a nice visitor at work

: (((((

Her name is SHUSH.  When I first saw her she was just waddling along smiling and looking around.  The only thing that changed when she saw me looking at her was that her tail started wagging frantically.

She reminded me of yeti, who I got to see yesterday on my day off.

The next time I go over I need to video tape the way she acts when I first get there.  She dances back and forth and is just so excited.  After the initial petting she loses interest in me pretty quickly.  Usually by the end of my visit the only thing that gets her interested is having her picture taken.

She's so happy, I just want to hug her all day long.

a nice day off

I only get one day off this week so I wanted to make sure I made the most of it by seeing this nice lady.  I love her.

I also got to spend some time with Clive:

He's so happy.  I threw a stick for him and he ran to get it and then just ran around the yard in circles with it.  When I went to rinse off my feet he kept trying to attack the water from the hose so I ended up having to just spray him in the face for a while.

I enjoyed my time with Gypsy, even with her stupid ball:

She would be just standing there not doing anything and then as soon as she would see me she would make a bee-line for that ball and then run right over to me to body slam me with it.  She wants to play tug of war but it's not fun to play against a creature with a 195 lb bite strength, especially when you are trying to hold on to a plastic ball with jagged edges.

"What was that?  You want to play tug of war?"

"Ok, I'm ready when you are".

NO THANK YOU.

Still, I'd rather be in the backyard all week than back at work.  : /

the things I do for Yeti

I dedicated my day today to doing yard work for Daniel, which really means doing yard work for Yeti.  It makes me happy to know that I can provide her with a safe well manicured environment to live in, an environment suitable for princess Yeti.

Gary gave her a tiny piece of asparagus which occupied her for quite a while.  For Some reason she insisted on chewing it but since it was so small that proved extremely difficult.

Jonathan said I was being mean for taking pictures of her and not helping her.  WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!   Chew it for her?

Trust me, if I could have done anything I would have but this was her journey.

I never stuck around to see what happened.  I'm assuming she finally ate it, I could only watch her struggle for so long.

I love her.

bath time for Yeti

Daniel needed the use of my pickup truck (I knew this day would come!) so I decided to dedicate an afternoon of hard labor since I was playing delivery man anyways.  The less exciting part of my day involved a lot of yardwork, although I did learn how to use a weed whacker.  It was only slightly terrifying, I feel with a little more practice I could learn to operate it without having to stop and fix it constantly.

Once I finished my chores I got to the best part of my day.

Haha she hated it!!  : (((

It took me about 30-45 minutes just to get her coat completely wet.  No sooner had I gotten the soap process started when a neighbor dog at the fence sent her bounding away to protect her turf.  You can't catch her off her guard, even during spa day!  Unfortunately the diversion also included a vigorous full body shake which you can imagine set my work back a good 15-20 minutes.  I didn't mind though, I enjoyed my quality time with her.  And I had no idea that the bath part was going to be the easy part.

Then Daniel wheeled out his industrial strength vacuum.

Sure sure, it was still all smiles at this point.  But then the time passed and I was still drying and she was still DRIPPING wet.  But I kept drying, even as day turned to afternoon, I kept drying.  Even after I watched Daniel give Zeejay a bath, and dry him completely, I kept drying.  Even as he got Gypsy up and prepared her for her bath...

Please note the amount of hair on the ground and  consider how much was flying around me and in to my nose, eyes, ears, everywhere.

Daniel kept saying, "You really want to give Yeti a bath?"

I LOVE HER I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HER.

There were a couple of times where I saw the look in her eye that said, "I could take your head clean off in one bite".  Not unlike the look I'm giving Daniel in that picture.

Middle of the week day off

So I finally got to visit Yeti in her new home!  The only thing I didn't like was that Daniel doesn't have fresh snow shipped in daily for the backyard, but otherwise it was a very nice home.  And way more comfortable for hanging out than the park.

She wasn't really licking my face, just grossly sniffing at my nose and mouth and rubbing her mouth against me.  Eventually she just kind of sat there pressing her face against mine.

I love her.

After lunch and spending time with the dogs I did a little more window shopping...

Ugggghhhhhh.

nice doggies

As part of my incredible FIVE DAYS OFF IN A ROW I wanted to make sure I made time to see all the nice doggies.  I tried to take as many pictures as I could and got a few nice ones.  

