Bosco Dog Blog

It has been very hot here lately. Since I'm in a fur coat, I get really hot quickly. Joan is nice to take me to the dog park so I can take a dip in the Mississippi River. However, when it is so hot and humid, Joan stops taking me on her runs which is a bummer for me because I LOVE TO RUN. But, I do know that I would just get overheated. Joan always can tell that if I start trailing behind her, it is a very bad sign, and then we start walking.

Last week, Joan went took me and my food and bed over to Camp Bosco at Martha's house. I was happy to see her and Boli, the orange tabby cat. I gave Boli a kiss. Then Joan left - I saw her drive away and was a bit worried. But then the fun began. Martha and Miguel would take me to the golf course every night and I would RUN really fast. Then I would also go into the pond and then I smelled kind of bad, so they washed me when we got back to the house.

I also met a nice 9-year old boy who was living next door. He really liked me and went to the golf course with us a few times. However, he tried to call me but I always listened to Martha or Miguel, not the boy. I mean, I don't trust him because I barely know him. The boy who lives behind Martha who is about 3 or 4 is still scared of me because I ran him over (by mistake) last year. Miguel threw a stick for me and I just turned and ran after it and the boy was in my path and I mistakenly knocked him over. oops!

On the second morning, when Martha put my food bowl down, Boli tried to eat my food. He went up to it and started licking and eating my wet food - I was stunned and did not know what to do. I just sat there. Then, Martha moved Boli away and then I could go and eat my food up. The funny thing is that (don't tell Joan) Martha and Miguel overfed me big time! It was great! Miguel would feed me two scoops of food in the morning (usually I get 1.25 cups) and then sometimes, Martha would get up later and feed me again. Ha ha! And then I got dinner, too, and treats. Then Joan returned on Friday and I was SOOOO happy to see her! I jumped up and gave her a kiss!

On Saturday, Joan took me to my dog park again so I could get some exercise and cool down. It was fantastic! We spent about 2 hours there and there were so many people and dogs. Look at this photo of the crowd:

While we were there, someone saw a person swimming down the middle of the River. Then, about 5 minutes later, we saw all sorts of fire engines, police, ambulances on the other side of the river that has an access road. Then the St. Paul Police boat came up and down the river - but by that time, the swimmer must have been way down the river. We never heard what happened but it didn't seem like the man swimming was in trouble but maybe he was.

We spent most of our time with Joan throwing sticks into the river and me retrieving them. I would just do it over and over. I would get out, drop the stick, and then look at Joan, wagging my tail. She would say, "More?" Wag wag. And she'd throw it again.

One time, two dogs were both clutching the same stick. They were both growling. Someone near us said, "That is not good." Then all of a sudden, DOG FIGHT! The german shepherd started biting the other dog on its neck. One man jumped into the water and pushed agains the german shepherd (who wasn't even his dog!) to separate the two dogs. The other dog being attacked was his dog. Finally, they got separated. Joan was happy for me because she knows that I would never do that. If someone else growls at me and wants my stick, I just give it to them, no problem. We saw that man, Gus, later and he actually had been bitten by his own dog in that confusion. He showed us one of the wounds on his side - it was bleeding a bit. He didn't even realize it until he was far away from that area.

We told Gus to go look at the downed tree - every time you go to the dog park, it is different. Like last week, we couldn't even make it to the end of the park. This time, a huge oak tree had fallen down so I went out on it to investigate.

When we got home, Joan gave me a bath outside in the front of the house. I did not mind it since it was cool water and this fur is so thick and hot! Plus, then I for sure won't smell like pondwater anymore.

More recently, it has been raining and thundering. I do not like thunder - I have to run to wherever Joan is so that I feel safe when it happens.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have been itching a lot lately. To combat this, I shake my head and my ears go flopping all over. I also lick my itchy areas, like between my toes and my butt. I also scratch my ears with my foot. And I rub my eyes on Joan or grass or with my leg. Joan has recently taken this head on and now we have our morning and evening rituals.

She gives me an antihistamine pill in the morning - she just throws it in my food and I eat it up with everything else. She also pulls my eyelids down and puts a dab of ointment into my eye and then closes my eye to get it to go on my eyeball. Then she pulls up my tail and sprays something on my butt! She also has to clean my ears every few days and she's brushing the heck out of me because I'm shedding a lot.

I am very patient with all of this (plus she gives me a treat afterwards), but it has really helped!!! I'm no longer licking my butt or my feet and my eyes are as goopy as before. She sure knows what she's doing!

Yesterday we went to dog park and I went crazy. I was fetching sticks out of the water like crazy. I loved it! However, the whole park was flooded in a way that made it only about half as big as usual because humans didn't want to cross the wet river area. Of course, I could have gone all the way down but no one would follow me. The rest of the day I sat in the backyard, watching for squirrels.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I almost killed a squirrel. Well, I might have actually killed it but I don't know.

