Putt Down Dog Park

K, J, and I walked on Christmas Eve morning without Buzz, who opted to stay home and sleep. He was totally sacked.  Never even blinked his eyes open when we vibrated the floor walking past his bed. 

courtesy amazon.com

It felt like any other morning to me, but better-- the best kind, where JK are extra happy because they are free to take their time. J told K about the book Watership Down, which she had just finished reading for the third time in her life.  It is a story about a kind of park with Rabbits. K said it sounded like a book he should read in 2012.  Oh man, I would LOVE to visit that park. It sounded awesome, even better than the church yard, which is pretty cool.   Since there were no rabbits to be seen, I did a lot of ball chasing in the church yard and got to be off the leash on the road part, as long as I stayed in the grass.  I know now that freedom means coming when I’m called, and most of the time I earn my freedom.  J says the Watership Down readers would know what she means when she says Watch for hrududus, Maxie.  She thinks I can speak rabbit. 

We came to the last house before we started down Pine Cove Lane.  The man who lives there was standing outside by his porch with a little white dog.

They got a new puppy, J said to K. Look! He’s adorable. Pretty shy though.

A boxer? asked K.

I’m not sure. It doesn’t look exactly like a boxer.

What happened to their other dog?  K asked J

I don’t know that either.  I haven’t seen him for  a long time. 

Now I remembered the big brown boxer Spike.  We used to run into him and his man once in a while on Pine Cove.  The man always had a smoke stick and a cup of coffee.  And J would say to K, now why don’t we walk with a cup of coffee, that man has the right idea. But they never do it. They leave their coffee home and so far no smoke sticks, either. 

KJ said hello then, because there was the man, now standing at the end of his driveway across the street from us. But Spike was nowhere to be seen.   The man had a newspaper, a coffee cup, and some mail in his hands, which he set down on the concrete.  In the background, we saw the white puppy run up onto the front porch.  I could tell he was really shy, like J said, so I didn’t chase him. 

I been waitin’ for a few days for yall to walk by so I can catch you, the man said.

JK were very surprised. For us to walk by? They asked.

Yessir, I see you walk by every day and I’ve been wanting to show yall my new puppy. Ruger. 

He’s darling, J said admiringly.  Hey pup!

Ruger sat and stared out at us from behind the porch railings.  He had two very brown ears but the rest of him was pure white.  I thought he was so cute. I chewed my ball and stared back at him, then did a couple of showoffy (that is what J calls them) prances, dropping my ball and snatching it back up.  Hey pup!  Look what we can do! We can play ball when you’re bigger!!  Ready when you are, Ruge! Anytime!!   He just looked at me. I strolled back to JK and listened while they talked.

Is he a boxer? asked K.

Yep, purebred European boxer, my son got him for me a week or so ago. He’s pretty shy still.

Yeah we can see that.  J told the man she loved Ruger’s brown ears.

Do you still have your other boxer? K asked the man.

The man looked down and swallowed.  I chewed my ball and looked at the man’s face and listened. 

Naw, we had to have him put down in August.  He was just in so much pain. 

We wondered.  We are so sorry to hear that.  JK were very sympathetic. 

Yeah, lost a great friend.  The man cleared his throat.

What the….I have no idea what “putt down” meant but when he said those words, a picture formed instantly in my mind, like a mix of a golf course (where no dogs are allowed so when JK go, I have to stay home, so unfair!!) and Watership Down, that happy place that J was talking about earlier, where the rabbits lived in freedom and friendship; and I couldn’t hear anything else JK and the man said; I just saw this picture. It was so clear.  Like I was looking through a window.

A blue, blue sky.  A whole lake of fresh water.  Green grass, golf course grass,  shady trees, warm sunshine. Smoky blue mountains in the distance. Dirt to dig. Lots of dogs to play with, no color blindness!  Dog houses with names on them: I could see Lucy, Max (not me, not yet!), Theo, Jacob, Cassie, Hank (arrived 12/31/11 - RIP to our dear friend)…I could see Spike now.  Balls that never popped and squirrels that skittered ahead just fast enough, and infinite space to run and run. Naps and biscuits and everyone free and happy, no pain at all, waiting for as long as they needed, for their people to show up.  And right in front, a sign: ALL DOGZ WLCOM.  All dogs.  What a great place to wait!!!  I couldn’t figure out why Spike being at this Putt Down Dog Park would make the man sad.

