Finders Keepers

On Monday, Sharon and I went to the frisbee park, near Griggs Reservoir. It's one of my favorite places to go. One time, I chased a duck into the river! Sharon was all impressed because she though that I was afraid of the water. Silly, I'm not afraid! I just need the proper motivation to get all wet and bothered. Ducks are good motivation.

Monday was another good visit. I found a really large turtle in the trees by the water. I was so proud to show it to Sharon. But she told me it was dead. I didn't see any problems with that. But Sharon made me walk away from it! Man, she doesn't know what's good! But no worries; I then found a really big fish bone. Still, I couldn't keep this one either.

Finding these treasures reminds me of the other things I've found on my adventures with Dave and Sharon. Since Sharon was so impressed with my poetry skills from last night, I decided to share my stories in hiaku. So, here are tales of my hunting prowess and other encounters with wildlife:

Dead turtle in woods
Ran head held high with my prize
Must "drop it", so sad ...

Bare fish bone on bank
Reconciliation prize
Still can't have, why not?

Warm deer guts I found
Early Christmas Eve presents
Green poop for Sharon

Buddy, Bella, Me
Three fast strong weimaraners
Groundhog stood no chance!

My arch-nemesis
This squirrel no match for me
Good huntress I am!

Dark grey mouse at night
Lightening speed to kill and eat
Shh! Sharon knows not!

Splish splash in water
See Sharon, I swim so well!
Only to chase ducks

Buzz buzz, bees are bad!
They sting! Big welts! Hurt alot!
Annie does not like!!!

Look, Annie come here!
Sniff, sniff; it's a frog; paw, paw
Oh no, stopped moving!

Just like ancestors
I chase deer far and away
Too fast! I give up ...

Night Running

I went running tonight after dark. The first time in a week and a half - I've just been sitting around getting fat! The last time was in the middle of the day when it was HOT but tonight was fairly cool. I still panted a lot when we got back to the car so Dave would turn the AC on and blast it my way...

I get my best ideas for poetry while running. My preferred form is haiku; no doggerel for me! I polish them in between naps during the day. Some samples:

cool night running free
soft sound of paws in the dark
nails counting clicks

the geese call softly
then fly as I run closer
they don't wish to meet

scents waft on breezes
warm gifts for my nose to find
nothing is hidden

Wet

I don't like rain.

Goldilocks

Sharon says I'm picky. I think Sharon just doesn't know what's good.

You see, every night, we do the same thing. It starts after we get back from our walk. Sharon or Dave feed me my dinner. I love dinner! It's always starts with a bowl of crunchy tasty food mixed with soft tasty food. Then I get second dinner. Sharon says I should be a Hobbit. But I don't understand what this means. Is that a kind of dog?

Second dinner is a crunchy biscuit with peanut butter and something round shaped on top that's not nearly as tasty as the peanut butter or the biscuit. Sharon says the round thing is a pill, and that it is good for me. If that's the case, then the peanut butter and biscuit must be even better for me since they are much tastier! I think they should skip the pill and just feed me the peanut butter and biscuit.

Third dinner is a pork hide with tasty treat inside. I love third dinner! It's my favorite part of dinner, along with first and second dinner. It doesn't take me very long before I'm ready for fourth dinner.

Fourth dinner is a rawhide. That's where we disagree. At first, Sharon would just hand me rawhides. They were good rawhides. Sharon was a lot smarter then. Now all the ones she gives me are just wrong. They just don't smell right. She even tries to place a bunch of them on the ground for me to pick from. But putting a bunch of wrong ones one the ground together doesn't make them smell better. Even I know that.

I don't want her to feel bad so I pretend to be interested. I'll sniff at them, paw at few, and even fake chew one or two. But they are just wrong. Sharon has no sense of smell. After all, she prefers that stinky soap that she washes me in instead of goose poop! Who doesn't like goose poop? It's both great to eat AND to wear!! Like I said, humans are weird.

So tonight the rawhide selection wasn't very good. But then I gave her the EYES and she went downstairs and came back with some good ones. I knew she was holding back on me! Maybe she's becoming smart again. I picked a good one that smelled right. I think Sharon just guesses. But I can't blame her since she doesn't have a very big nose. Although she could certainly learn to use it better!