I liked that guy.  He came and stood next to me and made that wary expression the whole time.  When my hands weren't busy petting anybody he would gently but firmly place his paw on my arm and pull my hand over so I could pet him.  All the while staying constantly vigilant.  So nice.

I got some quality Yeti time in, which means letting her sniff deep deep within my ears, as well as petting her while she walks in circles around me.

Haha, so fluffy.

And Zeus!  He's much more like a normal dog after a few weeks of training.  He still wasn't particularly friendly with me but he at least let me pet him which was more than the last time.

Haha, I got a picture mid-yawn.  His jowls are crazy!

Such a goof.

Usually once I'm outside I just hang out as Daniel takes each group of dogs back inside to their area, and lets a new round out to play.  I tried to capture the moment all the little dogs were coming running out but they were TOO CRAZY!!  At least I could handle it better than the greyhounds who were SO excited to see me they felt the need to charge at me full speed.  If need help imagining why that's faintly terrifying I'll just remind you their average speed is 35 mph.

The little dogs on the other hand are just adorable.

Haha, he's like, "All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus"

Of course after a day of seeing the nice doggies I always have to come home and spend some time appreciating that cat.  He gets very jealous otherwise.

spending the day with my friends

Daniel invited me to meet his new service dog Zeus, and his friend Garry for lunch.  Of course I jumped at the opportunity, as it meant I also got to visit all my other friends at the doggy park.  Some of the little dogs I knew, but this was my first time getting to meet this special guy:

We became best best friends.

I also came to really enjoy this one:

She spent most of our time together barking at me and giving me a suspicious side eye.  At some point I realized I didn't hear her incessant barking any more and I looked around to find her like this, half laying down, half standing.  She's nice.

I also really liked this special character:

Sitting in the fancy princesse bed just howling and howling for no reason.  It sounded like a cars engine revving up, so funny!

Haha : (

After I spent my time with the little dogs I got to go back and spend time with the big dogs, including the new special man Zeus:

Haha, Daniel in there for scale.  Zeus is a Cane Corso which is apparently a very big manly breed of dog.  All I know is that he's very very handsome and he's very very nice.

Look at that head!  He's a beast!  

After Zeus I got to see Yeti for a little bit:

before I got to spend time with the greyhounds, my favorite part of the day.

Haha.  Champion likes to grab things and hoard them in his area that he's claimed as his own.  He kept going for my cell phone so it was hard for me to take a selfie with him.  I got one ok one though:

It showcases his silly underbite.  I love him.

My old friend Humvee got the best picture in my opinion:

But I can't help but be partial to Ben:

I mean, it's a handsome name for a handsome dog.

I hate visiting the dogs because now when I drive to work and pass the intersection where I could go straight and get to work or turn right and visit with them I will seriously have to consider which to do.  I mean, I could scoop poop for nickels and just hang out with the nice doggies all day long.  That doesn't sound so bad...

visiting the dogs

I love yeti.

When I first got to Petropolis Park it was so quiet and peaceful inside that I didn't want to ring the bells and get all the dogs riled up.  I went around to the fence in the back to see if Daniel was back there and sure enough he was lounging in the back yard with yeti.  Her first reaction was total guard dog mode when I first saw her over the edge of the fence but one she realized it was me she got SO excited.  : (((

Daniel rudely wouldn't come and open the side gate to just let me in the back to I had to go all the way around and through the front and pass everyone else just so I could see yeti.  I wish I could capture her better on film but it's always either far away super zoomed in shots of her just standing and being nice, or close ups of her coming at you because she absolutely needs to heavily sniff your ears:

After I spent some time with yeti I got to see the greyhounds for a little bit.  It was kind of sad as I don't know if I will get to see them again before they head to their new homes.

I tried to get a nice together picture of each of them.  I like this one of sergeant and sapper and I always look good together:

But when it came to hero it was more of a challenge:

He suffers from the same compulsion as yeti.  Must sniff everything.

Cadence wasn't around for me to take a selfie with but maybe she will come visit me one day on my break at work before she goes to her home.

Since I can't have a greyhound right now I've been thinking about compensating with a friend for the detective.  I actually went to see him this afternoon.  He still needs to be fixed and vaccinated and whatnot so I have a few more days to discuss with the detective.  We'll see what happens, but it may be time for the detective to have a partner in crime...