'm not sure what happened next but before I knew it I was ok my side in the mud trying to regain my footing. Did I just slip or did Annie trip me? She did have a little smirk on her face.

So naturally I got up and darted after her. Guilty or innocent, does it really matter? I think not. Plus if I was going down, so was she and she did. We flopped, ran and rolled in the mud like a pair of barn yard sows. It was cold, wet and so squishy we just couldn't stop ourselves.

Once we tired we returned to the patio to rest. The humans looked at us and sighed but just returned to their chatting and laughing in the kitchen. I think they were playing games but who knows with those humans.

It was getting late and just as I figured they would be getting ready to bring us inside and go to bed, they pulled a fast one and I wound up in the bath tub. Have I mentioned how much I dislike baths? I like being dirty and smelly. I'm a dog, that's the way it's supposed to be. I tried to explain this but as usual the humans just don't understand.

Annie and I both had to endure being washed and fluffed until squeaky clean. Riyka, the lucky dog, wasn't covered in mud so she only had her paws wiped.

Still it was fun and hopefully we'll get to do it again.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
I love new people.

The roommate is settling in quite nicely. She's learning her way around the city, meeting new people and leaning some of the basics of living with a dog. Of course living with a dog has all kinds of silly little rules that most people don't think about and are often forgotten.

Case in point; pillows on the couch. That's right. She left her pillow on the couch. Now the couch being the only piece of furniture I'm allowed to be on in the first place, the one simple rule is don't leave anything on the couch. If you leave it, it's mine. If you forgot it, it's mine. If you turn your back on it for a second, it's mine. Simple, eh?

I guess the pillow is mine!!! Muhahahahahahahahaa. I may be a dog but I do enjoy the finer little luxuries in life.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Ouch!

While my human has been recovering from her surgery, the roommate has been kind enough to take me on walks. Granted I'd much rather run along side the scooter than slowly stroll around the neighborhood but oh well. At least I'm getting out of the house which is an improvement over the last time we went through this.

While on these walks I find my nose drawn towards all the strange stuff I don't normally get to sniff while trotting along side the scooter. I can smell people, other dogs, birds, bug, flowers and so much more. I must admit I kind of enjoy the extra time for sniffing and exploring. Sometimes I get a little carried away and totally forget I'm with a human which usually results in a slight tug on the lead and a vocal reminder to heel.

On one particular walk I found some neat little bugs. The human say them too but not being native to this state didn't alter course or speed. These little bugs were kind of stinky and when I leaned in and slowed for a closer examination one of them bit me on the toe!

At first it wasn't much of a problem but by the time we were nearing home my foot was starting to hurt. Still I never complained. I'm a tough dog after all. After y usual rest and the treat of my chew bone my foot really started to hurt and my toe had grown to twice its normal size.

My human and her mother noticed this as well so my human looked closely at my foot. This did not feel good I should ad. After a few pokes as my human played nurse she decided it was a fire ant bite. It could have been a scorpion sting but she figured a scorpion sting would have swelled even more. My toes were already spread wide due to the swelling, how much more swollen does she think it could have gotten??

She checked me over for signs of shock but there were none. I'm a tough dog, remember. Since it was late we all just went to bed. Granted we went to bed a little later than usual because my human wanted to keep an eye on me.

I didn't sleep well that night because my paw hurt. My human didn't sleep well either because she was worried about me.

The next morning the swelling had gone down a little (very little) but it didn't hurt as bad. The human gave me a little medicine to help with the inflammation and pain then sent a picture of my wound to her friend to confirm her initial assessment. He agreed with her and agreed that since I didn't go in to shock right away that I'd be fine in time.

It's been a few days now and I guess the humans were correct. The actual bite site is still swollen a bit but it is getting better day by day.

Friday, May 16, 2008
Waiting

Well my human has been back from her surgery for a week a half or so. As before she isn't doing much and therefore we haven't been doing all the fun stuff I'm used to. On the bright side, the new roommate has been taking good care of me; keeping up with my feeding, care and exercise routine.

We did all venture out the night to meet up with the Arizona Goldens LLC group. I didn't do much other than job along side my humans' scooter. The roommate got to play with one of the other dogs and after a little coercion she agreed to sit in the wheelchair and let Lana pull her around awhile. It was great fun to watch.

It's almost been two weeks since my humans new hip was installed so in another four to five weeks she'll be allowed to relearn to walk. Hopefully then things will get back to normal.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Zoo Walk

Just before my human went in to the hospital for her operation she, and many other humans went to the Phoenix Zoo for the Arthritis Walk. It's basically a free trip to the zoo so she always goes. Being the fact that it is at the zoo, I can not go. Therefore I have no experiences of the zoo to impart on all of you.

So in place of my usually witty satire I can only give you a link to photos taken at the zoo. There is a lot more t the zoo than shown here but they couldn't stay as long as they would have liked.

I can however tell you that the humans did have fun and after they returned my human and Ivy took me long with them as they went out for a BBQ lunch. Did I get any of that delectable BBQ? No. I'll beg more next time.

