Scaredy Dog

On my walks lately, I have been SCARED of everything!
Hoses? Check.
Vans? Check.
Rope? Check.
Blades of grass? Yep, that, too.

Sometimes, if I don't like the looks of something a quarter-mile up the road, I will stop dead in my tracks and force the mama or the papa to go a different direction. But, hey! Surprise, surprise, that direction is also scary! I just want to go the F home!

Because I am being a weenie, the mama is taking me to the vet today for a blood test. Clearly something is wrong with me (I'm a nutcase), I just hope it's not medical because the mama and the papa have already spent their life savings on me. If they can't pay the rent, I'm out on the street. And I just explained how terrified I am of the mean streets.

I'll update when we get professional opinions.

I Got a Sister!

The mama and the papa were crazy enough to bring me a new little sister yesterday! They say she's only staying for 2 weeks until she can go to her long-term foster home, but I am SUPER EXCITED to have her here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (SUPER excited.)

At first she didn't want a big brother, but after a long night of trying to figure out sleeping arrangements, she's starting to come around. As long as I let her be the boss, she says I can hang out with her and have tea parties and stuff, or whatever it is little girl dogs do for fun.

Miss Bailey is 16 months old. She is a super sweet dog, but needs surgery on a torn ACL in her left knee. The mama is terrified that I might need the same surgery on my right one because I did something silly to it on Friday. I was chatting with some mini schnauzers and their owners through the tennis fence in the park, and when I went to walk away, I was trying too hard to show off and did a grapevine move with my back legs. My right knee twisted and I yelped and then I was limping all morning. I can stand on it, but am having some trouble getting up (as you can see in the video above. Oh wait, that's probably because of the 100-pound Newf on me...) I still am allowed to play with my sis, but I might have to go get checked at the vet in a week or two if I'm still having some troublz.

Until then, though, it's PARTY TIME!  Bailey comes from the same rescue as Brody, my swimming pal. So we're basically all just one big happy family now!

Canning Tomatoes

I was a super, duper, huge help today while the mama and the papa canned tomatoes! We all went to the Farmer's Market where I met a whole pack of nice dogs and got several specialty dog biscuit. The dog biscuit lady kept running out to me when we went past and asking if I could have a treat. Yes. Yes, I can have treats. As many as you want to jam into my big mouth.  Nom, nom, nom...

Heirloom tomato seconds were $1.25 a pound at one stand, so we got 10# of them to can at home. Instead of doing pasta sauce like we did last year, the mama and the papa decided to just can the tomatoes plain this year so they can be used for anything: spaghetti, pizza, chili, etc. The only flavoring was a little bit of my fur, which I sneaked in when they weren't looking.

The tomatoes

I am a super big help in the kitchen!

Snowy Range Mountains

I was almost named after the Medicine Bow mountains (get it? Bow?). This was one of the first places the mama and the papa took me after I came home with them. We went up again for the weekend while family was in town, and this is what we did:

We saw 5 moose on Highway 130:

Count 'em - 1,2,3,4,5

      

Then we went for a hike on the Lost Lakes Trail. I got to stop and swim in all of the lakes along the way, and there was snow for me to frolic in. Yeah, I just said "frolic":

SNOW!

Then I was exhausted:

But I still had enough energy to pull in the inflatable fishing boat before Uncle John took off for some fly fishing:

Then I had some kibble with blueberry pancakes, then went straight to bed on my very own sleeping bag in the tent with the mama and the papa!

Vedauwoo, Wyoming

My other grandma is in town, along with Uncle John and his girlfriend, Molly! We went to Vedauwoo in Wyoming to play in the rocks and go swimming. I did a 3 mile hike and drank lots of water:

RMNP and Estes Park

My grandma and grandad Alexander are visiting me, and we went to Estes Park and Rocky Mtn. National Park today! First we drove up into the mountains where the temperature dropped to 55 degrees (love it) and rained. At the top of the mountain, I got to meet some new dog friends, including a 4-year-old St. Bernard named Molly, a Yorkie, and a lab. There were also a couple of motorcycle clubs at the top of the mountain and they were in love with me. One guy kept going on and on about how good I smell (it's oatmeal shampoo, by the way, thanks), and several people took pictures with me! I might start carrying  a Sharpie with me so I can sign autographs. For now, I'm just using drool to leave my mark...

Back down in Estes Park, I got to meet ANOTHER beautiful St. Bernard in the stream near town. I got a vanilla ice cream cone, saw a hummingbird, and got lots of pets and hugs from people walking by. I behaved like a gentleman, lying down for kids to pet me and ignoring or nicely greeting other dogs.

oooooh, ice cream....

Where's Bo-dog?  Imma pass my CGC in no time, ladies!

Badass Lifevests and Water Training

Here are some videos of me training for a WD title:

Single Retrieve

Drop Retrieve

Take a Line

Pull a Boat

Swim With Handler (I'm still trying to climb on the mama when I do this one, or I grab onto her lifevest and start pulling her to shore. I'm going to be awesome at rescuing an unconscious victim in WRDX, but might not pass WD because I am so eager to "save" people)