Leo The Lion

Last weekend I went to the club — the Shylo Country Club for Dogs! My people had to leave me there for a few days so they could visit some other people who live far away in a place they call Chicago (the only thing I know for sure is those other people have a cat because I could smell him on my people’s clothes).

At first I was a bit scared because I thought my people might be dropping me off and not coming back, but I know they love me very much so I wasn’t too scared (unlike the last time they went away!). The humans at Shylo are great and they let me play a lot with my new friends at the club. They even said I was “very sweet”, which I don’t hear often, and they gave me an A+ for behavior. And this time I didn’t get sick or anything!

Despite the fact that I had lots of fun at Shylo, I was happy when my people picked me up on Monday afternoon and I got to go home to my own house and yard. There’s no place like home!

Once again, I must apologize to my friends and family for not having blogged for so long, but I have had many responsibilities. I had to watch over the very nice man who painted the porch, the guy who installed a new water heater, and the crew that planted three new crab-apple trees to the south of our house.

And then there was much packing to be done for our vacation – food and halters and bones and stuffed animals and treats. We stayed at a very nice place outside of Kremmling, CO (between Silverthorne and Steamboat Springs). But Darn! I forgot to take a picture.

The best part was the view of the mountain ranges at dawn and dusk and I did remember to take a picture of that.

I took a hike every day with my pack and had some great adventures.

I saw some weird mushrooms and even a marmot.

Of course, our best hike combined both mountains and a stream.

I am sure going to miss those hikes, but it’s good to be back home too — even though my adopted sisters think they own the place.

I’m getting better at hiking. For a while, my pack was taking me to an enclosed open space park. While my humans would walk in a large circle, I would run around them in smaller circles – over and over. I can travel a much greater distance than my humans. Sheesh! That was tiring.

But recently, my pack started taking a different sort of hike. There’s a real trail through the woods, not just a big open space park.

And you WILL NOT believe this, but there was a stream that ran along side the trail! I would join my humans on the trail for a while and then take a dip and a drink in the cold water.

Unbelievable!

Well, I gotta run, see you farther down the trail…

My pack did a lot of yard work over the weekend. And I helped!

My old pack was really into the ChuckIt. We would go to a field and I would chase the ball over and over again. Since that was the best time with my former humans, I really love chasing a ball. But my new pack likes to go for walks and hikes without chucking. At first, I thought it was really boring, but I am starting to like it. There’s so much to smell when I am not focused on chasing a ball – deer, fox, and horses. And I get treats when I run back to my humans. But I gotta learn to pace myself! Those hikes last much longer than a ChuckIt session and, even though I try, I can’t run for a whole hour. But my absolute favorite thing to do is to go swimming. So if we find a stream, a pond, or a mud hole when we’re hiking, I MUST get wet. I wish my new pack would join me, but they just watch me and shake their heads. They don’t know what they’re missing!

There’s a new human in my life – Jennifer. She is helping out my new pack by taking me for walks several times a week. She runs her own business (DU Dogsitter) and she is really nice. She makes me think of the 1968 love song by Donovan: Jennifer Juniper. If you don’t know it, you can listen to it here: http://www.last.fm/music/Donovan/_/Jennifer+Juniper. “Jennifer Juniper lives upon the hill…”

In my last post, I mentioned that the canine sense of smell is 2000 times stronger than the human sense of smell. That got me to thinking — what is it like to be a human? They must not be able to smell hardly anything!

For example, one of the most famous human philosophers once said:

All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing (one might say) to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things.

I can tell you that a good canine philosopher would say “above all others the sense of smell”! Smelling things is how you can really know someone, figure out how someone is feeling, know whether something might be good to eat, and all that. Gosh, these humans are missing out on all the good things in life!

First of all, my sense of smell is about 2000 times that of a human, and everything around here smells like another dog. It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while my new pack calls me “Max” instead of “Leo”. And they often compare me to Max. “Max this” and “Max that.” Geez, this Max guy is a hard act to follow. But I can do some things better than Max. I really like riding in the car and Max would get car sick. And I chase a tennis ball like none other! Plus I have a wonderful baritone bark (Max was more of an alto). But I am trouble too. I still chase my feline sisters, I cannot be trusted off leash for one minute, and please don’t even ask me about what happened at Camp. I don’t mean to do these things — it just happens. But my new pack is hoping what with time, patience, and lots of love, I’ll settle down a bit. We will see…

I don’t know what happened, but according to the Camp managers, I suddenly had my jaws around another dog’s neck and I wouldn’t let go. Everyone was yelling and pulling at me and it was terribly confusing. For the life of me, I cannot remember what caused me to do that. When all was said and done, I was put in solitary confinement and I cannot go to Camp anymore. My new pack is pretty upset about it all. They’re not sure how they’re
going to manage their jobs and get me enough exercise without Camp. What a lousy week!

I am sorry it’s been so long since my last posting. My new pack scared me a few weeks ago. They dropped me off at day-care on Friday and didn’t come get me at the end of the day the way they usually do. By Saturday morning, I was beside myself with worry. In Colorado, most dogs have the giardia virus all the time, but when we are under stress, it sometimes wins the battle. So I started having problems at both ends, if you know what I mean. The vets at the boarding facility shaved my forearm and put me on an IV. And then to my horror, they shaved my backside too. I still haven’t gotten over that, and I could tell that my pack wasn’t too happy about it either. But they took me back to my new home on Sunday night. For a few days they were giving me pills and potions (yuck!) and I slept a lot. But I went to Camp Bow Wow this week and I’m starting to feel much better now.

You may be wondering about my name. Well, my former pack chose a good name for me. I have a lion’s face and paws – don’t you think? I also tend to rear up on my back legs while sitting, but my new pack doesn’t seem to like that too much. They keep saying, “Four on the floor, buddy. Four on the floor.” I’m not quite sure what that means. You’ve heard of a “bull in a china shop?” I’m sort of like that too, but more of a “lion in a china shop.” I have a hard time in small spaces (I am 77 lbs) and get very excited when I chase tennis balls. (Does anyone know who invented the Chuck-It?) My new pack calls me a “bruiser.” But I’m also easily tamed by lots of petting and I’m doing OK in beginning obedience class. Well, gotta go see what my distant sisters are up to. Leo

Hi, my name is Leo the Lion and I must be the luckiest golden retriever in the whole wide world! Just like my “cousin” Mogley, the wonderful humans at Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies have found me a new home. I still miss my old pack, but I’m adjusting fast. Here’s a picture of me in my new house…

My name is Leo, but sometimes my new people call me “big paws”. Maybe you can tell why:

Or maybe it’s just because my paws are so much bigger than the paws of the other critters in my new house. Yes, there are cats here! More about them some other time. Right now I’m really tired from playing all day, so I’m going to sleep. But I promise I’ll post more soon!