It's a Dog's Life 2

It's been a long week and I've been soooooooo boooooooored! Mom hasn't been taking me for all the walks she promised me this summer. She's always got some excuse - gotta go paint her classroom, gotta work on her computer, rain or heat or something. She won't throw the ball for me, either. Something about her arm hurting. (She's been wearing something on her elbow a lot, too.) But today - YAY! - we went for a walk!
I didn't think we were going to at first. She started out knitting this morning, then she and Lexi got in the car and went somewhere, without me, of course. Well, I figured I'd teach her a lesson and get into some of her things while she abandoned and ignored me for another day. Something on her table smelled good...
Anyway, when they got back she changed her clothes and grabbed...MY LEASH!!! The cool extension one that lets me run a bit! Holy cow! It's been so long I had SO many little news articles to read and had to leave my own information for the other neighborhood dogs a few times, too. You know what I mean, that little sign to tell them, "I was here, too." Hey, I'm an intelligent dog and I need to keep up with the news. I need the mental stimulation. Mom's a pretty smart woman and she says she reads, but she sticks her nose in papers or on the computer. I've smelled those things and even tasted them a little. There's no news there. 
So I checked out all the hot spots and tried to get the latest updates on who's been where recently. I had a great time. She even called me a good girl and I got to roll in the grass and run around the yard a little...it was hot, though, so I didn't do a lot of that. Mom brushed me before she would let me in. I guess I got some dead grass or something all over me that she didn't want in the house. At any rate, she said maybe we can go to the park later if it's not too hot and Dad wants to go. I haven't been for a ride in the truck for a few weeks, so that would be fun. She even said we might get the hose out and play later if it's too hot for a walk in the park! She really learned her lesson!
I have to admit, I was really surprised. Usually when I punish her she doesn't comply with me so quickly. Then I found out why. It turns out she didn't actually know I had taught her a lesson until we came back in and she found the evidence...

She wasn't very happy with me then and called me a bad dog. I sure hope I don't cough up those tissues.

AHA! They Tricked Me!

I found out why Mom and Dad gave me a great treat weekend at Pet Play Station. They went to visit Alli!!! No fair. I never get to see her now that she's off somewhere probably playing with other dogs. Oh, sure, she says she's studying to be a photographer or something. Sure she is. I've seen how other dogs react to her. Mom even posted an entry about other dogs that come around when she's "taking pictures." Mom says Alli tried to talk them into getting me a new Kong flying disc, but they wanted something squeaky. Well, I guess it's OK. 

I mean, it flies and it squeaks when you find just the right spot. And, OK, finding the right spot to bite makes it a neat puzzle challenge. Alright, I'll admit it's fun to play with, but they still should have taken me along to play with Alli. Oh, well. I guess I had fun anyway and I like the new toy.
*sigh* I guess I'll forgive them all...this time.

(Note from Mom: Storm actually does *sigh* a lot. She's very emotionally expressive :D)

New Friend or New Toy?

One day a couple weeks ago an odd thing happened. There I was, minding my own business, laying in the new grass around the patio (because it's so lush and comfy!) and I saw a strange "thing" in the yard. It had a hard back and looked like a ball but it had a head. I wasn't sure if it was someone to play with or something to play with.

I went closer to investigate, but when I tried to play with it, the head disappeared! I was going to roll it over to look for it, but Dad called me back. I watched it, just the same. You just never know...

Without the head sticking out, it really did look like a ball I could roll around. I love playing hide-the-ball games but I usually play them inside. This looked like a great idea for a new hide-and-seek! But Dad and Mom both got a little too excited about it and wouldn't let me play with it. Ya know, out here in the middle of nowhere it's not that easy to make new friends...or find new games to play when you're bored. They just don't understand.
(Note from Mom: A few days ago she also tried to befriend a groundhog, the size of a dachshund or a little bigger, that was sitting up on its haunches looking for all the world as if it wanted to meet her, too. She walked up to it so nonchalantly I couldn't believe it - but we saved her from that encounter, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't grab my camera quickly enough. ;)

My Mini Vacation

It's been a pretty quiet week, not counting the storms that kept Mom and me from playing outside very much. We took a nice walk one day and played out a little a couple other times, but it was too wet and miserable to do much of that on the other days. We're hoping to start walking every morning as soon as the weather lets us. That doesn't mean I haven't had any fun yet this summer. You saw the post Mom made about my new Li'l Devil, right? Well, one of the first things we got to do was go to the Pet Play Station. (By "we" I mean me and Li'l Devil. Mom didn't stay.)

Last year I went to Pet Play Station a few times. I made some friends and tried a bit of swimming. I had a great time! When I got there this time, I was so excited I couldn't stop barking and running around like an idiot. Then I realized I was probably making Mom feel bad that I wasn't absolutely despondent that I wasn't going home with her, so I kept acting like an idiot but tried to make it look like I wasn't happy to be staying and was desperate to leave. She said I was embarrassing her and hurting Jamie's feelings, but I couldn't help it - SO EXCITED!!!
Jamie is a lot like me - full of energy and a little hyper but cuddly just the same. I have to admit I was a little nervous about this stay. There were two loud dogs that kept everybody else (including me, at first) barking. They were only puppies. One was four months old and one was five months old. Usually PPS is pretty much a puppy-free zone. They need to be potty trained and able to take behavior commands before they get to stay at the resort.

