Bad Game

Guinness began traveling everywhere with me and Hershey last fall. Two weeks after Hershey’s demise, the poinsettia incident occurred (see Dec. 1, 2005). Now I do not leave him in the car for more than two seconds with any purchases within his grasp. However, all this time, my anti-sciatica wedge seat cushion has been in the driver’s seat. I have been uneasy about it, but they were vain worries. The center console of my car houses buttons which lock/unlock the vehicle and turn the flashers on/off. The car is usually flashing as I return to it. When Grant drives my vehicle, he uses my seat cushion to cover the buttons. Even though the cushion has been placed in front of the nose of a gluttonous dog, he has not touched it.

Advice to new puppy owners always includes: never allow the puppy to do things which you will not want him doing when grown, even though these actions are cute in the puppy stage. After raising four puppies, we are slow learners.

Guinness loves grabbing something he knows he is not to have and playing Catch-Me-If-You-Can. The game went to extremes today as he careened downstairs repeatedly, found a rag in the laundry room, ran around the coffee table keeping me at bay, all the while begging me to chase him using his intense, mischievous puppy eyes. Each time I laughed hysterically (except the one time my Brighton purse was in his mouth!) and playfully made attempts to catch him while he eluded my grasp at each round. Sometimes he was running in a circle around the coffee table and me! It was quite funny when the object in danger was insignificant.

Tonight while I was shopping, he decided that playing with the cushion might make a fun game. Maybe it was fun for him, but I was not there to join in the game. Now the cushion is no more.

Welcome home

This morning, Daddy brought Guinness home from Holly’s Pride before Mommy was up. I had been away for 10 days, so he was crazy to see me for a few seconds, then he went into his steal-something-forbidden-catch-me-if-you-can routine. First he grabbed the two stacked Tim Horton’s paper coffee cups waiting to have their rims rolled up (to see if we had won a prize – and we did! A donut!). After chasing him around the coffee table, I took him and the cups to the kitchen. As soon as my back was turned, he snatched the dish cloth from where it was hanging on the faucet and ran to the hallway. I heard him, and knew he was into some kind of trouble, so called, “Come” cheerily. He started to come, then froze when he saw me, though allowing me pry the dish cloth from his mouth. Two seconds later, he spied the Tim Horton’s cups on the counter and ran off with them again. He had not been home five minutes, and I was out of breath!

Typically, he returns home from the pet hotel totally worn out, probably exhausted from all the barking noise. He slept most of the day. This evening, Grant went to bed early. Eventually I realized that Guinness was not with me, so I assumed he took Guinness to bed with him. That was a first! I was hoping that Grant was not asleep while Guinness was chewing on a towel from the pile I placed on the floor today to be washed. When I finally went up to see what was happening, Grant had wisely thrown the stack of laundry into the hallway and had shut the door. Guinness was calmly lying on my side of the bed beside his master, until he saw me. Then we had our potty run, and I settled back at my computer to begin this blog. After a minute or so, I realized that he was playing with something. Grant’s brandnew $180 shoe! It was slobbered over, but no teeth marks… yet. I sat back down at the computer. I heard Guinness go into the bathroom. Shortly he returned to the den with a towel in his mouth! I went in to see where he had found the towel. He had pulled it OFF the rack! That was a first! And we thought he was improving. I tried to continue typing, but he insisted on being petted. I finally put him to bed in his crate so that I could complete this.

Who let the dogs out?

During Hershey’s 11 years, we rarely met a vicious dog. The worst experience we ever encountered was with a Borzoi at Doggie Park on the ocean cliffs in San Diego. He lived around the block from us. Even though their yard had a high solid wood fence, the two dogs were aware of each other’s presence on opposite sides of the fence. Hershey was so frightened that he refused to walk on the sidewalk and pulled me out into the street everytime we passed that house. Then one day the Borzoi came to Doggie Park. He prevented Hershey from playing fetch or from running with Hershey’s friends. The owner told me that the Borzoi breed was bred to kill wolves. I think this one thought Hershey was a wolf! We did not stay to play while the Borzoi was there.

Besides having two unfriendly German Shepherds in Grade 2, Guinness has encountered three dangerous dogs in the past month! Since the dog park incident on Feb. 12, we passed a black lab mix on the bike path that seemingly wished to eat both of us alive! I was frightened, and we found another way home when I saw that dog and owner coming in our direction again. Today, we ventured out to dog park hoping to have some free run time. Only one dog and owner were there – a pretty white dog with brown spots. I commented to the owner, “He has a bulldog or boxer face, but his body is neither. What is he?” “He is an American Bulldog.” This breed is known for "large head and powerful jaws... may be agressive with other dogs!" Within 60 seconds, he was growling at Guinness who was very submissive. The dog continued to growl at Guinness’s throat while the owner cooed in a sing-song voice, “Oh, don’t do that Freddy! Be nice!” When I said, “That’s enough,” he pulled his dog back, I snapped on Guinness’s leash and we headed for the gate. The owner pled, “Don’t go. I’ll keep his leash on and they can play.” “I don’t want to chance it, but thanks for being a good dog owner.” We left there and headed for a lakeside park where we had a fun walk though Guinness could not run off leash.

From Hotel to Home

This morning we picked up Guinness from the pet hotel. He had a wonderful time playing their games, having Yappy Hour each evening, and hangin’ out. He was delighted to see us (understatement) and had fun chewing a new pressed rawhide bone on the way home. As I unpacked my suitcase, he found my beach shoes to be most interesting.