Service Dog Slumber Party

A couple weeks ago, Isaac and I took a short trip to Kansas with my friend and her service dog Jake.  Jake's mom had to go to a business thing and Isaac and I went along for the drive.

Isaac and Jake are good buddies.  They love to play tug, so both myself and Jake's mom packed toys to tug with for this trip.

We got to our hotel about 9 pm.  Jake's mom and I were both tired.  Jake and Isaac were tired too, but not too tired to play. 

Isaac really loves tug and he hasn't had a chance to play tug for quite a while.  I think not since we last saw Jamie at our old dog park in Ohio.  For some reason, Isaac never wanted to tug with Daisy or Lulu.  Probably just because they were not particularly interested in tugging.  But Isaac and Jamie would play tug for an hour if given the chance.

And so they tugged.

We finally got them to settle down about 11 pm for bed. 

Before bed, though, I took both dogs outside to go potty.  Isaac found a nice bush to pee on and of course Jake wanted to pee there too.  While Isaac was still peeing, Jake sidled up beside him, kind of like he was parallel parking or something, and lifted his leg.  I pulled on Isaac's leash to get him to move just in time.  Otherwise, Jake would have peed right on him!

So after peeing, we went back inside and got the dogs settled down for bed.  Jake slept in bed with his mom but Isaac doesn't like to sleep with me, so I put a blanket on the floor for him.  And soon everyone was asleep.

Until 1:30 am, when Isaac woke me up insisting he had to pee.  I tried to tell him it had only been a couple hours since we went out, but he didn't care. 

You know why he had to pee already?  Because earlier he and Jake slurped up a lot of toilet water.  That's right, as soon as we got into the hotel room, Jake went right to the bathroom and helped himself to a long drink.  Isaac thought that was a fine idea so he had a good long drink when Jake was done.

So.  I got out of bed and took Isaac out to pee, as quietly as possible, because I didn't want to disturb Jake or his mom.

After Isaac peed for a really long time, we went back to the room.  I opened the door as quietly as possible, felt my way inside in the dark, and removed Isaac's leash.  I tiptoed toward my bed.

Isaac, on the other hand, ran toward the bed where Jake and his mom were sleeping.  He leapt onto the bed and pounced on Jake. 

Of course, this woke both Jake and his mom.  Isaac explained that he wanted to play and Jake thought that was a fine idea, so he jumped off the bed and chaos ensued.

We finally got them settled down again and everyone went back to sleep.

The next thing I knew, Isaac was telling me he wanted to go out.  I told him it wasn't time yet, but Jake's mom said actually it was, she had to get up and get ready to go to her business thing.   After a quick trip out to pee, the boys were back at it again.

Isaac had a very good time.  He says he loves slumber parties with his buddy Jake!

Knuckle Bone

I stopped by a local butcher yesterday to pick up some marrow bones for Isaac.  I freeze them and he loves to gnaw on them.  There is a butcher near my home that gives them to me for free.  Yesterday, she also gave me a huge, disgusting knuckle bone.

Isaac was in heaven.  Isn't it gross?

A Little Game of Tug

Isaac and his friend Quinn playing tug at the dog park.

The other dog is named Charlie.  She kept distracting Quinn, which allowed Isaac to get the rope away from him temporarily.

Happiness Is Rolling in a Dead Fish

Says Isaac.

And Here He Demonstrates That He Has Not Yet Learned the Art of Sharing

Today at the dog park, another dog was playing fetch in the lake with a toy. The dog's owner threw the toy, and both Isaac and the other dog took off after it. The other dog got to it first, so Isaac snatched it right out of the poor dog's mouth.

I know, it's rude, right?

Isaac Demonstrates His Escape Artist Skills

Isaac is an escape artist.  When we go to the doggie beach, he amuses the other dog owners by demonstrating how he can swim around the barriers separating the small dog beach and the two big dog beaches.  He can then swim around the barrier at the end and be out of the fenced dog park.

