Welcome to the Terror Dome

Lucy was so cute when she crawled into the boxes we stacked together from Costco. She then chewed her way out, shredding the industrial strength cardboard across the yard.

She was on a mission. Cardboard boxes have always been her favorite, but chewing them from the inside out is a new trick she really enjoyed. Can you blame her?

Benefits of Hiking

So the benefits of hiking are widely known: promotes good health, connects you to the outdoors, etc. One great side effect of hiking with you puppy, is you come back with a tired puppy. This in a rare condition and should be cherished. It last for a day if you hike long enough, but never fear: the hyper puppy will return after inhaling her next meal and pooping half of it out. P.S. no comments about the dirty floor...

Hike @ Rattlesnake Lake

We have a little catching up to do on our Blog. On Sept 9th, little Lucy and I went on a hike at Rattlesnake Lake. A gorgeous cool morning awaited us and we were the only ones at the trailhead next to the lake.

She pranced around the beach smelling as much as she could get her wet little nose on.

As you can tell, she is a big fan of the camera. So much so she tried to eat it here.

Cousins

We had a very busy day on Saturday. In the morning, we returned to Marymoor to check everyone out at the off-leash dog park. Lucy had a blast chasing (and being chased) by all the fabulous dogs that were there. Steve managed to get a pretty nasty rope burn on the back of his knee. For some reason, someone thought it to be a good idea to leash their dog using a flexi-leash and give the dog a bunch of slack. Well, Steve got caught in the middle and suffered a pretty nasty wound. FYI: If your dog needs to be leashed, don't bring them to an off-leash dog park.

We stopped at Bill and Tracy's in Redmond on our way home to Shoreline. Boone and Kallee have both had nasty cases of kennel cough, so Lucy had to stay in the car. It was great to see everyone and check out the newest member of their family, Kallee. She is a 2 year old blue (gray) Great Dane and is huge! When over at our house, she was able to put her paws on the top of the fence and look over. Quite an amazing site.

The Walther set of parents were in town for the San Diego/WSU football game Saturday afternoon. We headed down to the Exhibition Center around 1:30 to start drinking like all good Cougars. We met up with the Loopers and enjoyed a great win at Qwest field. I'm not sure what the score was, but we sure ate some expensive hotdogs and Jones soda! It was great to see my parents as always. Thanks for a fabulous dinner and tickets to the game!

Sister!

Lucy got to play with her sister Gretchen tonight at the Edmonds dog park. It was really neat to see them play together. They immediately went to each other and played together almost the entire time we were there. I think they could tell they were both part of the same pack. Malcolm our breeder is doing well and we were thinking how fun (crazy) it would be to get all 9 littermates together (at someone else's house).

This picture was probably the only 2 seconds they weren't running at each other or teaming up on another poor unsuspecting dog. Can you tell which is which? Hint - Lucy is eating the log.

My First Hike

On the eve of my 5th-month birthday I finally broke into that silly laptop Mom and Dad keep staring at. Who needs opposable thumbs! Here's my first blog:

Dad took me on my first hike today and I loved it. Instead of the usual nap I take after my 6am breakfast, we packed up the car and set off for some place called Little Mt. Si.

After a tough first part (it was sort of steep) the trail leveled out and we traveled through the lush green forests. I met a few other dogs and people on the way up and they all told me how cute I was and how well trained I was (they really meant how well trained Dad is).

It was a lot of fun sniffing all sorts of new things and jumping over logs and rocks and branches. Speaking of branches, it would take me weeks to chew up all the sticks I saw up there. I'll try that next time.

We kept stopping to look over cliffs and something called "vistas". The view was great, but I prefer to stick my nose to the ground and sniff for... whatever comes by! The top of the mountain did have a great view of Big Mt. Si and the valley. Quite nice. I also got a few more treats for doing my usual tricks for a few people who had gathered to chat with Dad. Dad forgot the water bowl, so he made me drink out of a Ziplock bag. Nice job big guy. I gave him a stern look. I think he got it.

On the way down, we met lots of other dogs. A big Newfoundland and a couple of labs were fun to meet and greet. I kept getting ahead of myself on the downhills and damn near chocked myself a few times on that damn pinch collar. I wish I could get off that silly leash and just run down. I don't think Dad could keep up. I drank a boatload of water when we got to the bottom and wished I could have jumped in the river to cool off.

Good thing we got to the trail early. When we got to the parking lot, there was a lineup of cars to take our spot! I can't wait to go hiking again!

Bumbershoot

Steve, Lucy, and I had a very exciting day today. We took Lucy to Marymoor Park this morning in Redmond where they have an off-leash dog park which is larger than we could have imagined. Lucy met a lot of new friends, got to swim in the water, and overall, was a fantastic puppy. She's learned to listen to Steve's whistle and usually comes back when she hears it. Too bad I have not yet learned to whistle. We also met up with two of my colleagues, Marietta and Mali and their combined 6 dogs. Lucy loved being a part of the pack!

After all the fun in Redmond, we headed home, showered, got a bite to eat and left for downtown Seattle with Lucy. We met up with Steve's "cousin" Matt at his condo and that's where Lucy stayed for the day. We bought tickets for Bumbershoot, which is a 3-day music and arts festival over the Labor Day weekend in Seattle. We saw The Shins, half of the People's Republic of Komedy show, and a fantastic performance by Rodrigo y Gabriela. If you haven't heard of this band, look them up or download some of their music. They are a guitar duo who doesn't do any singing, but their playing makes up for it. They're originally from Mexico, but now live in Ireland.

Tomorrow, we're both planning on going to work for a bit. I have to get my classroom ready for the first day of classes, which is Wed. Sept. 5th. Yikes! It was great to take a year off of work- I stopped grinding my teeth, having dreams about middle school angst, and overall had a lower stress level. Too bad it can't last! Honestly, I'm excited to be back and in the swing of things again. I think if it weren't for Lucy, it all would be much easier!