Bill the Dog has been posting photos with his buddy Frog, so I wanted to get a photo of Bixby with Ollie. Usually you can find Ollie crammed so far down Bixby's face it's a wonder he's not choking. The lighting is pretty bad in our house, so I figured we could get a nice shot outside. Apparently, though, One does not play with One's Ollie where others might see. MOM.
I keep doing the math, but this can't possibly be right. At the same time, I kind of can't wait for the adventure that's going to unfold for him. Senior year is kind of awesome.
And it's going to suck. Mostly for me.
Taking inspiration from the inspirational, I read one of my poems at the last Midtown Out Loud:
The Monkeys went with me to a Summer Soiree and indulged me in a ridiculous amount of Pool Antics Photography.
Here's MonkeyDo wrangling both dogs after their baths this past weekend.
Here's a pro-tip if you own more than one dog: you can totally wash more than one dog in the 25 minutes a dog wash token gives you. Unless one of those dogs is Gomi and you spend a ginormous chunk of time getting all the crud out and attempting to return her to her beautifully white (not yellow) glory.
Eventually you give up, but you still have to ask the staff for more time because that dog takes forever to dry.
Unfortunately for the dogs, I started with them.
Bixby has turned into a pretty good bather. Right up until it's time to start drying off, then he wants me to hold his hand.
The bonus, though, was that I found out about a fundraiser coming up this weekend - the Save a K9 Fundraiser!
June 30th and July 1st (Saturday and Sunday), 100% of the cost of each dog wash goes to support a non-profit organization called Cover Your K9, which helps "provide customized bullet-proof vests, heat alarms for patrol cars, K-9 first aid kits and other specialized equipment to keep our hardworking police dogs protected while they are at work protecting us."
Cover Your K9 is working to keep the police dogs of northern California safer while on patrol, and that's definitely a cause I can get behind. If you're local, you're probably familiar with Bodie's story. He was shot in the line of duty at the end of May. While a bulletproof vest probably wouldn't have helped Bodie, who was shot in the leg and the jaw, Bodie's case makes this fundraiser particularly timely.
Pet Food Express also happens to be one of my favorite places to take the dogs for a bath. When you have strong, ornery dogs that really dislike being washed or blown dry, the Pet Food Express setup is really ideal. It's sturdy and everything is one place, so you don't have to manuever your dog to another table for the blow dryer. Most of the time, I don't even get them out of the wash basin when I dry them, because I don't have to and it's just easier.
All 43 northern California Pet Food Express locations are participating in the fundraiser and the funds stay local, helping your local police dogs. So come on out. You know your dog is stinky.
But, lo, that magic puppy! While there was an incident caused by a fight-picking chihuahua and there were several instances of Bixby flying off at the mouth (almost all because "Moooom!! I want to play, tooooo!"), he was amazingly well behaved. He got thoroughly loved upon, fed lots of good treats, and came to my defense during an aggressive hug-mauling*.
I love that beautiful shithead.
It was a beautiful day to be down by the river. The water was cold and clear.
The company was exceptional, the food was good, and the day was long.
It was good to be reminded - yet again - of the amazing, loving people we're surrounded by. It is truly a blessing.
*Apparently it's a grievous offense to be dry during a water fight. And now you know.
All things considered, it was a pretty good day. I hope the dogs had fun. Since they were mostly well behaved, I see more outings in our future.
Oh, well.
My dog sure is handsome. Here he poses with Crate #5. Yes. Number 5. Notice it's been reinforced with zipties. Notice, also, that there are no ribs to be seen on my shiny dog. Although it may be a trick of the pose, he is certainly much fatter and glossier now than he was a year ago.
Somewhere along the way, he learned what the ice cream truck is. Saturday afternoon, he went positively apeshit when it came rolling up our street. Fortunately I had doggy ice cream cups leftover in the freezer. I wonder if the family that abandoned him fed him off the ice cream truck, or if a kind ice cream truck driver fed him. I don't know. But I suspect we'll be going through a lot of doggy ice cream this summer.
Maybe I should warn the ice cream truck driver to stock up?
Sunday we swapped out his crate and then took him & Gomi for baths. In the crazy ass Fountains parking lot, this involved quite a walk. I bought the "buy three, get one free" deal at Pet Food Express and, on a tip from the clerk, got both dogs washed using only one token. This is amazing, because the dogs go for baths pretty regularly when it's warm.
After our adventure, Bixby was given a big, meaty bone to chew on in his spanky new crate (with the temporarily whole crate pad).
Later that night, I passed his crate on my way out to the van and he was laying there perfectly still, with his wide open. I called to him and he didn't respond. Naturally, I assumed he was dead. On the third try, though, he blinked and snapped his head up at me.
Holy shit.
Chuck Norris Dog was sleeping.
Will wonders never cease?
PS: Tomorrow we'll talk about the adventure Gomi had at my trail race. And maybe about the adventure I had there, too.
SweetPea got him nuggets, but Mom's is infinitely more interesting.
Finally!
The good shit!
And then we had to have a freak out barking at another dog. In another vehicle. Um. 'Kay.
Because I know you've missed pictures of my favorite shithead.
Unlike some other blogs, I won't be putting a modesty patch on my dog. Because he's a dog. If you can't handle seeing dog bits, there's probably something going on that only intensive mental health care can assist you with.
He really enjoys checking out what's going on through the drive through window at Starbucks. The face he makes when he realizes that none of that goodness is going into his mouth is absolutely priceless. A more disappointed mug you never did see.
Tour of Utah - Queen Stage - Wacky Food Hand Ups from Roots Culture Connect on Vimeo.