Trial and Error

Wow, what a great weekend! It's been really busy, and I've been catching up on my beauty rest. But, I've recovered somewhat, so here's what happened on Saturday.

Sharon and I got up really, really early on Saturday morning. Normally, Sharon gets up early, and I do say 'Good Morning' to her, but then I go back to sleep. Why be in such a rush when the sun hasn't even come up yet? But on Saturday, Sharon insisted that we not go back to bed. She even inticed me to stay up by getting my breakfast ready. I like to sleep, but I like breakfast better.

Next thing I know, we're going to class. At least, the same place where class is every week. Only today, there are lots more cars, people, strange dogs, and all this stuff around. It was really interesting to sniff. There was even lots of food buried in all the stuff. But Sharon wouldn't let me try to find any. If I did find food, I would have shared with Sharon. But, I guess she just wasn't that interested.

Sharon leads me to the crate were I've been getting my breakfasts and dinners. I like that crate! It's got really good smells, like breakfast and dinner smells. I was wondering were it went last night and this morning. And here it is!!!

Sharon comes and goes. I don't like it when she leaves me, even though I'm in my crate. I'm always watching for her, but I don't cry and bark like alot of the other dogs there. They are annoying.

Soon though, Sharon and I go into the ring. That's where all the obstacles are that I've been practicing on. Sharon is really excited and so am I. I like it when she's happy, and she seems really happy right now. Next thing I know, she starts running. Of course I have to follow her. She gives me commands to jump and crawl through tunnels. It was so much fun!

After my last jump, Sharon starts to cheer. So does everyone else outside the ring. I get really excited! Everyone seems really happy, so I'm happy! But then, it gets even better. Sharon grabs this small container and opens it for me. WOW, that stuff smelled GREAT! And it tasted even better. It was like mixing breakfast, dinner, eating goose poop, running through the woods, and chasing squirrels into a small container kinda good. I must have been a really, really good dog to get this kind of good stuff. I hope she give me more soon.

I spend more time in my crate. Okay, I spend alot of time in my crate. But Sharon is with me most of the time so that's okay. It think it would have been better if she were in the crate with me, but it's kinda small in here and Sharon would complain.

I go into the ring 3 more times that day. Each time, we have to wait for a little bit outside the ring for the other dogs to finish. That's okay, though, because Sharon and I play and she gives me treats. Other nice people also pet me. I especially like it when they scratch my butt. I thought that only Sharon knew how to scratch my butt just right, but these other people are doing it, too. Sharon must have taught them.

Every time I finish, Sharon gives me that great treat. I love that treat! She even gives it to me after the run where I knocked down a jump bar. Although, I think that was Sharon's fault. I mean, she called out my name right before I made the jump! That was silly of her. She apologized for it later.

I had a great day! Sharon said she had a fun day, too. She even got those 'Q's that she was talking about earlier. She showed them to me. I still don't know what the big deal is. I mean, they are just pieces of ribbon that don't smell or taste any good. Definately not as good as that treat she kept giving me.

I hope we go to another trial soon. It was fun. And I really hope I get more of that treat!

Who says you can't teach an old dog?

Not like I'm old or anything. I'm a very sprite 6 and a half. At least that's what the nice folks in the white coats said before I found my new home. I haven't confirmed or denied anything. Afterall, a lady never gives away her age!

In any case, last night Sharon and Dave took me to class again. I only go with Sharon most weeks, but she talks Dave into going tonight. I love class. Maybe not as much as chasing squirrels, and definately not as much as dinner, but it's still alot of fun. And I get to show off in front of other dogs. And I also get spend time with the best human in the whole world. And I get lots of treats for doing really easy things, like jumping around, following Sharon, and crawling through tubes. There are other things I have to do, like walk around these poles set up in a straight line. Like, what's the point in that?!? But, Sharon always gets really excited when I do it, and I get lots of treats. So, whatever!

