Our Handsome Boy

Now that the kids are gone, the snow has returned. It was the perfect photo op to take decent pictures of a chocolate lab.

After everyone left on the 29th, Guinness was again allowed freedom. Instead of only one room at a time, we are giving him limited opportunity to have access through four rooms: den, living room, dining room, and kitchen. He is doing fairly well. The only obstacles are a pathos plant in the living room (he thinks that he must remove one leaf every time he passes), a bell on a low branch of the Christmas tree, and, of course, any shoes that may be sitting inside the deck door. He also knows that, if he rams the gate blocking the hallway, he can push it aside and race either upstairs or downstairs. If he chooses to go upstairs, he will grab one, two, or three of the Christmas stuffed animals on the stairs. Downstairs, he heads for the waste paper can. Life is improving.

Guinness's Christmas

Since Guinness was doing so well at being loose in a room with us, I expected that, once he settled down from the excitement of meeting his little nephew Kevin, he would be fine. Our previous dogs sensed the fragility of a young child or older person. Guinness does not seem to recognize that he must be gentler with such people. Once company arrived, he was too filled with Christmas joy for us to tolerate his exuberant behavior. Thus, Guinness spent most of Christmas week in his crate. We never dared to let him loose with Kevin. He was so ecstatic to meet this wonderful little fella that he would have tramped him with no intent to harm. When we were outside playing in the snow, I kept Guinness tethered to my waist.

Brandy and Jeremy are used to crazy dogs and had fun playing with him. He did his “slain in the Spirit” backwards flop for them to have his tummy rubbed.

Santa brought Guinness a rubber hamburger, and Kevin’s cats brought him a fuzzy gingerbread boy. He was thrilled with his gifts. The hamburger quickly had a big bite out of it and the gingerbread boy was losing his stuffing within hours. While we were opening our presents, I presumed that we could leave him free in the den with the French doors closed allowing him to visually be a part of our celebration. As we continued our gift opening, the thought struck me that my present from Grant, a beautiful sweater wrap, was hanging on my desk chair. With a gasp, I flew into the den to find that Guinness had already torn a sleeve apart. Thankfully, the store had another one.

Canine-ality Traits

Selecting Hershey, Dec. 20, 1995
(Greg's coat was NOT pink!)



















Bringing Guinness home, June 21, 2005


Eleven years ago today, Greg selected Hershey to be our new puppy, and Karin held him all the way home. We have dubbed Guinness “H2,” because he looks like Hershey and is similar in many ways. Yet there are traits which are specific to each dog. I do not recall Hershey ever running away from me. He always stuck close by. If he ran ahead on a trail, he would come back looking for me. It is unfortunate that Hershey did not have the opportunity to teach Guinness to be a good boy on a hike and not run away. Distractions can cause Guinness to forget that he should stay with me.

Guinness has his own inimitable mannerisms. One of the funniest is that, when he wants to be petted, he will fall straight backwards onto his back. It is as if he is “slain in the Spirit” to be tummy fondled. When he was a tiny puppy, it wasn’t much of a fall. Now that he is over 60 pounds, you would think that it hurts to flop especially when he is falling onto an object such as the edge of a concrete wall, a toy, or a furniture leg. We try to grasp a finger into his collar to ease his fall.

Agility Fun Day

We attended an Agility introductory class today. Guinness was a goofball in the tunnels. Sometimes he would go through, and sometimes he would turn around inside and come out the end he went in. Of course, I was at the opposite end which meant he had free reign to chase any dog he wanted. A teacher had to help me with the tunnels by staying at the end he entered. He was fairly good at the jumps, but he got tired. Me too! We did balance boards and ramps last. He was hesitant on the low ramps, but pranced with total confidence over the very tall, steep one seen in the picture (taken from their Web site)! The reason is that we bought a ramp for Hershey a couple of years ago when we acquired my X5. It was too high for him to jump in. Now we use it for Guinness, as he is too small to jump that high and too heavy for me to pick up (58 lbs.).

