While sitting at my desk, looking out the window toward the river and the woods, I noticed a fast running dog headed for the house. His ears lay flat back on his neck and his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. Soon I heard the flap on the doggy door as he lunged through it, then down the entry hall, around the corner and down the long hall to my office. He was panting and obviously had something important to tell me. He had run all the way from the far corner of the property down by the pump house.
He threw his top half in my lap making anxious whimpering sounds. I hugged him, as it is one of my favorite things to do. He accepted the hug for a second, but then pulled away and wanted me to follow him. I looked out the window and by this time Quest and Pirate were out of the woods and in sight, moving along the fence that skirts the road. They were accompanying a runner, who was enjoying the perfect fall morning.
Journey would probably be considered a tattletale by Quest and Pirate. He always notifies me if something unusual is going on. When ever the other dogs are doing something he finds concerning, Journey lets me know about it before going back to join in with the others. If he figures it is very serious, he will even come back a second time to emphasize his alert. He is funny, in that he is not necessarily afraid of what is happening, he just feels a need to report it to me before he goes back out to confront whatever if may be, with the other guys. I love it!
This runner has not been up our way in a while. She is one of Quest’s favorites. He and Spirit used to accompany her nearly every day as she passed our property. I guess Journey had not seen her before, and he felt the need to let me know what was going on. He is a funny pup and for all his confidence, there are certain areas that he feels he needs to consult with me about. Once he urgently reported two Rottweilers that were hanging around down by our gate. Another time the neighbor’s Dachshund, “Emmy” was trying to fence-fight with Quest and Journey felt that was an extreme emergency. It is fun to try and figure why he interprets some things as dire emergencies and others no big thing.
Journey just turned 1 year old on August 31, 2011. He is sired by Surefire Obi-Wan Kinobe, out of Regalwise Gabriella, of Surefire. He is one of the happiest puppies I have ever known. If I look at him, his tail wags. It is automatic ( and awfully cute). If I speak to him, or he even thinks I am going to speak to him, his chin comes up, his ears lay back and his body just wiggles love at me. When he was a baby, and he and his brothers and sisters gathered around the food pan I could always spot Journey, even if I could not see the blue collar – his tail was always up and wagging.
Journey (blue collar) with the wagging tail.
Now that I know what a gourmet he is, I am thinking he possibly was just enjoying it more than anyone else. He eats, (or at least tries to eat) everything that I do. He has a long list of gastronomical delights, some of the oddest (for a dog) are: oranges, tomatoes, various salads, plums, apples, kiwis, mangoes and all kinds of berries. He loves many vegetables: yams, carrots, broccoli, artichokes, green beans and his favorite – I think – snap peas. If I give him something new that he is debating about, he carries it around with him for a while, occasionally sampling it until he makes up his mind. I never find it laying around, so it is usually a thumbs up – or toes up anyway.
As much as Quest loves to eat, and he really does, he does not have anywhere near the adventurous tastes that Journey does. Pirate is amazed by Journey’s appetite. He watches Journey eat with fascination. He usually tries what ever it is, eventually, but often just drops it and stares at Journey while he eats. Once Pirate has something new in his mouth, he really tries to like it, but he does not always succeed. He has learned to like a lot of things that Journey eats though. He now enjoys bananas. Even Quest will sometimes eat them. They all like berries, but not near as much as Journey and they do not usually pick their own as Journey does. He carefully puts his mouth around little bunches of blueberries and gently wiggles his lips to dislodge the berries from the bush. He only takes the ripe ones that fall off into his mouth. It is fun to watch him. He is very good at picking blueberries. He picks black berries too, but not quite as often. He seems to like them just fine, but is a little more cautious because of the thorns.
We are lucky to have a wonderful selection of fruit trees in our yard. We have about seven apple trees. There are numerous different kinds: some that bloom early and some late. So there are apples available for several months. The dogs often help themselves to a fallen apple. We have at least three different plum trees, and lots of pear trees. Then the berries ….. blackberries, Marianberries, gooseberries, blueberries and several I can not identify. My favorite breakfast is a toasted bagel spread with cream cheese. I take it out to the blue berry bushes for a topping of sweet fresh blueberries. Journey is as crazy about this breakfast as I am. Pirate kind of likes it, but not as much as Journey and I do. We sit on the lawn and enjoy it.
If I encouraged the dogs to hunt, they could enjoy a pretty well balanced diet without leaving our property, for several months of the year. As it is, we sometimes have a picnic of fruit that we collect, and maybe something I bring to go with it. Their favorite picnic treat is to share a can of sardines, or herring between them.
Journey with ball. Pirate by the apple trees.
Quest
Fall is in the air, the last few mornings. Most of the leaves have not turned yet, just a few on the giant Maple tree. Mornings are beginning to be a bit crisp ….last night it was 40 degrees. Today it is 80 degrees, so maybe this is the last attempt at a summer day.
Pirate
Many of the catalogs have been having sales on pool toys. We got a new box yesterday with four new ones. I thought of saving them for next summer, but decided not to. They will save just as well after being used for a few more swim sessions. The dogs are telling me it is pool time, so I had better sign off for now.
"Everyone in the pool"
Journey
Pirate
Journey and Pirate
