Howdy blogaroos! Did ya miss us? We’re still here – enjoying the last days of summer – but also anxiously awaiting our annual Fall Leaf Rolling. That and “Find the Poop” are two of our favorite autumn activities. We play the first game and the Warden plays the second. We COULD help her with her game – but it’s more fun to watch her straining to see where we left a small monument in the leaves. Great fun.

So. What have we been up to…

Well Aunt Sue has come and gone. Every morning we took her on a walk. Usually, she walked with the Coyote. He doesn’t zigzag as much as yours truly.

Mind you, while walking him, one has to be aware that he will drink from disgustingly gross puddles if given the chance – so he needs to be “guided” past puddles quickly. Very quickly.

In addition to our early morning walks, Aunt Sue also joined us on our late night jaunts. And she got to see how crazy we can be if we smell a foreign creature on our property. One night, I kept pulling toward a big rock. And the ladies spotted the source of my interest.

Two glowing eyes. Which we think belonged to a kitty cat. At least we HOPE it was a kitty. If I had been let off leash I could have found out.

And speaking of nighttime visitors, the Warden is currently tormenting the local raccoons. She puts things in our organics green bin – and to combat the critters getting in it, she has attached a bungee cord to the lid so it can’t be opened. That doesn’t stop the dudes from trying. They routinely knock over the whole huge can. We haven’t seen them but we picture a couple of them shoving it with all their might – thinking the lid will fly open. But nope – it’s firmly attached. The Warden woke up the other night and swore she heard a repeated “twang” sound. She figured the masked marauders were plucking the bungee cord in an effort to get into some corn cobs. The Coyote heard them and gave one “BOOF” and went back to sleep. We’re not exactly good garbage guards.

What else? Oh. Oh. Guess what I did?! You’ll never guess so I’ll just tell ya. I went to my very first scent workshop! And I’m here to tell ya – that’s my thing. Sniff out treats in a box? Hello? Is this for real? At first I thought it was a joke. I mean COME ON. Make a PON look for food? I thought I died and went to doggie heaven. I had a blast! By the end of the 3 hours, I could even find the box which didn’t have a treat – but did have the scent of Wintergreen. Yeah – I caught on to the game pretty quickly. Mind you, you will recall that the summer before last I sniffed out over 500 golf balls in the woods. So I do get the whole “ use your nose” thing.

Shortly after Aunt Sue left, a friend of the Warden’s from Virginia came to visit. Alice was here two years ago – and we like her very much. Even though she’s a cat person. Good thing she doesn’t live in Ohio…

Anyway, Alice clearly liked us too. She called me a Wild Man – which I don’t totally understand. But whatever. She let us lick her yoghurt container – and that makes her a goddess in my books.

While she was here, she and the Warden took off for a few days leaving us to fend for ourselves. Just kidding. We had our dog sitter/trainer – Saint Jane come to stay with us. She brought along her two shaggies – Kwik and Fidjit. And we all got along great.

The Warden had been worried that the Coyote would go on a hunger strike because we know he doesn’t deal well with change of any kind. But he decided to shock her – and ate all his meals. And Saint Jane didn’t even need to stand on her head!

Now there WAS a brief moment of panic when Saint Jane texted the Warden and said the Coyote refused to open his mouth for his daily assortment of pills. And Saint Jane has LOTS of experience giving pills to dogs. The Warden had forgotten in her 30 page list of instructions to mention the magic word “open” used when prying his jaws open. And voila! It worked! So all was right with the world!

The Coyote had a semi-annual vet check a few weeks ago. His blood work showed some changes in his kidney values- but nothing critical. His weight is steady and he weighs exactly what he did before his health crisis began. He never WAS a heavy boy – weighing only 56lbs at his highest weight. We never shared this – but last September when he was diagnosed with the often fatal Lyme Nephritis, he was down to 44lbs. He was literally skin and bones. He was one very, very sick boy.

But – we have passed the one year “anniversary” of that scary time – and here we are – back to his pre-diagnosis weight. Now please don’t be fooled – he and the Warden still have food wars – and he still needs to be force fed at certain times. Not fun for either of them. But he’s happy, bouncy and he LOVES playing Humpty Dumpty games with me. The vet was pretty impressed with him and as she said “he looks like a normal dog!” I think that’s going a bit far. He’s never been totally “normal.” At least in my opinion. But I’m here to tell you- we do like each other. And he’s pretty tolerant of my rough play. I’m pretty lucky.

Good news in the obedience world – Canada has introduced some rule changes to come into place next year.

Currently there is an exercise at the Novice level where dogs are lined up and their handlers have to leave them and walk a mile away while they stay sitting for one minute. Then they do the same thing in a down position for 3 minutes. (Note: it isn’t really a mile – but it feels like that to some of us). Anyway…I am NOT great at that exercise. Frankly, I find it boring. I look around, check out the dog next to me and IF I don’t know them, sometimes I go to say “hello.” This obviously is NOT cool. Just because I’m friendly, it doesn’t mean the dog next to me is friendly. So my “innocent” exchange of pleasantries could cause a huge problem. Now it never has – because the Warden KNOWS this is an issue for me- and besides class, and a few matches, she would never put me in a real trial. And thankfully, during my occasional walk overs in class (or in one match), I never caused a huge ruckus. Still – the Warden was wondering if I would ever be able to be in a real trial. But ta da – the rules have changed – and dogs are now on leash for the exercise. So obviously, the handlers are only 6 feet away. We did it in class the other day and I didn’t move an inch. I’m no fool. I know I’m on leash!

So now- maybe when the rules come into place in January, I’ll FINALLY be able to compete. Or I’ll think of something else to do wrong. Just for fun…

Otherwise, we have no other boring news. Sadly, our neighbors with the cats have moved. Not sure where the Coyote will go if he ever escapes now. That was his favorite destination. In fact….a few weeks ago, before they moved….he did just that.

A friend was coming to visit and the Warden went to greet her at the door. Here’s the thing about the Warden – she’s a hugger. If she hasn’t seen someone in a while – she hugs them. So she hadn’t seen her friend, proceeded to give a hug and whoosh- the Coyote saw it as a perfect opportunity to race past and out the door. Her friend jumped in her car to search while the Warden grabbed a leash. She raced up the driveway, shouted his name – and lo and behold he ran out of the bushes from the direction of the cat neighbors. Clearly the cats weren’t out. The Warden did that “hey buddy!” in the fake voice that sounds like she’s happy but you KNOW she wants to strangle him – and he ran over to her. She leashed him wearing the fake happy face telling him how great he was to come over to her (meanwhile her blood pressure had finished climbing). She grabbed her phone and called her friend who was cruising the road on the lookout for the escapee – and told her the emergency was over. I tell this story lest anyone think he doesn’t feel well with his kidney issues. There’s still PLENTY of energy there!!!

So that’s it. A rather long review of our pretty ordinary lives.

But this blog would not be complete without some “other” news. If you didn’t know it – it’s an election year in the US. Cough cough. And here’s the thing – NEITHER Presidential candidate owns a pet. Not even a goldfish. Who are these people? BUT both Vice Presidential candidates thankfully own dogs- so all is not lost. And it appears that one of them is a dog who I can totally relate to.

https://www.today.com/pets/minnesota-governor-dog-locked-bedroom-rcna122484

Eating glasses and locking out humans are seriously cool actions. Scout is my hero. But then again, he’s not running. And I can’t vote. But if I could….

OK. Gotta go lick some body part that will drive the Warden crazy.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. JBJ