Dog Days of Summer

The wonderful summer days have been bringing out new dog friends!

Guinness LOVES everyone. If a dog doesn't like him, he will back down. Or, if they are both eager to play (while still on leash), they will bark and jump around. Some owners think this is dangerous activity. Their tails are wagging; they just want to be off leash and play!

This tiny black puppy was not afraid of the big guys at all. She bullied them around and made them chase her.

New friend, Keely LOVED playing tug with Holly! Keely's owner wished she had her camera, so I took some shots and emailed them to her.

Maggie and Guinness having a close time.

Roxy, the deaf dog returned! :)

What a cutie!

When we stepped outside this morning, we smelled and saw smoke! The house across the street from our condo driveway burned down overnight! We heard multiple sirens, but they all stopped (because they stopped across the street!), so we didn't bother looking. Apparently, the empty house, about to close in 2 days, was engulfed in flames. Sounds suspicious. It was still smoldering as we left for doggie park.

When we returned, the smoke was doused, but the Inspection Team was on the job with Guinness intently watching.

Guinness and I Hosted a Tea Party

We held a tea party on our patio. Notice the pink flowers in memory of Karin.


Guinness was such a good boy (because he was tied up!).

Ingrid decided that he should join the party.

He LOVED the attention.

Then she asked if she could give him a piece of her lemon cookie. He turned around and saw Marianne was eating a yellow cookie too, so GRABBED it out of her hand and ate it!!!! Oh, my...

Lessons Learned

This morning, Guinness and I met new friends at doggie park! When we arrived a woman was there with her dog on leash -- tugging hard to get away from her. I called to her asking, "Does your dog like to play?" She made hand motions I didn't understand, and we moved closer. Then I realized she is deaf AND her dog too! I made the love sign and spoke, "Guinness loves everyone!" By this time, Holly, our Golden friend had arrived too. The woman had no voice, but can speak a bit in whispers. Thanks to Karin, I know the sign for "play." She managed to make me understand, when she lets her dog off leash, she cannot call him to come back. But she did let him off, and the three dogs had great fun running!

Then Holly's Dad pointed to Guinness running off to the other side of the field where a woman had arrived with 2 border collie-type dogs. He said, "She isn't friendly." So I ran after Guinness. No point in calling him, as he would not listen. I have seen her before; Guinness has run to her before, and she stands still with her dogs barking viciously while I corral Guinness. Today, by the time I got there, Guinness was just wandering near them, because he understood that the dogs did not want to play, and her dogs were being placid as they understood Guinness was not going to bother them. I apologized to her, explaining that Guinness loves everyone and knows when he is not wanted. She told me that her one dog is a rescue and is in constant pain from a leg which was broken and not fixed properly, and her other dog is very protective of his brother. We walked together chatting. I told her that I was so glad to have met her, because I thought she was annoyed with us for having our dogs off leash. She said she was not bothered by that at all.

As Will Rogers said, "I never met a man I didn't like." Once you get to know someone and learn the path they walk, you understand their behavior.

I wish I knew more sign language!

Locust

Guinness and I found this friend on our house!

Isn't he a beautiful creature! This is the same type of locust that had the misfortune to be caught in the spider's web under our neighbor's deck stairs a few days ago.

The Very Hungry Spider

As Guinny and I passed behind the townhouse of a vacationing neighbor this morning, something large and black, dangling under the deck stairway, caught my eye. I took a closer look. A healthy spider was living in an expansive web under the stairs and had caught a bonanza – a large locust! At first, I thought it was a butterfly because of the large wings. After depositing Guinness at home, I donned my camera and returned. Originally, the spider appeared to be of a large species. Then I came to the conclusion it was a greedy spider. He was engorged with his bonus catch! He might have been eating himself to death! The extensive webbing had captured dozens of little flea bugs. But the interloper was ignoring them in favor of his windfall.



Guinny and I returned a couple of hours later to check on the drama under the stairs to find devastation! Someone had decimated the web. The spider was gone, but I found the victuals on the driveway.

Unfortunately, one of the next-door neighbors did not see the beauty of what was happening.