Open and Closed Spaces

So... I walk up to the kitchen to boil some water and what do I see? Fipsy's fuzzy butt sticking out of the overturned garbage can. He hears me come in and freezes "in position" head stuck all the way in, fuzzy butt sticking out. Fips' thought process is clear: If I don't move, he won't notice I'm doing anything wrong. I burst out laughing and pat him on the butt. He resumes his in depth probing.

We did half a Hilderbrand spaziergang and one full Loopy Loops. Peanuts has been begging to come along wherever it is that we go when we pile into the truck. On a couple of occasions she's quick-jumped into the cab and I've had to lift her out. Other times she'll start to follow us down the road. So today, I decided to take her along to Loopy Loops.

She was close to beside herself with excitement which manifested itself in ultra-alertness, sitting on the passenger seat and scoping left, right, left, right, left, right... like a canine metronome.

By the time we got to the park Schnutz was close to beside herself, and I figured I'd better keep her on a leash. She was pretty happy all the same. The Doxie Bros. took it all in stride, but for Peanuts I got the impression it was something of a revelation: You mean such a place exists?

Back on Hilderbrand, the Goose Mother and her hubby were out gardening. They were actually moderately friendly when Fips went up and wagged. They both said the doggies looked like they were in fine shape. I think so too. I noticed today that Fips' haunchies are starting to swell out a little bit like Rosco's.

Muskle doggies!

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The Reason Of Orneriness

Well, I finally figured out why Fips has been so ornery and halting on the walks: "I refuse to be treated like a child".

This p.m. it was the more of the usual. Fips halting every 25 paces or so and refusing to go further. I'd give a light fake-yank on the leash and he'd extend his neck as if I were hanging him (what an actor!), but would still refuse to budge. Endless cajoling would get another 25 paces. So today, what flitted across my mind yesterday, stuck. I took the leash off and ... perky ... perky, he just trotted along. What a funny guy. I wish his walk weren't still so stumpy and uneven.
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Lupin Lions

It was a glorious Spring day with Loopy Loops in full bloom, spreading out a field of lupins for the pups to play in as they filled their nostrils with the sweet effluvia of irridescent blossoms

Fuzzies Sneaking in the Bush

Right

Left

Inspector Fips

~Rompin Rosco!~

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Silence of the Fuzzies

Just gave Shnutz, FipsieWipsie and RoscoBosco MEATY BOWNES. It's suddenly very quiet around here.

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Loopy Loops (Map)

After our first year in Middletown, a neighbour told us of a wild-life reserve north of town on route 175.  He said the doggies would probably enjoy it.   This was good news; for, as I had mentioned to Dwight, one of the paradoxical problems with "the country" is that there are so few spaces that are open. 

So on some warm Spring day, we drove over to reserve.  There wasn't much there, except a gravel parking lot and lots of oaks, grass and mini-creeklets.  Perfect!

There weren't even any trails to speak of, except one that intersected the reserve east west and another that more or less circled the whole park.   People dogs and horses and cut their own informal trails here and there, which looped around through the oaks.   Over time, I gave the trails name, as no doubt the doggies identitified them by nose-sakes.

The Demands of the Day

To a dear friend with a Seasonal birthday:

There are two ways to look at this sort of thing, as illustrated by Fips and Rosco on that other person's birthday.... Both doggies got BIG real bones with an inch diameter of juicy marrow and lots of fat, meat and gristle. Rosco jumps and grabbing his runs off to a private corner where he spends the rest of the afternoon chewing and gnawing in mindless contentment. Fipsie, jumps, grabs and then spends the entire next 12 hours sitting there sullenly guarding the great treasure, looking at everyone with suspicious and worried eyes.

I hope you have a ROSCO kind of day.

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An Equivocally Merry Christmas

I figured it would be a good day to take Fips and Rosco to the mountin'. We climbed to the half way point and then sat there looking out over Napa Valley as the wind blew through our hair. It was a lovely clear day.

On the way down we met a 1/2 wolf - Dalmation. The wolf was pretty impressive, but I asked its owner to hold him back from sniffing at Fips, because Fips would probably get scared and snap. The guy looked at me like I was nuts. Fortunately nothing happened....

When we got home, I gave the doggies their (thawed) presents.

Jumping quivers of expectation!

Rosco tooks his and ran to the dinning room where he immediately began to gnaw, gnaw and gnaw happily.

Fips.... well Fips sat there and looked worried. An hour later he was still sitting there looking worried. Argggh!

Meanwhile Rosco is outside looking for a good treasure trove spot, running around with his bone in his mouth.

Fips remains grim. Of course, I leave him alone and go to the office. He follows me there, with his bone and sits under the chair but grumbles when I pet him. After a while, I get up and go lie down. He follows with his bone, and lies beside me. I can pet him, but he's still just into possessing.

It's much the same 7 hours later. Rosco has buried and unburied his now dirt-caked bone several times. Fips is basically still guarding his treasure. I hope he gets around to enjoying sometime. He can be petted now but I can tell he's still touchy.

What a dog!

I gave 'Shnuts and doofy Bear their bones. Shnuts, hugged my leg, took hers and ran off somewhere. Duffy looked at me in momentary astonsihment: For meeeee? Last I saw him he hadn't budged from the gate and was chewing away.

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