More Dog Tales

Hello people!  I can't believe it is already hump day!  This week is moving right along!  Not much happening here on the ranch.  Actually, we don't live on a ranch but I do read several blogs by people who live on a ranch and it just seems like something familiar I should say.  Way easier than, not much happening here in the cul-de-sac near the biggest hot bed of construction in our little city.  The main road outside of our neighborhood is being widened and it is a war zone of construction equipment and big orange barrels and dust and debris.  It is definitely NOT a ranch.

Inside the house, I am still a purging fool.  I am working.  I am cooking.  I am laundering.  I am pulling together some cute Valentine treats.

I am also still arguing regularly with TWDITW.  I have recently changed his transportation situation when we ride in the car and he is not happy about it.  For the first year of his life, he rode in the seat directly behind the driver's seat, but he got into the bad habit of barking incessantly right in my ear every time we went somewhere.  We go somewhere ALOT and I thought my eardrums might actually rupture.  I don't know if that is a thing or not, but his head was so close to my head that the force of his bark was physically moving my hair.  Not sure if that was his powerful breath or the sonic boom of his sharp bark, but hair was moving.  Anyway, more important than my hair moving was that it was super painful on my ears.  I decided to change things up.  I bought a gate to go across the back of the suburban to keep him in the trunk area.  It's not a trunk at all, it is what we call the "way back".  The way back is behind the third row and in a suburban it is probably 4 X 5 foot area.  Plenty of room for a dog to travel comfortably.  Well, Super Duper Cooper does not like being restrained in any manner and he gives zero cares about the lovely area available for him to travel in comfort.

The first time I put him in there, he wiggled around the smallest corner gap between the gate and the side window and was in the driver's seat in 1.6 seconds.  Like, I shut the trunk and before I could walk the ten feet around the side of the car to open the driver's door, he was sitting in my seat smiling and barking.  That was a fail.

Apparently, the gate I bought wasn't quite wide enough to cover the expanse of the suburban.  For most dogs it would have been adequate, but for TWDITW a two inch gap was plenty to flatten his 82 pound body, bend the metal a tiny bit and squeeze through.  To solve the gap problem, I created some wings on both ends of the gate out of super thick cardboard and duct tape.  I am definitely my mother's daughter.  Resourceful.  It worked great and I was able to take him on a spin around the block without him ending up in my lap.  Unfortunately, now that he knows he is going in the way back, it takes him a long time to stop complaining and jump in the way back and stay there so I can close the trunk.  Saturday afternoon, I patiently waited for him to jump in and out  and in and out and bark and carry on in the driveway, all with the promise that we were headed to the dog park.  Finally, I was able to wait it out and he settled down and we were off to the dog park about 3 miles from our house.

I got about a mile into the drive, right in the thick of the aforementioned construction zone of death, when I heard him digging and clawing at the gate.  I had to concentrate on not plowing into a construction cone or another car, so just prayed the gate would hold.  I was about a mile from the dog park when he successfully destroyed the cardboard wings and was in the front passenger seat next to me barking happily and trying to get in my lap.  NOT GOOD.  The gate would be returned since even with cardboard and duct tape modifications, it couldn't contain the beast.

Thankfully, my friend Lori (Tibi's Mom) was no longer in need of her gate because Tibi just hops on in the car and lays in the back like a normal dog.  Lori let me borrow their gate and with some re-configuring and a ton of zip ties it fits great in my suburban.  We have taken it on a trial run to the dog park and it held TWDITW for the whole three mile drive.  There was barking and complaining and digging and scratching, but he was unable to dislodge the gate and was not sitting in my lap at any point.  Hooray!

Hopefully, he will eventually get used to being back there and won't have to act like a complete terror every time we go somewhere.  Fingers crossed.

Finally, here are two funny dog pictures I have received from friends this week that I just have to share.

The first one is from Tibi's mom, Lori who shared her gate.  Tibi is a lab and she is obsessed with two things...tennis balls and water.  LOVES them both.  Tibi is in training to be a therapy dog and went to a nursing facility this week with Lori to visit a friend.  I got this picture with the message "I was afraid of this."  Cracked me up.

It is a walker with tennis balls on the front to make walking a little easier.  Tibi was locked on and would not leave it for love or money.  I got such a laugh out of this. 

The second picture I got was from my friend Jenny.  She texted me earlier this week about how I cooked the ribs I blogged about recently.  She tried them last night and they turned out great.  She sent me this picture along with a text that said "Ribs were a hit.  And the best dog in the world has been standing here the entire time."

So funny.   Why can't my dog be this awesome?   TWDITW ripped off four pieces of bacon this very morning when I turned my back for just a split second.  He just keeps on earning his title.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and please send me pictures of your dogs doing awesome things.  It makes my day.  I may compile them in an instruction book for Cooper on how to be an awesome dog. I will read it to him every night before he goes to bed!