Tinkerbell

I am tired again this morning. I played with Monty yesterday and then at night, I went to Ben's house where I played with Ben and his cousin, Bailey. I even went swimming. It was by accident. Ben's house has a pool in the backyard. I swim in it often during the warm summer months, but last night, as we raced and chased around the pool, it looked inviting, so I jumped in.

I didn't swim for long. But this morning, I am so tired I have yet to rise from my bed.

Yesterday was a great day. Here is my favorite photo of me and Monty.
We've just finished chasing each other around the yard and then, chased a squirrel as it raced above us on the grape arbor, and the sun was so beautiful -- it made the air around us orange with Autumn. When we saw the photo later, I asked Monty what that purple light was on his ear. He told me it was Tinkerbell.

"Whose Tinkerbell?" I asked.

"She's a fairy," Monty explained.

"What's a fairy?" I still have so much to learn.

"Well," he said, "Perhaps it's best explained how Tinkerbell explained it to Peter -- 'When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about... that was the beginning of fairies.'"

I was going to ask who Peter was, but I didn't want to be more of a pest than I already was. "Why did Tinkerbell show up in the picture?" was my last question.

"Oh, she shows up to mark the happiest moments of your life," Monty explained.

Later, I read up on Tinkerbell and found out all about Peter Pan. A very nice story though there aren't any dogs in it. Oh well.

I liked this part the best, when Tinkerbell tells Peter, "You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you."

That's how I feel -- about Monty, about my human family, about life in general.

And right now, I am exactly in that place between sleep and awake. The day has yet to start and when it does, there are jobs to complete -- dog walking top of the list.

But for now, I shall rest and twitch and sigh deeply and think of all the Tinkerbell moments I've had in my short life. Maybe, if I believe hard enough, she'll show up hovering around my head in my next photograph.

I'm exhausted

Five walks, three games of fetch, two wrestling matches, and digging in the garden (which got me in the dog house)...

...just look...

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I have a bed in the office, a nice soft bed where I sleep while mom works on the computer. On Friday, the day my job requires me to take care of Monty, I shared a special moment mom captured on film. Friday's are the day when my job as a dog dog walker is exceptionally wonderful because, as my faithful blog readers know, Monty is my best friend ever.

Anyway, I was asleep on my bed and Monty was standing in the kitchen staring at mom when she asked him, "Would you like a bed, too, Monty?" With that, she grabbed my other bed from the kitchen and scooted it into the hallway right by the office. Monty laid down and I decided he needed company so I crawled into bed with him.

I think he was a bit surprised, but soon, we both fell asleep and all was right in the world.

It's now Sunday and I'm finding it hard to wake up. Last night our friends came over with their two young daughters. It was exhausting though lots and lots of fun. I'm supposed to go for a long walk soon, but I'm having a slow morning so I'm not rushing out the door.

Besides, every hard working dog deserves a day off. Don't you think?

The last days of warmth

This is Quillette. She's older than me. A lot older. She's very talkative, too, baying like a wolf whenever she enters our house. We hung out together and while she played for a little while with MY tennis ball, she eventually fell asleep in the sun.

It was a beautiful day yesterday. We went on 3 long walks and I got to play fetch twice -- once at the park by the lake and once with Monty at the big field where I haven't played since my bad-dog mistake of chasing a bicycle (I almost chased one last night, but that "hand of god" got me and I made a better choice). I exercised so much yesterday I ended up eating TWO dinners. Eating two dinners is rare for me. I'm usually not a big eater, but last night I licked my empty bowl and my moms decided to give me more. Yum! Another bowl of food is exactly what I needed.




Quillette and Monty weren't the only dogs I played with yesterday. There was Lucy, too. She's very busy, busier than me and faster, too, but she's really fun because she likes to play fetch and slide through the colorful leaves.





And there is Ollie...
...what can I say about Ollie other than, HE'S A PUPPY!

Was I this obnoxious when I was a puppy? I couldn't have been.

Don't let that cute pose in the leaves fool you. He's a bouncing, jumping, mop of a guy who wants nothing more than to steal my toys.

He follows me everywhere and even when I try to ignore him, he is solely focused on me and what I'm doing.


It's exhausting...

But apparently, this is what being a business owner is all about: You can't complain about the customers because they put food on your table and in my case, eating two dinners requires more food than usual.

Monty's Scar

About a month ago, Monty had surgery for his flipped stomach. He's lucky to be alive. He's healing well and we've spent the day hanging together, romping together, and posing together.

As you can tell from my closed eyes, I got kind of tired of all the posing.

Spa Day

This is me right before I get dropped off at the Doggie Spa. Don't let the yawn fool you. I am not a Spa kind of dog. It makes me very nervous and in doggie language, a yawn means "nervous." In this picture I am walking to the Spa with Momma G and Monty (you'll see his before picture in a moment). We stopped on the bluff to snap these photos and while I wanted to trust that we were just capturing a moment on a windy fall day, I sensed we were headed to THE SPA.

Don't get me wrong. There are some things I love about the Spa. There's Lillianna, who owns it, and her brother Claudio who usually caters to my needs. There's Tikka, their little dog, and there is the smell of every treat a dog could possibly love. But there's also the bathtub, the blow dryer, the nail trimmers, the combs, and the most dreaded event of all, the expressing of my anal glands.

