No-Work Day!

Today was a no-work day for my people, so they got up and walked me in the morning. It’s getting to be nice and sunny, but was still pretty cool. I wore my backpack:

I don’t like it when they first put the backpack on me, but I sort of like wearing it. It makes me feel important. Tug says I concentrate better when I’m wearing it. (He also says it’s nice that it tires me out.) My people put bottles of water in my backpack, and then they drink some and give me some so the backpack gets lighter as we go. We went to the place with the prairie dogs. Tug said it was a good thing I had my flea and tick medication last week, because I like to see if I can find one!

There were some that were out and squeaking. My person tried to take a picture, but it ducked just as she took it.

A funny thing happened this morning.

This morning I was out walking with Tug, and this car stopped and the man opened the window, and he asked Tug what kind of dog I was. Tug told him I’m a Kelpie mix, and the man said “What’s that?” (even around here, a lot of people don’t know). And Tug told him I’m related to border collies. And the man said “I thought so” and then (guess what!) he said I was very beautiful!

I was good, too. I sat the whole time.

I feel good today. I hadn’t been sleeping too good because it was so hot lately, but some men came to the house yesterday and came inside and then went up on the roof, and then the house got cold. So I slept really good. Also, Tug gave me a bully stick! I never get bully sticks anymore, Tug says they’re bad for my tummy. But he says that he found an old one in my closet so I could have it. And that maybe I can have one every once in a while anyways.

What *was* that stuff?

Today my person put some goopy stuff on her finger and let me lick it off. I liked that–it tasted like peanut butter. Then she put a weird plastic thing on her finger and put more goop on that and let me lick it off too, and that was pretty cool even though she didn’t let me chew on the plastic like I wanted to.

But then she held onto my head and stuck the plastic thing in my mouth and rubbed my teeth with it! What the heck was that? I didn’t mind her sticking it in my mouth so much, I guess, but I hated having her hold my head!

Oh, and, and, and I forgot!! Some days when my people don’t have to go away all day, they take me on a really long walk, but first we just start on our normal walk and they stop at this place and get food and drinks and they sit on the patio and eat and drink before we go on our long walk. (They never give me any, no matter how nicely I ask!) And we did that today, and guess who was at the food place? Dr. Long-Hair! I love Dr. Long-Hair! She’s one of my most favoritest people in the whole world! And she even let me put my paw on her knee, but then when I tried to jump on her, my people made me get down. They say I know better and she said I know I can get away with it because we were at Starbuck’s. Which is true. Home rules don’t have to be followed if I’m not at home, right?

ME = WIN!

So today, Tug took me out for my afternoon walk like always. An’ usually when a dog is behind a fence barking at me, I don’t mind too much. An’ Tug says that even when they’re out in their yards, if they bark and snarl it’s just ’cause they want me to go away and they won’t hurt me, so he makes me keep walking. But today, there’s this mean dog that always barks an’ snarls at me from behind his fence. Except today he was out in his front yard!! An’ his people weren’t anywhere around! An’ he didn’t even have a leash on! An’ he came running out an’ tried to bite me!! The first time he tried, I twisted away … and then the second time he tried to bite me, I twisted away again. And then I saw that he was going to try again, so I just zoomed in and bit him on the shoulder instead! And it worked!! He turned and ran away and hid behind a truck in his driveway!

Go me! I didn’t get bit and I protected my person!

Tug says he’s proud of me because I was really good as soon as I got the other dog to go away. I like to be nice, really I do (and I try really hard to ignore mean dogs when my people tell me to), but some people dogs just won’t take a hint!

Woof!

Hi, I’m Scout! I live with my people and two cats (shh, don’t tell my dog friends, they’ll laugh at me) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I like the cats okay, they look like they’d be fun to chase, but my people keep a gate up so I can’t get to them. I wouldn’t eat them, they’re part of my pack! But I wouldn’t mind chasing them around.

I like Albuquerque a lot, I like the sun and hiking and especially the prairie dogs, but I don’t really like hot weather so when we walk, I have to have water to drink. My people put it in my backpack. I like walking with my backpack, it makes me feel important.

I’m very lucky, one of my people works part-time so I get lots of walks. I get a walk in the morning before the people leave, a long walk in the afternoon, and then another walk at night when both my people are there. Sometimes we go out really early and stop and sit at the coffee shop for awhile. My people have coffee and breakfast and they won’t give me any, but they give me treats, and I get to see the dogs other people bring. And then we go on a long, long walk.

I have a big yard, but my people don’t let me go out in it much because I try to bite the dogs next door. Only because they start it! There are six of them, and they’re always in the yard—they never get to go on long walks like me. They bark and snarl and snap at me and my people over the wall.