I have mentioned before that I want my dogs to be more involved with my hobbies. This weekend we took both the dogs down to the river to join in on a little paddle in the 'dog kayak'.
Bender still isn't convinced about the kayak. This is his fourth time out, admittedly, with a big gap between this weekend and his previous trip. I managed to get him in and paddle a little, but he decided that he would jump off the back this time.
It resulted in the shot of the day! Though I also got an action shot of him chasing his ball that was pretty good.
When I went for a paddle down the river, he actually followed me along the shoreline. Perhaps that is the way to exercise him, to motor along the river in my kayak with him running along and taking dips in the water along the way. There are a couple of stretches of river where this would be quite possible.
He chilled out on the sand when we had a rest. He was very good, apart from sprinting off once to chase a pelican which was hanging around a guy fishing, hoping to get his fish. Cheeky bird. Well Bender put a stop to that!
Barbie probably had a boring day, mostly. She wasn't allowed to run along the shore because I think she would get distracted and wander off. She did have a very short turn on the kayak though.
This kayak is too small for her to lie down in though, she is just too long. I think with dogs the size of my guys a tandem kayak would be a lot more comfortable.
We shall have to try one out next weekend, perhaps.
N got some Rock Lobster for Christmas lunch and removed it from it's shell in the morning. There were some scrappy bits which N said the furkids could have. I thought the cats would appreciate the seafood the most, so she divided it between their food bowls. They both turned their nose up at it. Apparently they prefer processed 'seafood' that comes in tins over fresh, expensive rock lobster.
Bender has never been a fan of seafood of any kind, so I wasn't surprised when Bender refused to eat any. Barbie was sceptical at first, but true to form she gave it a tentative nibble. After that first nibble she decided she liked it and ate all the scraps herself.
It was forecast to be 40 degrees Celsius, and we expected it would be a few degrees cooler further south where we were having Christmas lunch. We decided to take the dogs with us so that they could enjoy the cooler weather and the air conditioning.
They did have a bit of a run around the garden, but they were not outside for long! I got this very handsome photo of them both.
Then they decided to pull their best ugly faces for the next shot.
There are three cats at this house, but two of them tend to go AWOL when Bender and Barbie come to visit. The third kitty is relatively new to the house, and she is an inside cat, so she didn't really have anywhere to go. She is a stunning kitty, but she was not impressed with the interlopers.
I went to pat her in her room, and she went from purring and meowing at me to standing in the corner with her tail twitching. I didn't know why until I turned around and saw three dogs standing behind me - Bender, Barbie and their dog Harry.
Barbie seemed to be a little irritated that we didn't bring her bed, and there was no room on the couch. She eyed off Harry & Nudge's dog beds but decided they were too small.
She found a nice spot on the tiles but she was pretty restless. She seemed pretty happy when we headed home! I am so glad she tolerates our outings. I am sure next time she will find some way to demand that we put her fluffiest bed in the car.
I tried to explain to Bender and Barbie that cats are not like dogs, they aren't so much into big celebrations, or road trips, or anything much other than lying around on the couch. They didn't listen to me and insisted that we do a birthday photo shoot for Froufrou, who turns 7 somewhere around Christmas time.
I consented, if only because I thought it would be cute for the blog. I had to tie Barbie's party hat elastic into a knot so that it would stay on her head.
They protested that I took too long to take the picture, but it's done now.
Last weekend we went on a 3 hour road trip with the dogs, down to Dunsborough WA for a wedding. We stayed in a dog friendly house so that we could leave the dogs there while we attended to the wedding formalities.
There was a problem with the house though - it was two stories, and both the sets of stairs were scary! Out the front of the house, they had what Honey the Great Dane calls 'skeleton stairs'. They are scary for doggies because they sort of 'disappear' when the dog looks at them.
If you look at them from this angle you can see what I mean. Barbie hates this type of stairs. She tends to lack confidence putting her back feet down. She did manage to get up and down these stairs many times but she really did not like it.
Inside there were shiny, steep stairs.
We drove to Dunsborough after work, and the traffic was shocking, so we were all tired and it was dark by the time we got there. I let Bender run up the front stairs, and N got into the house. I went back down to get Barbie.
While I was coaxing her up the stairs, and we were about half way up, I heard a monstrous crash. N started yelling at me to come and help her. I thought something really bad had happened but Barbie got spooked and refused to move.
I got her up the stairs in another minute or so with a lot of excited happy voices, and discovered Bender and N at half way point of the shiny stairs. Bender had just charged into a dark room and fell down them. He was OK, and he came up the stairs when I called him.
