Bosco Dog Blog

We've had several poodle sightings lately. The most recent was this morning when we were walking our walk and got to near the house with the BLACK STANDARD POODLES. They were barking and jumping on their fence and we were not even near their house yet. Joan stopped. I could tell she was scared. I think she was thinking we might go the other way. Instead, we kind of jogged along up one street and did not cross in front of their house, though they could plainly see us. Lucky for us, they did not jump fence. As much as Joan loves dogs, I get the sense that if they come near me again, Joan might do something crazy. They might bite Joan next. If that happened, though, I'd have to get involved and it would be an all out fight. I hope that doesn't ever happen!

We also saw one of them last night. Uncharacteristically, its owner was walking her. Joan saw BLACK POODLE and she veered off the sidewalk into the grassy area above the river, a place I like to walk along all the time anyway. I saw the poodle but ignored her. It turns out it was the nasty poodle as it walked right up to its house after we passed. GEEZ. There was no dog-dog talk though. No human-human talk either! That human was probably wondering, "Is that the $247 dog?"

The update on me, the $247 dog, is that my wound has healed and my fur has grown back except that it is a lighter color shade brown than the rest of my fur. So you can still see the outline of a square on my back where they shaved me.

A little more positive is that I saw my good friend, Sierra, a brown dog like myself, this morning. She was coming out of her house (just after the poodle sighting) and she was wiggly as usual - she's a bit younger than I am, though I, too, get wiggly but I don't like to show that vulnerability with other dogs. Joan walked me over to Sierra and she and I smelled each other (had introductions). Sierra laid down on the wet sidewalk (very submissive). Then Joan and I kept going, and we saw Sierra again in front of my house as we had gone opposite directions around the block (I think I get longer walks than Sierra does). Sierra greeted me again as if she forgot we just saw each other ~ or at least that is what we try to get humans to think so they let us greet each other again and fool around a bit longer. I like Sierra!

Posted by Joan Hughes at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

That guy who keeps coming over (Chris is his name) is rising on my list of favorite people, despite the fact that he owns a cat. When he comes over, he gives me treats! And when we go on walks, he gives me treats. It is so cool! Joan usually doesn't give me treats on our walks but I really like it. Visitors with treats are cool no matter what.

Today we went to the dog park and I got to run around like a dog should. Then we had to wait for a long time to go through that door that then sprays stuff all over our car and I'm scared of it because we can't see out all the time and then there are really loud rain hitting our car and then a blower. Plus, my foot was bothering me because my allergies are getting bad again so I was just dang uncomfortable. When we got home, Joan sprayed my foot with some stuff that makes my foot fling backwards toward her because it stings a bit. Then she gave me a peanut butter pill - yum yum. Now I'm lounging (and typing) while Joan is a busy body cleaning up around here.

I heard that pretty soon I'm going to be able to type in my blog from anywhere in the house! Joan is getting something called wireless so I don't have to sit in her chair at the desk anymore which is pretty precarious because the chair spins. Now I can type while sitting in the brown leather chair (hee hee, don't tell Joan).

Posted by Joan Hughes at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The other day Joan came home and gave me some food. While I was eating my dinner, I saw her checking the couch, my bed, and then the brown leather chairs. Yep, then I heard it, "Bosco, you've been lying on the chair!" I thought that my brown fur on the brown chair would be hidden and she'd never find out that I was back snuggling on the brown chairs. But she found out, due to my body heat. Damn body heat. She felt the spots to see what was warm. If I just knew when she was coming home, I could slip off and let it cool off, but Joan comes home at all sorts of different times.

This morning I got the shaft. I only got to go down the street and back. It was another busy morning. While on that short walk, though, I sniffed something interesting. It smells like birds and squirrels and looks like a soft bed that doesn't belong on the boulevard. Perhaps it fell from the tree.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My very good human friend, Martha, visited Joan and I on Saturday. I was very excited to see her and Joan had to tell me a couple times to sit down and even sit on my bed. They drank tea sitting on the chairs, telling stories to each other. Then they sat at the table and I heard things like bread (I love bread), turkey (I love turkey), stuffing (I'm sure I love stuffing), roasted root vegetables (I'm okay with veges - I like bananas better)....they went on and on about FOOD. I had to interrupt them a couple times to remind them they should be petting me.

