Nice to See You

It's Saturday. Pet day.  I'm still trying to figure this out with not having Sophie. I got some work to do, but we'll get there. 

Shep is super manipulative come noon on the weekends.

He ain't playin' around when he wants to go on a trip. 

I was texting with Mike this last week, and he sent me a pic of Ollie - all newly groomed. 

He's a handsome sort.  Ollie that is.   Mike too.........I suppose. 

Bailey - still being abused by my sister. 

Hanging on the west bank of the Flats. 

Song by: the Left Banke

7

It's hard to believe, but Shep turns seven today.

He is such an integral part of the family it's ridiculous. As you already know, he and his sister hogs 1/7th of each week's blog posts. 

Between the pandemic and us being only semi-social anyway, this guy takes front and center on how we craft our non-work lives. We tell him weekly that he'd never have found a better home. 

And I'm not sure he would have. 

The word 'spoiled' comes to mine. 

He loves car rides so much that he literally meets me in the drive when I get home, gets in, and then we pull into the garage. He bolts from the car to see 710 - whom he saw only 47 seconds earlier - as if Shep has been on a big long trip. 

And we do. Every weekend, it's a trip - somewhere........for him. While I've known that I've needed to lose weight, I'd hate to see how much more would have needed ot come off had we not hiked both weekend days for the last seven years - rain or shine, snow, wind.....you name it. 

I love that he and 710 are so connected. They really are made for each other. That either of them let me play in their reindeer games is enough for me. Actually, we have similar, but different, relationships with Shep. He plays us both like fiddles. 

While we love the "new" house, we really love it for him. We have a fraction of land that we did at the other place, but it's fenced in and the grass is much nicer  He loves spending time out there doing nothing - though will chase the squirrel that runs along the fence, or will join in neighborhood canine conversations over that fence. We are thrilled we can give it to him. 

He is his dad's boy. He's not thrilled with other adult males who aren't my brother-in-law.  I'd say we'd work on it, but we still aren't really socializing with people at home. 

Anyway, it doesn't seem like seven years - well, almost six since we got him. 

Happy Birthday to him. I'd say he'll get a special treat, but that is kind of every day. 

Song by: Prince & the New Power Generation

Birthday

Time passes too fast. In theory, I know it's the same increments, but perhaps I'm just feeling the sand slipping to the bottom half of the hour glass. 

How is it that Shep is already six years old?  well..........yesterday he was. 

Oh, I know we haven't had him for six. It still a few weeks away that we've had him for five years. Still, it hasn't seemed this long, but the days are ticking away. 

He's no longer a puppy - obvi. He no longer wakes at 04:30 to go out and sometimes I have to pry him to get him to go out on our a.m. walk.  Anymore these are not as necessary.  He can hold whatever he has to - and due to not being able (currently) to leave him at home a few days a week, he goes to daycare Monday through Friday.  He can poop there, should he need 

I'm not thrilled with five days of daycare. But now that 710 has been called back to the office, Shep hasn't been alone in 18 months. Almost never left alone in this house more than an hour or two. 

And we love our dog walker, and she loves Shep, and Shep LOVES her. I want to keep her employed. But she gets his separation anxiety. In the old house, it was somewhat manageable, with an apartment above the garage. He could get into little trouble there - though he did pull up the vinyl flooring in a fit of rage (?) one day. That doesn't fly in this house. 

His walks have slowed down too. It's not longer go-go-go-go-go-go-go.  I mean, as much as hounds do that between sniffs.  Now, he tires more and stops to rest on his own. To the untrained eye, he's still very active - and he is. But we notice subtle differences. 

Still - he was THRILLED to see me at pick-up yesterday. He got hugs, kisses and an extra dentastick after dinner. He doesn't know it's his birthday, because he's treated like a king every day. 

Song by: Kim Wilde

Gotcha

Today is Shep's 4th Gotcha Day. 

It seems like we have had him a lot longer, yet it also seems like we just got him. You can read about his getting here. 

He's a great addition to the family - and he gets us out and about daily. We'd never have explored as many parks, dog parks and counties if we were not with us. 

We loved loved loved Petey, and while both hounds, we missed a lot of his formative years. 

I think we are all very happy that the "older" couple (who you know were probably younger than we were) couldn't made it work with him. 

And while it took us forever to name him, just last weekend I finally came up with the perfect name for him: Angelo.  Angelo Bassett. 

Song by: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Four

Just a little post to wish Happy Birthday to my Bestie!

It's hard to believe our little guy isn't as little anymore. We haven't had him three years yet, and here he is turning 4.  There are days I swear we've only had him a month or two, and then times when it seems like he's always been with us.

While I loved Petey (and you know I did), Shep is a little more high maintenance. He gets us out - every single weekend - come rain, shine, snow, sleet.  We have never seen so many parks and dog parks. There have been days where we hit three.

Shep is good for us and I have to say, he's got quite the life.

So, I'll let doggie daycare know it's his b-day.  Maybe they'll do something special for him. I'm sure we will.



Song by: Lit

One of Two

Two.

Shep turned two yesterday!

He's now a dog, no longer a puppy.  ....though going by his wilding two nights ago, you'd never know it.

I wanted to do it up for him. Go to Pet People and get a doggie cake for him, and put a candle in it.  Oh, and a new toy.

But folks, that takes planning. Leaving work at 18:15 doesn't really lend it self to running a few miles out of the way.

We will make sure he's treated right though.

Shep religiously gets dinner after his late afternoon / evening walk.  In my book.

In 710's version, he gets dinner exactly at 18:00. Or so I just found out.

So after our walk, Shep goes to his bowl, as one might imagine. But since it's a big day, he got some wet food. He wasn't chomping at the bit for it, but that's when I found he had already gotten dinner.

Some hound!

Petey wouldn't have scarfed it all down if it were his 33rd dinner of the night.  

That's him up there getting his 2nd dinner.


So this weekend, we will make sure he gets extra attention, which to him means extra extra extra extra extra attention.

...and maybe a new toy.    As if he needs another.



Song by: the Bangles