Three Truths

Yesterday marked the first day in a LONG time that I got out with the dogs and took a walk.  I decided that with the slightly cooler days and lower humidity, it would be a great time to stop being a couch potato every evening.  So, I strapped Thumper into his harness, and Lightning into his leash, and we set off down the street.  Yes, I was walking the two dogs by myself.  Almost as soon as Thumper dragged me through the door, I realized that something was wrong with his harness.  It took a few blocks but I finally figured out what it was:  I put the darn thing on him backwards.  Instead of it providing me a good grip on him, he had a good grip on me, and he pulled me everywhere, and poor Lightning was just along for the ride.  Being the obedient dog, he stayed in heel position most of the time.  I'm sure he wondered why we took such a helter-skelter path around the neighborhood....

So, on this walk from hell, I realized three truths:

1.  I am really out of shape.  Of course I was dragging 110 pounds of dog with me, but still, I am really out of shape.

2.  Thumper is afraid of little kids, particularly boys.  I found this out when my neighbors' little boys yelled "Doggies!!!" and ran up to us.  The Daddy followed them, and asked (while patting Thumper's head), "Oh, when did you get this dog?  How hold is he?  He looks really young - and terrified!".  I looked down from talking to the Mom, and saw that Thumper had run to stand behind my legs.  He was peering around timidly at the youngest boy.   Yep, that's my big bad Thumper.  Scared of a 2 year old.  Lightning, meantime, was gathering as many pets as he could.

3.  Obedience training is so worth the time and effort.  And I need to invest some of that in Thumper.  This truth I realized as my right arm was numb from trying to reign Thumper in and my left arm felt fine because Lightning had been walking on that side.  

As we got near home (finally!),  I paused to talk to another neighbor, and her little ones rode their power wheels toy up to us.  One angelic looking little girl with curly blonde hair asked if she could pet Lightning.  I said yes, and she cautiously held her hand out, and he sniffed it and let her pet him.  Next thing I knew, she was hugging him.  Lightning was eating this up, leaning up against her and holding his ears back in a cute, puppyish kind of way.  The little girl then cautiously looked at Thumper (who was hiding behind my legs again), and looked back at Lightning.  Then she said, "This is the goodest dog, isn't it?", referring to Lightning.  I said yes, he is a good dog.  Then she pointed at Thumper at said, "And he's the baddest, huh?".  I explained that no, he's not bad.  He's just young and doesn't listen too well yet.   

After answering her, I realized that time is passing, and before long, that answer won't be true anymore.  He won't be a young and ill-mannered dog.  He'll just be an ill-mannered dog.  I think I've put off obedience training him because I love all the silly things he does, and once he's trained, I'm afraid he'll lose his silliness.  After the walk from hell, I think it's time to put those sentimental concerns aside and start the obedience training.  **sigh**  True to form - I think I'll start tomorrow...today, I want to enjoy the silliness.  :)

Reflections

It's hard to believe 10 years have past since 9-11.  Never forget.

  

    

New Bed!

Hello, Everyone,

Guess what?  I got a new bed today!  I love my new bed...sleeping in it is even better than sleeping on the couch!  I'm not sure where I want it yet, though.  I've moved it a couple of times and haven't found the perfect spot yet.  I hope I can restrain myself from chewing on it and unstuffing it.  It is soft and it reminds me so much of my stuffed toys....

It's getting late.  I'm going to try to move my bed again.  Mom says it works better if I don't stand in my bed while I move it.  We'll see!

Thanks for stopping by,
Thumper

Lightning set the marsh on fire?

Lightning here...taking over the blog tonight.

I'm confused this evening.  It smells really bad outside, and the air looks foggy all day like the morning sometimes is.  Earlier my boy said it was because of the marsh fire outside of New Orleans and the wind blowing the smoke our way.  He asked Mom what started the fire, and she said Lightning!  That really got my attention.   I looked at her like she was nuts.  Lightning didn't start a fire.  Lightning has been home with Thumper every day!  Hmph....she must have misunderstood.  I'm going to sleep on this one tonight. Maybe my boy will come home from school with better information than Mom had.

What do you think?

Wacky Wednesday

Here's some humor to lighten the day...I received the following "story" in an email.  I don't know who wrote it originally so, sorry, I can't give credit to anyone.  But I thought it was funny, and can't we all use something to make us laugh?  Enjoy...

DOG FOR SALE

A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a
broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog For Sale '.  He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.  The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

'You talk?' he asks.   'Yep,' the Lab replies. After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young..
I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA.  In no time at all they had me jetting from
country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a
dog would be eavesdropping.'

'I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running... But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so  I decided to settle down. I signed up for a jobat the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.'  'I got married, had a  mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

'Ten dollars,' the guy says.

'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?'

'Because he's a liar.  He's never been out of the yard!

If Thumper could talk, he'd tell tales like this.  Except they would probably be about catching squirrels or cats or rabbits when all he ever gets to chase are lizards or frogs.  And if Lightning could talk, he'd tell the truth about Thumper's stories.  He's like the big brother who likes to get the little brother in trouble, always there looking like, "But I'm good, right?" as Thumper is giving me material to blog about.  :)

Have a good Wednesday.  The weekend is only a couple of days away.

Crazy Ears

Lightning has some crazy ears.  When he was a little puppy, they hung down like Lab ears.  Then as he grew, they changed and now look more like Greyhound ears with the way they fold back or stick out to the side.  I love his crazy ears.  They give him so much personality.


Here he is with his one of his crazy ears sticking up - a position they can only maintain momentarily.  I wonder what he's thinking?

Wow....I can hear so clearly now!  

Do I hear Thumper getting in trouble?  

He probably stole another eggplant....

Housework...and an awful lot of dog fur.

So, today I decided to get caught up on my housekeeping.  The last few weeks have been crazy with back to school and one of to college.  About a month ago, I decided I just wasn't even going to keep things really clean because with the boys here (both the human and canine variety), nothing stayed clean more than 20 seconds anyway.  I did vacuum and dust weekly and keep the kitchen and bathrooms up, but no more than necessary.  Boy, did I pay for it today.

I decided that I was going to get ALL the dog hair up and out of every corner.  Plus off my bedspread and off the furniture.  I really don't like the dogs being on the bed, but they sneak up there (especially Thumper) any chance they can.  To accomplish this unheard of task, I put both dogs in Thumper's crate and broke out my new vacuum cleaner and vacuumed for a solid four hours.  Then I got my son to continue for longer.  I vacuumed every floor, carpet, rug, bedspread, and any other horizontal surface around until the vacuum cleaner no longer picked up dog hair.  And I decided that my dogs shed more than any other animal I've ever seen, including my aunt's Huskies, and that next summer, I think I'm going to get them buzz cuts.  I love their soft furry coats, but this experience today has made me see the beauty in a Chinese hairless whatever it is.

Now I'm going to sit back and recuperate.  Lightning is curled up sleeping off his horrible experience of being crated with Thumper.  He's got the right idea.

Night all....Have a good rest of the weekend.