WANDERLUST

Shadow is eager to explore and he doesn't feel that I have to be part of every exploration. This morning as I was heading over to his line, he bolted. As he caught me by surprise and I was holding a rake, he ran and jerked his retractable leash from my hand.

It was cold last night, down in the 20's and 30's and it was only starting to warm up when he made his break. I figured he'd want to come back inside where it is warm but no, it was time to wander the neighborhood. Shadow does NOT have car sense. I am afraid of him darting into the path of something much heavier than himself and he'd get squished.

I started off on my bicycle and found him two houses over but when I called, he just took off running down the street. I went home and got the car figuring he might come to that, but as I rounded the corner, I saw two cars stopped in the road and people milling about. My heart froze; were they looking at my flattened puppy? Luckily not this time, he came trotting towards me but headed over to a neighbor's chicken coop. That held his interest long enough for me to saunter over and step on his leash. I led him back to the car and into his travel crate. I am going to go get a tag today with his name and telephone number on it.

He needs to learn about streets and cars. I love him too much to lose him to his ignorance.

Shadow's Dinner Table

Even though his dinner dish is in the kitchen being filled with his tasty dinner, you get the idea of his dinner table. When its nice outside, Shadow eats in the back patio, during the cooler months, he eats in the kitchen at his table. Did I say "eats"? Its more of a gobble. He is not shy when it comes to meals. I have recently begun adding a small can of wet food to his dry food. He licks the fork clean that stirs his food and then devours his meal. Don't blink, you'll miss his feeding time its so fast.

Christmas 2010

I am sure Shadow's love for me will have him overlook me sticking antlers on him. He is aware something is going on. Today Kim and I drove down to the paint shop to pick up a freshly painted car and Shadow came along. He had to ride in the Sable; I didn't want his sharp claws scratching the new finish. I had bought a soft travel cage to put in the Mercedes because I do want to take him with me but we will work out how that is going to happen. I did have Shadow hop into the back seat area and he readily went. The interior of the car is blue and his dark gray fur made a nice contrast. He is welcome aboard.

I am wondering how he will react to traveling with the top down?

Shadow at Thanksgiving

The house is quiet now with Mom gone a month ago and Shadow and I are alone here. I no longer latch his crate, he is free to wander all he wants now.

Today is Thanksgiving and I will still prepare the traditional feast just a much smaller version. During the preparation process, Shadow dogged my feet, hoping to trip me and have me spill whatever I was working on to the floor. But I am wise to him and don't fall; instead, I drop a morsel to the floor every now and again. His tail was twitching when I was roasting the chestnuts for the stuffing. After they had cooled enough to peel, I'd drop a piece to him and he liked that. I accidentally dropped a sliver of onion but one sniff told him there was no joy in that.

When the turkey legs and wings were roasting, Shadow paced back and forth in front of the oven as if he was on guard duty. That meat was NOT going to escape past his nose, no sireeee! He didn't show much interest as I baked the pies. If there had been a pumpkin one, he might have been interested, but I went for a rhubarb pie and an apple/mincemeat one this year. He doesn't seem to care for the sweet things. He did taste a piece of pie crust but only sniffed and nibbled at it out of politeness (He'll sniff at everything I offer, but only takes what he wants.

I sat him at the table for the picture but he wanted to jump down and go to his bowl. He had white meat, stuffing and a small amount of mashed potatoes mixed into his dry food. I poured a 1.4 cup of gravy over the concoction and stirred it for him. When I put it on his "Dinner Table" he went at it with glee. I like to see Shadow eating happily; I am thankful for many small things this Thanksgiving Day.

The Fire Pit

I have always loved sitting around a camp fire. And there is no finer sight than to see your dog sitting at the hearth with a fire burning. Florida is not big on fire places in homes although every now and again you do get to see one.

While picking up some paint at a local discount store, I saw a fire pit. It wasn't very expensive or large. We have a small concrete patio where the barbeque lives with little else there. Since the evenings have turned cooler, I figured the fire pit might be a welcome addition.

I wondered how the dog would react to the fire pit with a fire in it. The first evening I tried, he spent most of his time running and sniffing a new part of the yard. He didn't pay much attention at all. He did come over and lie down for a few minutes, but the fire wasn't much of a draw.

The second evening I built a fire was cooler than the first attempt. The warmth of the fire was a draw and he came over and stayed nearby for a while. The firewood was from a grapefruit tree that had died in the freeze last winter and had been standing for a season. The wood was dry and didn't give off much smoke. I had put the fire pit on a block pedestal so the light and heat was raised up. It was at a comfortable height for both of us.

