My human friend, Sharon, gave me a squeaky toy for Christmas. I’m not the type of dog that likes toys, but this one is pretty cool.
It makes the greatest noise.
Last night, I snuck it out of the cubby hole my human hides it in (like I can’ find it).
I eyed the clock.
Three a.m.
That’s a reasonable time to play, I thought. Kristina -not so much. She’s always nice to me, no matter what I do. She gently took the toy away, explained why I had to wait until morning to play and then rubbed my belly. Now that’s what I call fun to be reprimanded.
I fell in the ocean, right off the back of the boat! How humiliating.
My human friend, Debi, drove her dinghy to the back of our boat to pick me up for yoga. I should have known something weird was going on when Kristina didn’t put my harness on me. You can see it in the photo below. She makes me wear it, so IF I fall overboard, she can easily pick me up.
Well, I guess she forgot to put it one me.
This is the harness I should have been wearing!
Debi arrives and I get a bit excited.
“Hello,” I bark.
Debi drives close to the back of the boat and ties up. Kristina is ready with her yoga gear.
“Not today,” Kristina says. “There are wild pigs on the beach. You have to stay on board.”
I whip my head around to face Debi and she confirms the bad news. I turn too quickly and start to fall.
“Oh Oh,” I bark, but no one grabs me.
My paws slip off the first step.
“Help me,” I bark.”
I’m now on the second step and the third is not far away. Before I can let out my third bark, I’m in the water.
I know I can’t get on the back step by myself so I head to shore. Lucky for me, I’m pretty slow at the dog paddle and don’t get far.
Debi pushes off the stern and drives beside me. I’m a smart dog and turn to face her.
No here comes the problem. I’m not wearing my harness. The dingy tubes are two feet out of the water, and Debi has nothing to grab on to. She reaches under my armpits and struggles me aboard.
She’s soaked, I’m soaked, but at least I’m aboard.
I have lots of friends, but sometimes they disappear. Where do they go? Do they live on sailboats too?
Take Piper for example. I met her the same day I met my owners. She has different owners and she has an attitude.
Piper is a border terrier, and she’s cute, but really, look at her whispering in my ear. She told me her owners were nicer than mine. Ha! I don’t think so. We’d only been with them for five hours, so how could she know?
I’ve travelled across Canada, the United States and the Bahamas. I don’t think she’s done that.
I’m with my owners most of the time. I get walked at least twice a day and sometime more. I get real meat added to my dog food.
I may have to live on the sailboat, but she has to live in a backyard. So I ask you, aren’t my owners nicer?
I spent 5 weeks with Piper this summer, and we went camping together, with both our owners, so I have to admit hers are pretty nice too. Piper still has an attitude, but she quickly learned Kristina spoils all dogs and settled right in with us.
Some days it’s just to hot to bear, and other days, I love the cool weather. The cold front passed through and we’re back to high temperatures.
The first thing that happens is my owner cuts my hairs. She’s always worried about me overheating, I just wish she’d taken classes on how to groom a Wheaten Terrier. I need to look my best when I head to the beach to meet the girls.
I don’t like to swim in water over my head, but there’s nothing like a cool walk in the water. So I have a little sand on my face. What’s the big deal? This shot was taken before Kristina ‘groomed’ me. I’m too embarrassed to post the after shot.
I love a good cold front, but Jasper stole my stick. I want to run with it and he wants to pull at it. We both have lots of energy because it’s cold. So not cold really, but only seventy degrees instead of eighty.
“Let go!” I bark.
“No way, dude,” Jasper barks back.
I get my teeth deep in the wood and pull hard.
“Yikes,” Jasper barks. “Where’d you go?”
I run behind a tree, dart to the side and behind a another tree, but whoa . . .
There he is, waiting to take my stick again.
“No. No. No,” I bark, but he gets it and takes off.
It’s not all sunshine and warmth in the Bahamas, although you might think it is when looking at the photos I post.
The clouds roll in, the temperature drops, and we have to get out the warm clothes. Then it’s time to switch from water activities to land activities and take the dogs hiking.
We don’t go in the water, but the dogs do. On this hike, Jasper, the springer spaniel, was stung by a spotted eagle ray. Really it was his own fault, since he picked it up. The ray escaped unhurt, but Jasper needed treatment, and I think it was painful.
But back to cold fronts, the wind clocks around so it can be hard to find a protected anchorage. When the trade winds blow and the wind comes from one direction, it’s easy to drop the hook in a safe place.
When the wind is going to come from more than one directions, most annoying at night, it’s more of a challenge to hide. Sometimes we just have to suck it up and take the wind and waves, but usually we can tuck in and be mostly protected.
On the good side, rain can come with a cold front, and it’s a free boat wash for us.
Well I could have told her that. Kristina keeps reading me tidbits that I already know.
This is my best “feed me” stare. How hungry do I look?
Here’s what I do when I need to tell her something:
Tap on floor with my nails during the night if I need out. That seems to wake her up, but not my male human though. He sleeps through everything. If she won’t wake up I breathe in her face. First time I did that she seemed a bit startled. Humans don’t like to be woken up with someone breathing in their face I guess.
Whack my water boil against sliding glass door when I need water. Seems to really get her going at 3am.
Stare at cupboard, then at Kristina, then at cupboard where my treats are kept. She knows this means she should open the door and hand me a treat.
Give her my most intense stare when I’m hungry. I can even do this in a run by stare and she knows it’s my “feed me stare.”
Press the top of my head on the sliding glass door when I need outside quickly (if there’s an emergency – I don’t like to throw up inside.). Kristina wants me to bark in this case, but that’s too undignified for me. I’m not a barky kinda guy.
This is my “I’m not getting off the trampoline and you can’t make me” roll.
I can even ask Kristina questions with just a look.
When we’re hiking, if I come to a place on the trail where I have to make a choice on direction, I look back at Kristina and she points, telling me where to go. I’m a big eye contact guy, but I do know words too.
If we come across strangers, I glance at Kristina. If she waves away from the people, I don’t approach them. If she says “okay” I run and greet them.
Kristina says her last dog was more word oriented, and that I do better with hand signals. Whatever . . . I’m still a genius.
