Time with Chucky

Well, I am on my afternoon break enjoying a much needed cup of coffee. When you do everything with a big lab puppy helping you, you need more coffee! He was especially helpful when I was taking the winterizing packing out of all the irrigation boxes. I was putting the various packing product into woven plastic feed sacks so they can be stored away ready for use in the fall. Mr. Chuck dog grabbed one of the feed sacks and hightailed it off across the backyard. I let him have it for awhile, then called him up to the shop. He came racing up with the bag in his mouth, apparently obscuring his vision. I only know this because when my back was turned I heard a loud thwack and instantly very loud puppy howling. He had run head on into a metal bridge that spans the dry creek bed between the house and the shop. I immediately ran to his aid, fearful that he broken his nose or some teeth. He was sort of puffing through his nose, a bit like sneezing. But there was no blood - a very good thing as far as I was concerned. After a few very bewildered looks around, he seemed okay so we continued with our day.

Next I decided to tackle teaching him how to climb up a small ladder into the back seat of our crew cab truck. He made it in very easily following me. I hopped out the other side and shut the door. Then I went back around to see if he would come back down the ladder. This proved to be a bit more challenging. He would not come out, even when I went inside the shop out of his sight. I finally used kibble to get him down on the floor and made a trail of tasty nuggets down the ladder. It didn't take long and he was down and headed back up again. A much better way to load and unload him versus picking up a 60 pound dog that sheds constantly.

Our next adventure today will be his first visit to the kennel we will use for boarding if we need to take a trip without Chuck. We will be stopping by just long enough for him to have a good look around. Then in the next few days, I will leave him there for a couple of hours to see how he does. He will probably love it - all the fur friends he can cavort with will be a big draw to the very social Chuck. On Saturday he had Libby the Lab and Ruger the Bulldog come visit and play - he was one tired dog by nightfall. We were just dog tired...