I wagged around them.  Look!! Can you see this, what I’m seeing?  See where those dogs are? Nope… People can be so blind sometimes!  JK and the man didn’t see the picture.  So I did the best thing I could think of to make him feel better.

I walked over and set my ball carefully between his coffee cup and the newspaper, just close enough that it bumped the cup. The paper kept my ball from rolling down the driveway.  Slobber from my mouth dripped onto the cup and some into the coffee.  Buzz taught me that swapping slobber is the best way to make your friends feel better. That is why we lick faces and hands.  Since I didn’t know this man very well, I didn’t think I should lick him.  But he got my slobber all the same, in his coffee.

Ahhhh…??? the man stared at the ball next to his cup, then at me, then looked at JK with a big question mark on his face.  Go ahead and have a sip, K said to the man, no, go ahead.  All three of them laughed. 

Maxie, go get your ball. J said to me. I got it.  But swapping slobber worked, just like I knew it would. See? Everyone was happy after that. Not as happy as Spike was at the Putt Down Dog Park, waiting for his man.  But the day will come when that man gets to see Spike again. Then they will swap slobber.  We dogs know this.  We just know it. 

I ran some more in the church yard and all the way home, where breakfast and Buzz were waiting. It was such a good Christmas Eve. 

See Spa, RUN

I was minding my own business a few days ago, gnawing my beloved knuckle bone by the house tree. (JK have given up trying to keep me in the kitchen with that bone. I love the house tree so much).   K had gone to Charleston for the day and Buzz was asleep in his bed.  Except that K was gone, life was pretty perfect.

 J was drinking coffee and eating a piece of Christmas toffee she made, that she said wasn’t very good-- but she still eats it like candy.  I should know by now that when J eats candy, she has these energy bursts.  There is an equation, just like 2+2=?     (I can’t add). 

(Energy burst) (lawn care and trimming flowers) = (Freedom in front yard) + (stealing J’s gloves out of gardening wagon) = good. 

(Energy burst) (upstairs to the big extra bathroom) + (running water –oh oh)  = not so good.

Bad news today. She went upstairs.  I know that fake sing-song tone of voice, come on, Maxie, come on up!  Shower spray from that hose nozzle, clean towels, shampoo.  Who is she kidding.  I stand down at the bottom of the stairs and tell her, Not gonna happen. 

This doesn’t faze J.  She just comes down, gets my leash, loops it in a hangman’s noose around my neck, picks up Buzz, and lugs/pulls us up the steps.  Buzz makes himself as heavy as he can, drooping his gut and dangling his back legs like a silent tantrum-throwing child.  J is breathless by Step 5.  But she perseveres and we make it to the top. We all go into the bathroom and she shuts the door.  There is no escape.  Dang toffee!! I am resigned to my fate.

There are some times when I know I’m going to have a bath.  Like the day JK were talking to Macy and her lady, and I was hot from chasing my ball, so I wallowed in the huge, deep, red mud puddle in the church parking lot, by the road. Pigs and buffalo know what they’re talking about!

And I thought mud was supposed to be a great spa treatment!  Not in this house, apparently. I was so “filthy” that when we got home, K had to take me down to the lake and have me dive in a few times before I could go into the house. Then it was right up the stairs to the waiting tub.  I’d do it again though. The mud felt awesome and –bonus!! - dyed my lower body a fine Irish Setter red for about 2 weeks.

But usually, Buzz and I just get brushed.  JK says to us, “You want to get handsome?” Oh we LOVE getting handsome.  I jump up on the step to the back door, and they comb me with my little purple comb.  I don’t like the brush. Only the comb.  Buzz gets the currycomb because J says he has such a thick undercoat.  He says it’s due to his racehorse-like muscular structure. 

