Lucky Golden!

The weather finally turned warm in Portland, so we went to the Lucky Lab today and spent a pleasant afternoon. It's a dog-friendly brewpub, so Charlie (of course) came along. There were treats to eat, people to be petted by and beg from, and other dogs to meet and greet.

Watcher

I'm not sure he ever sleeps when we're away, because whenever we return home, there he is!

 

Play With Me!

Charlie usually ignores Pouncer, although sometimes he follows her around sniffing her backside, and occasionally he will chase her around trying to splat her with his paw. But this was new! I think he wanted her to play "Chase Charlie" with him!


Pouncer, however, wasn't having any of it. She hid until he lost interest.


Poor Charlie!

 

Slurp!

The snood works to keep Charlie's ears clean of food, but the nose... well, I guess that's where napkins come in!

Wordless Wednesday: What's Wrong With This Picture?

Indoor Zoomies

Charlie thought that taking down the Christmas tree was so much fun that he got the indoor zoomies:

SOPA & PIPA --- Just SO Wrong!

Charlie & I sympathize with those who want to fight internet piracy, but we believe that the bills currently before the US Congress (SOPA in the House & PIPA in the Senate) are the wrong way to go about it. So, for today, we're joining hundreds of other sites in raising awareness of these bills.

The best discussion of SOPA & PIPA I've found are on Wikipedia: Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act . Take a read and see what you think. (Nominally, Wikipedia is going dark today in protest of the bills, but I was able to get to these articles.)

Then, if you live in the US and want to join in asking Congress to vote "NO" on Internet censorship, follow this link to Google and add your name to the petition there: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/. Time is of the essence -- voting on these bills starts Jan. 24 -- so don't delay in informing yourself!

 

Taking down the Christmas Tree

Charlie definitely likes taking the tree down better than putting it up!

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Merry Christmas from our pack to yours!

 

Getting Ready For Christmas

"Tree up... Check!"

"Decorated... Check!"

"MY cards... Check!"

"Ok, Santa, I'm ready!"

 

Treat Catching with the Mailman

I mentioned recently that Charlie has conned convinced our mailman, Jeffrey, to play "treat catch" with him. Charlie lies at the top of our entryway stairs every morning, waiting. If, by some chance, he's in another part of the house begging for treats, Charlie still listens carefully for steps and/or the sounds of mail dropping through the slot and races to the door upon hearing them. If it's Jeffrey there, Charlie's barks are high and yappy and breathless, almost cries. If he finds anyone else at the door, his barks are deep and threatening.

Somehow, Charlie's also trained himself to spot Jeffrey's white van -- he gets excited when he sees it drive by or if we pass it out walking. At first, I think, treat-catching for Charlie was all about the treats, but now it's as much a social event. And fortunately, it's one that Jeffrey seems to enjoy, too!

I can't believe how lucky Charlie and we are to have such a nice mailman!

Charlie and the Snood

I decided I was tired of cleaning food out of Charlie's ears, so enter... the snood!

Treat Catcher

There is a game we play with Charlie, called "Treat Catching". He learned it as a puppy, and over the years has become a very accomplished player.


Puppy Charlie catching treats
You take a small treat in hand and, holding it shoulder-high so Charlie can see it, swing back once... twice... On the count of two, point it towards his face and let go. Occasionally it may bounce off a tooth, but more often than not, the treat will disappear into Charlie's gaping mouth, almost like it was sucked in by a gravitational force.


Adult Charlie catching treats.
The mailman also plays Treat Catch with Charlie almost every day. Since the game ends when he misses, Charlie is very very focused. He's up to 12 consecutive catches and it's only a matter of time until he hits 13.

 

Get Ready for the Holidays!

Hey everypup,

If you belong to Dogs with Blogs, don't forget to sign up for this year's card exchange and calendar. The November 15 deadline is rapidly approaching!


And if you're not a member of Dogs with Blogs yet, then sign up and become one! It's free and lots of fun -- a labor of love, not money. You'll meet other people around the world who love their dogs and like to write about them too.


