It’s like she’s running in her sleep. ❤
Pet Pic, 051117 edition
Tag: golden retriever
Pet Pic, 042817 edition
Pet Pic, 041417 edition
From last night. You know, in case you were wondering what the back side of this looked like.
Pet Pic, 040717 edition
When I got home from work tonight and pulled in the driveway, this is what I saw.
Pet Pics, 101416 edition
She also has personality quirks that are new to us on this fourth dog we’ve had. None of our other dogs, for example, showed any inclination to lie on the arms or backs of furniture. And while they liked food and food containers and food wrappers, cardboard boxes were of no interest unless they, well, smelled like food.
Not this one. Sure, that box she has in the top photo might smell ever so slightly of the rice and spices that were wrapped in plastic within. But she is equally happy to bound off with a Kleenex box.
And it’s infectious, apparently. Maggie never showed any interest in boxes until Abbey had to have them. Curious, she started investigating, and now they fight over them.
Daryl? Well, as a friend of mine once noted, you could put a postage stamp in the middle of a sports stadium and a cat would find it and sit on it. Box = cardboard = paper = approved.
To the victor go the spoils. [Sept. 30, 2016]
Pet Pics, 052616 edition
One day I came home and on the sidewalk leading up to the porch was a giant stuffed dog. My son had found and salvaged it. My daughter claims to want it, but has yet to take it to her apartment, so in the meantime it is a living room fixture.
Pet Pics, 052516 edition
We have a cat and dog who don’t fight like cats and dogs. The half Lab, half golden retriever (our “little” dog) was nearly 1 when we introduced her for the first time to a cat, a rescue who is exactly 2 weeks older than her. They scrap but they are sparring partners, each as likely to instigate.
Pet Pic, 052216 edition
This is the first of at least five days in a row of animal photos, so I hope you come back.
Working at home, but never alone
I work at home. But I don’t work alone.
Above is the mellow Lab assistant, Maggie, curled up on the loveseat in about the smallest circle her 85ish pounds can make. Above her is our high-spirited puppy, Abbey, whose parents are a black Lab and a fox-colored golden retriever. (Apparently the whole “fox” thing is controversial in the dog world. We don’t care.)
The occasion for the moment? Watching the mail carrier from his truck a block-plus away, walking the opposite side of the street, past us, down a block and a half, then crossing the street and getting EVER CLOSER, until he’s finally AT OUR HOUSE. MOM! He’s AT OUR HOUSE!
Never mind that the same thing happens six days a week. It remains of great fascination. And while Matt The Mailman likes dogs, he does not like being jumped on, and the dumb white one does precisely that, so she has to stay inside. Plus it’s about 10 degrees right now just off the Saginaw Bay, so it’s not like she can spend very long outdoors anyway, certainly not long enough to watch his whole loop.
Maggie is no less excited about the mail, and when she is outside she wags her whole hind end, sometimes barking deeply in appreciation. Matt has learned that despite how frightening she looks to some people, the only danger is in being licked to death.
At 7 1/2, she is becoming selective about how she spends her energy. When she became the only animal in the house a few months ago, we thought a puppy might perk her up, both emotionally and physically. She did indeed lose weight, and although she never has had a litter of her own, her mothering instincts proved solid.
Here’s something else that happens pretty much every day.
Abbey has entropion, which means her eyelids turn in and the lashes irritate her eyes, causing a steady tearlike drainage. (It’s better some days than others, but if she doesn’t grow out of it in the next few months she’ll have surgery.)
Being an 8-month-old puppy, she also gnaws a lot. So Abbey chews on Maggie’s front leg while Maggie licks Abbey’s eyes and face clean.
Other notes from the photos: Yes, that is a kennel under a table covered by a cloth. Maggie has not been crated for years, but Abbey is still prone to adopt and chew on inappropriate objects, so she is kenneled while we sleep.
And the Eggo box in the top photo? Abbey was given that. I keep a stash, especially handy when some uninterrupted project time is needed. Because boxes are the BEST. THING. EVER. (Mom, are you done with that?)
Beth's Planet 