ladies and Gentlemen..... Mr. & Mrs. Cliffy!

Married... Ya, Married... Geeze

 A vacation to Portland?  To See Cliffy get married?  And let Fred G. meet the puppy?  OK.

7 hours in the car later and we arrive to an empty house and a backyard full of distractions.  See, Fred and The Lovely Rachel are off helping Cliffy and Mrs. Cliffy do marriage stuff and it's not until hours later that they show up and finally meet the greatest puppy that ever lived.  By then she had already eaten a bunch of cherry tomatoes and a few overripe pears off the ground.  I was dreading the next day as her little system has only been processing puppy chow and the occasional pinecone.  The race to rid her mouth of potential problems would be a loosing battle the whole weekend.  Turns out she is exponentially faster than I am and much more agile.  She must have eaten 6 pears and countless tomatoes.  Bad Dog!

The next day we (meaning mostly Rachel) played in the yard and tried to get the YaYa's out before I got to go to the wedding and get some time without a 24/7 distraction.  After putting her to bed and then following a local 'Portland Residential Clean Up Person' (see pic #3) for a good solid block and a half at .007mph, we headed out to the wedding.

The Dogfather

And what a wedding!  Anyone that has a wedding at 5:00 in a bar on a Saturday night should be given a medal.  All the cool kids were there and I got to see some old friends, some H7HT friends and of course the Legendary 'Expert' of the '05-'06 season, Cliffy.  He looked pale.  (Speaking of pale, Andee was there sporting a new batch of Band-Aids to cover up what can only be described as Ebola.  But that's a story for him to tell)  The vows were said, the crazy kids were married and nobody passed out.  As they say in the paper, a good time was had by all, thanks Cliffy and Willow!

Captain Sum Ting Wong

The next day we headed home after a hearty breakfast omelet that did not include celery and most of the way I was worried about the 'pear and tomato' factor which actually didn't even matter.  Ladi was sound asleep for most of the ride.  I took a quick nap while listening to the 49ers Seahawks game on the radio because it was so stupidly boring. The truck drove itself from Tri Cities to Ritzville so I got a good slumber. The earlier Giants win over a powerhouse Panthers team took all the energy I could muster.  All those field goals can really zap your energy in a hurry, Yaaaaaawn.  We arrived home in time for a puppy full of insatiable energy and no Rachel anywhere.  Not to worry, the next morning we went to work where Ladi acted like a punk ass biaaaatch all day, my penance for a 7 hour car ride.

Tomorrow we are off to the Vet to get the last of her 3 shots.  Finally it will be time to head out into the woods for smelling tours, water sports and likely wildlife encounters.  Stay tuned.

GBCH


 

Don't Eat That!

 Behold my new mud room shelves.  Now all of our everyday shoes and boots can stay above the level of puppy destruction and avoid the fate of my black slippers.  Seems we have entered the phase where the puppy knows full well what toys are hers and which ones require her to run from me when they reach her mouth.  And by the way, the mouth still contains a Dune Sandworm level of sharp, flesh tearing teeth. So, along with our other issues, we have added a shoe fetish.

In other news Cliffy is soon to be married and although I have previously committed to going we are still fleshing out the details.  Seems the venue is not in fact puppy friendly as I had believed so that leaves us some problems to work out.  I will have to come to a decision soon as whether to attend or not.  Although the drive is long more worrisome is the fact that Ladi suffers from a massive case of separation anxiety.  As long as she can see me or knows that I am around she is fine. But take her person out of the equation and she sounds as if I have deposited her left foot in a blender.  We are working on a couple hours of alone time in the kennel on my days off but in the meantime we are together 24/7.  Great for the dog, tiring for me.

Now as we are entering the fall and Ladi is growing I am beginning to look to my recreational future.  While I'm sure we will be doing some rudimentary 'hunting' this year ski season is a huge question mark.  Problem is my knee has finally come to the point where it hurts all the time.  I can wrap it and get on with the day but from time to time I twist it just right and in addition to the pain, I have to limp around for a while before things crackle and pop their way back into shape.  I'm thinking that a trip to the knee specialist is in my future.  If the time to operate is coming that puts the mallacka on the ski season and beyond. (ATTN SKI FRENDS: if there is an operation prepare for the best ski season on record guaranteed!) Wish me luck.  I am also enclosing a photo of the quiet moments of dog ownership that almost make all the other problems go away. Almost.

