Stinky things and stinky dogs

This morning Vickie went into the laundry closet and pulled out four dirty socks, then she put them in her coat pocket. Next she got into my search dog pack and pulled out the GPS, got the camera and put them both next to the keys to the car. Now I may be young, but I know those actions mean something fun is up and coming.

I made it a point to stick close to her all morning. I didn’t want her sneaking off without me. It was such a long morning. I mean, a lot of my friends came to Day Care and it was exciting to see them, but still I knew something really cool was still coming.




Gus and Cleo came early. Gus was really wound up. He was whining and barking before his ride had even pulled up to the gate. Natalie, their human, couldn’t get out fast enough for Gus. I could hear him from the office. We all came out to greet them as Vickie opened their play area up so they could go in and check out all the smells from yesterday.




Ellie and Gracie soon arrived and headed back to the big play area behind the house where they were to spend the day with Frankenstein and Monte. Shortly after them came Zeus, Kodiak and Kenai. Then two other dogs came, I haven’t met them yet but they were huge, I mean HUGE. I can’t believe there is a dog bigger than Zeus but this one guys face is bigger than anything I have ever seen.

Mind you, I wasn’t afraid because he seems awful gentle, just HUGE.. Striker is the biggest of the two and Sam, well he isn’t far behind. Sam is very playful and he found Zeus to be a great playmate, although I am not sure Zeus was as tickeled with him.

Striker spent most of the day just walking around smelling smells. I got a great deal of joy watching him. He has the biggest brown eyes and they look so very soulful. He looks sad, but yet, he is happy. Now how does a guy do that?





Finally all the day care dogs arrived and Vickie settled them all in, then came and got me and Jamie, the camera, GPS and dirty socks. Off we went……I thought we were going to Fort Buenaventura which I love, but then when we parked before the bridge and got out, Vickie started walking west of the river into an area I was not familiar with.

She said we were going to set up an evidence trail for some of the other dog handlers from American Search Dogs which meant lots and lots of walking and I love walking. We covered a couple of miles while we walked along the river and every now and then, Vickie would stop and hide one of the dirty socks, marking the location on her GPS. She said it would be like a game.

The handlers would get the GPS coordinates and that would give them a general location, then the dogs, got to use their noses and close in on the dirty socks. Not really a problem as far I as I could tell, cause I could smell those dirty things a good 100 yards away.

When we were almost done with the walk, Jamie alerted, smelling something really good over by the river. Off she went, down the bank and under the bridge. Vickie and I just walked. Then she came running back up to us with something in her mouth. Yep, she had found someone else’s clothing that they had left behind

I saw Vickie cringe as Jamie brought it back to her, wanting her to play tug of war with it. Since it was clear Vickie wasn’t going to play with the smelly stuff, I decided to grab it from Jamie and keep it for myself. Whoa!!! It was potent.

Jamie wanted it back and Vickie was hollering to me to drop it. They both wanted it now, but I wasn’t going to give it up. I ran with it for a while, but then my mouth started watering so much from the smell and taste of it that I decided it should be diluted a bit with some water.


I looked around but I was too far from the water and Jamie was blocking my way to it anyway. I didn’t want her to get it so I headed to the side of the trail where there was some run-off water, well maybe it was more of mud than water.

Yep, that stopped both of them. That Jamie is pretty prissy about keeping her feet dry. I think it is because of the sore she has on her foot. Vickie had tennis shoes on and so she was not threat at all. But just in case, I buried the prize in the mud and then just to make it even more unattractive to both of them, I laid on it.

No body wanted it now… It was all mine. But now it was so muddy that even I didn’t want it so I just played a little more in the mud and slime, then we all headed back to the truck.

Vickie said she was torn as we got closer to the truck. She was mumbling something about not wanting a muddy filthy dog in the truck, but it was too cold to dump me in the river to wash it off. The discussion she was having with herself went on for about five minutes and luckily for me, muddy won out. That river did look awful cold.

Before she let me into the truck she pulled out a bunch of blankets and covered the seats. Then boosted Jamie in, then me. She got in and we headed for home.

We hadn’t gone more than 20 feet when Vickie started complaining about the smell. Now what smell could she be talking about? I thought the air in the truck was just fine. Vickie suddenly stopped the truck, then reached past me and opened the window. Next she opened the drivers side window. She was making these gagging sounds. The same kind of sounds I make, just before I throw up.

She was making those sounds all the way home, and when we got home, she wouldn’t even let me in the house. She locked me in the front yard and then she brought out the hose and soaked me down. She was washing off all that really neat smelly mud that I had found. She kept saying stuff about “Swamp Gas” and “Sewers”.

Sometimes I don’t get her at all. But even when she is totally weird, I just keep reminding myself of all the fun times we have together. She’s ok..