Saturday, May 3, 2008
Goldens Galore

The new human, Ivy is settling in quite nicely. Since this Thursday was my humans last chance to attend an Arizona Goldens LLC class before her next hip replacement she wanted to attend even amidst all the moving-in craziness. Ivy went with us.

This was actually a very good thing for Ivy. She was given a young dog named Lana to work with and given a quick crash course in dog training and behavior. Mostly Lana just looked at Ivy like "huh?" which was so funny to watch. Though towards the end I think they were starting to work better together.

I mostly spent time with my distraction training and on stay while someone lured me with an excited voice, then yummy treats. I failed miserably. My human said we needed to work on that a lot more. I used to be good at this but those treats smelled like barbeque! I couldn't resist. Plus the head trainer, Shelly, is so much fun to play with.

I even got to go down the slide. The little versions of the humans couldn't quite understand why we dogs were using their play ground equipment. I didn't really understand either but it sure was fun!

We also practiced jumping up on the picnic tables. Texture training is what I think they called it. I preferred to try showing off my totally awesome leaping skills so instead of using the bench as a step I jumped from the ground to the top of the table in a single bound. Yep I'm a bit bouncy. Actually it's a good thing I am so bouncy. I missed on one of my attempts and did a back flip off the table. Thankfully not everyone was this. I ran back to my human, chilled out a few minutes then leapt on the table once again. I didn't want them thinking I was a total goof off.

On the drive home Ivy asked my human why she didn't tell her that this would be fun. I take it that means Ivy had a great time and will be eager to attend other classes with us. Yippee!!

Friday, May 2, 2008
Roommate

After nearly a week and many boxes of supplies and furniture had arrived I finally started to understand that roommate meant someone was going to be living with us. I know I'm slow but I always assume people come to spoil me then leave when they are finished.

The guestroom has always been an off-limits area of the house for me. Normally I don't mind. It's a very dull room. Mostly empty except for the bed and a few items stored in there. Well now that has all changed. The room is a flutter of activity. Stuff is coming in and going out, the door is left open and there are so many potential chew toys strewn about on the floor.

The temptation to help myself to some of the stuff in there is almost more than I can bear. I walk by the room and try not to look in. I know better, I know I'm not supposed to go in there. However the allure of so many new smells, the variety of items of various enticing textures is calling to me to investigate. I've tried to sneak in a few times and have been caught in the act. Now I'm just biding my time hoping that they'll all leave at some point and make the mistake of leaving the door open.

My human has been slowly going over the house rules and, of course, my personal rules with Ivy. She probably thinks it'll be easy. After all I'm such a good dog, but don't worry at some point I'll test her to see just how much I can get away with. I just have to wait until my human isn't around.

Friday, May 2, 2008
Surprise!

Oh where to start. So last Saturday, yes I'm a little late blogging I know, a few new humans appeared in the drive way. My human had been telling me about this other human moving in but I didn't really grasp the concept. I figured these people came to play for a few days, spoil me rotten than leave. After all that's why people stop by; to play with me, right?

The next day yet another human arrived. This time it was all top secret. There were a lot of communication problems between the human called Ivy and my human. Mostly because the arrival of the other human, Kyle; was a surprise for Carol (my humans' mom). If that part wasn't enough to confuse you, just wait it gets worse.

Ok so my human and Ivy took Carol out to lunch and naturally I had to go along. We needed the house empty for my humans Aunt could get Kyle from the airport and sneak him in to my house. Err I mean my humans' house. Naturally Carol did everything she could to foil the plan even though she didn't know about the plan. Ivy didn't know the full plan so she asked way too many questions. Much blinking, winking, hinting and nudging went on.

Kyle's flight was late, this was another complication. My human had been waiting for her phone to buzz which was the designated all clear sign that she could bring Carol and Ivy home. This didn't happen while they are lunch, so she dragged them off to the hardware store for supplies. At checkout my human was starting to chat her mother up about a quick run to grocery store as she needed to continue stalling for time. Finally the purse buzzed and she switched gears back in to getting home. You'd think by now Carol would have known something was going on, but thankfully my human is very sly and kept everything flowing fairly smoothly.

Once home my human wanted Carol to go in first. Mostly because she didn't know where Kyle would be in the house and she didn't want the surprise to be ruined at the last second. Carol wanted Ivy to open the door. My human gave the "stall her" look so Ivy fiddled around in her purse trying to find the key. Then Carol wanted to go in last. My human had to nearly push her in the door. I just stayed out of the way. I wasn't about to get involved in this chaos.

Finally everyone was inside, Kyle came around the corner and mom was facing the wrong direction. My human and Ivy just froze in place and waited quietly as Carol pulled items from the hardware store bag. Finally she turned around. I think the silence was deafening.

Her jaw dropped open when she saw Kyle, who is also her son and my humans' brother. I think she almost cried. It was very touching. At least it was until my human and Ivy burst out laughing. They all proceeded to chat and laugh and I again waited patiently for the leash and vest to be removed. Once I was free I darted for the back yard to roll in the dirt a bit. Those humans are just too crazy for me.