Storm Season Again

Now that it is storm season, last night a thunderstorm passed over us and scared poor little Rowdy.  I had to get his blanket and let him up on the bed with me, so he wouldn't be so scared.  Since he normally is not allowed on the bed, when he got up on it, he laid down and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and laid very still.  I never felt him move and when I woke up the next morning, he was in the same place only inverted, lying on his back with his feet up in the air.  I don't know when he rolled over, but I guess he thought he would try to get a chest rub before he had to get off the bed.

Hot Dog, Cold Dog

On one of the really cold mornings this winter, I let Rowdy out to take care of business and when I went to let him back in about 30 minutes later, he was lying back by the back wooden privacy fence in the sun.  He jumped up and ran to the door when I called and when he came inside I felt of his body to see how the sun had been warming him on such a cold morning.  The half of his body that was facing the sun was warm and the other half that was against the fence was cold.

I could feel quite a temperature difference between the sides of his body and thought that it was a bit unusual.  I certainly didn't expect to feel that much difference.  I would have thought that the blood circulating in his body would have regulated a more even temperature and also thought there would only be a slight temperature difference.  At least being back inside, his cold side soon matched his warm side and he's back to being just a little Hot-Dog!

Ambush

Across the back of my yard is a wooden privacy fence that squirrels like to travel across the top from one end to the other.  Rowdy is always ready to go after a squirrel and when I saw him take a bead on the back fence, I knew he spotted one.  At the point that the squirrel was on the fence, if Rowdy had chased him, it would have been a short run to the end of the fence and up a tree and gone.  From where I was at that moment, I was in the perfect position to run around the garage and ambush the squirrel from the other side, which I did immediately.  The squirrel took off traversing across the top of the fence the long way as fast as he could and Rowdy was after him all the way across, till the squirrel made it to the other end and up another tree.  The fence is way too tall for Rowdy to jump up and get the squirrel, but the fun was in the chase! 

Dog Fight Deja Vu

At the consignment auction again, at the food area again, the black dog again, started slowly stalking Rowdy.  I hadn't seen the dog all morning, until we got in the food line.  Rowdy slightly cowed and tried to pull away in the opposite direction with his hair standing up a bit.  He remembered her too!  I shewed her away a couple of times as we were standing in line, but she managed to circle around and come up behind me.   About a three second fight took place and I immediately busted them up and shewed the black dog away again.  She tried to get close to Rowdy a couple more times during that afternoon, but would not come very close when I was looking at her. 

I'm growing a bit concerned because she has a bit of a pit bull head and could get much meaner as she gets older, at least to other dogs. She is still a large puppy and is very friendly with the people attending the auction.   If this continues I may not be able to take Rowdy with me, when I attend it.  This is not a stab at pit bulls in general, as I have come across some very friendly ones, but I have also heard that if they taste blood, they will start fighting and killing other dogs.  Since she is not my dog, I will have no way of knowing if she ever did. 

That's Not Your Bed!

Many nights Rowdy has been sneaking down the hall into the den and sleeping on the couch.  I can never hardly catch him there, because he usually hears me coming down the hall and promptly gets up and peers around the corner to see me.  The only reason I know he is down there is because I hear his toe nails clicking on the laminate floor and if I go down there I can feel the warm spot on the couch where he has been laying.  Even though it is not alright for him to blatantly be on the couch, it's really not that bad because it's an old couch that's probably ready to be thrown out to the curb.  But since I can't afford a new one, I still use it.

Well, this morning while in bed, I heard him come back from the den, fumble around and go back down to the den.  When the heater kicked on, for which the noise might provide me cover, I decided to see if I could catch him in the act.  With great stealth I slowly made my way down to the den and peered around the corner at him.  He was laying close to the doorway, sitting with his back toward me with his head down nibbling on himself.  I quietly reached down and with a clawed hand, goosed him and growled like a mad dog at him.  He spun around like lightening and gave me an ut-oh look and then jumped off the couch and half circled me with his tail between his legs.  Then he stopped and looked up at me and I said, "Get down there!" and he tore off running down the hall and got back in his bed.  I wasn't really mad at him and was actually laughing on the inside at the way he got caught in trouble and how he ran away from it, without really being punished.

Bad Doggy!

Rowdy got a good scolding this morning.  He knows he is not supposed to pull things out of the trash can, but the desire to lick the fresh hamburger meat package that I put in there must have overwhelmed him.  Usually it gets stuffed down where he can't get at it, but this time I had no room, so I put it on top within his reach.  I was wondering if he would take the bait when I put it there and sure enough he did.  I will have to put it somewhere else, so he can't get at it again.  Bad doggy!  

Play Ball.....NOW!

Usually when I play ball with Rowdy, it takes him a moment to get into the excitement.  Not so today!  I have been sick for several days and he hasn't been out much or got much exercise.  So today when I said, "Would you like to get the ball?" he jumped up and tore down the hall before I even had a chance to get it down from the shelf to throw to him.  Waiting impatiently for me in the hallway, he barked with enthusiasm for me to throw the ball, and after I did, he grabbed it and brought it back to me quickly, dropped it at my feet and started jumping up and down and barking for me to throw it again.  With me just picking the ball up off the floor, he already was tearing down the hall again after it and it had to pass by him, so he could find it and bring it back.  He was one 'excited to play' doggie today!  And we finished off the play with a favorite treat, as usual!