Halloween 2018

Happy Halloween!

^^..^^

May every house you Trick or Treat at give you a King Size Milkbone rather than a Fun Size one!

Fall Dog Days 2018

Surveying My Estate

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  No, not Christmas (though that is a lot of fun with all the food, wrapping paper, and toys).  This last weekend was Dog Days at Old Westbury Gardens (AKA my estate) and while I wasn't able to hang out with my pals Mecki and Bastille (their mom is vacationing in France), I did have an absolutely wonderful time.

The day (Saturday) started as any other day that promised an outing would; basically, I was crazed.  As soon as I realized that I was going somewhere, I started running through the house, pacing back and forth, eager to get going.  I barked loudly when either Ma or Sister slowed us down by doing such pointless things as packing my traveling bag, checking the weather on TV, and putting on shoes (I don't bother with shoes, why should they?) and when my collar was placed around my neck and the side door opened, I bounded out toward the car.  I even huffed, drooled, and paced in the backseat of the car during the twenty-minute ride to the gardens!

Sister and Me

Ma, Sister, and I spent nearly an hour wandering through the gardens that morning.  I stopped to sniff random plants, I posed for pictures, I bunked noses with a couple of pups, and even showed off my prowess by jumping over the cement bench Sister wanted to pose with me on for a photo. I even stopped long enough to sniff the tree that Mecki and Bastille are routinely photographed in (and yes, I did thank my lucky stars that I'm too heavy to be picked up and put in that tree).

Liberty, Me, Baxter, and the Rest

Eventually, Ma, Sister, and I made our way to the great lawn out back behind the house where I was met with a fun surprise:  three Golden Retrievers (two under the age of one and the other eight years old), a big fluffy black dog, a German Shepherd, and their humans.  I was first greeted by the big fluffy black dog who was off leash and made a bee line straight for me.  He was obviously the welcoming committee.  Anyway, the black dog and I bunked noses then the three Golden Retrievers ran over to say hi.  The two young-ins (one was named Liberty) ran straight to Ma and Sister and began begging for pets and belly rubs.  The older Golden, Baxter, walked over to me to say hello.

The final part of the trip was perhaps the best.  I got to see my Old Westbury Gardens pal Emma Rose.  My readers might remember Emma Rose as the Golden Retriever “cousin” I first met all the way back in 2011.  Since then, Emma Rose and I have run into each other, always unscheduled, at every single Dog Days weekend.  My pal is eleven years old now and had had a serious health scare a couple of weeks ago, but I was happy to see that Emma Rose was feeling better and acting like her old self; calm, quiet, and reserved.  Emma Rose and I bunked noses and hit up each other’s humans for pets.  Then our humans came up with a spectacular idea.  We needed a picture together.

Emma Rose and Me

After saying goodbye to Emma Rose, Ma, Sister, and I made our way back to the car and headed home.  I was completely and totally exhausted, but it was so worth it!

A Lesson Learned

We all have our limitations.  Squirrels are stupid and will never learn to keep out of my yard, human kneecaps will never bend the opposite direction no matter how hard I slam my skull up against them, and I am not capable of barking from every imaginable position.

I discovered my limitation a few days ago when I was lying on the living room floor, belly up to the sky, enjoying a belly rub from Ma.  All of a sudden, my pure bliss was interrupted by the sound of a car door slamming.  Now, being the inquisitive pup that I am (who happens to take his job as Head of Security very seriously), I immediately decided that I was going to have to give this potential threat the “Rigby Treatment” (AKA bark hysterically at it).  Simultaneously, however, I also concluded that I really didn’t want to give up on my belly rub.

So, I decided to do both; I decided to bark while lying on my back.  I took a deep breath and let out what was going to be my most ferocious bark to date.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out quite how I expected it.  Instead of my loud, manly bark, what issued from my lips was an airy “woof” followed by a barrage of gasps and coughs.  Choking on my own tongue and drool and fearful of losing my breakfast to one of the coughs, I began to try to right myself on my feet.  That too did not work out quite as I expected.  You see, it seems that as difficult as it is to bark while on one’s back, getting up from lying on one’s back while choking is even more difficult.

Eventually I prevailed and managed to stop choking (and, happily, did not lose my breakfast).  Fortunately, the slamming car door that started this unfortunate series of events did not prove to be the threat I initially thought it would be.  Unfortunately, however, I imagine it will be a long time before my family lets me live down the whole incident.