Cactus Pads and Charlie

Diane and Mike were gone for a few days earlier this month and Diane was gone again for a few days last week, so I made my own entertainment. As you may know, I like to chew on things like wood and plastic containers. I also really like spineless prickly pear cactus pads, which grow in my yard. I like the fiber that makes them fun to chew. Here's one of the cactus plants I chewed.

Mike decided he needed to put a wire fence around the cactus plants, so I don't chew them all up. Fortunately they grow back. In this picture is the little wire fence he put up, as well as the plastic pot that is currently one of my favorite chew toys.

I'll continue to find things to chew.

On another note, Diane is sadly upset this morning. In my June 25, 2008 post titled "Adolescence" I mentioned the little black dog named Charlie who lives down the street. We hadn't seen him on our walks lately, but this morning during our walk we saw him across the street, running loose as usual. He seemed to be staying in the yards on the other side of the road. We kept walking and Diane tried not to look at him, too much. A pickup truck passed us going the opposite direction and when Diane turned around, she saw that the truck had run over Charlie. Apparently Charlie had tried to cross the road to follow us. He rolled a few times. Diane couldn't watch and kept walking. The truck slowed down and seemed to stop, but we don't know if the driver got out of the truck. A schoolboy and a man also saw what happened. Diane and I continued walking, since we don't know where Charlie's people live and Diane was sad. We walked our loop and saw another couple walking with their dog on a leash during the walk. When Diane and I passed the area where Charlie had been hit, there was no sign of the dog, but there was blood on the street. Diane wishes dogs would stay in their yards behind their fences or in their houses, when they aren't on their leashes with their people.

Scratches

I've been asked why it's been so long since I've blogged. Guess the dog days of summer have gotten to me. And then Mike and Diane were gone for a while.

Anyway, several dogs in the neighborhood come around and we communicate through the fence. One of the dogs is "Scratches." Her name is "Scratches" because she got some scratches on her side when she crawled under a fence.

I often communicate with Scratches through my fence.

Milk-Bone Photo

Here's the photo the Milk-Bone people took of Diane and me at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. It took a little while until I was willing to pose for a photo. Diane placed me in the chair, and then I was comfortable!

Botanical Gardens Dog Days of Summer

Diane took me to the Dog Days of Summer (sponsored by Milk-Bone) at the San Antonio Botanical Garden this afternoon.

I had my photo taken, met a number of other dogs, tried to stay in the shade, or was a "shade seeker," rested a lot, and drank water out of a bottle.

I rested a lot, because it was hot! They don't call it "Dog Days" for no reason!

Wordle Image

Diane has been reading about Wordles lately. She decided to make a Wordle of my last blog entry. Here's a link to the Wordle image:

Stitches

This has been a week filled with more adventure than I was seeking!

On Monday morning, Diane and I walked to the local neighborhood park. We took the shortcut to the park. Along the route, we saw two turkey vultures perched at the top of a pole. As I've mentioned before, I don't like turkey vultures and I was excited and barked at them. Diane and I walked around the park three times, with one rest on the bench at the park. There were about 7 or 8 other people at the park, unlike some mornings when we don't see anyone else at the park. We haven't seen another dog walking with a human companion at the park for a long time. After the walk, Diane decided to walk along Majestic to Oak Knoll, as we've done before. She didn't want to walk me past the turkey vultures again. After we walked over the bridge and past the second house, there was a young black (or very, very dark brown) dog who joined us along the walk. Usually if a dog starts following us, Diane yells "go home" at the dog, and it will usually fall back, or leave. However, this dog followed us all the way home.

The dog stayed outside the fence, while I was inside. Diane went back to the house where the dog started following us, but no one was home. Mike called Animal Care Services to have the dog picked up, because it was hanging around and didn't seem to belong to anyone--the dog didn't have a collar. But usually Animal Care Services doesn't get around to all the places they are called. The dog stayed outside the fence until Mike and Diane came home.

Then Mike let the dog inside the fence and his co-worker stopped by to look at the dog. The co-worker's dad's dog had died over the weekend, so his dad was open to getting a new dog. However, while Mike and his co-worker were talking, I got kind of jealous and fought a little with the dog. We were separated, and then got along ok. Mike was calling the other dog "Buster" until Diane noted that it was a girl, so Mike called her "Betty." Mike and Diane went back to the house where Betty began following us. No one was home. We talked to the neighbor, who thought the dog had just showed up in the past day or two. Diane later talked on the phone to the person at the house where Betty started following us. He had fed her for a day or two, but hadn't brought her in the yard, yet. So, Betty and I were in my yard together all night and we got along ok.

On Tuesday morning, Diane came outside to walk me. Mike was also outside watching us. When I was on the leash, and Betty came nearby, I got jealous and we started fighting. Mike had to separate us. Blood was drawn. Diane walked me away and we went for a short walk down Parkway to the bridge. It was obvious Betty wanted to be where I was. While Diane and I were walking, Betty got out of the yard--probably crawled under the fence--and came down to us and followed us home. However, when we were both back in the yard, I felt jealous again and we got in a fight. Mike and Diane tried to separate us by putting Betty outside, but she kept crawling inside the fence, despite the rocks Mike and Diane laid down along the fences. When she got inside, we would fight.

Finally, Mike said that either I would stay in the house, or he would take me to work. Diane didn't want me to stay in the house alone all day, so Mike took me with him to work. I was calm and slept most of the day at Mike's work.

Mike took me to our vet, because he didn't like the gash above my left eye. I weighed 38 pounds at the vet. While in the examination room, Dr. Granberry walked by, recognized me, and determined an alternative method for treating my gash, since it was near the end of the day, and there wasn't time for an anasthetic to take effect. I was given a strong sedative, and three stitches were put above my eye, closing up the gash. The stitches aren't dissolvable, so we'll have to go back to get them removed.

Mike took me home and had one of our neighbors hold my leash, while he got Betty into the pickup truck. The neighbor said that I'm a unique-looking dog, because of my coloring. Mike then put me in the house, because Dr. Granberry told Mike to keep me cool following the surgery. I was groggy from the sedative, so I wasn't going to be rambunctious.

Meanwhile, Mike took Betty to the Animal Care Facility, since it was obvious we weren't going to get along. The wait and intake procedure took about an hour, but Mike was impressed with the staff and new facility, which just opened a few months ago.

San Antonio has a high animal euthanasia rate, but Diane and Mike hope that Betty gets adopted. Diane didn't take a photo, but you might be able to see Betty's (A054729) photo at PetHarbor.com. To see her photo, enter 78227 in the Zip Code box, check the box next to San Antonio Animal Care Services: San Antonio, TX and click on Search Now. Then click on I Lost My Dog, click on the Dogs button, select Gender: Female; Age: Young, and Color: Black. You might see the photo and description for A054729 (those are Mike's jeans and shoes in the photo).

I got to stay in the house all night, but I was very groggy and sleepy. Mike has let me in the house a few times since, so now I try to go in the house when I can. It's cooler inside than outside and there are cats to sniff at inside. Diane doesn't like it when I come in the house.

Graduation!

This evening was our last night of "Beginner" training, so we had graduation.

Mike wants to note that the photo on the left with the diploma is taken at home on the new deck that Mike is building. Most of the deck is made of recycled material.