Unfortunately, no-one has ever accused Bender of being a fast learner. He fell down the steps a second time that night. After that he didn't go near them again.
When they needed to go for their toilet break, I had to leash them up and get them up and down the front stairs. I had to do this twice, once just before bed, and a second time at dawn.
The dogs did enjoy the little backyard though, which of course, was down stairs and around the back.
We decided after the first night that the dogs and I could live downstairs and save all the dramas. It was much more convenient.
The wedding was in the evening, so we had all of Saturday to take the dogs exploring. We found a really lovely dog beach with a sand bar, and Barbie and Bender loved it so much.
Bender spent at least an hour just fetching his ball, over and over and over and over and over and over.
Barbie and I went for a walk, and then I decided, after checking out the beach that it would be safe for her to go for a bit of a sprint. I had my GoPro, so I managed to capture her in action. There was a group of people up the beach, and I could hear them cheering her on, though as usual they assumed she is a boy dog.
As she ran towards them I heard them saying 'go, go, open it up big fella!'
She decided she needed a rest, so she dug up the sand a bit to make it nice and soft. After a while, we packed them up into the car and went to the next dog beach. We went for a wander along the second beach without Bender's ball. It is always a bit strange having him trot along side us without having his eyes fixed on a ball. We can only do this on deserted beaches, as if any other dogs have balls and he doesn't he will go and steal theirs.
After all the running they were very happy to settle down on their beds whilst we went out.
The wedding was on the beach, and it was lovely. We popped back to the house before we went to the reception just to make sure everyone was behaving. They were.
Sunday morning the dogs were keen to go out on another adventure. We were intending on coming back via Dwellingup to check out the Murray River at Baden Powell, as we had a great December storm and the river was up.
We went out for breakfast first though, and the dogs were very patient with us. We drove to the Gecko Cafe and Gallery in Quindalup which seemed like a lovely laid back place.
Bender did decide he wanted to greet everyone who came in though! They were all very nice to him. Breakfast was expensive but yummy.
When we drove to Dwellingup after breakfast with a stop for the doggies to stretch their legs at a road house.
Turns out the river was too high for the dogs to swim, and I got scared off taking it on in my kayak as well.
We drove home from there without much more than a little walk. There were a lot of horrible March flies around and they were trying to eat us all.
The dogs were so exhausted when we got home that Barbie went into this pose for at least 48 hours.
This little fellow is part of our extended-dog family. It is a pity that he doesn't like other dogs much, so he has not even met Barbie and Bender, but he is a real little character.
He loves to fetch his tiny toys, and then he 'chews' them. Well he 'chews' the air next to the toys. He makes all kinds of funny doggie noises as he chews too. He is a bit like Bender in that he picks which toy you are playing with. If you try to switch to a different toy, it will be ignored.
He also manages to carry full sized tennis balls home that he finds on his walks around the neighbourhood.
Yes, I do like little dogs. Especially little Mr Cool.
Yeah, we do Christmas photos, but not like some other bloggers. We do it in a lackadaisical 'Aussie' way. I have the same reindeer horns as last year, but at least this time Barbie didn't steal them from Bender's head and run off with them!!
I am a bit spoiled because we have a Guide Dog in our office. He works for my offsider at work and spends most of the day asleep under her desk, but we are allowed to play with him every now and then. Today I played tug with him, and his toy broke. He was happy because now he had TWO toys!
Anyway, the city isn't that dog friendly and I don't often see dogs that aren't working in town. I think it's because dogs aren't allowed at inner city apartment buildings, or on public transport. It's a hassle to drive into the city, so people don't bring their dogs to the Central Business District for a stroll.
I think that's what made today so interesting, and hopefully successful. My favorite website if you want to get a new pet, Pet Rescue, brought together two of my favorite rescue organisations, Staffy and Bully Breed Rescue (SABBR) & Greyhounds as Pets (GAP). I ran into Sharon, Barbie's foster carer, and also one of my old footy mates who is quite involved with SABBR. It turned into quite a social lunch break.
I also met the mascot for Jet Pets (the famous Sahara), and she is beautiful. I would love a dog just like her, she reminded me a little bit of Lucy, though she knew a lot more tricks!
There was a bit of buzz on Facebook afterwards and I hope that some of the SABBR dogs find new homes, there was certainly a lot of interest in them.
I really enjoyed my lunch break today, I hope that it happens again because I love seeing dogs in the city!
