Or Maybe He Can Fly

Today I was sitting in a chair beside the counter and Rowdy got up on his hind legs with his paws on my leg, like he was begging for something.  I was teasing him a little when I patted the counter and said to him, "Want up here?  Do ya?  Huh?  Do ya want up here?"  Without hesitation, he decided to jump up there on his own without assistance from me, by jumping up on my lap and then right up onto the counter.  Guess he thought I was too slow in assisting him and it was ok for him to use my lap as a step up as he shot up there like a flash!

He Can't Fly

Today while I was unlocking the front door of the shop after lunch, Rowdy was up on the counter and saw that stray dog, that's been hanging around the area, just outside the door.  With me by the door he got all excited and started barking again and then jumped down from the counter and ran up beside me to the door to bark some more.

I'm surprised that he didn't hurt himself as the counter is quite high for this little short-legged dog.  He's quite fearless when he wants to be!

It Barks!

Rowdy seldom ever barks at noises or other people, but does bark at other dogs when playing with them, so it is unusual for him to bark when he is not playing with them. 

Well today, while I was working in the shop and he was laying up on the counter, all the sudden he sat up and started barking, looking at the front glass door, then out the picture window.  I looked out to see what he was barking at and found it was a stray dog.  Of course I had to instigate a little extra barking by saying, "Get him, Rowdy.  Get him!"

Good Doggie!

It's been a pain having to use the leash every time we go outside, where it is not fenced.  I have to be careful living and working so close to a main highway as he could easily get away and run over.

Today being Sunday and limited traffic I tested him without a leash.  I needed to go to the shop for a few hours to get caught up on some clean-up and paperwork, so I took him with me and didn't use the leash.  He headed out the front door and went past the car, so I hollered at him and he came right back and jumped into the car after I opened the door.  At the shop, he got out and followed me to the door and inside and did the same in reverse when we left.  When we got home he got out of the car and followed me to the front door of the house and right inside.

Good Doggie!  He got an extra treat!

Excited to Arrive

This is our weekend to go visit Sarah and Niely and it's almost an hours drive one way.  Rowdy sat up a lot more this trip, looking out the windows of the car.  Sometimes in the past this would signal that it's time to puke, but this time he was just taking in the scenery.  Most of the time he sleeps on the seat while riding, so it was unusual for him to be up so much.

Well, he was sitting up when I turned on to the street where they live and he apparently recognized their house and started jumping up and down on the seat while whining his excitement at arriving there.  He has never done that before and I wouldn't think he could recognize their house or even where we were, especially since he's only been there a few times.  My guess is that he has an extremely strong sense of smell and could smell Niely's scent from their yard.

He about climed all over me to get out of the car so he could go into the house and greet everyone.  Crazy dog!

Bath Night

I got one of those shower heads that have the hose which has made a lot easier to give Rowdy his bath.  Now I can bring it down to him, to soak him and rinse him off.  It's even great to rinse out the tub when I'm done!

I didn't include it in my nickname post and only touched on it in an early post, but when I'm giving him his bath, I call him Dog-ule-son.  I got this from the movie The Karate Kid where Daniel, (played by Ralph Macchio) was called Daniel-son by Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita).  Then there was the scene where they were out in the middle of a large pond on a row boat and Daniel was practicing his karate moves while trying to balance standing up on the boat.  Then Mr. Miyagi rocked the boat, dumping Daniel into the pond and laughed while saying, "Ah Daniel-son, you all wet-a behind ear!"  So while Rowdy is all wet behind the ears, that's what I say to him, calling him Dogule-son!

Speaking of Ralph Macchio, as many of you may know, he is one of the new contestant dancers on Dancing With The Stars.  I also have a blog where I post my opinions and the judges scores and welcome any input from anyone who wants to comment!  You can find that blog here;  http://dancewithstarsopinions.blogspot.com/

Yip Yip Yip

Yesterday evening, I went to my brothers house to celebrate my fathers 95th birthday and have dinner.  Well, I left Rowdy at home in the back yard, as it was nice out and he could run around and get some exercise.  I was gone for about four hours and when I got home, he was waiting at the fence for me.  I got out of the car and said, "There's my doggy!"  He turned and ran behind the house to the back door and Yipped.  Then he ran back to the fence where he could see me and I said again "There's my doggy!"  He ran back to the back door and yipped again.  Then back to the fence where I said 'there's my doggy' again and then back to the back door to yip yip yip again!  I finally got in the house and went to the back door opening it up where he jumped up and down and up against the outer door and yip yip yipped his greeting to me finally getting home.  He was awful glad to see me!

