Friday Surprise

My human took the day off today! We had such a fun day. We went to Bronte and I ran and ran and ran, rolled in a huge muddy puddle and had a generally awesome time. After that, it was home for a rinse, treaty ball, peanut butter kong and a good nap while the human went to the gym. When she came home, we hung out on the couch together, did some gardening (I barked at birds, she gardened) and then went for a walk by the lake, followed by dinner (always yummy, even if it is the same thing every night). Looks like she has three more days off to hang out with me - we're going to hike at Mt. Nemo Sunday with Cosie, which will be lots of fun.

It was a quiet week. No adventures to speak of. Morning walks (nice and cool in the mornings this week), naps, afternoon walks, naps, evening walks, sleeps. Saw Riley one night. I love him. I took his ball a few times. He pays me plenty of attention when I take his ball.

Sensed the human was eager for my protection last night. Looks like she met another winner - she was uncomfortable about whether he would listen to the crystal clear message she gave him to go away, or whether he'd do something weird. So I slept by her all night - nothing to worry about when I'm around. I have big teeth and a temper.

Gotta run - Burlington Post kid is here and I must bark at him.

I was a bad dog today

Look, I'm bored and my arthritis hurts and it's about two thousand degrees out, so I am also uncomfortable.

So don't blame ME for what happened.

She knows I don't like the little yippy dogs the old people in our neighbourhood walk. They always yip at me and I have an overwhelming urge to shut them up.

What she was thinking when she let me go up and say hi to one that came right out of one of the homes, I'll never know.

Suspect she was lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that the residence employee who was walking the little black furball was relaxed and that the so-called "dog" (more like a squirrel, if you ask me) just waltzed right up to me with no fear at all.

The human thought, ok, human and "dog" are relaxed, maybe Storm will be relaxed, too.

No way in hell.

I sniffed the furball. Then I attacked.

Unfortunately for me, the human retained just enough common sense to be prepared for that possibility and she yanked me back before I could really have any fun.

She told me to lay down on the grass. No way. I kept going crazy trying to get to the poodle.

The human finally won and I laid down. Then popped up again and started to bark. At that point, she pinned me. Didn't take me long to submit. Not in my opinion.

Unfortunately, that wee bit of fun set me up for a day of lessons and reminders that I am apparently not the boss around here and I do not need to attack nice poodles for no apparent reason, aside from being generally grumpy and hot.

I've had to work my ass off today. I've lost some privileges.

Oh, well. At least I got to have a swim later.

The baby mouse

Kind of a sad morning for both human and dog today.

Sad for me because I missed out on a meal opportunity.

We had a very good morning walk. Beautiful sunrise, plenty of bunnies out and about, squirrels to chase and pee to smell. I marked a lot of territory, chased a few bunnies and generally had an excellent start to my day.

When we got home, there was something new on the driveway. I stopped to sniff it, the human turned to see what I was sniffing and yanked me away to prevent me from eating whatever it was. She investigated, discovered that it was a teeny gray baby mouse. At first she thought it was dead, but then she noticed it moving.

She held me further away while she went in for a closer look. I assumed that, as pack leader, she had decided to eat it herself.

Instead, she picked the little guy up, walked over to the garden and set him down under a low bush. He was dying. His little eyes were closed, he was moving his legs a bit. He reacted when she picked him up but didn't have the strength to fight. The human laid him on some soft leaves under the bush so he could die in peace.

I wanted to go over and put him out of his misery immediately but she wouldn't let me.

I was sad because I couldn't get the mouse, and she was sad because the mouse was dying.

What a pair we are.

Bert

That's what the human has named our river otter friend.

He lives across the street. We see him occasionally - sometimes swimming, sometimes he pops his head up between rocks and looks at us.

This morning though, he was uber friendly. And I was too shocked and confused to utter a sound.

While we were standing on the rocks, we saw him swimming. He swam under a rock directly beneath us, and disappeared. We watched for a few seconds, then were about to walk away when he suddenly popped his head up and stared at us. I stared right back - couldn't figure out what the hell he was. He ducked back down into the rocks, we waited again and then started to walk away.

All of a sudden, he popped up again, right in front of us! He climbed up and out onto a rock, had a little shake to get the water off, and began to move toward us. Seemed like a friendly little fellow. I strained at my leash, trying with all my might to get closer, but the human stopped me. I was so shocked, I didn't even bark - was totally focused on figuring out what the hell he was and why he apparently had no fear in coming so close to me.

He eventually walked away, back to the safety of rock cover.

I looked and looked for him, but couldn't locate him. Meanwhile, the human was all, like, 'omg, Storm! That was sooooooooooooooooooooo cool! That was Bert, the river otter!!!!"

Sometimes, she embarrasses me.

What a birthday

I honestly don't know whether my birthday was great or horrible. A bit of both, I would venture to say.

It started off well enough. Nice, cool morning walk. A relaxing ride in the car, after which we ended up in Kincardine. So far so good.

Until I walked into the house. All of a sudden, everyone was all over me because I smell. Like I can help it. I could sense it, my human started to get upset. Next thing I know, I'm on my way to the freakin' vet for my birthday. It was a nice place. The lady behind the counter loved me, in spite of my unique scent, and kept feeding me totally delicious treats. So I thought, hey, this is a pretty cool birthday treat.

Next thing I knew, I was in an exam room. More treats. All good.

Then, I was being led to the back by the vet.

That's when things turned sour.

Literally.