Before Martha left, she said that I'm INVITED! I get to go to her house on this FOOD day coming up. I'm so excited and very humbled since I was really on bad behavior last time I was at her house. I chased Boli, the cat, around too much because he decided to sniff my food. Joan said that I won't be fed at Martha's so that I don't even think about chasing Boli.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday, Joan left me alone a lot. First, she woke up and said something like, "You are not going to get much of a walk." It was true she only walked me down our street and back. It seemed like she was in a hurry to get somewhere. I was ancy and lonely then and when she came home around lunchtime, she saw that I had moved one of her leather shoes onto my bed. I did not get into too much trouble because I hadn't chewed on it like I have in the past. There was a little tooth indentation but nothing too bad. I liked having it close to me as I was sad I didn't get much of a walk or love in the morning.

We did go for a long walk during lunch and I got to sit outside while Joan ate food. I even lounged in the grass a bit. It was not as nice a day as Sunday, but I don't care if I just get to be outside.

But, then Joan left again for a long time and when she got home a couple hours past sunset, I was really ready for another walk! Guess what? She found her running shoe near my bed. Yep, I was still lonely and since she had moved all her leather shoes on the other side of the dining room door, all that was left was her running shoes. So I moved one of those to my bed during the afternoon.

After our evening walk, I got to lounge on the couch with Joan while she ate her dinner and watched TV and talked on the phone.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last weekend, Joan's friend came over to sit in Joan's backyard and soak up the sun. Now, this woman is right on with her priorities - she likes the sun and warmth as much as I do. I had already been lying in the sun in the grass before she came. Her name is Bic. Joan, though, does not have the same priorities. Joan was doing something called "weatherstripping" the backdoor which meant she had a chair and all these metal tools and the loud vacuum and generally set up an area that I did not want to walk through, so I just stayed outside while she worked. So anyway, Bic is on my wavelength ... but ....

Bic does not like me to lick her. She did not have much available skin but hey, her hands were available. So every once in a while, I'd swing by her, stick my head under the chair arm, and give her hand a quick lick. Then she's scream and say, "No, Bossssccccooo!" It was very funny! So I'd do it again when she wasn't aware and again she'd scream.

It is a bummer that the weather is getting colder because there is less accessible skin on all the humans' bodies because they don't have a fur coat like myself, so they need to put fake fur on, I guess. But that means less licking from me.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The other day was kinda out of control. Joan spent time in the kitchen making this:

I didn't mind her doing that really. In fact, she dropped these seeds on the ground and I licked it but did not find it very palatable. Anyway, she put this thing outside and kept the door open a bit. Then people kept walking by our house and even up to our door. I can tell you this was not acceptable - too many violations of my territory. And I let it be known. I was barking up a storm. Joan was laughing at me but later she also said that it didn't matter that the doorbell was broken because I always let her know when someone was at the door. I kinda recognized some of these little people but it was really hard because almost all of them had hats on and hats scare me so I wouldn't get too close. Especially if it was a tall pointy black hat which I saw a few of.

To make things worse, she gave these people chocolate - my favorite - which I smelled inside a bag near the door. I sniffed it and thought, I'll eat that later when Joan is gone. uh huh! I've done that before. I was really going crazy and by the end of the night I was hiding behind the leather chair kinda like that day when all those loud POPS go off in the neighborhood. It makes me scared. I also tried to get up on top of Joan in the chair but she said, no no, since there was no room for me up there. I really needed some cuddling -or - coddling, as Joan says.

Joan left the chocolate out over night, and I smelled it again in the morning. Check. Still there. To be eaten later. THEN, Joan picked up the bags on chocolate and put them in the cupboard. SHOOT! She must have seen me sniffing it.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week, Joan had dinner at that guy, Chris' house. I was invited too :-)
Of course, that is more points for the guy, in my opinion. You gotta love ME!

Anyway, I entered this place and immediately knew there was another animal living here. I got a tour of the place, and there is an area where this animal relieves herself. GEEZ - can't they do it outside like me??? I guess not. There was also some yummy small food in a bowl and water but Joan told me to not eat the food. As appetizing as it was, I obeyed Joan (or at least until she leaves me here alone ....then I would eat it of course.)

There was this huge cushion that I got to lay on. Wow, this is something - it's even better of a bed than what is at Joan's house. So I was snoozing like a queen and then I heard and saw something move in the corner of the room. It was a creature whose name is Cocoa:

I immediately stood up and pointed at this creature. I know it is a CAT. Joan was a bit worried because of my chasing Boli the cat incident recently. Well, I laid down again and Cocoa walked by me and sniffed my tail. Then she walked by very snootily. Well, I guess it is her place, after all. Anyway, the night went on with these slow sniffings. I tolerated it. Even when Cocoa came up and sniffed my toes (right in front on my snout and my big teeth!). We didn't become best friends but we understand the pet hierarchy. Unfortunately, I am not in charge around here.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)