Saturday 19 December 2009

a useful skill

this was Sam's first trick, figured out shortly after arriving with us, and kept honed because it brings its own reward. this is the first time i captured the whole thing...




Friday 18 December 2009

a tale of fire and ice

when Sam came out one morning, he found that the water in one of his many storage containers was frozen. his immediate reaction was, naturally, to eat it.


a few days later, to his great and ecstatic joy, Sam found the ground covered in schnow! his initial was, naturally, to eat it.

after that, however, he turned into a snowdog once again. today, he's been out more than indoors. snow is just so much fun!

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Sam, you're fired!

during his year with us Sam has definitely found his voice. i remember how, when he was living in the rescue kennel, he would jump up and down on the door to show how pleased he was to see us, but never bark like the other dogs did. after we took him home, he would howl sadly at night until he realised that we hadn't really left him for good.

it was a good while before he actually barked, but now he has figured it out. he'll bark if there's someone at the door, or something which makes noise in the street, but most of all he'll bark when Great Leader is coming home.

Sam's bark is quite loud, and a bit annoying if there's nothing to worry about. still, it can be useful to have a noisy dog -- a guard who'll deter thieves and other rabble, we thought.

then, my bike was stolen from just outside our door one night, and Sam didn't say a thing. it was my mistake, however, because i hadn't locked it, and someone could easily have been off with it without making much of an aural impression.

however! today, i discovered that someone had tried to take my two-week old replacement bike as well. this time, it was chained to the fence, and so the would-be thief had only succeeded in dislocatign the seat while trying to get it off.

this bike is also located right next to the outer door. and what did Sam do while this epic battle took place? he was an upside-down dog on his bed upstairs, and raised neither head nor voice. as a guard dog, he is a complete and utter failure!

Saturday 5 December 2009

fields of dog

well, the wetness has not converted into fluffy mist and drifted off as clouds, or even dropped down as snow. instead it makes mud. glorious mud, i'm sure, if you're a dog. if there ever was any doubt (there wasn't), Sam is a real, mud-loving dog.

unusually for us, we went to a big, popular play field during dog-walking time. we met three old friends, of which two are dogs, on their way home. Sam had a glorious run, but stayed on the extendable lead since the field is open to traffic, and we know how mad/unlucky he can be.

so we galloped and leapt a bit. i was unwisely wearing light trousers, which were soon covered by a fetching pattern of mud droplets. Sam's underbelly went from white to dark chocolate.

image by Aaron Landry on flickr.



as we were about to leave, a little jack russell came up to us. it was so quick i hadn't had time to reduce Sam's lead length, and so he pounced, and the little dog scampered. Sam couldn't follow, obviously, so of course the terrier came back for more. Sam jumped, and she ran. rinse (impossible in all that mud) and repeat, while i exchanged grins with her (Polly, i think) owner. it seemed like they both had great fun, and i was pleased to see that this dog, at least, understood Sam's playful intentions. i know he's not out to harm, but i haven't been sure if strange dogs saw it that way... or their owners.

back home, i got Sam into the bath tub immediately. he was remarkably quiet and tolerant about being hosed down, perhaps because he already was soaking wet. or maybe he doesn't think chocolate suits him?

Tuesday 1 December 2009

rivers of mud

the rain from last month seems to have continued into this one, with an added layer of frost to the mud. nice. i feel double virteous for braving both wet and cold to give sam his daily nightly constitutional.

our riverside walk was flooded:
flooded!

we walked there a few days ago, and it was very muddy. sam loved it, i didn't -- even though i now know that my trainers are water proof.

however, we have other places to walk. and even walking by the road takes twice as long when it rains, because the wetness seems to bring out an array of intriguing smells in every bush, nook and paving stone. after smelling these, sam would rather mark them as well -- a way of saying "first", perhaps? or just a dog LOL?