You Dig?

Rowdy the L.S., when left alone in the yard while we are gone, has started to dig up the ground.  He's only digging where moles have their trails because he smells them, but it's tearing up the yard just the same.  He's gonna be in big trouble if I catch him at it!

The Lookout Perch

While at the shop, I started putting Rowdy up on the counter on a carpet pad.  He has got to where he really likes it up there and when he's lying on the floor away from the counter and I pat the counter and say, "Want up here?", he runs over to me and tries to help himself up by leaping when I lift him up and put him up there.  The advantage of being on the counter allows him to look out the windows and see what's going on in the world, along with greeting the customers.  The disadvantage is that he wants to lick them all in the face, if they give him lots of attention.

Gone Berserk

Skitzoid was going berserk today at the shop.  He was chasing his tail again, going round and round six or seven times then instantly changing directions and going again.  He did that several times today!  He must have the heebee-jeebees again!

I gotta yak

This past weekend we went down to visit Sarah, and Rowdy got to play and visit with his friend Niely.  This time on the way down, Rowdy puked in the truck.  At least most of it went on the towels he was setting on, but I was none too happy at him at that moment.  I noticed his distress before he erupted, but on the two lane road we were traveling down, I had no place to pull off before he blew. 

I pulled off at the first available place and rearranged the towels and then headed on down the road.  As we were traveling Rowdy looked over at me as to say, "When I say I gotta yak, it doesn't mean I have a farm animal from Tibet!"

I counted 15

While in the shop today I heard a commotion, turned to look and saw Skitzoid chasing his tail.  I started counting as he made 15 revolutions before stopping.  He paused for a couple of seconds like he was thinking about how to catch it, then he turned and started going the other way.  He caught it in one revolution and gnawed on it for a bit before laying back down.  Crazy dog!

Instigator's at it again!

When we get home from work, Rowdy always heads for the back door to go into the yard to do his business.  Well, today when I let him out, he made a bee line for the neighbors fence and at their two dogs.  They tend to go nuts when he gets close to them and he was just taunting them by running up and down the fence at them.  He'd run at them and then turn around and run around in circles in front of them.  Then he'd take off and run a large circle around a storage building and around the yard and then back at the other dogs.  I swear that if he could talk he'd be going "Yippeee, ha, ha, ha, ha, yippee, he, he, he, he!" while he's tearing across the yard! 

The Chase Is On!

At the shop, Rowdy would sometimes follow me around back and forth while I was working and he would bump against my ankles almost tripping me.  After a month or so of doing this, I started running around a shelving unit just for the heck of it and he would chase me, keeping up right on my heels.

One time a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly stopped and turned around, hollering "I'm gonna get you!"  Well he spun around in his tracks and took off running in the other direction.  Then I started chasing him a little bit.  Now that's turned into a play time game, chasing him all around the shop. 

I've got a maze of shelving units with narrow passages between them and he darts through them like a shot.  He'll run to one end of the isle and stop until I poke around the other end and say 'Getcha, getcha, getcha!"  Then he'll run to the next isle and I 'll cut him off there.  Then he'll run and cross over to the other side and I'll chase him over there.  Every time I catch up to him I'll say "Getcha, getcha, getcha!" and he'll take off and go the other direction.

He's so funny when he runs around in the shop.  When I spot him, he's looking at me with wide eyes and his ears are perked up, as if to say 'catch me if you can'.  Then when I leap towards him and he takes off running with his feed slipping on the floor until he gets some momentum.   He kinda leaps when he's running, his ears flop up and down and his little butt almost scoots sideways under him like he was trying to avoid getting spanked.  What a funny little character he is!

I'm Innocent

Rowdy was laying on his new bed curled up, but his eyes were open staring upward at me.  So I got down on the floor and put my face about six inches from his and stared back at him.  He kept staring at me until he couldn't stand it any longer and then lifted his head and licked me in the face. It was sort of like he was saying, I'm innocent daddy, I didn't do it, It's not my fault!  He's soooo cute when he thinks he's in trouble!