Guess Who's BACK

So I finally understand what all the toodoo about Thanksgiving is. Oh Yeah…I get it….. Guess what I got for Thanksgiving. Well I didn’t get a big Turkey dinner with potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, hot rolls, apple crunch pie and hot cider….no I didn’t’ get any of that. Vickie did…..I didn’t.

What did I get you may now be asking that would make me so grateful for the Thanksgiving Holiday…Well BOB, Bob, Boomerang Bob……that’s what I got. Yep HE’S BACK……Oh my gosh, it was the most amazing thing. Vickie and I are just strolling along the banks of the Weber River the other day. It was a new place, further down stream from where we usually go. All of a sudden, I get this tingle in my nose and I feel a familiar sensation darting through my body.

It was like a memory, a moment in time that I couldn’t quite place. I had stopped and was sniffing the air around me. Something was close. Something exquisite and wonderful, something special. I just couldn’t put my toe on it……(he he, that’s a play on your word “finger”)

Vickie just kept walking but she knew something was up cause she would look back and sneak a peak at me every few steps. There was a bend in the river up ahead and a small beach with big rocks leading into the water and Vickie was now heading in that direction. Closer and closer to the water.

It was a cold day and I knew she didn’t want me to get wet, then ride next to her on the drive home, but here she was walking closer and closer to the water so I decided it must be ok to follow her.

As I got to the beach a strong breeze from the rocks on the shore slapped me in the face. BOB……That was the smell….Boomerang Bob…..He was close, I could smell it…..
I ran to the waters edge, then into the river itself. The smell lessened the further into the water I got so I turned around and headed back to shore and there it was again.

Carefully and methodically I made my way into the wind getting closer and closer to the beautiful smell of BOB……

I came to the big rocks and the smell was so strong I almost passed out from the excitement. Around the rocks I ran, into the water, out of the water, into the water…..where was he, I knew he was close…..so so close…… BOB! BOB! Where are you…….

I had to calm down, I knew it…..Calm down Bert…. Calm down…..Work the area slowly…..Calm… compose yourself…..slow down…..BOB BOB

I purposely took some deep breaths, collected my thoughts and then slowly worked the area inch by inch. Deep in the rocks at the base of the river, which was now much lower than it was when Bob disappeared, I came across a pile of fallen leaves. Mushy and wet from the dark recesses of the back side of the big rock I found a pile of leaves that smelled so much like Bob, well Like Bob and dead fish…..

I brought my paw up and forced it between the rocks to that section and started pulling the leaves out. Suddenly my paw hit a familiar surface…..soft, yet plump….I anxiously pawed away more leaves and then to my delight I saw YELLOW…….

Bob is yellow….could this be BOB”?

It is…..Bob Is BACK……

I pulled him out from under cover of the cold dark rock, he was all wet and looked pretty ragged but he still tasted as good as ever….Vickie and I ran through the park playing with Bob for the rest of the day. It was so great. Bob and I swam in the river, well played close to the shore. Vickie was still not willing to drive home with a wet dog and a sloppy Boomerang Bob.

We jumped over logs and ran through the woods. Total abandonment.. thats what Vickie said.Then we found a big pile of leaves and I dived in, just cause they were there. Then I dragged Bob through the leaves and he jumped out of my mouth and hid under the pile of leaves.

But I dove in under all the leaves and found him. I am NOT LOOSING HIM again..... EVER, NEVER.....Such a wonderful time we had....HOWEVER, between you and me, and I hope you won’t let on to Vickie, but the truth is, I know this isn’t Boomerang Bob. I know it is Vickie’s attempt to replace him in my life.

It’s sweet really, when you think about it. I mean she knew how upset I was at his coming up missing so she and Jill, from Pet Expectations…got together and planned an elaborate ruse, hoping to fool me, but come on…..I am a search dog, I know when I am dealing with the real thing or with a fake….

I strongly suspect, you know, by the way this Bob looks and smells, that this is most likely what they did.

I think Jill ordered another yellow boomerang. As soon as it came, hoping that I wouldn’t notice it was new, Vickie and Jill probably dragged it alongside one of their cars….hoping that by dragging it through the streets, that it would get that used look.

Then, I suspect, Vickie snuck down to the river earlier in the day and hid it in the spot where I found it. I mean really, Like I couldn’t smell that she had been there previously. I am a search dog after all…In fact, if I had wanted to let her know I new her secret, I could have actually tracked her step for step.

But, I think it is important that she think I believe it is the original Bob. So what’s the big deal. I have BOB back….even if it isn’t the real Bob, its still works for me.

