The honeymoon is over.

Howdy blogaroos. Welcome to canine chaos central. Yup – the calm, peaceful honeymoon is over. Let insanity reign!

So Sprocket Rocket arrived Saturday night. And he’s been a polite gentleman- acknowledging that I am the senior canine here- and bowing to my omnipotence. I still don’t know what to make of him – so I just basically watch him. I HAVE initiated a little game where I march around the dining room table – and he follows me. Sometimes I do it while carrying a toy – or empty food bowl. He’s pretty clever though, he has figured out that by dodging chair legs he can go under the table – and cut me off. He still doesn’t know what to do if he catches me – and truth be told, I haven’t really thought through the objectives of the game either. But it does succeed in tiring him out – so that’s good. Here’s a short sample:

So things were pretty calm and easy – until we FINALLY got some sun today. We had a full day of rain since he arrived, and we had not yet been let “free” in the backyard. But today was the day he got FREEDOM.

Of course, he began by doing what puppies, and, well some adult dogs do very well. Excavation work. I was a digger as a puppy:

And Sprocket is equally interested in moving dirt:

I actually demonstrated a good place to start the excavation project – and he followed my instructions. Unfortunately, the “fun police” aka Aunt Sue – thought he would get all muddy – so she attempted to divert his attention from the project. That didn’t go as she planned:

Shortly after this video – I went up on the deck and my Shadow followed. I thought I should help Aunt Sue – she clearly needed my assistance.

Later in the afternoon, after the Warden mowed the lawn, she took us out again. This time, the Rocket started the project and yours truly, who the Warden had literally just spent 1.5 hours brushing, jumped in to join him. When the Warden told me to stop, I got the Zoomies. And then Sprocket got the Zoomies. We were running and rolling- the Warden kept shouting “stop!” I was careful with him- but the Warden just wanted to be sure no one would get hurt. As she went to grab me, the Rocket jumped back into the hole and started digging like mad. I bolted and started a new project right behind him. Dirt was flying everywhere. As the Warden went to grab the Rocket- he was squirming and biting like a snapping turtle. Safe to say I really got him wound up. The Warden carried him up the deck stairs and I raced behind her. She said we both needed a little “time out.”

Suffice to say that after our construction work, we were both tired out. Oh – and so was the Warden. The little guy was asleep in under 10 seconds.

Tomorrow Aunt Sue leaves us – and we’re sad already – even though she is the “fun police.” Sprocket Rocket will likely be a big boy the next time she comes to visit – but I’m sure he’ll remember her. I always do!

Time to hit the sack. The Rocket starts squeaking the toy in his crate every morning around 4:30. Thankfully HE doesn’t squeak at the same time- so the Warden can “sleep in” until 6:30. Yours truly gets up whenever everyone else gets up.

And isn’t it wonderful – we canines approach each day with waggy tails and happy hearts. We may cause a little chaos at times – but underneath it all – we’re just the calming influence humans need!

Stay tuned for more adventures from the asylum!

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