On a brief hiatus, back next week. Sorry.

Thanks for coming -

Sometimes I wish I was my own dog

Joe, like all dogs, lives in the present moment. His life is good: lots of exercise, healthy food, yummy bones, two people who love him and play with him. And except for the times when he doesn't get what he wants, he is happy.

Often he's joyously happy. And sometimes I'm a wee bit envious; it's hard for me to enjoy things as much as Joe does; it's hard for me to not live (mentally) in the past and the future; it's hard to relax as completely and sleep as soundly.

It seems like a pretty excellent deal, the dog's life in relatively prosperous countries.

Eau de great stinking corpse lily

Joe is so consistently well-behaved that we've not been faced with a disaster that demands he go to obedience school. B. doesn't really believe in them anyway.

However, Joe is now 10 months old and strong - very strong. With a hop to grab an especially delicious looking stick, I can be nearly pulled over. It's infrequent that he becomes oblivious of my presence at the other end of the leash, but it does happen. And I hate to be lurched off my feet, as if at sea, while only walking my puppy.

This is Joe's first spring and he is very charmingly attracted to flowers and plants he's never seen before. It's hard not to melt at the sight of your puppy breathing in the fragrance of Iris. Even after you've been yanked 3 feet to give him the pleasure.

It's sad too to realize that this is simply 'cataloging' for him, now that he recognizes that 'that' flower has 'that' smell, he'll never do it again. Because in some sad silly species-chauvinistic way, I'd like him to enjoy the scent of flowers.

And perhaps if I can find a great stinking corpse lily, he would.

In a month, though, flower-appreciating or not, off we go to Obedience School.

Swimming Lessons 2

Joe is nearly 10 months old now, and he's taken to swimming. He's fascinated with water but thus far will only really swim in Lake Washington as he can run and hop into the little waves before having to swim. And he's achieved a mean dog-paddle.

Marymoor Park offers 4 different dog coves but he'd have to jump off a rock to actually do any swimming. For months, we've been trying to coax him off the rocks and into the stream but no dice.

He'd clamber around on the rocks, longingly watching other dogs leap into the stream and set out against the current. Whimpering with frustration, he'd dance on the rocks and slide into the drink, claws and neck outstretched.

But finally he tentatively set his nose into the current and set out a few feet after a stick. He turned back towards the shore and saw me n' B. cheering him on - after reassuring himself that he could get out of the water and back in on his own, he was off! He saw probably 21' into the stream which has a current strong enough to drift a fishing boat past relatively quickly.

His delight and dog pride were obvious and visible for about 3 minutes. And then he found a particularly interesting puddle of dog pee and all was forgotten.

(Now that the rains have stopped, I'll bring my camera out again)

The destructive omnivore

Joe, has suddenly and inexplicably developed a taste for generally unconsumable items: my rugby coat, my baseball cap, a tire tread, plastic grocery bags.

This comes essentially without warning. He's been able to safely be with household items up until this week. Nothing's changed except he's older, 9 months and 3 weeks. His schedule remains the same, he's home alone never longer than 5 hours and usually only 2-4 hours.

Nonetheless, his palate has evolved from bones, rawhide chews and kongs to more exotic fare - my clothing and tires.

And he doesn't seem to connect his stomach and excetory woes to his new eating habits. Everyday I've done a quick patrol to make sure no items are available for consumption, but like a gourmand, he simply expands his range.

Today, he pulled the plastic grocery bag out of the garbage, simply to enjoy it's delicate texture and for the frisson of ripping it into miniscule shreds. (Making it very hard to know exactly how much he ingested).

That mystery will, no doubt, be solved with tomorrow's yard work.