Joan was sitting in the backyard grilling fajitas and drinking a margarita while I laid steadfast on the grass eyeing a squirrel that was just over the fence on a tree. It was behind the part of the fence that I jumped on and broke earlier this year. Joan got mad at me because I jumped on it again, after she had fixed it so now I know I better not jump on that part of the fence, so I was waiting patiently to see what the squirrel would do next.

Eventually, that squirrel went on the garage and I ran around in circles around the bush back there. Then I started sniffing around the yard and I heard a noise in another area - near the fence between the neighbors (who were all out in their backyard). Joan was watching because she was afraid it might be those neighbor's annoying cat that is always coming into MY yard. Then, Joan saw the squirrel on top of the fence and was worried that I would jump against that part of the fence and break it, so she called to me. But I was rounding the oak tree when the squirrel fell off the fence right next to me!!! Joan could not see what was happening because this was occuring on the opposite side of the oak tree from where she was. Since she did not see the squirrel come through, she started calling to me. What was I doing?

Well, I had the squirrel between my teeth, of course! When Joan called me I dropped it, and it ran toward the garage with me close behind trying to get it again. Joan was yelling at me, and the squirrel was flopping around - it was clearly injured. Joan said "You killed a squirrel!" She was very upset. I kept going up to it, and then it ran towards Joan. She backed away - I bet she did not want to get bitten by a possibly rabid squirrel. Then it managed to run to the oak tree and went up. Meanwhile, one of the neighbors popped his head over the fence and asked if I had killed the squirrel. He said that I should be more scared of squirrels than they should of me.

Then I had to continuously smell the areas where the squirrel had been -- where it was flopping around, where it fell from the fence etc. Joan was kind of mad at me and tried to get me to sit down by her at the table but I had my smelling to do.

Then to top it off, about 5 minutes later, the neighbor's cat (to be known as the "black and white cat" from this point forward) came into our yard through the gate that Joan left open because she was watering plants. I barked and ran after it. Joan got a little annoyed both at the cat but also at me because she didn't want me to kill the cat in front of the neighbors (though it would be their fault as the cat should not be wandering around the city).

Later, after Joan did the dishes etc. and was watching a movie, I really wanted to go outside again to smell all those same places where the squirrel was. There is a chance that the squirrel fall again from the tree - especially since I hurt it.

Well that is the closest I've come to killing a squirrel. I really don't like squirrels.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes I am a scaredy cat - as Joan calls me. For example, the other day I was freaked out by some noises that Joan could not hear. There was something weird going on in the backyard so had to huddle at Joan's feet while she worked on her computer.

Joan thought me to be acting very strangely as the only other time I huddled under her desk was when there was a guy here using an air compressor to install cabinets. Joan told her friend that if she still lived in California and this happened, she would suspect that we were going to have an earthquake since animals know about earthquakes before they happen! Sometimes they run away or howl really loud - but in my case, had it been an earthquake, I would have been in one of the safest places - under a table. I'm not sure there would have been room for Joan under there, too, but I would have done my best to accommodate her.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case you are interested in what my seroma looked like after it appeared as a result of my collision with a tree branch, I found this picture that Joan took of me. If you can't tell, the seroma is on the top of my right leg/chest -- so on the left as you look at it.

I'm happy to report that is pretty much gone. I never really paid any attention to it - which is a good thing because Joan was threatening the "cone".

Posted by Joan Hughes at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A few days ago, some people came over to our house and took away MY couch - the old futon near the windows that I like to sit on when Joan leaves the house (I'm so sneaky!). I did not like these people because two of them were young men, and I am suspicious of men so I barked at them a lot. Plus, they were taking away my furniture - how dare they?!

I don't know what Joan is doing - the only consolation is that now I can walk right up to the front windows in the living room and look outside and keep watch on my yard and the neighborhood. When we had the couch, I would have to run over to the dining room windows to look out (unless Joan wasn't home, then I would just get up on the couch and look out).

Yesterday on an afternoon walk, we ran into Sierra the chocolate lab mix that lives on the block behind us. She had a sock on her foot! At first Joan thought it was a cast but it is not. The pad on her toe came off I guess. Ouch! She did not seem slowed down by it. But it reminded me of when Joan put a sock on my foot when my toenail was bleeding.

Today it is raining so I'm stuck inside for the most part! I can still hear the squirrels outside gurggling at each other.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Martha came over about a month ago and I forgot to post her picture. I was on my best behavior as you can see - I'm very ladylike sitting up and putting my front paws in Martha's hands. Really, this is the best way to behave with humans - however, I know some dogs drool and jump (never me) or lick (never me!).

Joan and I have been very busy and I will tell more over the next few days - so as to entice you to return to my blog more often. It's summer now so I'm sitting outside a lot and thus, have less interest in typing on the computer as you might imagine.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)