J actually googled, “How often should I bathe my dog.” She got 161,000 results. Around 80,500 people who bathe their dogs a lot believe that you should bathe your dog a lot. And 80,000 people who don’t bathe their dogs a lot, don’t think you need to. And judging by the comments and questions J read, the remaining 500 should probably not enroll in any best of breed dog shows/spelling bees anytime soon. 

That is what she told me she found out about dog bathing.  Yay, Google! Information highway!!

I feel lucky that JK are generally in the “don’t need to” category.   But that was no help to us on this day.  I hate Christmas baking whims.  Buzz got his first. J can scrub him down in no time flat because he’s small and his fur is short and he stands very still.  I’ve learned from him that I have to stay in the tub.  But I don’t have to like it!! 

J gets Buzz all dried off and he actually goes ancient crackerdog for a brief moment.  Then he sits down to lick himself all over, and J picks me up, all 56 pounds, and wrestles me into the tub.  I try Buzz’s trick of being as limp and heavy as possible, but she retaliates with her best squat thrust.  She is actually pretty strong for an old lady.  The toffee offsets her muscle-weakening laughter.  And my best hangdog look doesn’t warm her Cruella heart, not a bit.

J engages in some toffee-fueled wrestling moves.
Buzz says they are illegal, by the way.

I can be your hero, baby.

The shampoo is especially for dogs.  It’s purple, but it turns my fur so white! How weird is that!  The conditioner smells like coconut.  Then I get rinsed and rinsed, and rinsed some more, (oh my word you have so much fur, Maxwell) then J pulls the shower curtain shut and says, shake yourself off Maxie and I do that a few times, then she lets me hop out.  I shake again and then – OK, I admit, I like this part. J dries me off with a towel.  I LOVE the towel!  She ties it around my neck like a superhero and then rubs me down.  I wrestle and growl. I am sooo happy to be out of that tub.

She opens the door. Buzz, fuzzy and chubby, makes a beeline for the stairs and his bed.  I know what’s coming next.  OK, and I admit, I love this too.  Blow-dry!  One day J was drying her hair upside down. I watched for a while and then just sort of snuck in there and stood where I could feel the air on my fur.  Now when she blow-dries her hair, I get a turn.  She fluffs up my neck and aims the warm air on it. Heaven.   And that Kerestase oil!  J’s girl C gave it to her, but I love it too. So she rubs the extra into my fur when she uses it for herself – and I smell so good.  It’s a regular spa, you are so spoiled Maxie, she says. 

One of us is bedraggled. And it's not me.

Then she says, Go show K how handsome you are and when he's home, I run down to K’s office and if the door is open, I give him a show and a smell. He presses the mute button on his conference call and gives me a pat and an admiring comment. He appreciates the break from his routine.  I know he does.

So yeah...take it from me, a purebred wiered haird Maxima, you definitely want those flee drops reapplied for the next time the dread tub is looming – and in the meantime, for a soft red coat, maybe do the puddle dog treatments now and then?????????????????????????????????????? 

I would never tell JK this, but I love how I feel after my bath.  The good, the bad, and the handsome… Oh, and the toffee.  It’s all a part of the spa. 

Pawty Animals and Their Pets

Not too long ago J pulled something out of the “roundie” under the regular mailbox.  Buzz and I were there; we go check the mail with her or K every day, and always have to take a piece into the house to earn our biscuit.  Buzz is very serious about it and trots importantly up to the front door, holding his mail carefully, then dropping it once we’re inside. 

Usually I control myself and carry it in.  But  now and then the construction men across the street have watched as I hurtle around the front yard, dancing and leaping, tossing the catalog or newspaper that JK has given me for safe keeping. I’m just so HAPPY! I’m outside. JK is going to give me a biscuit.  Is there anything else?  I think not. My life is a party! Sometimes I have to just shred a newspaper as confetti.