After which he usually runs right up to the gate and waits impatiently for me to let him in.  Because he wants to be inside the fenced area with all the dogs and the people.  That's where the fun is.  It's just fun to escape.  Not to be outside the fenced area, just to escape from it.

Stinker. The other dog owners frequently comment on how smart he is.  And he is.  But still.

I've only seen two other dogs ever swim around the barriers of their own accord, although Isaac has shown a number of other dogs to do it and encouraged their bad behavior.  Other times, the dogs see him do it but still can't figure it out.  They just wonder how he suddenly got on the other side of the fence.  One dog owner told me, "Plato thinks Isaac is magical." 

Plato was her dog.  He and Isaac had a great time playing together.

So anyway, here is the magical Isaac, demonstrating his escape artist skills for the camera.

And a Whisker Video

Just because it's cute.

She loves to play in the water when I take a bath.  She also enjoys drinking hot bath water.  I know, she's weird.  But cute.

Enjoying a Bone

A friend gave Isaac some raw frozen beef bones.  Isaac says they are very yummy.

Soda Quackers

A friend sent us a care package.  Isaac was delighted to see the UPS driver, of course, and he was certain there was something in one of those packages for him.  The first thing I pulled out was chamomile tea and Isaac sniffed it carefully but says he is not interested in tea.

The next thing was a stuffed duck with a squeaker in it.  Isaac is most interested in stuffed squeaky toys.

Another friend suggested the name Soda Quackers and so that is the name of the new toy duckie.  For however long it lasts.  I figure Isaac will probably disembowel him pretty soon.

Whiskers got a present, too.  She got three floppy fish toys.  They have catnip in them and make a crinkling noise.

Big Foot

The butcher was out of marrow bones today, but she offered me a knuckle bone the size of Isaac's head. Seriously. This had to be a giant cow. At least, the cow had giant feet. She cut the bone in half and it was still gigantic. Can you tell how big this thing is?

And it was free!

Off Duty Dog

A friend suggestion that I post more videos of Isaac playing and goofing off and just "being a dog."  Many people think service dogs work all the time but that's not the case.  Isaac gets to go for a long walk almost every day and often gets to run and play off leash and swim in lakes and ponds and creeks and rivers and roll in smelly stuff and chase squirrels or geese, etc.  He has lots of time off duty. 

This is a typical hike for us - except it lasts for an hour to an hour and a half.

He also gets to chase geese a lot at this time of year, which he loves.

A Cute Kitty Video

Whiskers playing in the water in the bathroom sink.  She's obsessed with it. 

A Cat with a Bone

Isaac got a jumbo beef bone at Rural King yesterday.  Today, I noticed Whiskers licking it.  Apparently Isaac was OK with that.

Wild Goose Chase

I think he wanted to chase them but either decided the water was too cold or they were too far out in the pond.  Or both. 

He can swim that far out, though.  He's done it before.  In fact, he usually only swims a long way if he's swimming after geese or swimming with another dog.  When he's by himself, he typically just takes quick dips and doesn't swim too far.

It was chilly today, though.  I think he decided it wasn't worth swimming all that way to get to the geese.  He decided it was better just to run very fast.

Isaac Decided It Was Warm Enough for a Quick Dip

Watch how fast he takes off when comes out of the pond, though.

Recall with a Whistle

I've been wanting to get a video of Isaac coming when I blow the whistle.  Sometimes it is ridiculously hard to get things on video.  Seems like he never does it then way I want him to when I have the camera available. 

Usually he comes running at full tilt.  This time, he came right away but not running.  Of course, when I didn't have the camera ready, then he ran so fast he practically skidded past me.

Still, we worked hard on his recall with the whistle.  So here it is.

Merry Christmas, Whiskers

Whiskers got a crinkly tunnel for Christmas.

Run, Kitty, Run

And there she goes!

Merry Christmas

A Morning Drink

from a lake