I shall spare you the details.

Here is Monty's before picture...

Like any good "before" picture, he looks disshevelled, but he is not the least bit nervous. He loves Spa days and wags his tail as if someone is about to offer him a steak for a treat. The only thing that makes Spa Day bearable for me, is going with Monty. He calms me down. He reassures me that the clippers and the soap and the pinch of my anal glands is really an enjoyable experience.

I know he's lying, but he's my best friend and he's just trying to make the experience as positive as it can be and so I forgive him the deceit.

And when it's all over, when the trimming and the snipping and the combing is complete, we look pretty damn good, if I do say so myself!

A Play Date With Monty

Monty is healed! He's fully functional and ready to rumble and that's just what we did this morning in the chilly fog of mid-October. We headed to the dog park and raced and chased and played to our heart's content. After a month of recovery from his stomach surgery, Monty is back and in full form.

He played fetch...


He visited everyone...

...and he's still my best friend ever!

Welcome back, buddy!

My Job: Part Two

This is my new friend, Ollie. He's a Labradoodle, too, though slightly smaller and slightly darker than me. We hung out today at my new job -- the Dog Dog Walker. Ollie's kind of a goof and he totally looks up to me, and while I sometimes find him a pest, he's growing on me with every walk.

See what I mean...? Kind of a goof.



This is Lucy. She's not a goof at all and she's one of my favorite girlfriends. But Lucy is aloof and obsessed with the game of fetch as this picture so beautifully illustrates. She is saying, for those who cannot read dog lips, "Here's the ball! Did you see the ball?" Lucy never gets tired. She could play fetch for days and never even break into a pant. She's like a machine, too. Chase the ball, catch the ball, bring the ball back to the feet of whoever throws the ball, and look up. Then do it all again and again and again.

I, on the other hand, enjoy a game of fetch, but I also enjoy a game of keep away. This is the game Ollie and I were playing at the tennis courts. He's young so he gets easily distracted. In the middle of chase, he decides to see whose ears can flop the highest and who can get all four paws off the ground at once. He won on both accounts.

Eventually, the games were over and we posed for our final snapshot. Notice though, Lucy is not panting. She wasn't the least bit tired. Ollie and I were very tired and walked slowly back to Ollie's house while Lucy pulled us up the street.


I'm tired tonight. My face feels slightly warm from the sun and the wind, but I read this morning in the newspaper that milk and sunshine every day kept the doctor away. While I don't drink milk, I'm hoping I make up for it in sunshine and exercise.

My job continues again on Thursday. We'll pick up Ollie and Lucy not for a walk, but according to the forecast, we'll take a walk in the rain this time. I wonder if I can write off towels on my income tax?

And I wonder when I'm going to get my first paycheck?

I'm going to have to talk with my boss about that.

A New Job

It appears, with this economic down turn, I must be employed. Another wage earner is needed as my family investments tank. Alas, it's a difficult job, but I have never been one to shirk my pack duties, so I now have a day job. I am a dog walker. I am, rather, a dog dog walker. I am a dog, walking other dogs. I am the toy that all dog clients are allowed to harass, bully, cajole, and irritate.

I do what I can.

Above is a photo of one of our new clients. Look carefully because, if you'll notice, he has a tendency to take flight. Nothing seems to inspire this leaping; it appears to be spontaneous and random. For instance, when this blast of airborne spontaneity hit Ollie (the said client), we were engaging in a rousing came of chase -- he chasing me. Without any provocation from me, he launched himself just as mom was snapping the photograph. Earlier, as we walked around the neighborhood on our leashes, he leaped with abandon sporadically. It was as if his feet were springs and the unknown push of a button sent him soaring. And just as quickly, he'd be walking as if nothing had happened.

Ollie is, like me, a Labradoodle, but he is what's known as a miniature Labradoodle, his poodle side being slightly smaller than my own. Despite his apparent rambunctious dog-a-nality, he is quite good on the leash, walking by my side with a slight bounce to his step and the occasional unprovoked leap of apparent delight.

Contrary to Ollie's leash manners, there is Lucy, the Boston terrier mix who is a walking fashion statement.

This is another lucky portrait of the three of us being relatively calm and patient. Lucy is in the middle in her stylish red coat looking surprisingly calm. Lucy is anything but calm. On our walks, she is out front pulling her leash to its very end. Her ears, erect and large, act as the neighborhood satellite dish catching the sound of squirrels as they brave the leap from bush to tree or tree to lawn. Lucy rarely sleeps. She is busy busy busy and while I feel compelled to help out my family by taking on a new job when needed, Lucy is always looking for work even when there is none to be found. I must be called to service. Lucy volunteers.

At this point, my work is limited to these two clients, but I have a feeling it's about to get busier. Mom is working on her business plan complete with business cards, an official license, fliers, and a strategy to post her availability at every local pet store. She's even talked about placing her business card at the doors of people who she knows have dogs who spend their days alone.

The benefits to me are turning out to be quite nice. I get more walks in a day than ever before. I get to eat more snacks during the day and I get to spend time with my mom out in the smells of the world. Yesterday was my first day on the job and last night I slept mightly. For these younger dogs I must be a good role model and for the older ones, I must temper my exhuberance. This can be exhausting, but I am ready for the challenge.

Anything to help my pack is worth the effort. I do what I can.