On this day, J held the paper up, away from us and took it from the envelope. Buzz did a couple of stiff-legged prance moves. Give, give. The sooner I take that in, the sooner I get a biscuit.  Wait, boys, I’ll give you your mail in a second. What’s this?  Oooooh – Look!  You’ve been invited to a party!  Wait, no, a pawty!

She held it where we could sniff. It smelled like Fletch, with a tadbit of Molly!   A party pawty!! Buzz was very interested and as excited as he will allow himself to show. But I was sorta confused.  So every morning that I wake up, life isn’t a party?  There’s more joy to be had? I really didn’t know how this could be.  

We met Fletch and Molly the way we've met most of our buddies - out on a walk. Fletch and I are both purebred rescues (that's the breed J told me I am, one day when I was feeling a little bit muttly and scruffy in front of a bunch of purebred dogs).  Well I think Molly is too.  She lives with Fletch some of the time. We go past their back yard on our regular walk, and sometimes they get to come out and play with us in the church yard.  We run!!  It is so much fun.

To celebrate, I created confetti out of the Food Lion ad J gave me.  Buzz was allowed to carry the invite into the house, where J hung it on the refrigerator. 

Last Saturday we went on our early morning walk as usual.  Then K fed us our breakfast.  It was a regular happy day as far as I could tell.  Then J opened up the dog stuff cabinet, where our treats are, and pushed our prying noses aside and pulled out bandanas.  Bandanas!  I love my bandana!  I sit as still as I can and wait for her to tie it around my neck. I don’t know why, but good things happen when we wear bandanas.

we wanted to keep this for ourselves

J picked up the  box that she and I had made a couple days before.  No, this is for Fletch and Molly, she told me AGAIN, as we made our way to K’s car.  It's called a hostess gift. Whatever. The car! It was getting better and better! She put my Jollyball in first, then Buzz, then I jumped in.

I think I will just tell the rest in pictures.  J helped me make a scrapbook.

Are You Knowing This Ham From Cisco?



We get decorated, too

The other day the doorbell rang.  Buzz never hears it anymore; and because he doesn’t bark, neither do I.  But I do go to the door and wag.  By the time J got to the front door, she saw just the back of the UPS man walking down our sidewalk to his truck. Like she always does, she opened the door holding onto me (so annoying) and called out, “Thank you!” and the UPS man waved and then she told me to stay (again, annoying), went onto the porch, picked up the big box, and brought it inside.  I danced around her.  I absolutely love it when we get packages! 

The side of the box said HONEYBAKED HAM.  It was addressed to Kevin Poleman.  I better open this, Maxie, said J.  Looks like Kevin might have gotten a ham. I tell you, it’s getting harder and harder to keep my husbands straight. 

She opened the box with a paring knife and pulled out some insulated wrapping. Inside was a gigantic ham, wrapped in heavy gold foil and frosty with ice. 

Whoa! How nice!  Good thing Kevin and I love ham, J said to me.  I was very interested but J didn’t allow me to sniff it.  I followed her into the garage, where she put it in the freezer. 

Who sent Kevin this ham?  J took a look at the label.  The return address and gift message area said simply, “Cisco.”  Well, Cisco kid certainly is a friend of MINE, Maxie.  Kevin will know who that is...now if we can just figure out who Kevin is.   She left the box on the kitchen table so K would see it when he got home.

Meanwhile J kept working in the kitchen, putting together the food for her brunch the next day. It’s weird, but it seems like when J puts up that house tree, and hangs lights and greenery and ornaments, our schedule gets more interesting. Lots of things happen.  The mystery ham is just one of them.

For instance, a couple weeks ago, JK fed Buzz and me and then took us upstairs to their bathroom and turned on the fan so we couldn’t hear anything else, and then closed the door and left us in there. The bathroom is big but still. This was just so weird.