Hello/Goodbye

As quick as the neighbor's dog came into the area, he left just as quickly. His owner came to pick him up 4 days ago and every time Shadow goes outside now, He looks for Shatta. This morning Shadow broke his nylon lead and he was off and running. I called him and he looked over as if to say, No way, I'm going running! And off he went. I am not in good enough shape to run after him because I have a new infection in my left foot. Who can catch this fleet little creature, anyway?

Well, what are we gonna do now, George? I've got to be smart enough to capture a furry creature. So I went out to the garage and picked up the heaviest leash I had and set out on my bicycle. He likes to run beside me when we're out and about. I saw a couple out for a stroll and asked them, "Hey, you seen a little gray puppy?" Before I even finished the sentence, both the man and woman pointed behind a neighbor's house. Who knows? He mighty have been looking for Shatta?

When he saw me on the street, he trotted over and ran right beside me. I went a little further to let him know that "yes" this was a run. I stopped and he came over to sniff and suffered the new leash without incident. I didn't have time to go for a long run with him but we went for ten minutes.

I added a new, heavy duty, retractable leash to the shopping list. When I got it, it was blue rather the old red one and it passed the sniff test when I showed it to him. Fun Day!

A New Neighbor

Next door, Shadow got a new neighbor. Evelyn's son just arrived from Arizona and brought his dog Shatta. Shadow had to say hello and he promptly got his leash tangled with Shatta's. All the new dog did was growl at me so I desisted in untangling them. I went around the front of the house and got Evelyn and was introduced to the new dog as a friend. We untangled the leashes and let the dogs greet each other.

Noticing that they had Shatta just tied to a tree, I suggested we string a rope between two trees so the dog had some room to move about. Until her son gets settled in a house, the dog will live outside. He has longer fur than Shadow and it is hot and humid this August; the dog will swelter. I'm sure it was warm in Arizona but as the saying goes- "Its a DRY heat". Florida sports a miserable hot wet climate throughout the summer months. Alligators and turtles are the only creatures who really feel at home here.

Tonight's Dinner

It is Monday evening and Mom and I had a really tasty rendition of ribs, baked beans (maple flavored) and a small salad. Shadow was back in my room as we ate and he could smell every flavor. He didn't whine, but I knew he was eager for his share. I am sure he cannot understand why in the world I throw away perfectly good pork rib bones and any explanation I might care to give him would be wasted.

But I thought he might enjoy some of the rib meat and a few scoops of the baked beans mixed into his dry food. I brought his dinner bowl into the kitchen and mixed all the "good stuff" into his dish. He could hear me putting all of it together and his voice told me he would enjoy tonight's dinner.

I hooked him to his lead and came into the kitchen to collect the dinner. He almost turned back flips. He knew what was up and telegraphed his delight with a full on dinner dance. We made our way to the doggie dinner table on the back patio and I let him begin his feast. After two eager chomps, he chewed the mouthful and looked up at me with thanks. His grin seemed to say "Now THIS is what dinner is supposed to taste like. More of THIS!"

I really enjoy seeing my dog Shadow enjoy something so simple as Dinner.

From Picture to Business Card

Shadow has come of age. He is two years old and a responsible member of the household now. it is time to give him some recognition. I took my favorite water shot of him and turned it into a business card for him. I got them printed for the whopping price of $1.99 for 500 cards with the color picture. He looked at them, sniffed them and said,
"Gee, great! Can I have a marrow bone, now?" He just doesn't see the bigger picture (yet).

If you click the picture of the biz card, it will enlarge.

ON VACATION IN THE KEYS

We took another shot at a trip to the Florida Keys. The trip last winter was a blow out, so we thought we'd try again. Lets go during hurricane season instead! The rainstorms on the 7 hour drive down were merely annoying. Every time we'd pull over to a rest area, it was wet but not raining, so we got down here to Key Largo okay. We stayed at the camp site right in Pennykamp Park and the facilities offered power and water so we were comfortable. As I went off to scuba dive or snorkel each day, Shadow went to the doggy day care at the Pet Motel. He seemed to enjoy the time there but was glad to see us when we picked him up. The staff there enjoyed having him as a guest and I'm glad the place existed because dogs were not allowed on the dive boats.

While we camped in the Park, Shadow got his daily exercise in by means of of a bike ride. He was familiar with the routine and we went all through the park and out on Route 1 as well.

The last night in Key Largo we spent in Kings Kamp, a little campground on the water and I think on my next visit to the Keys, I'll stay there. It was less restrictive than the state park. The manager's name was Gloria and she was very nice and gracious,

A Visit from Uncle Terry

Terry hadn't been here to visit for almost a year and Shadow had grown quite a bit since they had last seen each other. Terry is Shadow's self proclaimed "uncle". After the "Hi, how are you stuff", we decided to take Shadow back on the Weeki Wachi River. We loaded up the van and set out for the river which is only about 15 minutes away. As we got close to the water, Shadow begin to fidget. He knew we were going to have some fun.