So Yahoo for Thanksgiving…..forget the turkey, I’ve got BOB (Thanks Jill, I mean no offence to Boomerang Betty but BOBs the one)

And That My Friends Is What "THANKSGIVING" is all about.

Love

Bert

Woosh I am soooo tired. Vickie made true to her promise this week and we have been really busy. We have had two call-outs and I got to go on one of them. We looked for a few hours and much to everyones delight, both of the missing were found safe and sound. No I didn't personally find them, but I did get to go help......

We also got to go to the park a whole bunch cause there were a lot of dogs from the Country Club that needed walks. On this one walk, I found a really cool tree and I tried to climb it. I almost made it too....


But just as I got my momentum going and was stretching up to a nice point that I could secure my front feet to pull me up, this darn cat that was already in the tree smacked me in the face. I mean smacked me hard. I was pretty shocked, goodness, I didn't even know he was there. He just appeared out of no where and SMACKED ME.......

Well who needs that..... Not me.... so off I went and found me some new friends. There were these three horses in the pasture next to the park. I have seen them before but Vickie has always told me to ignore them and stay out of their play area. Well Vickie was busy with Zeus, making sure he got plenty of exercise and so she was just ignoring me.

I took that to mean that I could go over and introduce myself. They were really great. They came up and nudged me, snorted all over my back and even invited me to come play with them.
We ran back and forth along the fence. I stayed up on the hill cause they were bigger than me, but it was really fun. Then I guess Vickie saw what we were doing and got all nervous and started calling me back over to her side of the fence. She made me nervous cause she was nervous and so I forgot how to get back thru the fence.

I tried to jump through it two times and the barbed wire kept blocking my way. My horse friends were still trying to get me to play but now I was worried because I was separated from my Vickie by this weird fence.

Finally both Vickie and I calmed down enough that we both met and the fence and instead of trying to jump between the wires, Vickie held the bottom line up enough for me to crawl under.
That ended the horse play for now...Hey did you notice the cool blue eyes of the brown horse in the middle. I asked Vickie to try and get a better picture for you next time we visit. They are very "Haunting".....(cool description eh)

Boney Tony came out to play a lot this week. First he got to come out when we were doing some training this weekend. I was looking for Shantra who played victim for training. When I found her she pulled out Boney Tony and we played tug-of-war forever. She is a good player but when she is laying down, she is really hard to pull or drag.

When Tucker got there, he started playing tug too and we really worked Tony. Then Murhpy came and boy it was a three way tug......I don't know how Tony kept it all together but he did.
Vickie Brought Tony out again for the first snow of the season. I know it is supposed to be just my Search and Rescue reward but it was such a beautiful day and we needed something that would show up in the snow. I loose more tennis balls in the winter cause they sneak down under the snow. Boney Tony don't hide at all, he always shows up where ever we play....
Tristy is getting a little greedy with my toy. She gets hold of Tony and she won't let me near it. I think her loosing weight and being able to move faster is not going to be to my advantage.

OK Tristy, you take Boney Tony, I am going to take Jamie on and see if I can get Boomerang Betty out of her mouth. She may be a tough old dog, but my youth and power is no match. Just watch me......

OK, so Jamie can hold her own, I think I'll try and take on Tristy again. Don't these two understand that these are MY TOYS..... Mine.......Mine......Mine.... Jill, I know that Vickie has asked you to get her another Boomerang Bob for me. I know she is going to try and make me thing it is the original Bob by driving over it with her truck, dragging it through the mud and other stuff to make it look used so that I will think it is MY BOOMERANG BOB. I know all this......and I am prepared to let her think I beleive it....I will do anything just to get a toy all my own....I am sick and tired of having to fight for one with these two girl dogs. They fight dirty.

Well, I am off to bed, I have talked a lot longer than I thought I would be able too since I am so tired. I know it is a big Holiday week for all you humans. Not sure what it will mean to me but I wish you all a very nice Thanksgiving.

And just for the fun of it, I asked Vickie to put some of her favorite pictures at the bottom of my blog. I hope you enjoy them. Lots are my friends, some are from before my time too.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love

Bert.

BORED, bored bored bored bored bored bored.....I AM SOOOO BORED.
Vickie has been spending all her time working in the kennels getting ready for winter....So what is the big deal about WINTER and why does she have to work work work before it comes. She spends so much time working that she is neglecting me.

NEGLECT.....doesnt' that qualify for Child Abuse (ok I am a dog but I am a young one) I think someone should say something to her about it.