A couple hours later, J came up and got me. Buzz was asleep in his bed.  She put me on a leash and took me downstairs. Some people want to meet you, Maxie.  The house was full of people I had never seen before! It was actually pretty overwhelming! And on top of that, there was a huge bus parked outside.  I met all these humans who petted me and fussed over me, and I have to be honest, I didn’t know what to think! Then they all filed out the front door and got on the bus.  JK let Buzz and me out of the bathroom, and then THEY got in their car and drove away and followed the bus.

Buzz watched them go.  Yeah. Work party, he told me.  Oh, they used to do that in Georgia. Tell me, was there a real nice older woman, short gray hair with a fine, shapely calf, wearing alluring nylons?  I told him I didn’t know.  It was just so crowded and I had met so many people. 

All I got was the skewer. No elk.

Hmm, too bad.  I’m still not sure why JK weren’t that excited about my amorous attention to that calf that night. I just couldn’t stay away.   Buzz meandered off to his bed, lost in memories.  I had no idea what he meant.  I sniffed around. I could smell all kinds of things, but mostly delicious food, still sitting on the table and the counter.  Under the table I found a skewer.  I had never tasted anything like what was on that skewer. It's elk, Maxie, J told me much later when I brought it to her.  We served grilled elk skewers. 

Apparently JK had a great time at their party and then a couple days later, J had this brunch.  She invited Macy and Hank and their two ladies. Hank wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed home, but his lady and Macy's lady and Macy came – and brought me a present! An orange ball! No wonder I love Macy!  I just can’t believe I get to have that ball in the house.  It is awesome, but last night, I was so exhausted trying to keep track of it that I finally took it over to K and gave it to him, then collapsed in the living room.  Buzz got a squeaky ball with a long tail, which he hid under his camo cushion in his lair.

JK have gone other places too.  It’s just party and present time. Yesterday J and I walked down to Alexa’s, to take her a couple presents. Alexa is the girl who used to have me before I came to live with JK.  It’s the least we can do, Maxie, J said again this year as we strolled up the street to the end of the cul de sac.  There is no gift that will make Alexa as happy as you have made us but we can sure try.  And guess what.  When we dropped off Alexa’s gift, she gave Buzz and me one!!  It’s in a bag! J put it under the tree.  I can sniff it, but I have to leave it alone until I don’t know when.  Last night after I gave K the ball, I fell asleep right beside that gift.  It’s nice to have such great friends, like Macy and Alexa and Hank.  And Fletch.  I’ll have to write about Fletch another time because this is long enough and I need to go wake up K.

Oh, yeah, the ham! Well so then later that day, K got home. He read all the information on the box and made several phone calls, trying to track down the mysterious Cisco; and finally, after talking to the manager of the store that sent the ham, he figured out who it was. JK have nice friends, just like Buzz and I do. But the equally mysterious Kevin Poleman never did show up, to my relief. J is much happier with just one husband, and that is K.  J thinks Kevin must be out looking for his ham. 

 

Bereave Me, I'm OK, and I'm Sorry, Okay?

I wrote this last August.  Was that yesterday?  J says it seems like it.  Yeah, I thought so.  So I don't know what she means by "way overdue."

August 2011

I was galloping around the back yard a couple days ago while Buzz dozed in the sun on the deck. It felt like it had been a while since I had seen and smelled things like Buzz, my white food dish with the bone on the bottom, and my beat-up soccer ball.  I think we were gone for a few days. I remember J, K and I did a lot of driving, and I met endless new friends and got reacquainted with some old ones. It was awesome. We might have even been gone a whole week, I don’t know. Hold on. J says it was 7 weeks that we were gone.  Whatever that means.

So, J says I owe a couple notes.
But before I put them out there, I need to clarify. I’m alive! Definitely alive. 

On the day I was chasing around the yard, J heard her cell phone twirp the arrival of a text message. She went to check it and this is what she read.

Hey Jen – I just this minute found out about Maxwell – oh my gosh – I can’t even imagine all that you’re feeling right now – I’m just so very very sorry. What an amazing little dog – what a huge loss…love you – Lisa

J looked out the kitchen door. I was flipping my favorite tan pot up in the air.  At least to her, it looked like I was very much alive, albeit a little crazy. To say she was mystified is a vast understatement.  She immediately texted Lisa back several times, using the response most humans would when met with a heartfelt expression of sympathy.

