Birthday Celebrations!

What a weekend it's been! Okay, Saturday was kind of laid back, but I needed it after my full and grueling week as a dog dog walker. But Sunday, now that was a different story.


It appears that some of my good friends have recently celebrated birthdays. The first was Ginger who turned eleven a few weeks back, but since we've been so busy we haven't had a moment to get together with her (or her papa, Richard who I like as much as I like Ginger!). But today was that moment and after sleeping in, we headed out for a play date with Ginger! Woo hoo!!!!





Richard always brings interesting toys for me to play with and really yummy treats to bribe me. Yum yum yum, it's so much fun playing fetch and keep away and chase at the big field with Ginger. For being eleven-years-old that Ginger gets around like there's no tomorrow. Of course Richard informed me that Ginger would spend the rest of the day resting and recovering from her wild party romp with me!
I rested, too, but not right away. After my party with Ginger, we went home for another birthday celebration. This time it was breakfast with Quillette who also turned eleven-years-old this past week. We invited Monty and his mom, Colleen to the breakfast party and then Jessica (Q's mom) showed up with Wally...silly, silly Wally. We had a one-to-one ratio of humans to canines this morning and when we went off for another romp at the park, I was ecstatic!






































Finally, when everyone went home I was left to rest and boy did I ever need it! Partying takes a lot out of you and two parties in one day pooped me right out. Even on our evening walk I was dragging myself up the hills. I'm tired, but I must say it's a good tired. A very good tired.

Happy Birthday Ginger and Quillette!

Your buddy,
Rubin

Woobie Love

The weekend has been both laid back and busy. Laid back because we didn't go anywhere special, but busy because we have a house guest -- Woobie!

I love having Woobie around because she can be mellow when mellow is needed and crazy when crazy is needed and really, really sweet even when you don't think you need it.

We've been having fun starting with Saturday when we got to go for a long walk by the lake. We even got to go into the water. Well, Woobie went in without much coaxing. I needed someone to throw a stick and once I got the stick out of the water, I just wanted to chew on it. Not Woobie. She got in the water, swam around, and then sat on the shore looking wet and happy.





























Today, Sunday, we got to go to the big field and play fetch with Monty. Well, Woobie doesn't really fetch, but if you egg her on, she runs around like a crazy, hairy dog.










And then rolls around in the grass so happily it's hard to tell her head from her tail!


Monty and I really like Woobie. Monty especially.


We've taken lots of walks, too and hung out in the kitchen while Gretchen cooked us food and in the backyard while Ann graded papers.

Tomorrow Woobie goes to work with me (dog walking). I know she's gonna LOVE that because frankly, Woobie loves everything!

And shhhhh! I kind of love Woobie, but I haven't told her yet!

Captured

The thing about photography is that sometimes you don't know what you've got until you know you've got it. So was the case yesterday when I played with Gemma (red) and Saber (gray). Gretchen was taking photos, as she always does to the point of being annoying. She holds her finger down on that shutter hoping to capture a certain moment and sometimes she gets it and sometimes she doesn't. The photo right before this one was actually the photo she was going for, but she held her finger down for a split second longer and this is what she got.

She didn't even know she got it until she came home and uploaded the photos. But what she's captured here is more than a silly moment of our play. She's actually captured our dog-analities. First, there's Saber who is nosing his way under Gemma, which is something he does all the time. He literally tries to lift her up off the ground and since he's remarkably larger than Gemma, he often succeeds.

Gemma, on the other hand, is all about biting -- legs, ears, necks -- whatever she can get her mouth on. She never bites too hard (if she did, Saber and I would both have pierced ears), but her mouth is always working, her teeth always bared, and her intent is to grab onto something, generally a part of our bodies. so in this photo, she's going after my neck.

As for me, well since I'm the oldest in the bunch and can dictate the level of play with a play bow or a growl, Gretchen captured my often-used strategy -- get the hell out of the situation and take off running. Since I'm an agility dog, this is precisely what I've done -- used my agility skills.

And at that exact moment, with the slip of a finger and a moment's hesitation, Gretchen captured not only our fun, but exactly who we are.

Not bad, not bad at all!