Well, yes, I did get to go to the park three times this week and I did get to go on one or two walks with my boys, but Tristy got to go three times......Yep, the boys took her three times and me only twice. so what if she has to loose a lot of weight. I am pretty upset about this as you can see. AND BORED.

I did get to play with some of the day care dogs though. I am not always allowed out there because of my appetite for rocks. But Vickie said as long as she was out there with me and could keep an eye on me.

That was kind of fun.

Gus and Cleo were not much in the mood for playing the day I got to go out. They just stood up on one of the wooden boxes and did guard duty. They made it their job to keep us all in line....Yea right.....

Candy the lab and Annie and Coda the golden doodles and I ran all through the play area. Up and over the walls thru the tunnels from one end of the kennel to the other. It was great fun.

Then Vickie got this grand idea that I should go in and meet the little puppies again. She kept putting them up to my face and making me lay down next to them. Ugghhhh that was awful. The little poopies crawled all over me while Vickie made me sit there. One of them even peed on me. How undignified is that....

I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Zeus on the other hand was very curious about the little bounders. He watched them all day through the fence until Vickie finally let him go in and see them. He was really taken with them. He wanted them to play with him and he would nudge them with his big nose. Only he is so big that a little nudge would send them tumbling over on their sides. But they didn't mind. They just kept coming back to him and kissing and licking at him.

And not a one of them peed on him....

Well Zeus can have them. I went back to my girl friends Farrah and Annie and played for another half an hour. Farrah is a black lab-er-doodle. It seems kind of funny that all of a sudden we have all these poodle mix's coming to play. They are all about the same age (five months). Even though they are only that old, they are still almost as big as me. Which is ok cause I like the big girls......

So now I have the beautiful Farrah and the charming Annie as my new friends. I think they both have crushes on me so I cannot say if I like one more than the other cause I don't ever want to hurt either of their feelings. I figure I can be both girls boyfriend for now. If things get serious later on with one or the other of them, well we will just cross that bridge when we come to it. And Like Vickie says, it is not like we can do anything about it.....you know what I mean..

So back to the fact that I am bored......all because of this Winter thing that we are preparing for. I have been around for one winter already but I guess I don't remember why it is such a big deal.

Anyway this morning (Saturday) Vickie was fixing breakfast for all of us. She was in the kitchen and of course all of the rest of us were there too, you know, making sure she does it right. She was complaining about a headache all morning. I am not sure what a headache is but it was making her kind of moody.

She was also a little dizzy from an ear infection so she wasn't moving really fast. While she was fixing the breakfast we all heard a funny noise coming from underneath the sink. "I'll be darned" Vickie said "It is that dang mouse I have been trying to catch for weeks"

She wont set out poison for mice but tries to catch any invaiders in a live trap, but this particular mouse had been eluding her for weeks. Now it was under the sink chewing away at something.

She opened the cupboared and tried to scare it away by making loud noises with a pan but it was not afraid, so all of a sudden Vickie leans over under the sink and screams at her loudest. Well that mouse ran for its life and so did all the rest of us. Out the door into the yard we went. It was earth shadering.

When we finally dared to come back in we found Vickie leaning over the sink throwing up. She was really sick. she even had to go to the doctor and was gone for two hours.

But while she was gone to the doctors, I finally figured out why she was doing all the work around the kennels for two weeks, why I had been neglected for so long, why Winter was somethign to be prepared for.....

SNOW snow snow snow, lovely snow.......everywhere. In they sky, on the ground inches and inches of it, falling and falling. Then I remembered....I LOVE SNOW.......Wahooo Snow

I mean, don't get me wrong I am sorry that Vickie isn't feeling well but SNOW....How great is this. I can run in this and roll in this, I can eat it, all that I want......It is cold as it enters my mouth but then it melts into this lovely wet slop that I can feel trickle down my throat....SNOW

Even Jamie came out to play in the snow. The first snow of the season.

Vickie got home a few hours after the snow started and even though she has whats called Vertigo and has been told to stay home for a few days while the medicine works and was also told not to yell at mice anymore, she has promised to get me out into the mountains a lot this winter so I can enjoy this snow thing to my hearts content.

I am feeling a bit better about being so NEGLECTED and I guess I wont use the guilt trip I was planning to use on Vickie. Just between you and me, I was going to remind her that Baxter gets to go hiking every day. I was going to play on her guilt by letting her know that if she could find a great home for Baxter where he gets to do all those fun things, then the least she could do is get me out hiking three or four times a week, but I guess I'll save that for a later date. IT never hurts to have a back up.......

