This might have been a mistake

This afternoon, I've got some prep work for a lunch meeting tomorrow, and the evening plans include traveling to a community a couple hours away for a social event.  So, being that I'm the "boss" around here, I'm taking the afternoon off.  To consolidate my errands, I thought it would be fun and easier if I just took Chester into the office.  That way, when I leave at noon, I can just drive him to "doggie spa" for his sleep-over. 

First thing, he went for the trash can in the kitchen.  I know that for a brief time, 12 years ago, he was a doggie of the streets.  BUT THAT WAS 12 YEARS AGO!  You get braised chicken thighs for dinner everynight along with the occassional treat from a drive through.  Stop thinking the best food comes from trash cans.

Then, he peed where the office christmas tree had been.  I caught him before it was a lot.  But, I'm thinking this is his last trip to the office.  I've never known him to ever pee indoors before.  He's even spent the night in our bathroom when the weather got too frightful.  AND IT WAS A FAKE TREE.

So, now, he's still on his leash, the leash is hooked to a cabinet in my office, and he's not being allowed out of my sight.  And, he's a terrible flirt with the people who are coming by the office today.

 

 

 

UPDATE:  All the co-workers have come into the office to spoil Chester.  And, when I told them of his attempt to drink from the toilet, he looked at them like I was lying on him. 

 

Now, he's asleep at my feet, and I'm afraid to move a muscle for fear I wake him up and he decide he needs to pee again.

Spring Time

The pollen has hit us hard.  And, although we've been promised rain for the last several days, all we seem to get is a spitting that just makes the pollen stick even harder.

But, the good news is that the cucumbers, peas, and radishes are already popping up in the crop circle.  Admiring the freshly planted crop circle, last week, I realized that it was perhaps one of the few good things that came from a rather bad time a few years back.  I love planning what I'm going to plant each year, and I'm so proud of the veggies I pick.

Also, spring time brings out the sillies in our critters.  I let Chester have a "soft" toy, and it was all of 10 minutes before he tried to eat its head.

We have a free loader kitty I've taken a liking to.  We call him Mr Peepers because he likes to sit in our windows and watch us.  He thinks the dog is silly and has little to do with him, other than keeping an eye on him. . . . and judging him harshly.

"You know, I thought he was a lot smaller."

On this day, 11 years ago, I read an article in my local paper about a poor dog that had been given to the humane society in our community when its' owners moved away and couldn't keep him.  The article said it was an older dog, and a private donor was willing to pay for the dog's upkeep if someone with a yard could take him.  I called the Phenom and read the article over the phone.  We decided to visit the humane society that afternoon.

When we arrived, we were introduced to the volunteer in charge of adoptions.  She was busy with the afternoon play/kennel clean/feed.  They would release 5-8 dogs into the play yard and clean their kennels, place clean bedding, refill food and water bowls, and then bring the dogs in from the play yard.  One dog in the batch coming in didn't come in.  So, we followed her out to the play yard to corral him back in.  This cute, little dog came charging over to us with a ball in his mouth.  We threw the ball and he went bounding after it . . . and returned right to us.  Within a minute, Phenom was kissing it on the head.  Our rule is "you kissed it, you bought it."

So we filled out the paperwork.  We must have passed muster, because a couple days later, they called to say we'd been approved to adopt Chester.  (Side note, today I read this article about the screening processes of some rescue groups.)  We bought a kennel and dogloo and toys and a collar and leash and harness we could use to seat belt him into the car and food and toys and a brush and toys.

The next afternoon, Phenom collected our new family member while I had a meeting.  Yes, I was jealous I didn't get to be part of the pick up.  But, I arrived home just minutes after Phenom and Chester.  While we watched Chester tear around our yard like a pardoned inmate, we looked at each other and both said "You know, I thought he was a lot smaller."

Chester is a fun loving, sweet, hyper pooch that is pretty much like having a perpetual 4 year old boy.  He explores the yard, doesn't always come when called, likes to pester cats, prefers junk food to his meals, doesn't like to share his toys or people, and has been worth every minute.

Happy Adoption Day, Chester!

Doc

When I was a young, freshly rescued monkey, the Old Folks had a little poofy dog named Doc. Actually, his name was Doc Watson. He had been found by the Old Folks' daughter who had an English Sheepdog named Sherlock.

Doc had a little under bite, and he was a fun little thing. He was blond, and energetic, and bounced around and yapped like any good sidekick dog.

The Old Woman generally kept a supply of home made cookies on hand. Her most common cookies were a spice cookie that had raisins in them. Doc loved cookies for treats. But, he didn't like raisins. He became quite adept at munching down a cookie and spitting out the raisins.

This came to mind last night, while doing the dishes and scraping the peas from the fried rice out of Phenom's bowl.