Charlie says "Put down that book and do it today!"

 

Another Fun Trip to ... Hey!

"Let's go for a walk!"
"Hmmm... Tank and Thunder were here..."

"Whazzat?"

"What a nice walk."

"Uh, Mom, I think we took a wrong turn..."
Charlie had been itching and scratching recently, so having made an appointment, I steered our walk over to the V E T.

Charlie is greeted by Jonathan in the waiting room.
Although they're unfailingly nice, Charlie usually freaks out a little at the vet's -- he shakes and shivers and tries to climb into my lap.

Seeing other dogs.
This time Charlie didn't act nervous at all! He watched all the other animals, solicited petting from all the people, and did not refuse to go into "the room". Perhaps I wore him out on the walk over... or maybe he remembers the peanut butter they've fed him the last few times they've clipped his nails?

Meeting little people.

Cat-watching.
In the exam room, Charlie's lack of nervousness continued. As a true measure of his calm... he squinted for Dr. Tokar! Charlie doesn't do that for just anyone -- only for people he's really really happy to see.

Saying "Hi" to Leah

Squinting for Dr. Tokar
Once the exam was complete, it was time for the peanut butter a nail trim. He went in the back without a struggle -- another big first! I snuck back to see how it was going, and everything looked copacetic.

Waiting patiently.

Peanut butter is better when shared with a friend!
Afterwards, the tech that brought him back apologized, saying "I think we got it all wiped off his face, but he may smell a little like peanut butter..." Charlie was ready to leave, but I'm hopeful that he'll be happy to go back again, too!

"Let's go home!"

-----------
p.s. Charlie has seasonal allergies, and they gave him some medication that's made him much more comfortable.

 

Charlie - The Hunter Gatherer

This weekend, while the east coast dug out from an early snow, we in the Pacific northwest were in search of mushrooms. When it gets a little cool and the rains start coming back here, chanterelles start popping up and the forests fill with mushroom hunters. Charlie and I jumped at the chance to go out with friends who can tell the good 'uns from the bad 'uns.

"Where are we going, Mom?"

Happy dog, ready for an adventure
I wasn't sure how Charlie would behave in the woods, especially if we ran into another dog or a deer or a varmint, so I kept him leashed a lot of the time. He wore a light pack and carried his own water (for the first time) and seemed to have no trouble with the weight.


Some of the terrain was a little steep, but we both managed it without incident. The leash even turned out to be of benefit (to me, anyway), as Charlie charged ahead uphill. ;)


Some parts were easy walking and others had downed trees and sometimes dense undergrowth, but Charlie and I learned to work together, spotting and clearing paths.



For the most part, Charlie ignored the mushrooms. He loved it, however, when someone found one - they'd let out a little cry, and Charlie would help them celebrate by jumping on them and snuzzling their face. In truth, that's probably the best argument for continued leashing in future trips -- the chanterelles often grow in little groups and it's not hard for an unrestrained celebratory big dog to trample the delicate fungi.

Charlie sniffs a white chanterelle (I think)
I mentioned that Charlie ignored the mushrooms for the most part. There was one very notable exception. As we approached a big downed log, Charlie went over to something big and started sniffing around it -- suddenly I could see that it was a flying-saucer-sized mushroom. I called in the expert, who pronounced it an edible bolete. I don't know if it's as tasty as a chanterelle, but it's certainly dramatic-looking and big enough for a family of 4!

Charlie's mushroom (on the right) and a smaller one (left)
The bad news now for Charlie is that I'm going to eat our findings and he's not. My reasoning is that if he learns they're edible and, dog forbid, develops a taste for them, he'll find the chanterelles first and eat them on the spot the next time we go mushroom-hunting. So he'll have to be content to lick the saute pan for now.

Our mushroom catch of the day (we gave the flying saucer away)
It was absolutely a great day! We got to tramp around in the woods and came home with mushrooms, to boot. You don't find as many 'shrooms when you're managing a big dog, but we'll definitely do this again!!