Truman is one year old today! To celebrate, I’m walking him down the street to the fancy dog wash, where they will undoubtedly lavish him with cookies and affection; taking him to our monthly puppy raiser meeting tonight; and giving him a present that I thought would be perfect for the occasion.
Do you remember Truman’s favorite carrot?
Then:
Now:
I found another one, in a more big-dog-appropriate size:
Happy Birthday, Roo!
The puppy raiser watched in disbelief as the idiot let his three dogs — each one dragging a leash behind it — wander along the hillside path, relieving indiscriminately and digging up the recently planted indigenous vegetation, sending a hail of dirt out onto the concrete walkway.
She was close enough to see the man, to see that he knew what his dogs were doing but didn’t plan to take action. The idiot had seen the dog stopped several yards behind him, had seen the puppy raiser standing there while the dog was stopped, had seen the puppy raiser glare at him as she pulled the bag out of her pocket and picked up his dog’s waste.
So when she caught up with him and handed him a small blue bag full of Pomeranian poo, with a civil but pointed “I believe this is yours,” she was not surprised in the least at his response.
“Oh, huhhuh, is it?” He laughed nervously and flicked his eyes toward the offender, who was still pawing furiously at the dirt.
“Yes, perpetrated by the same one who’s currently digging back there.”
“Oh, uh, huhhuh, is he?” Another quick glance at the digger.
“Yes.”
“Hehheh, yeah, it’s tough having three dogs, y’know?”
“Yeah,” she replied, letting her better judgment filter out the things she wanted to say as she maintained control of her mouth and her puppy (who, despite the understandable distraction of three very close-proximity and thankfully friendly dogs, was doing pretty well). “And it’s tough having just one when other people let their dogs run around illegally off-leash.”
Next time, thought the puppy raiser, she’d look at one of the dogs’ ID tags, and maybe their irresponsible owner would get a nice letter or phone call from Los Angeles Parks & Rec or Animal Control.
Or maybe even someone pretending to be from Los Angeles Parks & Rec or Animal Control.
She wondered what the fine was for violating the leash law and posted signage….
Posted in People Are Idiots, TRUMAN
May your 2008 be joyous, prosperous, and filled with the blessings of family and dear friends. Truman and I wish you a very Happy New Year!
Truman and I had a great Christmas day, with presents and family and food and a little time for reflection. We hope yours was lovely as well!
And now we’re headed up to Mammoth with Tai and his people for a few days in the snow! Thus, there will be no blogging until about New Year’s….
In the meantime, please enjoy the billions of posts that I just put up a few days ago. I hadn’t blogged since about Thanksgiving, so if you want to see everything since then, be sure to click on the archives to your right.
We’ll come back with lots of good brothers-in-the-snow pictures, I’m sure. See you soon!
Posted in TRUMAN
May you be blessed today, as we are, and remember the true Source of hope and expectation, who is the reason for this holiday. Merry Christmas.
Truman has become very focused on me & very clingy lately, so I’ve begun farming him out to other puppy raisers, especially ones he does not know well.
Fellow raiser Tracy and her brother Steven took him for a few days. Truman had a great time — he went to a couple of Christmas parties, the Cal State Long Beach campus, and a brunch at Knott’s Berry Farm, where he and Tai both met Snoopy.
Aside from barking at door noises (even on TV) and stealing a piece of pineapple off a slice of pizza, he was a good boy. He and Tai spent hours and hours amusing the Dolan family in a typical display of what I like to call, “MUST…CONTINUE…PLAYING…!” The boys just don’t get tired of each other. Or tired at all.
My favorite quote from Tracy: “Truman’s a funny guy.” Yes. Yes, he is.
I’m glad he burned off a little energy; I have a lot to do over the next few days. Thanks again, guys!
Posted in TRUMAN
As a fellow “employee” of the nonprofit where I work, Truman got to attend our annual holiday party — a lunch at Maggiano’s Little Italy. Because he was so good, tucked into a corner under the table where I was sitting, many people didn’t even know he was there. But he wasn’t left out of the merry-making! After our “white elephant” gift exchange, the VP of my department stood up and announced that Truman should receive a gift as well. She handed me a cute little bag, in which was a bone-shaped ceramic bowl for his Christmas treats.
After lunch, I took Truman for a little walk through The Grove shopping center, greeting the enthusiastic children of harried holiday shoppers, and stopping for photos in front of Santa’s house. When we’d had enough of the crowds, Truman and I headed toward the parking structure to take one last picture before the trafficky drive home.
The December puppy raiser meeting is always my favorite. There’s plenty of food (and chocolate!), everybody’s in a good mood, the photo-op decor is festive, and the holiday spirit abounds. Nobody seems to mind the chaos.
In addition to a raffle and a gift exchange (we got a fleece tug toy and an adorable paw print cookie jar filled with organic dog biscuits), recent tradition has added the viewing of a year-end DVD full of photo montages. This year’s show included the usual “everyone’s included” video as well as salutes to the South Bay breeder dogs, retirees, “doodles,” and Christmas parade participants. Plenty of tears and belly-laughs to go around….
Funny how the humans are the only ones tired after such a long evening. Looks like whoever plugged in the tree also plugged in the dogs:
One tradition at the GDA holiday potluck is the puppy Christmas tree. Puppy raisers bring an ornament for their puppy-in-training, and hang it on the tree. Ornaments from previous years are hung on the walls of the building.
Next year, after Truman has been turned in for formal training, I will find this little ornament I made for him, and hopefully have a good laugh.
I'm Jenny. You may recognize me as the one with the opposable thumbs.
LabradorRodeo 