GBCH

Puppy School Dropout

If Frankie Avalon was around today he would be singing to us instead of Frenchy.  You heard that correct, we are Puppy School Dropouts.

Last night we drove an hour to go to a recommended puppy school and when we arrived I was already a little worried.  This was a 'puppy' class and while there were certainly a few puppies there were also plenty of adolescent and older dogs as well.  The other thing was that there were no less than 12 other dogs and up to 20 people milling around waiting for the class to start.  Ladi is very social with people and likes to meet & greet, we made sure of that.  But also she rarely sees that many dogs in one place.  So right after we arrive the teacher tells us all to find a chair and sit 6 feet apart from one another in a circle, dogs not allowed to be closer than 3 feet nose to nose.  She then spends 15 minutes telling us about her own dogs, methods, next weeks class, homework etc.  Poor Ladi made it all of 5 minutes of being calm before she started to get all antsy about the lady standing next to us talking all loud.  She wanted nothing more than to meet other dogs and people, so she gets upset.  Another 10 minutes of this and she is struggling to get away and do anything but sit still at my feet.  Now let me say that although we had been in the car for an hour, we had spent all morning running around getting the 'YaYa's' out.  By now it's embarrassing.

Our first project is to walk on a leash, something we already do.  I was told to use the term 'Let's Go' and pump treats down the dogs mouth every time she followed me.  When Teacher came to ask how we were doing I told her I already use the words 'come on' and she told me in no uncertain terms that I should use 'Let's Go' instead as to not confuse my puppy when it was time to introduce 'Come' to her vocabulary.  Now call me old fashioned but maybe I get to determine what words I use to call my dog.  Also every time I say Let's Go! all I can think of is Brandon and the idiots that have that expression all over the back of their lifted Dodge 3500 Dually MegaCab.

My excitable dog

Well, it only got worse from there.  Ladi was strangling herself trying to just get to meet one other dog or person, and I was wondering why I needed to bring string cheese to the next meeting.  The answer, "It's a high value treat for training purposes".  She also said we would know if our dog was lactose intolerant if after eating the cheese they vomited or had diarrhea.  Good system!  We did not make it to part three of the training which was fine.  We already know how to sit and look at me anyway.

I decided to call it quits right then and we left early.  Me upset that I didn't do my due dilligence and research the class better and sad Ladi who only wanted to make one friend out of bunches of dogs.  (She seemed to have a crush on the French Bulldog next to us)  I'm guessing that people thought she was a high strung out of control puppy but the second we got in the car and pulled out she was fast asleep.  Slept all the way home.  Next time we will look for a trainer who works with duck dogs only and has a meet & greet and maybe even a class size more like Green Mountain College and less like the University Of Phoenix.

GBCH

Still Alive After Fourteen Weeks

 One of my main jobs relating to this puppy is keeping her alive.  The amount of things going into her mouth, the attempts at running off into the road, the sheer disregard for dangerous tools and situations are all things I must look out for.  Let's take today for example.  I had to change a door speaker in my truck and rather than watch me in all my door panel removal frustration, she decides to eat the door clips.  See what I mean?  No regard for her own safety.  The picture here shows the result.  Nobody likes being tied up to the bench vice, nobody.  But that's exactly what happens if you keep chewing on speaker wire.  Looks innocent enough in the photo though right?

Today was also change of the bed linens day.  I treated myself to some new flannels now that the weather is changing and I thought that Ladi might like a bit of change herself.  So we spent $67,999 on adding a new room to her kennel.  Now in addition to having a living room, she also has a bedroom.  I think she will appreciate the extra space now that winter is coming.  I hope her heating bill is not too difficult seeing as though the walls are very very thin.  

In addition, notice the new bed.  That's right, pure Shimano.  I mean of course other dogs have it good, Waylon only drinks Fiji for Hestons sake.  But Ladi now has the highest tech bed in town.  Waterproof & breathable with an ergonomic side bolster, this is the dog bed that puppy dreams are made of.  Thanks June-Bug for being such an obese cow of a dog.  We appreciate you!  

Well, that's all on the dog front for now.  Stay tuned as next week we will be filling in at the golf course for Tuesday shift.  Seems that 'Going back to school' is an acceptable excuse to bail on your job.  Way to have it your way children.

GBCH