So heres hoping that all of you enjoy this winter as much as I plan on. One thing is cool, is that when we train for search and rescue in the snow, we have a lot more luck finding tracks......So I can't wait until we get out and train some more. Besides, I miss Boney Tony......

Love to you all

Bert

Fun times at the Kennel

Vickie has been doing a lot of work around the kennels in the last few weeks cause she say's that winter is on its way and we have to be ready. I on the other hand have been making the most of these beautiful fall days and all my buddies that come and stay here with us.
Zeus has been getting special treatment and has been coming in the house with us in the early morning hours cause he gets kind a cold. Well that is what he makes Vickie think.
He comes in and goes behind the lazyboy, then slips his body under the sheet she uses to keep my hair off the furniture. Then peaks his head out from under and looks pathetic.

Some days he really puts on the act and she lets him sleep all day. wow, he really has her fooled.

Jamie had a big lump on her side and so she had to go to the doctor to get it checked. Now all I hear about is how wonderful she was and how the doctor was able to cut her side and pull out the lump and all without using any anesthetic. Yea yea, Jamie is so cool. She is so good. She just stands there looking trustingly into Vickies eyes while they doctor works on her side. You know some times I get a little tired of hearing how "Wonderful and Amazing" Jamie is.

Although I have to say, I don't think I would just sit there and not move while some guy, even if it was Doctor Doughty, cut me up and pull big growths out of me. She bled a lot, it was kind a sickly lookin.....but she is ok now so I think it is time Vickie came back to reality and remembered that I was here too.

We had some really different guests this week. I have never experience this before. I mean I know that I was really little once a long time ago, but I can't imagine that I was like these little munchkins that came to stay with us for a while.

There was a ton of them. Well eight of them and their mom, but it seemed like a ton. Everybody came to see them and make a big fuss. Even my guys from down the street. I couldn't beleive that they would come and by pass me just to go in and lay around with a bunch of little poopy critters. Yes I mean poopy. That is all they do. Well eat, sleep and poop. Oh yea and get lovin from everyone who comes by.

We will come back to the little four legged creatures in a bit, but because I don't have a lot of luck moving pictures in order of what happened, I am going to move on back to my friends again.

This guy is called Gunny and him and me spent a lot of time together on walks this week. He likes the water almost as much as I do and between us, we got everyone and everything around us cold and wet, wet wet....

His hair is longer than mine and Vickie says that is how she hoped I would look one day, but looks aren't everything......

Like, I walk on a leash really good, better than Gunny even.

I swim better too and I can find every mud puddle around.

So just cause I aint as pretty.......

Now come on......I look dang intelligent toooooooo...right?

OK, so when they are asleep, they are kind a cute....(yep, we are back on the little things again)

However, they have been given a ton of toys. A ton of them. I tried to sneak one from them today but Vickie caught me. Man if she had only not been looking when I grabbed it, I could have swallowed it and then those puppies would never be able to get it back....

More puppy pictures....

Finally Zeus came outside to play. Him and Brutis really wanted to get in the same play area but I kind of think it might be a bad idea.

Annie is a Golden Doodle. She is five months old and If my heart didn't already belong to Roxy, I might try and convince her to join me for a game of tag.

Of course, just when I had decided to give up on Roxy (seeing how she isn't around that much) and figured I would let Annie enjoy my company, that Gunny comes along and sweet talks her into frolicking in the fall leaves.

Now they are inseperable. I think I missed my chance. Oh wait, Gunny goes home tomorrow and Annie is going to come to day care for a long time.....I hope so anyway.....so it appears I have plenty of time to woo her.

Tuff luck Gunny......See ya....

More Zeus pictures. It is like he is everywhere. I think he thinks he is some kind of movie star and he wants to be photographed all the time.

One final picture with Gus haming it up for the camera and we are done. Well accept for the video below of the puppies playing. I figure, they are going one day soon too and if I am patient, I'll get the chance to go in their room and find a hidden toy. I'll be sure to make sure Vickie doesn't see me with it, then I'll find a corner and spend a few minutes destroying it.

But if I end up going to the doctor again becaue I ate something that blocked my stomach, you can bet, I am not going to be all wonderful like Jamie and let the doc cut it out of me without anesthetic.......

I guess I am still a little bitter about losing Boomerang Bob.......My friend Jill even put and add in the newspaper in hopes of helping us find him.....but it has been over a week....Oh Bob......