updates

Some of you are aware that I have been very worried about his other knee, last week I took him to the surgeon and he declared both knees healthy. Some of the things we are seeing MAY be due to spondylosis which is a form of arthritis that attacks the spine. I hope that isn't the case but we will be taking extra care from here on out.
Otherwise he is good to go and ready for fun!

Speaking of fun I bought him a new toy last week - a so-called intelligent toy - well after the first session with it I thought we had finally done it. We had a toy that would take a bit of time for him to figure out.
Nope
Second time with his toy



We will continue to search LOL

My trip to the beach

Whew my human is lazy - I had to keep on her about getting this out there, so without further ado......

My trip to the beach was great!
In the car I look out the window the whole time. I can see out the window while I am lying down so that keeps me out of trouble. Apparently lots of dogs just sleep - I get way too excited for that!


Once we got to the beach place my mom took me out to the ocean and sand. In the ocean I saw something moving around so I caught it, it was a baby shark - so I was told - and I had to drop it and my human put it back in the ocean. Whatever!
This was my shark, please note my paw prints next to it.........


This is my beach, isn't it pretty?



I did lots of exploring, my dad is very good at this too so we look at things together....



I remembered that it is fun to dig in sand.
It is very exciting even though you don't always find the crab





I give it my all!




Another really good thing about the beach is you meet lots of friends.
This year my two favorite friends were Mac and Doc.

Mac was just 1 yr old but he was a good swimmer and he really, really loved to fetch the toy from the water.
He loved it so much he got kind of sick so I didn't get to play with him again. That was a shame because he was so nice and lots of fun.

The next day I met Doc. We played a different game and chased each other around the beach. We were already pretty tired when my dad took this video.



So as you can see going to the beach is lots of fun. There are a lot of things to do and also lots of fun new dog friends to play with.
I would love to live at the beach, I bet I could even catch a pelican when my human wasn't watching!

through thick and thin

I know that anyone that reads this blog knows that I love my crazy oversized mutt. Probably too much..............but it is what it is.

We are off to the beach tomorrow.
Bugsy loves the beach and we love that we can take him there. Unfortunately we learned last year that no matter how much fun the boy has all day long - he does not want you to leave him in the room and have fun without him.
Last year he howled for hours when we left - I was horrified when I found out.
We thought it might be separation anxiety but that just doesn't make sense. He may be very happy to see us come home BUT he never minds when we leave. Well unless we are going for a walk or run or bike ride.
So it is fun anxiety - he is letting us know he is not OK with us having fun without him. And there isn't any training we can do with that. I mean we leave him and he howls.

Today I have pulled together most of the things we are taking and he is ready to fly every time I move. This is not Mr Chilled Out - I so wish he would relax and not constantly try to predict my next move.......

Which brings me to what this post is about - My little Bugsy just is who he is. I try and have tried to change him to a more relaxed dog. And I suppose he is. At least now when the mood strikes you can sort of snuggle him. No chance of that when he was young, so it is an improvement. But he really is still always ON.
I wish I could help him to be less stressed, but whatever he is, I love him.

hopeful thought, thank you Tina

Today a friend - an internet friend- had her dog put to sleep due to a heart condition. It is a sad moment but also a kind end to an amazing story. My friend works at a shelter and last August this old brown dog was turned in and in poor condition and health. It was thought she would only live a few weeks at best. My friend decided she didn't want this old girl to die in the shelter so she took her home.
She was heartworm positive and had a host of other issues but his old girl had life in her and warmth and love and joy. My friend gave her a home and nursed her to better health. Little Agnes the old brown dog got toys and a bed and scrumptious healthy food. She never met the huge contingent of "Aunts" she had scattered across the country but she knew they were out there.
And as her heart faded she got the best care possible.
But when it became too much for her, my friend took her to cross the bridge with dignity, with an owner, with love.
Powerful stuff.
Amazing stuff.

The stuff that helps balance the ugly part of humanity - the people that mistreat their dogs and the ones that give them up because they had a baby or because they don't have time or some other typically self-centered and lame excuse.
I understand that not everyone can afford the very best food or thousands of dollars for specialist veterinary care but dogs can get by on much less - but they do need love.
They need some of your time.
Dogs - unlike cats - are truly companion animals - we humans made them such.
They want a place to sleep, inside with you.
They want to join you for a walk or a silly game in the back yard.

