The Baby Bunny

This is not our baby bunny, but similar.

This evening, Guinness was going with me to run some errands. As usual, when we are getting into the car, I let him go into the garage without a leash. But he saw something on the driveway and chased it to the fence behind our driveway. I thought it was a mouse or chipmunk. By the time I got to him, I saw it was a darling baby bunny! He easily could have caught the bunny, but he did not; he only wanted to play! He is just like Hershey! He loves all creatures great and small. Once I held Guinness, the bunny was able to find a hole under the fence and run away. When we returned home, Guinness jumped out of the car and ran straight to the fence to look for his little friend.

An Intruder

Tonight when Guinness went out for his last potty run, he suddenly raced across the yard to the part of our garden above the driveway. A opossum was there, and Guinness chased him out of our yard catching him a few feet away behind our driveway. The opossum turned and hissed at Guinness with this exact stance (taken from the Internet). Guinness jumped around him, not quite daring to touch him though intensely intrigued with this creature. I think he wanted to play and didn’t understand why the opossum was not cordial. Fortunately, the opossum didn’t run away or Guinness would have followed him. Finally Guinness obeyed my call and came to me. Meanwhile, the opossum stayed where he was until Grant chased him away by throwing rocks. After researching the opossum, we learned that they are a beneficial wild animal, docile, rarely attack unless attacked, and almost never have rabies.

The Birthday Boy

Daddy bought him a marrow bone to celebrate his big day. He is playing prince and enjoying his treat on our bed.

He chose to be on our bed, because, for the past two weeks, we have been allowing him to roam the house rather than be barricaded into the room where we are. The experiment went exceptionally well initially, but his self-control is deteriorating. In recent days, he:
- Plucked a plastic envelope containing my alphabet stickers. Fortunately, the stickers fell out, but the envelope is in a thousand pieces.
- Uprooted most of the plant in the living room.
- Grabbed my sweater off the sofa, but I realized he was into mischief before any damage was done.
- Took objects from wastepaper baskets and demolished them.
- Swiped a topical med bottle.
- Found my new toothbrush from my recent dentist appointment and opened the package.
That is enough shenanigans to warrant lose of freedom.

Time to see the Vet

It also was our date for a heartworm test. Again, he was a total goofball at the vet’s office. Everyone had to leave the room so that I could make him settle on the scale. He weighs 75.2 pounds. Dr. Coultes, who dubbed him Terrorist on his first visit, called him several appropriate names and adjectives – Goofball, Giselle, Nutty, Kooky. In spite of having blood taken, he was thrilled to have Dr. C. pet him. Dr. C. tries to insinuate that dogs don’t like him. Yet Hershey and Guinness couldn’t have been happier to see him. Both of them loved/love everyone at the vet office and found/find it a fascinating place to visit.

Almost One Year Old

Today was a sunny day, so we took Guinness’s one year old photos a day early.

Daddy calls Guinness – God’s Gift. He is pretty special in spite of his craziness. We know he will outgrow it eventually. He does try really hard to be a good boy.

The Snoop

Guinness is more interested in watching what is happening in the outside world than Hershey was. Daily he spends time sitting, looking out the den windows or the kitchen windows – the two rooms where he spends the most time. This morning, while I was putting on my make up, he wandered into our bedroom. The bedroom windows are too high for him to look out with four paws on the floor. I heard a noise I did not recognize, then he started barking. He was looking out the window with his hind paws on the treadmill (walking on the treadmill was the unusual noise), and his front paws on the window sill! He must have seen some squirrels, birds, and/or vehicles that deserved some scolding.

Freedom

Since allowing him to roam the house today, he is NOT happy about entering the den. This evening, as he walks with me towards the den, he stops at the piano. When I encourage him to come with me, he lies down! Ha! He thinks he is ready for more freedom. We’ll see…

Housecleaning day

Usually when I clean house, Guinness stays with Daddy in the den or in his crate. Daddy was away all day, so I decided that Guinness should try helping me.







I would declare the experiment quite successful, with a couple of hiccups. He managed to steal a leaf from the pathos plant in the living room, and then, when I was passing the powder room to put the vacuum away, I noted an earring on the floor. Upon inspection, I found the glass chest filled with some of Elsie’s jewelry, which sits on the back of the toilet, had mysteriously fallen onto the toilet seat with the jewelry spilling out. Plus the lid was missing. I wonder how that could have happened? The lid was located in the living room. Nothing was broken, but the suspected culprit was banished to his crate for a time out. What can I say? The Flower Dog loves pretty things!

New Friend!

Today, I attached Guinness to a tree in the side yard so that I could clean the garage in peace. We have used this tie-out many times, and, recently, I have begun to leave him outside alone. In fact, today we bought more new toys – some for the purpose of leaving him to play outside by himself. Right after clipping him, a yellow lab walked by on the sidewalk. Guinness was so excited that he broke his tether! The two were excitedly jumping at opposite sides of the fence. In conversing with the owners, we discovered that Guinness is only 7 days older than Oakley! I invited them to come to our side yard to play, and they accepted. The two dogs went crazy – running in circles around the yard chasing each other. They were fast friends at first sight! Guinness has not had so much fun with any other dog! They were just a riot together! Once they began to tire and started rolling on the ground, Guinness treated Oakley like he did Hershey – used him for a jungle gym! We exchanged email addresses and promised to have playtime again.