Pet University

Not what I would call a pleasant morning!

It ended with a bath.

It started with a nightmare.

I was dreaming about visiting Greg at his house in TX. I noted that the windows of Greg’s truck were smoggy due to the extensive grass fires in the area. As we were talking about the smoke, I spied a flame in the distance moving in our direction. His house stood alone, surrounded by acres of empty land. He wasn’t worried and we went inside. Cathi said, “We will smell the smoke before the fire becomes threatening to us.” She proceeded to prepare a meat casserole, then pulled out some of the kids’ artwork for them to sort through to put away. I thought I should check on the fire and went out the back door to the porch and peeked around the end in the direction of the fire. It was right up to the splitrail fence a few feet from the house. I screamed for everyone to get out of the house and woke up.

It was past time to leave for doggie park. As I hurried to gather our things, Guinness pranced around the driveway, so I called him to come. It is so dark at 7:15 AM these days that it is hard to see. He apparently thought the back of the Lexus was open for him, and crashed into the closed tailgate! Poor boy! Then he was afraid to jump in. I opened a side door, and he leaped in. We were late for play time, and the others had to leave soon to go to work. I usually walk Smartie’s mom part way home to give Guinness more exercise, but, in my rush, I had not picked up his leash.

We drove home, donned the leash, and walked back to doggie park to extend our workout. I had not done sit/stay/recall homework with him in a long time, so we worked on that. Initially, he had forgotten that exercise but caught on again quickly. Then Frank came along. He had slept in this morning and was an hour late for playtime. A man with a German shepherd and a pug came along too. While I stood chatting with Frank, Guinness found something yucky to roll in! Guinness had his leash clipped on him, and we took off for home.

Now it’s time for my nap.

Howl-O-Ween

PetSmart had a party tonight. A photographer was available for photos, then a costume party began at 7:00. We went early to try to get the heebie-geebies out of Guinness first. He is soooo crazy when we go to a pet store. He just LOVES the shopping experience with so many friends to give him attention! He leaps and yelps and appears to want to trample everyone in the store. We walked around the store for several minutes to get him calmed down a bit. The store manager spoke to us and asked if a treat would help. I said, “No! That would make it worse!” Then he queried if I had considered training. “Yes, he has passed Advanced Obedience at PetSmart! He is perfect in the classroom.” I knew that we could not stand in line to wait for his turn for a picture like every other sane dog in the world. When the line was very short, we took our chances waiting. He did OK. Then when it was his turn for a photo shot, look how professional he was as a model! I am sure he did a much better job of posing than most.

Then we continued our walk around the store. Since I knew their shot did not focus on his costume, I took one.

Do you know what he is? He is a glass of Guinness – complete with a foam head on top! I can’t believe it, but he did not win the contest. What were they thinking???

Squirrel

There are some signs that Guinness is maturing. One of them is that he can be trusted to jump out of the back of the vehicle and not run away. Today, as Guinness and I drove into our driveway, a black squirrel with a white tipped tail was in the drive several townhouses down from ours, then ran off into the grass. Once we were parked in the garage, as soon as I opened the tailgate, Guinness shot out of the car and ran to find the squirrel. But the squirrel had skunked Guinness.

That squirrel has a history. He was here when we moved in eight years ago! Often, out of the corner of my eye, I would see something black and white running along the top of the fence outside our den window. Thinking skunk, it would catch my attention. It is actually amazing how many times my eyes were diverted by his coloring. I am used to him now and no longer jerk to look when he runs past. Recently, I have thought how sad it will be when I see a dead squirrel with a white tipped tail. I wonder how long a squirrel lives. He has become a familiar crony. One of these days, I will catch a picture of him to lionize him.

Tricks

My brother, wife, and little Yorkshire Terrier Sam came to visit overnight two weekends in a row. Sam is the proverbial controlling little dog who keeps big dogs at bay, though he was not unfriendly to Guinness. But Guinness learned quickly to give Sam his space.

Gary has taught Sam about a dozen tricks. Every morning, they go through their routine of tricks. It is hysterical. When Hershey was around, I would have Hershey do the same tricks through obedience commands or just silliness, and give him treats too. Guinness, of course, wants treats if Sam is getting them, but I am not going to pick up his front paws to dance with him or go through the antics required to get him to roll over, etc. Gary came up with a good plan: he threw a treat for Guinness into the hallway. While Guinness retrieved his treat, Sam could do a trick.

Here is Uncle Gary getting ready to throw a treat into the hall for Guinness.

This is a trick that both of them can do: Leave It.

Here is Sam playing dead.

Grant demonstrated that Guinness is just a lap dog.