Dogster

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Doggy Days

Dang Skeeters!

Woof WOOF!
I made a poem …

DANG SKEETERS! They itch my bum! They pick and they prick and they bite me and papa and mum!

Dang skeeters! They buzz in my ear! They cuzz and get stuck in my fuzz and they nick me in the rear!

Dang skeeters! They bug me to bitz! I snap and I scratch and I roll and I bowl and break out an awful fitz!

Dang skeeters! I’m staying in the tent, thank you!


(Camping would be so much nicer without mosquitoes!)

Muddy puddles.

Odin has been enjoying the long, hot summer immensely and is finding little time to fill in his diary. So his human pop will be writing this end of summer entry …

Up till now Odin had always avoided puddles to the extent that we thought he was frightened of them. Then we figured, he just hated getting his feet wet. He hates walks in the rain and he doesn't like baths.

Then this past summer he would get sprayed with a sprinkler at my girlfriend's mother's place and a few minutes later Odin would be running around the yard, full-zoomy-tilt and drinking from the sprinkler or rolling on the grass under it's spray.
Then we took him to the beach and Odin would wade in and lie down or splash around in the shallows and wouldn't want to come back out.

So now he's discovered muddy puddles.

This weekend we took him to a dog park he's never been to before. At the highest point of the wooded area is a fire hydrant with a valve attachment and a short rubber hose that allows visitors to give water to their dogs. The run-off leads to the base of a tree and creates quite a muddy reservoir.
How does the saying go? You can take a dog to water, but you can't teach him new tricks. Whatever. When I so carefully led him around the slippery flagstones to the hydrant, Odin thought to run off instead and serve himself at the base of the tree.
My fear was he'd start drinking his fill of the dirty water. Stupid me. He just wanted to lie down in the deep, inky mud.

He then proceeded to work it in by rolling onto his back …

Rainy day.

Oh, poop. It's raining again today and I'm bored.
Hmm, what to do.
My Poppa and my Momma are having kibble and I just finished mine so I'll just leave them alone. They eat so slowly. Ever since I got this new flavour in my kibble I just can't get enough!
Hmm, what to do.
Woof, WOOF. Oops, just got surprised by some noise in the hall – I think my buddy Jasper (the German Shepherd cross) just got back from a walk and he's mouthing off to his momma about having to get cleaned up. I hate mud but I can't help it if the rain makes the ground so sticky.
Hmm, what to do.
I go into Momma's plants room where I can watch the tracks. Sometimes these huge snaky, noisy things run by. Momma calls them trains. No trains yet. I like it in the plants room because it feels like I'm outside but if it's raining like it is today, I don't get wet. No trains yet. It's nice and warm in here. And there are lots of cute plants (I'm not allowed to eat them but that's OK because I just want to smell them). No trains yet.
Hmm, what to do.
I have to get all my chew toys. I go look for them in all the other rooms and I bring them all to the biggest room so they'll all be here with me and I can watch them and smell them and chew them.
Hmm, what to do.
I go to the front door and I find these really cool chew toys that I haven't noticed before. Some of them have stringies laced around holes and that just makes them so much more interesting. So I grab one by the stringies and trot over to the large room. I plop down and start to lick my new toy when Poppa says, "Odin, that's my shoe!" He takes it away and gives me my Kong. Somehow it just doesn't taste the same.
Hmm, what to do.