What the heck! Maxwell kis in the back yard!

Is

What did you hear?

Unless a squirrel just killed him…nope =) sorry to make light of it but really he’s fine!

By then Buzz and I were at the door. J let us in, then took her phone up to K’s office. I followed. J said to K,  Look at this message I got from Lisa just now. K read it. The question mark above his head added an exclamation mark.  Now there were two mystified humans. K said, Tell her I’m OK, too, thanks for asking.  They laughed.  Just then J’s phone twirped again.

Oh my – well first of all, GREAT!!! Ok now that’s funny!!! I’ll write the explanation in a min…

J and K gave me several odd looks, as if to make sure I really wasn’t dead. I tried to look as alive as possible by licking K's hands.  They couldn’t imagine what circumstances could have led to Lisa's text.

J and I spent a couple days with Eric and Lisa and family this summer, at the cabin they rented at Swan Lake. I really liked that family.  Evan is writing a sitcom pilot and I was doing my best to audition for the part of family dog, but I don’t know how that went.  I mostly just spent my time swimming to get my ball in the lake and trying to warm up afterward.  Swan Lake is chilly!

So anyway, just then J’s phone rang. It was Lisa.  She was weeping. I know it was relief that I was alive, but J says it was actually laughter. 

As far as I can tell from the conversation, which consisted of just one or two words per burst of laughter, a couple days before, Evan had gotten a text from a number he didn’t recognize, saying something like,

To all of you who were special in Maxwell’s life, just wanted to let you know he passed away today. I can’t talk about it right now because I’m too sad, but I wish you were here with me.

Something like that.  So apparently, TWO DAYS LATER, Evan casually mentioned to Lisa that J had sent him this text about my death. No rush! I'm totally DEAD... but no rush!  (This does not bode well for my audition.)

Lisa, shocked, read the text and said her first thought was, “Why would she tell Evan of all people, and not me?”  And J says that on the other hand, surely Evan was wondering why in the heck J would want him there with her. Not that she doesn't enjoy Evan, but hanging out over a dead dog...?   Lisa, kind soul that she is, rushed to send her condolences to the unaware bereaved, in this case, JK. J laughed away her sorrow all the rest of the day long.  So did Lisa. Humans are crazy.

So the mystery of my death is solved, except for who the unfortunate other Maxwell might be; and who the sad text-writer connected to him really IS.  Evan doesn’t know. Someone in the vicinity of Terre Haute Indiana.

It does not escape J and K that Lisa understood how sad they would be if I DID pass on, and they appreciate that, and so do I. But happily, I’m still slopping water out of my bowl, chasing my jollyball, caring for my babies, herding Buzz, keeping JK and squirrels in line, and generally spreading enthusiasm for life wherever I can. I've got way too much to do to add dead to the list.

Oh yeah, plus I have to write these notes. 

*Heavy sigh.* 

Oscar is so lucky. Wish I had a little boy in a jail.

What a relief to get those done!  Today Buzz and I are going to Fletch's Second Annual Howl-a-Day party down the street and I will blog about that later.  For now, I'm alive and I'm sorry and I can't wait to party, lovable black and white mutt that I am.

Them's Wrestlin' Words

At first J didn't believe me.

J says that if you haven’t written for a long time, the best thing to do is just sit down and write. Easy for her to say; she doesn’t have to write it.  I’ve been gone from here for a really long time.  Not that I haven’t written stuff.  J has just been too busy to edit.  I have kind of enjoyed the break but J says I am getting intellectually lazy and it’s time to exercise the mind again. So to remind her, I got out my blog notes from over the past few months.  Oh yeah, said J, I will add those – good work, Maxie, nice writing skills.

