Aaaargh... rain

Wasn't too bad, actually. Once you're wet, there's no sense in complaining about it.

Princess and Oliver looked funny with their rain-soaked hair-do's. It makes Princess look really scrawny.

So apparently everybody is coming back next week. Back from vacation, back from injuries, back from god-knows-where. I have 14 scheduled dogs on Tuesday, with another 4 possibles. Clearly Cindy will have to help out if that ends up being the case. Amazing, I go from 3-4 dogs a day for a few stretches, to possibly 18. That's the business!

Felix and Ellie are back next week, and Kodiak, Kiji and Abbey are back to fulltime.

REMINDER: There are no walks on Monday, Sept 1st!

Thursday. 1 more day until the long weekend.

Hot and humid today, so spent a lot of time in the shade with the dogs.

Maple likes to dig holes. And guard said holes. Molly likes to try to get into the holes that Maple has dug. Maple growls at Molly, and Molly rolls over. Aaaand repeat.

Dolly was thrilled to be out today, and made sure to give everyone kisses! At one point, when we were stopped for a shade/water break, both her and Liam came and sat with me for about 5 minutes. This is amazing, because these 2 little dogs are always on the go and getting into something. Dolly gave Liam kisses, of course!

Brinkley spent the ENTIRE walk by my side, waiting for me to throw something for him. I'd grab every stick, rock or pine cone I could get, and off he'd go. Over an hour of this, and he STILL wanted more!

Pictures

Maple and Molly!

Fred!

Oliver is ready for his closeup.

The Ol' Waterin' Hole

Princess is FANCY

Dog bums

Let's play "Spot the Molly"! (click the image for larger)

Maple is pretty and she knows it.

Pictures... and VIDEO!

So the video is mostly sideways... sorry! At about the 30-60 second time frame, Oliver emerges from the bushes with a branch stuck to his ear. At first he doesn't notice it, but when he does, he tries to get it off, and consequently almost falls back into the bushes.

Dogs in video: Oliver, Princess, Molly, Dolly, Maple, Liam, Fred and Buddy.

The return

Welcome back Kodiak!

Finally, some nice weather

So 22 degrees, sunny, light breeze, no rain, no bugs. Why couldn't it be like this all summer? This week is shaping up to be the best one, weather-wise, all year (with the exception of possible rain on Friday. Whatever, it's a long weekend, I'll give you that one, Mother Nature).

So Kodiak is back, tentatively, and apprehensively. He had been off for about 4 months with a paw injury that wouldn't heal correctly, and now has to wear his winter boots to protect it. He could care less! He's HAPPY! He was so excited to get back in the pack and see all his old friends, and sniff all his old places at the park. I'm pretty sure he smiled for 3 hours straight on Friday.

Mika and Toko were thrilled to see him, too (well Mika was, Toko could care less!). They all sat together in the back of the van on the way to the park and the whole way back. All three of them grinning wildly.

Spencer has been full of beans lately. She got a fancy haircut the other week, and looks totally spiffy. For an older dog, she can really move when she wants to. (she's motivated by cookies I think).

Felix will be coming back next week! As will Ellie, I believe. Wohoo!

Fred comes out of the closet

Literally!

Once or twice a week, when I pick Fred up, he walks out of the closet where, I assume, he has been napping.

Did you think I meant something else?

Thursday, and Buddy and Charlie

So Buddy was back this week, after about 3 weeks on "vacation" (do dogs take vacation? Only if they go to the cottage I guess). He seems, for whatever reason, to have a bit more confidence than he normally had. He's usually a pretty shy and quiet Lab, not particularly paying attention to anyone, and going the other way when someone wants to play with him. But he appears to be infatuated with Fred (who isn't?). And by "infatuated", I mean "wants to hump constantly". Buddy is usually the humpee, not the humper, so this is a role reversal for sure. Fred is none to pleased about this, as Buddy probably outweighs him by 50lbs...

Charlie, one of the 4 Labs I walk, spent some time boarding with Al a few weeks ago. Charlie is not a normally hyperactive dog. He saunters everywhere. Except when he sees Al now, like today. Here's his thought process:

"Boy, what a nice day. I'm in no particular hurry to go anywhere. I'm just going to go over here, maybe eat some grass, stare at the sun. Hey! Is that Al? OH MY GOD! IT'S AL!"

And Charlie changes demeanour and charges poor Al, all smiles and bounces and licks.

I don't get that kind of reception. Mind you, he sees me every day, so it's not that exciting anymore. And he spent a week or two AT Al's house, so you know... I don't feel that bad.

Light day tomorrow, only a few dogs. Then weekend!

Random picture of Sprocket and Maggie

Sprocket loves to kiss his step-sister Maggie

Thursday at the swimmin' hole

Went swimming today. The swimming hole is almost gone, but it's deep enough for the smaller dogs to still be able to swim. The others can pretty much touch bottom, but it's still a good time.

Liam can really swim! For such a little dog, he's pretty adept at keeping up with the others in the water.

I put Fred on a double leash so he could go farther into the water, and he swam too! Not just waded, but actually dog paddled for a little bit! He's awfully buoyant, that's for sure. Once he got out, he ran around in circles for a little while until he got hot again, then went back in.

The van smelled like wet dog on the way home...