Caption Contest

It sure would be interesting to know what animals think sometimes.
What caption would you put under this picture?
"Sit. Stay. Good boy Max."

Snow Day- Saint Louis style

After a wave of sleet washed over us, Wednesday morning 28-Jan-09 found Saint Louis under a 6" blanket of snow - automatic two day snow day!

Max tempers his enthusiasm for the new snowy landscape, which causes his ball to disappear when thrown into it and making it hard to find. It's very worrying when your ball just disappears!

Hunter

The other day I got to see the ancestry of my dog in action. This was worthy of note since up to now his power skill (sleeping) did not seem to be anything special. Max is an 8 year old full breed Labrador Retriever, black coat. Standing on his 4 paws at ninety-pounds with a big square head, a gentle personality with a love for thrown toys and kids, I thought I hadn’t really seen much of his hunting ancestry exhibited as a suburban housedog.

But yesterday I got to see the majesty of his breed in action. As we walked around stalking our prey, he stayed at my left hip as if held by an invisible leash. From the tip of his upcurled tail, past his outstretched head held high at attention, he leaned forward, right front leg lifted in the classic “point” position. Mouth closed with ears drawn back he pulled at the air with large ‘snuf’s through his black nose, glancing up to see what I am looking at, then returning to focused forward. His whole demeanor said ‘On Alert’.

With a ‘Bang!’ I would attack and Max would lunge forward to the spot. ‘There!’ I cried out again, pointing to the fallen prey and he jumps to the spot, feet bracing to stop his momentum. He snaps his mouth and searches with his nose at the spot. I turn to move on and he bounces over to my side, ready for the next one. We end our hunt victorious. He lays down, watching, and I have to clean the slobber off the sliding glass doors, the kitchen cabinet and the front window. But all the flies in the house are dead.

New squeak toy

Here's one for you Mom: Max with his new squeak toy. I think he likes it.

Sick Dog

'Sick as a Dog' is really yucky in real life. Max got sick Tuesday in the middle of the night leaving messes to cleanup from all ends of the dog. Looks like I'll be renting the carpet cleaner this weekend.

Snow Max

It snowed 6" last night, an event which causes this city to stop and pause for a day. So I worked from home and after a bit, shoveled the drive. Max pretty much ignores the snow, although he has a lot harder time finding the ball. It's like it vanishes when it hits the ground!

Clean bed not for Max

Since switching to diet doggy-food, Max's breath is awful. And since he grooms himself, he starts to smell awful, and so does his bed. Doing chores Sunday, I grabbed the bed cover and threw it in the wash, as usual. Thinking myself clever, to the dryer I added a new dryer sheet and boy, his bed smelled much better.

Apparently Max thought otherwise. He kept bugging me Sunday night and I could not figure out why. And when he nudges me with his head, he pushed the office chair around I was sitting in, so it was hard to ignore. "Go Lay down" I said, and patted the nice smelling bed. He just stood there and looked at me.

Going downstairs to finish the laundry, he follows me down and lays down on his shop bed. And stays there. Until the morning. I had to air his clean, nice smelling bed out before he would use it again. Well.

Max with new sprocket toy.