This afternoon Guinness was POOPED!!!!! He was sprawled out on the floor and did not move except an occasional twitch! Later he moved to Hershey’s favorite spot – under the large den desk. We called it his cave. Guinness snuggled up to Hershey under there, but has only sniffed the area since he has been gone. Today Guinness curled up into that space on his own. After all, he is H2.

Grade 2, class 3

It is too frigid outside to spend any time out there doing homework. We did minimal homework inside. Tonight at class, you would think that he had done his homework faithfully and had conquered all the exercises. Here he is on a “Sit Wait” exercise while the dogs, one by one, wove in and out around the other sitting dogs. What a good boy!

Christmas is coming

Guinness is playing with a new Christmas toy while Daddy takes a Christmas snooze.

My throat is sore!

Too bad the ice all over his fur is not visible in this picture! Actually, it is visible if you enlarge the picture and take a close look.

Today was our first attempt to walk on the beach. He is so good off leash on our property that I hoped he would be at the beach too. But the distractions were too intense to conquer. As soon as we arrived and I opened the back of the car, he jumped out before I could snap on his leash, and ran to an older woman jogging. There were too many people there on this brisk, sunny morning to allow him to run free. He was tugging and tugging, showing no leash respect. No one was behind us, so I turned and let him go free in that direction. He sailed down the beach until he came to rocks which needed to be circumvented. Instead on going around them, he chose to run into the freezing lake. I was becoming concerned, because he was headed for deep water. I screamed to him; he eventually stood still in the water staring at me, then decided to come, though he was not interested in a treat. The beach was more exciting than a treat! We continued beyond the rocks. He next indiscretion was to leave the beach for the grass where he saw a friendly woman walking. My throat was sore from shrieking, I was out of breath from running, so, after only ten minutes, we headed back to the car. I stood on his leash as I unfolded the ramp. My foot was not heavy enough to counteract his eagerness to meet a man strolling by. Fortunately, he too was not unfriendly to happy puppies.

Adolescence

What a jokster! Today, as I was slicing a fruitcake, he grabbed a big hunk when I wasn't looking. Later, I was preparing dinner and had mixed the sauce in a casserole dish for baking chicken. While my back was turned, he tipped the casserole and ate most of the sauce in one gulp. We need major training for “off counter.” Also he has been ignoring commands when he doesn't want to obey. I expected the stuffed animals on the stairway to be a huge temptation, but thought we could get through it. One teddy bear is his. He knows it is his, but he is greedy and likes the others too. When he has a restricted one, he cannot be caught! I don't chase him, but he is too smart for my sneakiness too. It is quite funny.

Anthropomorphisms

Guinness is doing soooo well around the house!!! Tuesday, my thoughts were -- I wonder if Hershey knew it was time for Guinness to leave the crate, and he did not wish to be constantly pummeled by a puppy. Or he could have considered that his job of training Guinness was finished, thus he could move on. Guinness is still a mischief maker, and we have to keep him in the same room we are in. He really is cute and so reminiscent of Hershey as a puppy. Being the same breed, he even looks the same as Hershey did at that age. It's almost like we didn't lose Hershey. We just went Back to the Future.

Wednesday, an alternate idea struck me to explain his calm conduct outside the crate: perhaps Guinness understands that he needs to replicate Hershey’s respectable behavior.

Regardless of his desire to be “a good boy,” his adolescence sometimes supersedes his intentions. Thursday, I took Guinness with me to run errands. Our first stop was a housewares store where I found a sale on small poinsettias. I bought several and placed them on the front passenger seat floor where I hoped they would be safe. I accomplished two more projects before reality reminded me that Guinness is a “flower dog!” He had eaten all of one plant, spilling dirt all over the front passenger seat, floor, and console. At 5:58 PM, I pulled into my car wash as they were preparing to close. When they saw my mess, they agreed to be Good Samaritans.