I backed the trailer down the boat ramp and Terry launched the little Jon boat. The last time he and I had been on the river was a year and a half ago and we used his portable folding boat. It flexed a lot when he applied power but it was fun to get on the water. Shadow didn't go on that excursion. Terry remarked how much easier it was to just use a trailer. I actually had been prompted to get a boat after seeing how much fun this river was.

Getting the outboard started was a challenge this morning. It started up right away but then I flooded it. I spent the next twenty minutes pulling it through to try and start it again. After numerous applications of starting fluid, it fired up again and we were on our way.

The river was up but there were still some very shallow areas where we had to walk the boat. At one point as we were putting along in a deeper channel, Shadow decided to jump overboard. He was tethered to the boat and it kept moving. I didn't want him to get hit by the propeller so I quickly put the motor in neutral. We hauled the soggy pooch back aboard and then he shook off the water and doused Terry and I. Actually, it felt good as it was a hot and humid day.

We got to a bend in the river where the water was clear and we tied the boat up to the trees along the bank. There was a rope swing Terry wanted to try. He climbed out of the river up to the swing and I fed him the rope. All the while Shadow is watching from the riverbank.

Terry plopped into the water and the 2 girls watching wanted to try. So they gave it a go, too. Terry made one more and then his healing shoulder told him that was enough.

We got back aboard our little craft and headed down river to the boat ramp. the current was with us in this direction and the trip home was faster. The dog is fascinated with the wildlife and the smells he encounters and is sniffing to beat the band. It was a fun morning on the river with Shadow and "Uncle Terry". I look forward to many more water excursions with my friends.

Back to the DOG PARK

Shadow had not been to the dog park for many months. It had been a cold winter and the weather hadn't broken til last week. So it was fun to see the dog get excited as we rounded the last curves to the park. He was warbling his excitement and raring to go. When I let him out of his travel crate, he was straining at his leash and eager for action. As this is the major place he gets to socialize with other dogs, I am happy to bring him here.

Another reason I had waited so long was to keep him away from catching the canine version of swine flu. Even on the radio, we heard warnings to keep our dogs from congregating. So it was wonderful to get him back to meeting his own kind.

Little White Visitor

Each time i take Shadow out the front door to do his business, he rushes down the sidewalk to the front of the garage. It is curious to me that he goes there every time. Last night the mystery was solved. The all white little kitty from across the street likes to sit at the foot of our driveway. Maybe he knew someone here at a former time or maybe he belonged to my sister when she lived here, but the cat feels like he has business here at our house. Shadow knows nothing of the possibilities from whence the kitty came to like our place, he knows SMELLS. Every once in a while he will tug at the leash and want to chase the cat, after all, that's what they are for.

Today I noticed little paw prints in the dust on the car. Kitty probably sits there to keep warm in the chilly air. Shadow's new task is to keep Kitty at bay and off the car.

We will see how that goes. Kitty is quick, but so is puppy. These two adversaries are well matched, kitty has the ability to climb trees (like squirrels do), but the dog is cagey.

Every now and again, I see white kitty across the street hanging around the green house[ maybe he lives there, maybe he just cages an occasional meal. But Shadow knows the scent. Another habit the dog is developing is pointing off into the darkness behind the house at night. There is a small track of woods adjacent to our lot and creatures do call it home. Shadows knows this and would love to investigate. I don't want him meeting a skunk or snake so I keep him on his retractable leash. The two places he gets to run free is at the beach and the dog park. I love to see him galloping without restraints. I love to see him free.

Puppy's First Road Trip with me

I finally got a vacation. Brother Joe came down from Maryland to do "Mom Watch" for a week to be followed by sister Sally for another few days. I had big plans. We drove to the beautiful Florida Keys. Shadow was a very good traveler. He stood right next to me in the van so he could be petted. Should I take my attention away from him for a moment to check the map, traffic or any other of a driver's duty; he would poke his nose under my elbow to let me know he needed some love.

Our plans were not to be. The winds were howling in the Keys as a result of a cold front. We camped out in a KOA campground next to a mangrove thicket. We slept in the van and listened to the wind howl. We were adjacent to a swamp and there were all sorts of night smells and sounds for Shadow to relate to.

I had intended to shoot underwater video at John Pennycamp Park in Key Largo but the wind never let up and I figured the Keys will still be there for next time. After a few frigid days, we decided to go north. Our destination was Zephyrhills parachute center, Skydive City.