You know, I'm starting to wonder whether my dad can actually smell at all!

Strange but true. We're out for a walk and we come to a corner and I can smell all kinds of wonderful things on the wind. Meowing four-leggers, smelly striped four leggers of the darkness, meat, lovely smelling brown logs, rotting bodies, you name it, it's all there on the breeze.

So I stop. And I sit. And I look back at my dad and I think, "can't you smell all that? Don't you want to run as fast as you can in that direction to find it all, get a close up whiff?"

But he just stands there, looking down at me. And then he actually tells me he thinks we should walk in the other direction! Amazing. I don't get it. I sit there, stunned at just how stupid that particular idea is, waiting for him to come around.

He doesn't. He gets to the end of the rope that ties us together, stops and looks back at me, still sitting there, my nose in the air, savouring all the wonderful odours.

And he says, "no, this way."

Honestly.

It's like he has no sense of smell at all.

So I wait patiently until he works it out. It often takes a while, though. And I'm not sure that, when he finally gives in and goes the way I want to go, he's agreeing because he's caught a whiff of what I'm smelling. In fact, I think he's doing it just because I'm forcing him to.

Wow. I can't imagine a life with such a handicap. My poor dad. He'll never know the wonder that is a nice, smelly carcass!

Tags: Golden Doodle, Dog

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged but life has been pretty much same ol', same ol'. My mom and dad have both been home and doing okay, the great ball of fire has been up in the great blue and it's been getting warmer and warmer. More trips out to the strip of land among the water, which is fun, but mostly just my usual.

Until now. My mom and dad decided my fur was too long and shaggy for the warm weather. To be frank, I can't say I disagreed. Even a little bit of running made me hot, hot, hot. So they took me to a new groomer. And left me there for the day. I stood patiently and as quietly as I could while the very sweet two-legger danced and whirled about me with her electric buzz buzz machine and away went my fur. All of it. Sometimes she got too close to my skin and I had to tell her to stop. I didn't like it one bit. I miss my old groomer.

So when my dad finally came to rescue me, I bolted right out the door. I don't want to go back there again.

And now I have no fur. It's fine, after all, because I'm cooler now and can run more and play more without getting too hot and needing to lay down in the shade. But I feel naked. Everyone comments on how cute I look but, really, I mean, is it even me anymore? But Dad says I look like a chicken. Mom doesn't like it either but she keeps assuring me my fur will grow back. And it's coming back already. That's a good thing.

And, better still, Mom has promised I won't ever have to go back to that groomer again. And that's the best promise ever!

Tags: Marlee, Golden Doodle, Dog

Life never seems to stay the same. For one thing, all the tall, slender wood things have lost their soft bits, which now litter the ground and make running really nice. For another, my Mom and Dad aren't around as much during the day. It used to be just my Dad who left every day before the ball of fire was very high in the sky. Now my Mom leaves too and it's up to me to find things to do all by myself.

That's not nice. I don't like it one bit. I get sad and lonely by myself, even if other four leggers like Riley and the squirrels come to visit me in my backyard.

It's great when Mom and Dad come back again. They take me for a run in the big open place and I get to chase the orange balls as much as I want. Well, at least as much as the ball of fire in the sky will allow. Even it isn't around as much as it used to be. Now, the darknesses come sooner and leave later. And I'm not as warm as I used to be either, which isn't really a bad thing since, with my fur, I can get really hot.

The biggest change though is in me. I used to be a lot more wild and crazy but now I just don't have the energy for those kinds of shenanigans. Just let me run for a little while every day, maybe come for a walk through the neighbourhood with me too, and I'm happy as a clam in high tide.

My Mom says it's because I'm nearly three now and not a puppy any more. What is it with puppies anyway? We see a lot of them at the big open place where I run and chase my orange balls and they drive me nuts. Leave me alone, will you? Sniff me if you have to but don't try to get me to wrestle.

I'm too old for that stuff, I guess. I just want things calm and comfortable.

Cripes, I'm beginning to sound like my Dad.

Tags: Golden Doodle, Dog