Lake of the Woods
Took Auggie out to this state park to do some walking and take some photos. Unfortunately it turned out to be way too hot, even though we went early in the morning, so we didn’t stay too long.
Auggie considers ending it all by throwing himself over the waterfall…
Okay, okay, so it’s not really much of a waterfall. It’s entirely man-made, the top part is maybe an 8 foot drop, and the bottom part (shown in the first pic) is probably only a foot drop.
“Hmm, but a drink might be nice…”
He got a nice drink from his Gulpy before taking this one, so now he looks ridiculous. =P
On a lovely little bridge over the small pool below.
“Hmm, maybe I could throw myself into the pool and end it all that way…”
Actually, he was just looking at all the koi fish swimming around below. Several of them were surfacing and making their little popping noises as they fed. Well, he may have really wanted to throw himself into the pool, but it would have been to try and grab those fish. You better believe I had a death grip on his collar at this point…
Oh? Is there some kind of joke we might be able to make here?
“Tiiiiimmyyyyy… are you in there?”
It wasn’t a real well – it was only as deep as the wall is tall from the outside. Actually, it might have been cute to place Auggie INSIDE the well, but the ground inside the well looked a little less than attractive to place his fluffy butt on, so I didn’t.
Bark For Life – American Cancer Society Event
Auggie and I participated in Bark for Life, a canine version of Relay for Life, an event held annually by the American Cancer Society to raise funds to benefit cancer research.
We were there both to walk, but also as a vendor!
My booth for Dogged Illustration, where I sell prints of generic breed imagery as well as custom silhouettes of individual dogs. You can see my examples on the left there… the big red one is Auggie!
All doggie participants got a purple bandanna. Auggie HATES to wear bandannas… but he happily wore this one all afternoon long.
We walked a whopping mile – not long, but it was pretty warm out; too hot for several of the bigger dogs, in fact. Auggie was a champ and didn’t mind the heat, or the walk, one bit. In fact, he thought it was pretty darn awesome.
Fun times were had by all! After the walk there were contests, like biggest dog, littlest dog, and Musical Sits. I hope Bark For Life becomes an annual event, it was great fun, and of course, it’s for a great cause.
I Picked A Booger
This morning I loaded Auggie into the car to take him to doggie daycare. I’ve been taking him every Wednesday, and this morning I had a meeting at my bank to talk about getting pre-approved for a mortgage.
The bank branch I had my appointment at is on the same street as the daycare facility, so I figured I’d just take Auggie to daycare a bit earlier than usual, drop him off, then turn around and drive back down to the bank for my meeting.
As I’m putting Auggie into his soft-sided crate in my back seat, I notice that the top panel is still unzipped a little. I remember I unzipped it so there was a small hole that more air could circulate in through, since it was rather hot this weekend. Somewhere in the back of my mind I considered zipping that shut.
I didn’t.
Halfway to daycare, I hear Auggie rustling around in his crate. “What are you doing back there?” I ask him (because I always talk to my dog as though one day he will open his mouth and answer. And honestly, if he did one day, I’m not sure I’d be surprised.) “What, are you throwing a party in your crate or something? Stop it. Settle down.”
He does for a little bit. Then I hear more rustling. Again, somewhere in the back of my mind, I have this niggling thought about that unzipped top panel and wonder if he’s trying to open the panel more so he can stick his head out the top of the crate… but I quickly cast that thought aside.
Until I glance in my rear-view mirror.
And see AUGGIE’S HEAD.
I can only assume all the rustling around I heard was him wiggling and maneuvering around to get the panel open further than the small hole I had left open. Because he had it open about halfway, perched his front legs on the top of the crate, smiling like a smug little booger all proud of himself, looking around and watching the cars go by.
I dropped him off at daycare and informed him I was not coming back for him.
Then I went back out to the car and very firmly zipped the top panel closed.
What a complete and total booger.
It’s real now…
I just filled out some entry forms putting Auggie into Novice Preferred.
I’m not really sure how I feel, but I just don’t feel very good right now. I know this is the right thing to do but I have a serious case of the bummers all of a sudden. I guess part of it is the feeling of starting over back in Novice… the other part is still the tiny niggling in the back of my head, no matter how silly it might have been to hope for with my first ever agility dog, is the giving up on the MACH dream.
I’ll get over it. I’m also feeling excited to get back out there and hopefully have Auggie enjoying agility again. I’m sure once we have a nice run things will feel differently.
It just doesn’t feel so great right now.