I could go on but I'll stop, however I will say this........
If you are thinking of getting a dog, be honest with yourself about your dedication level. Dogs need training and exercise and time and love.
Their lives are short in comparison to ours - in my opinion each of their moments bears more weight than each of ours for this reason.
A dog will love you unconditionally do not take advantage of this, treat them right. But before you get a dog, ask yourself how much you are going to give to that dog? If you are unwilling to do the training and exercise and deal with slobber and hair and puke, please don't do it, dogs deserve better.

Tina, thank you for restoring some sense of the good part of humanity for me. I get a little overwhelmed but the bad sometimes.
Run free and breath free sweet Agnes!

he's a cwazy one!

just a few ditties......
He found a piece of snakeskin last night. This is always comical in that he absolutely HAS to have it but it is clearly the most terrifying thing he knows.
I picked it up for him and still leery he grabbed it, threw it down, pounced on it and then proceeded to eat it.
Found the rest of it this morning and was less intimidated this time :-)

He's been very active this week and it is tough to tell if he is sore or in flat out pain or just tired. Sure wish he could talk

And lastly he is a constant source of smiles - even when I want to wring his neck! An online friend lost their fairly young dogue de bordeaux yesterday. So very very sad. And a reminder that these furry pups aren't with us long, always remember to enjoy them.
Run free Talus you are already missed

so good and so bad

Oye! In the last few days I have been reminded as to why I haven't done more obedience with Bugsy. I am trying to teach him a few whistle commands to use on the goose patrol job. So far it kind of goes like this..
"hey Bugsy want to do some learning?"
oh yea oh yea ha ha ha lets go lets go
I am so excited!
"sit"
what?
"SIT"
me? well um OK
"heel"
(shockingly he does - there is movement involved therefore it is acceptable)
tweet "sit"
he did it - happy dance woohoo, treat
"heel"
this again? er well OK
tweet "sit"
reluctantly he sits - lots of praise and a treat
"heel"
sniff sniff hmm what's that over there - oooooooooo its a squirrel, got to get it, hey look I found a piece of wood.

I go and get his high value toy.
Oh mom awesome we are going to play woohoo spin spin I am so excited
tweet "sit"
"wait"
I throw the toy and release him to get it
He charges after it "tweet tweet" (means bring it back)
He does, tweet "sit"
He does (big smile)
Oh yea baby he's got it
We try again, I release him to get it, whistle him back, he heads back, I tweet/sit he sits - incredible
then when I go to take the toy he grabs it and runs
and runs and runs
he circles back to show it to me
nanny nanny poo poo - I'm sure he said that

Eventually I get it back and make him sit to the whistle. Which he does but with his back to me.
Whatever mom - are we done yet?

Me - "I could ring your neck"


But I love you too much so I won't
LOL

a bike ride!!!

Today Bugsy had his first bike ride since last summer!!!!!!
Only a half mile but he was thrilled :-)

The hardest part seemed to be getting acclimated to the bike again.

Time will tell if it was OK or not.

second day and other musings

gosh I am just not keeping up!
Saturday morning I decided to take Bugsy to the course again. We started with some basic obedience as we made our way to where the geese tend to hang out. He once again quickly realized what he was there to do and took off full speed right at them.
He kept going and going. He was well out of my sight and I was fairly panicked. Then I saw him making his way up the ninth fairway still chasing the geese who were headed towards me.
When he did finally return to me the grin on his face could not have been bigger. When I came home I used google earth to figure out how far he ran, approximately 2000 yds (a mile is 1760 yds)
He kind of looked like this - just hotter and happier :-)

Happily I saw no indication of pain at any point in the day.

He also on Friday had his first playdate with his girl Izzy since the day before his TPLO
there was a lot of chasing and a bit of this


They only had a few minutes together but once again I was thrilled that I saw no limping. He's tired but OK - for now.
Oh and he is happy
and that folks is what it is all about!