Dork Dog

Ya'll remember Chester, right? He's a corgi-mutt we got from the local animal shelter. As a corgi, he's fairly hyper and wants soooooo badly to have something, anything, to herd. Being a dog, he is too interested in tormenting cats.

You also remember that Possum had kittens, right? She had three kittens, but one didn't make it. So, we have a grey stripe kitten (the runt of the litter) and a tuxedo marked kitten. The grey kitten (still unnamed) decided earlier this week it likes us. Really likes us. As in, when we were coming in the other night from dinner out, it came charging right off the steps and crashed onto the driveway.

Last night, it decided it wanted to join us in the back yard while we were out with Chester. It walked right up to the fence and mewed at Chester. It seemed to regard Chester more as an obstacle than a threat.

Tonight, it made a bee-line for us in the back yard. And, Chester was appropriately curious. Only, so was the kitten. And, Chester has enough negative experiences with cats to know they are dangerous things. So, the kitten ended up chasing Chester around the yard. Chester, curious about it; and the kitten wanting to curl up and sleep on him.

Chester finally has a kitten that wants his company, and he won't let it near him. Dork.

You can put a pig in a tutu

But it's still a pig.

Consider the scene this morning. We have friends who have invited us to their lake house for a party. So, we take Chester to the vet to board for the weekend. (Chester loves the vet. I think he likes being there more than in our home . . . something about being spoiled rotten and all you can eat treats.) I am usually very careful to park in a space that has an empty space on the passenger side. This way, I don't have to worry about dinging a car while getting Chester out. (We seatbelt Chester in because it is safer and because he'd try to take the wheel if we didn't.) I pull into a space. There are only two cars in the entire lot. As I'm getting out of the car, this woman comes flying into the lot, on her cell phone, and parks next to me on the passenger side. She has a large dog in the back seat.

Chester works hard to remain an only dog. He has that whole male protective thing going and is generally unfriendly to all dogs unless they are little poofy things that hardly count as dogs. So, I stand at the back of my car to allow this rude human to get her dog into the vet's office before I try to release Chester. I know my dog. I control my dog. Oh, if only others did too.

Anyway, as she slams open her car door, she's screeching at the top of her lungs "mommy has to pee . . . I don't know if we can get in without mommy peeing first" . . . and I realize she's talking to the dog. As I stand there, waiting for her . . . she looks up and says "what? you have a look on your face." She was at least 15 years older than me, so the teenager reaction was a tad weird. I patiently say "go ahead" . . . and she gets her dog out of her car, kicks her door closed, and continues talking really loudly to the dog. As I enter the vet, giving her plenty of lead time, I hear her saying from the hallway where the exam rooms are "Leonard, go with the pretty girl . . . you like pretty girls Leonard . . . Mommy has to pee."

I think even Chester realized what a fool this woman was, because comepletely out of character, he sat down at my feet and was exceptionally well behaved.

Blogging for Dogs

Click on the title for the link to Pedigree Dog Food . . . write a blog post about your dog, leave a link on their site, and they will donate a 20 lb bag of food to a shelter.

I have a shelter dog. Chester. He is a pretty boy. Well, actually we have referred to him as "the dog with the fancy pants."

He came from the local shelter. Word is that he was found as a puppy wandering the streets of our downtown. A kindly lady took him in . . . and I think he was probably pretty bad because after a couple months, he found himself "surrendered."

When we went to the shelter, it was to look at another dog. But there was a waiting list for the other dog, and the volunteer we spoke to said that the dog we heard about wasn't really a great dog for first time owners. We were making with the chit-chat with her as she herded a group of dogs in from the play yard to the kennels for dinner and released a group to the play yard. As she brought the dogs in, one stayed outside to play. We should have noticed that he'd rather play than eat.

We went along with her as she went out to gather him in . . . when this adorable LITTLE dog came running up with a ball. Phenom threw the ball, and the little guy scampered off to get it, and came running right back. Within about a minute, Phenom was kissing the little guy. And, the rule is . . . you kissed it, you bought it.

A couple days later (after appropriate security and wallet checks) we were allowed to bring Chester (the shelter's name) home. As we stood there, watching him tear up our yard like he was possessed, the Phenom and I looked up and simultaneously said "you know, I thought he was a lot smaller."

To this day, volunteers who knew him in the shelter (almost 10 years ago now) will still giggle and say "so, you got Chester. Huh." But they won't tell us why they react this way.

However, in his first two weeks with us, Chester tried to drink a bottle of motor oil, tried to dig to china, got under the house and had to have the light bulb he found removed from his jaws very carefully (we got it away from him without breaking it), he ate a sleeping bag, and chewed through our phone lines.

But, we love him. He soooooo wants to herd the freeloader cats. He also wants death to all flying things. And, he still would rather play than eat.