Labrador Diaries -- Volume 4

The last time we made an appearance in Blogville, we were recovering from our surgery that made us more neutral, non-puppy bearing beasts animals.

We are happy to announce we've made a full recovery and are at the top of our puppy game!



The smaller humans have completely welcomed us into their fun-size pack:






Before it got to be as hot as blue blazes we spent some time working on our tans:




However, one our favorite summer memories will be playing in the little green pond:







The Alpha Dog has put us to work.....something about earning our keep. We help fold clothes for food:






Speaking of food, we've had a brief taste of fresh meat.....so brief, it got away from both of our mouths!

Meet THE enemy:


Oh, we know he or she looks cute, but that doesn't stop us from trying to get one more taste of this little delicacy.





The humans have tried dragging us inside during the HOT summer, but once we see our little "friend" scurry down that tree, we absolutely MUST go back outside! We MUST!




Recently our people have been disappearing all day again. That's ok because we love playing in our big yard. We have a lot of shade and we are still working on that hole to China, wherever that is.




The other day we even had a special guest pop in on us:

Meet our cute little neighbor "Bear". We guess he wanted to say hi, but when we ran over to greet him, he disappeared back into his yard.

He probably thinks the grass is greener in our yard!

We think so!


Until next time.......

Allie:

Sophie:

We Can Haz Mud?

Hello, humans.....it's Sophie and Allie, the Alpha-Dog may have mentioned us.

We've had a great two weeks here with our new family. We love our new fenced in back yard filled with sticks and rocks to chew on. We go on walks almost every day around the neighborhood. Down the street is a cute little dog named Buster. We love to chase him in circles until he pants like he's about to pass out.

Squirrels!! They are all over the place. The word on the street is our neighbors have noticed more squirrels in their yards since our arrival. The Alpha-Dog doesn't have to worry about those pesky chipmunks either, we did them all a favor by digging up their little hole. We haven't seen Chip or Dale since. It didn't take us long to figure out the best place to get a mid-day snack is right under the bird feeders. The seed is so tasty and very crunchy; however, it sure can mess with your bowels!

THIS PLACE IS GREAT!!


Our family has two humans that are just about our size. One of them talks to us in a squeaky high-pitched voice and repeats her commands over and over .....but she's pretty cute so we can over look it. The boy is very tall and loves for us to chase him around our yard. His Legos and socks are delicious!

Today was our most fun day ever! As usual, our family left us in the backyard while they went to church. They put these dog house things in the yard, but who wants to get in there when you can stand out in the open during a passing rain storm?! Not us....no way.

Guess what?! When the rain falls and it mixes with the dirt in our hole, it makes this super fun brown stuff. We had a ball......until the humans got home.

The Alpha-Dog began speaking incoherently and the boy was laughing at us. Suddenly we saw the hose being rolled out and our shampoo made an appearance! *gasp* We.Had.To.Get.A.Bath.

The water was FREEZING?! We whined, cried, and tried to get away, but the humans are pretty smart and quick.

You tell us, is there anything wrong with looking like this????




We don't think so either! Don't tell the Alpha-Dog, but next time we get the chance, we're picking back up where we left off.

Double Blessings

Last month we said goodbye to our dear 14 year old Lab, Bailey. I had many people advise me to go ahead and get another dog, but I said, "no". We planned on waiting until this summer to welcome a new pet.

I didn't want my kids to think that one life is replaceable with another. I wanted us to go through the grief process for Bailey......and we have.

This past week something happened, unexpectedly. God literally dropped these two right into our lap:

Meet Sophie and Allie!

Who could say no to those two faces??? I couldn't.

They are 5 month old Lab sisters who are house trained and have passed Puppy Kindergarten. They came to us from a friend who could not keep them. It was a blessing for us to take them and a blessing for her to know they were going to someone who would take such good care of them.

It's been a LONG four weeks at our house. We've certainly missed having furry friends around and we look forward to bonding with our newest family members.


We are smitten:





I think the "girls" are getting settled in their new home:





How fortunate for us, we have an in house Dog Whisperer:

Gone to the Dogs

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in a “dog daze”. The GRITS family attended Dogsplash 2008, a fund raiser for a local animal shelter.

For $5 we went to the local University’s (Roll Tide) outdoor pool complex. The pool officially closed this past week and before they drain the pools for the season they let the animal shelter use it for a fund raiser. How great is that?!

This is the 2nd year of the event and we escorted our beloved 13 year old Labrador, Bailey. I’m not sure what was going through the geriatric dog’s mind as we loaded her up in the car. It seems the only car trip she makes these days is to the vet’s office.

Imagine “Maw-Maw’s” surprise when she exited the car and noticed we were not at the little building with the metal table. She does know the difference!

Her tail was not tucked and we didn’t have to drag her out of the car. Her tail was wagging at a high rate of speed and she sniffed everything and everyone.

First stop, the kiddie pool, just to get her back in the water game:

Next stop, a very short swim in the lazy river:

My sweet, Bailey:

Look who else couldn’t resist the water, while fully clothed:

Take a look around the event, there were dogs everywhere of all shapes, sizes, and breeds:

Who is swimming whom here:

Animal costume contest:

(please click on this photo to check out the surfin’ dog’s hair!)

Scuba Dog came in 1st place.

Sir Chocolate Lab was 2nd.

I politely cropped this man’s face to spare his embarrassment identity, since he didn’t sign the GRITS photo waiver:

We all had a blast at the Dogsplash! We hope to return next year……we pray with sweet Bailey.