They started goofing around with my anal glands again. OMG, did it hurt. I screamed and yelled and cried. It went on forever. It was horrible. Just horrible. Happy freaking birthday to me, eh?

It finally ended and I ran like hell out of that office (after giving an 11-month old pug a good barking).

Things improved when I got home. The human gave me some steak for my birthday dinner - and, grandma made me my own birthday cake!! It was delicious. I ate it in one bite.

So, all in all, a great birthday and a terrible birthday.

Got some sad news yesterday. My good friend Daisy, who I visited and played with just last weekend, died. She wasn't feeling well when we were there, but her humans took her to the vet and were advised it was likely just age related arthritis. They did blood work, gave her metacam, and within a day of taking the metacam, Daisy was back to her old self, chasing her kong all over the place and crying for people to throw it. But yesterday, her grandpa found her struggling to breathe by the bedroom door. By the time he found the vet information, she was gone. I'm incredibly sad. We loved Daisy a lot. She was only eight, my age, way too young to die. We'll miss her a lot.

I'm Eight!

Today's my birthday. Woke up to the usual embarrassing birthday song. So far, though, it has been a good one. The weather for our morning walk was nice and cool and sunny. I ate some delicious, fresh goose poo before breakfast, then followed that with kibble and duck. Mmmmmmmmm. Having a rest now before we pack up and head to Kincardine. Will be a good chance to nap in the car, bark at farm animals and then have a romp with Piper.

All in all, I am looking forward to a good birthday. Stay tuned for photos!

I am a working girl

I'm an east German dog descended from a working line of German shepherds. My prey and work drives are off the charts, so it's important that I am challenged mentally and physically with various jobs. I am happiest when I complete them to the satisfaction of my human.

You may be thinking, well, Storm isn't a police dog, or a guard dog (that's what YOU think), she doesn't do Shutzhund or anything like that. So what the hell does she do to stay occupied and challenged?

I have a number of key roles in our pack, and I take them all very seriously:

1. Guard the house from intruders
2. Perform offical dishwasher pre-wash duties
3. Rid parks across Burlington of squirrels
4. Guard our car
5. Guard against horses, cows, sheep or other livestock passed while driving (just in case they get it into their heads to jump into our car)
6. Ensure the neighbourhood is effectively marked with pee, thus maintaining our claim on the territory
7. Sit, stay, shake a paw, other paw, speak, bark and come on command
8. Keep the territory free of birds I perceive to be up to no good
9. Hunt for food (I primarily focus on rabbits and mice)
10. Keep the territory free of cats
11. Keep the floors in the house clean and remove any food particles that may land there
12. Remove goose poo from lakefront parks in the city

I'm a hard worker - I take each of my jobs very seriously, and perform to the best of my ability. Particularly the dishwasher pre-wash and the goose poo removal. Those are critical.

Storm now doesn't like storms

Thunderstorms have never bothered me. Fireworks either. I sleep right through them - just couldn't care less.

That's changing though.

There was one morning a few weeks ago when I didn't want to go outside for my morning constitutional because of the thunder.

Last night, we had super loud storms. I wasn't totally freaking out or anything, but I admit to some extra panting. I also followed the human around very closely. The power went out for awhile. I noticed, and didn't like it at first. The human seemed calm, so I thought, what the hell, it can't be all bad, and went to sleep.

Suppose this is one more little tidbit I get to enjoy as I get older.

I am a good girl!

I heard that a lot this weekend - "You're SUCH a good girl!".

We went to Ottawa for the long weekend, and visited our friends Ann, Rob and Jack, along with Link, Daisy, Buddy and a new dog, Lucy. They live out in the country, and I love going to visit them. I chased a horse there last year - good times all round. I hate the pig, but aside from that...

We arrived, and I happily greeted Daisy (she's a German shepherd, same age as me) and Buddy (he's just a huge ball of fur). I saw Link and didn't bark. I met Lucy, the new girl in the pack, and didn't try to eat her. In fact, I quite liked her.

"Storm, good girl!"

Yeah, ok. Whatever.

Rob was home when we arrived. I used to have a crush on him. Tried to steal him from Ann one time when I stayed over there. It didn't work and I've moved on. But still, was glad to see him.

Ann came home and I was super happy to see her. Jack was with her. Man, has he changed. He's two now. Walking, talking, running, playing, making tons of noise. No fear of dogs - and he liked me a lot.

I was pulled, poked, prodded and harrassed all freaking weekend. Even though I can be one tough bitch, I knew full well I could do nothing about it.

When I ate my breakfast and dinner, he "helped" me by playing around in it and selecting key pieces of kibble to hand feed me. He pulled my dish out of my face, stuck his hands all over my snout while I ate. I just ignored it and kept eating.

Garnered me plenty more "good girl!"(s).

A couple of times he pulled my ear and it hurt enough that I cried out. But I still didn't do anything but sit there. He poked me in the eye with his finger - suppose he wanted to see what my eyeball felt like - and I let him. I looked at my human, who was always nearby, like I wanted to eat her, but I took it.

Two reasons why. First, I learned well - I know this cute little demon is a precious member of our pack.

Second, take a look at the photo. I should think it's self-explanatory.

My patience paid off when he plopped down beside me on the floor and opened up his yummy box of cookies for me. He fed me one after another, and even offered up the box so that I could stick my face right in and gorge myself.

Yep.

Jack's my little bud.

I tell you though, am I ever wiped out after that weekend. I slept for the whole drive home, slept all afternoon, and I even cuddled with Lesli. It's gonna take me a few days to get over this toddler experience.