You can’t believe the stuff people do. JK have a tree in the house.  Furniture got rearranged.  Buzz and I actually like it better because now we have all this space to wrestle.  When Buzz gets his go-juice put on his food, it helps his joints, and he gets really feisty, sometimes for as long as two minutes at a time.  I LOVE our wrestling matches but they always end too soon. Buzz gets bored and goes back to his lair, then snores and yips, chasing squirrels in his sleep I guess.

Speaking of wrestling.  The other morning we were getting ready for the walk.  I was racing around the driveway with my leash dangling, trying my hardest to get K to throw the Chuck-it ball for me.  Buzz was actually going with us; sometimes he stays home now, JK let him choose. If he comes out to the garage with us to put on leashes and collars, he goes.  If he lounges in his bed and stares at us with an “are you kidding me” look, he stays.  J said to K a while back, I guess when a dog’s age in people years is almost more than our two ages combined, he has the right to slow it down a bit. Buzz says it has nothing to do with age and that it should have been this way all along.  He exercises his right to sleep in. Plus, he doesn’t like J singing “I’m a little PeePot, short and stout” to him when he is marking the important spots on the walk.   He takes his marking very seriously. 

We were waiting for J to turn off the lights and shut the garage door. Down the street were two people walking a couple of gigantic dogs.  They saw me racing around and I guess it scared them because they turned around and went the other way. I know I’m fierce but I didn’t realize THAT fierce.

We finally got going.  K told J the story about the big dogs. J looked down the street. Those are bull mastiffs, she said. Wow, they are huge! Look at the size of their heads! Buzz trotted out ahead -- you could tell he could hardly wait to meet them.  He told me that FINALLY there was a dog to match his own stature and size, not just one, but two of them.  Not since he met Patches the Great Dane at the boat ramp, had he seen any dogs that came close to matching him.  He said could smell their massive strength on the breeze and recognized it as the same scent that comes from his bed. He said they were relatives. He was wound up, I tell you, nose in the air, trotting along like the Sultan of JRT World.  I was like WHATEVER, now where is that Chuck-it.

We caught up with their foursome at the corner of Chapel Creek and Sailview; and JK moved into the street so we could let them have the sidewalk while we passed them. Buzz was totally ready to ask if he could join their Big Dog pack, when all of a sudden, the dog on the leash held by the lady lunged at us. Luckily for us, she held onto the leash. Unluckily for her, she got yanked off her feet, landed hard on the sidewalk, and got dragged across the grass, into the gutter on the street. She screamed for her husband, who jumped over and helped her pull the dog back. I watched in disbelief –and  I thought I pulled on the leash!  And they were wearing those stabbing collars!  Through all this, Buzz was nonchalant. He stared at the lunging dog impassively. Yep, I can relate to that kind of brute strength. He flexed his gut muscles to show me.  

JK  were shocked and asked if the lady was all right. She glanced up at them from her spot in the gutter, still with a death grip on the leash- and said she was-- but we could tell she was shaken up.  We boogied on out of there so the dog wouldn’t be distracted. I looked back once and the lady had stood up again and the dog was sitting on the sidewalk like nothing had happened.  Now THAT was a wrestling match!

Buzz practicing the Jack Mastiff Lunge

Buzz said he would give anything to hang out with them, and that he has learned a new move which he has dubbed the Jack Mastiff Lunge, where he flexes his gut muscles and jumps at me, then rolls over on his back like the lady in the gutter.  He’s tried it out a couple times since then.  I guess it might work but usually I just pin him and then walk away.  He says he’s got it perfected but he needs a bull mastiff to practice with, nothing less will do.  It’s usually at about that point that I just go back to shaking my babies.

So that's the latest --but much more has happened, and I do have some catch-up blogs to post.  I'm embarassed to say that I have a whole lot of thank you notes and whatnot to post (OK, maybe a couple apology notes that J is forcing me to write).  But for now, I did what J suggested and just started writing.  My skills feel a little rusty.  I've wrestled enough words out of my mind for now.  Maybe J or K will give me a peanut butter biscuit for at least making the attempt.   I think I will go lay by the house tree and chase those squirrels Buzz is yipping at.  And hopefully we will wrestle in the morning.