Last night's class was hard. At least, that's what Sharon said to Dave when class was over. I thought it was fun!! I also thought it was funny when Sharon almost fell - twice! But I wouldn't have laughed at her. Now, I might have gone over to lick her, nose her hand, and maybe even sneak some treats from her bag when she wasn't looking. But not laughed (besides, I don't think dogs can laugh anyways).

We did lots of turning and jumping, especially lots of tight turns. Sharon complained lot about that. I could tell she was getting nervous about this weekend. We have a trial on Saturday. Basically, it's just like class except there alot of strange dogs and people. And everyone is walking around with food, but they are not giving any to me!

Sharon and I have been to one trial before, and I was kinda nervous. Mostly because Sharon was being a real nut case!! All the hand wringing and nerves. It was stressing me out! I tried to tell her to take a chill pill, but she can get wound pretty tight sometimes. Even though we have fun in class, I didn't want to go into the ring at the trial. Sharon was acting weird, and I thought I was doing something wrong. But, things got better by the end of that trial, and our last run was just like class, and I had fun again!

So, I'm trying to tell Sharon that we're going to have fun again on Saturday. She's all worried about getting these things called "Q"'s, whatever they are. All I know is that those Qs don't give me anymore kibble or rawhides, and they're not anywhere as good as running in the woods or chasing geese. So, I just don't think they are all that important. But like I said, humans are weird!!

I'll let you know how Saturday goes. In the meantime, there's a bowl of food with my name on it! Gotta go!

An Even Exchange

So, after Sharon gets home, we go out for our usual excusion around town. Today is a special treat since I get to RUN with her. I usually just run with Dave; Sharon only likes to walk with me after work since she runs on what they call a treadmill in the morning. I've seen one on TV - it's like a moving belt that humans "run" on. It sounds stupid. I mean, it's not like you're going anywhere! And you certainly can't sniff anything interesting on a treadmill.

Anyways, we head out to the Grandview bike path, a short abandoned stretch of bike path along the Scioto river. I like going there. One time, I even caught a bird! Even Sharon was impressed. But then she made me drop it and walk away. A perfectly good bird, that I caught!!! And we just left it there . . . man, I tell you, humans just don't get it!

So, we run along the bike path. I haven't been there in a while so I have alot of sniffing to catch up on. I even meet some nice men taking their boats out of the river when I get a drink. On our way back to the car, Sharon and I take a quick detour to visit a pond. I get a drink, but go further in the water to investigate some green plants (Sharon later tells me that they are called water lilies). Sharon wonders what I'm doing, since I'm so deep I'm almost swimming! I just wanted to see what those big leaves were like. They're crunchy! Sharon laughs, but I don't understand what's so funny.

On our way home, Sharon stops by a sandwich shop and gets food. But she doesn't share any with me. She says that this is HER dinner and that mine coming, as soon as we get home. I hope we get there soon. I'm hungry.

FINALLY, I get my dinner. Tonight it's crunchy food with chopped chicken mixed in. I love dinner! It's my favorite time of day. Okay, it's tied with breakfast time.

Afterwards, Sharon gives my my rawhide. But I'm still hungry. I don't think Dave or Sharon feed me enough. Sharon's eating something that looks way better than my rawhide. It's that sandwich she got earlier. She didn't share any with me on the drive home. Maybe she'll share now. You never know until you ask.

I always ask nicely. I just sit quietly and give her the eyes. You know, the EYES. It works everytime. It's a secret thing that only us dogs know how to do. Well, Sharon is being stubborn and is not sharing. So, I take it to the next level. I pick up my rawhide (already pre-soften, I'm considerate that way) and graciously set in down in front of her. That's fair.

That did it. She's such a sucker. She gave me the rest of her sandwich! It was only okay, though, since it didn't have any meat in it. But, she doesn't touch my rawhide. Well, there's no point in wasting a perfectly good rawhide. So I took it back. Sharon says I'm an Indian Giver. But she didn't want it!

I finished the rawhide - it was really good. I think Sharon regretted not taking the rawhide when it was offered to her. But, she refused it - I can't help that! I think I'm a pretty smart dog. After all, today I got a sandwich AND I got to finish my rawhide. A good day!