 PPS has an agility area that looks like a lot of ...well, work, actually. I used to do agility training when I was a puppy but the family got too busy to keep it up and I'm not sure if my joints could take it these days.
That's OK, though. There's plenty to do all day. I made friends with the other dogs. Most of them were smaller than me, which is nice because I like smaller dogs. Mom says I like to "mother" smaller dogs. Whatever. They just make me comfortable to be around...usually.

They weren't all smaller dogs. I also got to meet a nice Mastiff.

Nice Mastiff I made friends with...btw, this isn't Jamie but she's nice and fun, too :)

We ran around together a bit over the weekend and had a lot of fun. I like to watch more than I like to get involved though. I take my glucosamine to keep my joints from aching, but sometimes being around a lot of other dogs can be overwhelming. Let's face it - I lead a pretty quiet life most of the time.
Jamie and I take walks through the woods, which is nice but I'm never sure if I should go there. Mom and Dad keep me out of the woods for some strange reason. They get really irritated with me and call me "bad dog" if I don't stop short of the woods when I'm protecting the yard from tree rats. (Note from Mom: Dad is very allergic to poison ivy, which abounds in the woods around our home...and "tree rats" are squirrels.) So whenever Jamie takes me walking I usually try to turn back right away. Well, I have to admit it's not just that I'm not sure if I should go in the woods. I also have a need to check on everyone and make sure they're all OK. Mom says that's part of the Shepherd in me. I'm sure she probably read that somewhere or saw it on Animal Planet.

I do have one particular activity I indulge in, though. Last year I met a cute GSD - I think his name was Beefcake *sigh* - and he taught me to swim.  I wasn't sure I'd remember how at first, but it came back pretty quickly. The water felt so good I just dived right in!

It's not like the hose at home - SO nice to be able to get all of me wet at the same time! I'm particularly fond of what Jamie calls "cannonballs." I don't know what she's talking about, though. I've jumped in over and over and never found any balls in there. Humans are so silly sometimes.
I hope I get to go back again sometime this summer. Maybe some of my old friends will be there next time. I made a few friends down at the campground over Memorial Weekend, but I never get to see those dogs again...well, except Rocky and Charger and Beckett, but they aren't new friends. They go with us every Memorial Weekend. Anyway, I was really hoping some of the dogs I met last year would be at PPS this time to go swimming with. OK, I was hoping one particular dog I met last year would be there to swim with. *sigh* Maybe next time...

Happiness Is...

...a little red devil with a loud, high-pitched squeaker. :) 
Storm's favorite toy bit the dust, or rather she bit it to death. The poor thing's squeaker fell inside it and it was getting to the point where the little shards of it were getting chewier than they should have done. The time was ripe for replacement so I snuck away to Petco last Sunday and found her a new Little Devil. It tasted funny at first, but the squeak won her over.
The fun of Storm's mind is the educational quality of it. Whenever she kills a squeaker in a toy, she always finds a toy that squeaks and plays with them both together, trying to teach the broken one how to squeak again. ;) It cracks us up. She wouldn't let me get video of that. Every time I went for my camera she posed. She's so vain! 

But the little devil isn't the only squeaky toy she likes. We have a Chuck-it because, well, I throw like a little girl - no, really, little girls usually throw a little better than me with just a little practice. So I love the Chuck-it, too. Only I found a replacement ball that she really likes to chase: a squeaky tennis ball! Now, if you combine the regular ball with a squeaky ball and alternate throws, pretty soon her teaching brain kicks in and she has to play with both balls and won't let me throw them anymore. You guessed it - she tries to teach the regular ball to squeak like the other one. It's just too funny!
But for now she's pretty happy with the new little devil ball...

Storm Clouds

Usually when you see a green sky and storm clouds, you expect a nasty little storm brewing. These aren't those kinds of storm clouds, these are Storm clouds - she sheds her undercoat constantly year-round. With this heat her brushing sessions yield a small dog a day. This week has been rather breezy, though, and I can't quite catch all the fur from the brush right after I brush her. Occasionally a batch will form from smaller strands and lift in the wind to carry itself past the window and land in the grass.

 They make such interesting formations when they finally finish twisting and turning in the air and land. We're hoping for some actual rain this weekend to help a new patch of grass grow...yes, the patch where these particular Storm clouds landed. It's her favorite place to lay these days - lots of shade, long and cool grass, generally kept damp to help it grow. The tough part is that I can't exactly vacuum the grass like I do the carpet areas she loves best.

A good deshedding brush is vital to living with a GSD. She has a thick undercoat to protect her from weather, but it also tends to trap heat - great for a snow dog, but not so great for a hot Missouri summer. Water play is essential. Today she got to play in the hose before she got brushed. Unfortunately, that helped in the formation of the Storm clouds today because the grass and the hair were both damp. I had more stuck to my hands, too...and my pants...and my feet...