First, we’ll keep the funny dog story contest going one more day, so there’s still time to enter. Let’s hear the funniest thing you dog ever did. Random Number Generator picks the winner. And now onto Sunday beginnings, taking a look at the start of one of my novels. CAT ON A HOT TIN WOOF, the 16th novel – but not the last! – in the Che tand Bernie mystery series -comes out April 14 (preorders make the publisher happy and therefore me). We’re now doing the beginning of each one, going backwards (since the series can be read in any order) and on the 16th Sunday we’ll do CAT ON A HOT TIN WOOF. Today we’re at TO FETCH A THIEF:
“I smell trouble,” Bernie said.
Better stop right there. Not that I doubt Bernie. The truth is I believe everything he says. And he has a nice big nose for a human. But what’s that saying? Not much.
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Next up, Teddy. We were hiking in late fall in Shenandoah NP with some friends. It was unseasonably cold that day, with temperatures belong freezing. As we crossed a small bridge over a stream, Teddy decided a plunge would be in order and jumped right it. While the stream itself had not frozen over, when Teddy came out, he was covered with icicles, dangling everywhere off of his body. Debbie was so concerned that he might freeze that she took off her sweatshirt to get rid of the icicles and dry him off. She managed to do both fairly well. But when she was done, you know what Teddy did? Of course, you do. He jumped right back into the water, where he could get some more of those fun icicles dangling from his side. After that, Debbie decided he knew what he was doing and just let him have at it.
I’ve seen those dog covered in little snow balls too. Like a coat of pom-poms.
Amazing what temperatures dogs will tolerate, especially cold.
They are amazing creatures. Such a wide range of temperatures. Dogs that can tolerate the heat and dryness of the dessert to dogs that can tolerate the extreme cold of winter. Swimming dogs. Mountain climbing dogs. And of course those dogs that can pull a sled or a wagon.
Greetings!
I love this beginning.
WTAFP: I am laughing at the escapades of Wookie, Teddy and Franklin! :^)
Good Sunday afternoon to all!
WTAFP: We have been taking a bunch of selfies with cream cheese and cheese steak sandwiches to support our defense.
OFA: we never do anything humorous, but we found the following reminiscences in our Lady’s personal mission notes:
Following his retirement, Ole Doc called shotgun on the loveseat and dibs on the coveted dog bed in the living room —- location, location, location —- in short order.
It quickly became evident that Ole Doc, brother to the Thieves!, appreciated the finer things in life. It started with tennis balls.
At one point, we had nine retired sled dogs ensuring our couch didn’t float away in our small homestead cabin. One night, we treated the dogs to tennis balls bought by the bag before bed time. Elim played a one dog game of fetch, being both the tosser and the retriever. Harris, the rescue not the Plunderer, enjoyed a massage as she rolled to and fro over her tennis ball. Ole Doc cradled his ball. Tennis balls…they were everywhere that night until they weren’t. In the morning, AJ and I came down stars expecting the living room to be littered with tennis balls, but nary a bright yellow felt sphere was to be found.
All the dogs gathered at the door, eager to push their way to free their bladders. All, but one. Ole Doc remained on his favorite dog pillow, unmoving despite his floating eyeballs. Grabbing his collar to give him a boost to the day, the reason for his resistance became obvious. He spent the night collecting the tennis balls, bringing them back to his nest to be incubated by Ole himself. The tennis balls never hatched into more tennis balls, but you can’t blame a Doc for trying. That was just the beginning.
It was training for his first Christmas in the house since his retirement from racing.
I finished putting the lights on the wee Christmas tree in our too small homestead, and set out the nativity scene on our end table…sheep, shepherds, wisemen, new parents and a new born all in the right places. I walked to the kitchen and back again with ornaments in hand. Something was…off. It was just Ole and me in the house. I looked at him and he looked at me. Then, I realized I was down a sheep. I looked back to Ole Doc and saw a member of the flock poking out from under Ole’s paws. I set things right, walked to the kitchen to grab more ornaments and returned to a missing shepherd.
“Doc!”
What?
The scene continued to play out as I continued to bring our limited Christmas decorations into the living room from the kitchen. He made his way through the wisemen three, Joseph and Mary all the way to star of the show.
“Doc,” I said to the dog holding his mouth closed, “give me Jesus.”
After several seconds — I can only imagine he was deliberating about the need for religion in my life —- he relented, opened his mouth so I could catch a slobber covered deity in my hand.
Being no slouch at critical thinking, I decided to move the nativity scene to a harder to reach place.
A year later, I was decorating for the holidays while all of the dogs including Ole were outside. AJ and the retirees came in the house that afternoon, brining the cold air with them. The fire was stoked, waiting for the musher and dogs to curl up in all the right places in the living room. Ole Doc made it to the entrance of the living room, saw the nativity scene and rushed it like a defensive lineman with his sights set on the QB. He was nose to swaddle within seconds. Baby Jesus! I have missed you!
Once a collector, always a collector.
That was wonderful.
Elim was like Ramses, playing fetch with himself and inventing a new game.
It sounds like Ole Doc was quite the character. There is no rhyme nor reason for their obsessions but at least he was courteous enough to return the plunder.
WTAFP: Those are great stories, but when are you going to tell stories about any alleged misdeeds? As far as we can tell, Casey and company are just being very good dogs.
I just love all these mischievous dog stories! So much personality! And we love them so much! And, know what? We are blessed to have them love US right back!
Not comical but examples of the unique personality of dogs.
My sister had a German shepherd before she moved out of my parent’s house. The dog loved to play fetch with a rubber squeaky chicken leg. It was his favorite toy. Maybe it was a turkey leg. It was the leg of some fowl. But the dog noticed that when it was full of slobber we stopped playing fetch with him. And we like to grab it by the foot, not the thigh end. So the dog learned to only carry it by the big end to present the foot end to us, all clean and dry. Well, relatively dry.
Candy, my parent’s previous dog, also had a habit rather common in dogs. She loved to lick but my parents do not like to be licked. In fact, I think I am the only one, so all of the dogs greet me with kisses just to relieve their “lip hunger”. So no licking, but at the same time she craved pets. So whenever someone would come, before she moved in for the pets, she would always run off to get a toy to hold in her mouth. Sometimes it was a plush spider I had gotten at the half off Halloween sale, with the body in her mouth and the legs dangling off to both sides like some weird mustache. I noticed last Saturday that Diana has started to do the same thing at my Mom’s house. She was holding one of Dolly’s toys in her mouth while making the rounds for pets.