Things that don't go bump in the night

AP here-
It is a dark and rainy night and Tonka and I have been walking for an hour and we are almost home....
All of sudden Tonka takes off at warp speed with his tail between his legs and runs all the way to the end of the bungie leash. He stops and stands obviously scared with his head moving back and forth.
Now Tonka has a habit of running forward when people walk past us, which is silly since they pass us and he is now running the wrong way - not sure what he is thinking with that. This is the same type of rush forward but it has ended in fear not joy. We are 20 yards from the house and there are houses on every side and it is about 8:30pm and rainy. There is no traffic, no other dogs out, nothing that I can see or hear but Tonka is acting like something creepy or dangerous is around. In the past 2 years with the blind boy I have learned that if Tonka thinks something or someone is there - it is. We hurried the last 20 yards to the house.

Sleeping in the Foyer

Sleeping is such a great thing and the foyer is my favorite spot but I have grown a little over the past 2 years

Someone and something new

I was out walking this morning and I met a new friend. This really great guy Rich 'was working in the neighborhood and he stopped working to pet me. He got down really low to talk to me and I was sniffing his ear - cause I was going to lick it, (everyone knows I have a thing for ears) and I realized he had something different than the other humans I know. He had hair on his chin and above his lip. I stuck my nose almost all the way up his nose checking it out and my tail was wagging a mile a minute. AP and CM were cracking up cause I was so interested in a beard and mustache. He called me a funny boy and was laughing as we walked away. I didn't know humans had hairy faces, I guess you really do learn something new everyday.

First Responder

Tonight we were walking home from visiting AP's Mom and Dad and 2 motorcycles went flying up the street past us. CM said "they are going way to fast, thats an accident waiting to happen" and BAM one of them hit a car that had pulled out from a side street. AP gave me to CM and went running towards the wreck dialing 911. One of the motorcycles had T-boned the rear quater panel of the car and the rider was laying in the street. Next thing was a bunch of sirens and people everywhere - the sirens were LOUD! There was a firetruck and an ambulance and a State Trooper that likes big dogs - she has a Mastiff. The paramedics took the rider to the hospital - I hope she is OK....

Must Eat Brains..

OMG - I just realized Tonka is a zombie dog. He has eaten all the brains from his toys!

Delaware Sea Witch Festival

This weekend was the Sea Witch Festival at the beach and AP, CM and I entered the pet parade as lfeguards and we were winners! OK so there were lots of winners but we got to be in a parade and go up on the bandstand and I'm going to be in the Cape Gazette newspaper. AP got to tell everyone I was a rescue and we met so many people and told them about AGPR http://www.agprescue.com/ and how there are lots of Pyrs that need homes. She also told anyone that lives in Virginia about the Middleburg Parade on December 5th that is going to have 35+ Pyrs in it. It was a long day and I fell alseep on the sidewalk.

Walking is good

AP here - Tonka has now been here for 18 months. When he was little he was a little ball of energy and now he is a 100+ lb ball of energy. I started walking Tonka twice a day from the day I got him and from about 10 months on we have consistatnly walked 4-5 miles a day. There was one day where we could only go a 1/2 a mile and that was due to icy condiditons and 2 weeks when he was having shoulder problems that we could not walk at all. I figure if we average it out to 3 miles a day for the past 18 months we have covered 1,620 miles. We are like the post office - neither rain, nor sleet blah, blah, blah.... I have an awesome pair of waterproof  shoes and a great pair of wind/rain pants and both long and short raincoats so we go out no matter what the weather. I am sure the neighbors think I am a bit crazy but if you own a dog you know that exercise is a key component of good behavior. When he was really little he would not go out in the rain so I would have to take a golf umbrella and hold it over him when we walked or when he went out in the yard to go potty. So maybe the neighbors are right to think I am nuts, but Tonka hates water and rain is water (I think he also doesnt understand something hitting him all over). As he has gotten older he is OK with just regular rain but if we get caught in a downpour he freaks out. So we walk no matter what and it's not just to wear him out but to get him out into different smells and sounds. I figure it must get boring at the house for the blind boy since it is the same old thing every day. So we walk- and over the past 18 months he has met so many people and other dogs and been in different situations and I think that has helped him stay a confident and happy boy. Most people dont know he is blind unless I tell them - or they watch him walk into something.

Agility is Hard

All my friends are into the "agility" craze. AP and I have done the weave poles since I was a little guy, so I can do those - just not very fast. Now Nala's mom has made some jumps with PVC pipe and traffic cones and Henry and Nala are all jumpy and leap-y. I try really hard - and I can climb over but jumping is really not my thing. I'm really good at knocking everything down and even better at chewing the tops of the cones, but thats not considered "agility". Hey, I'm agile - for 111 lbs of fluffy, big dog I am plenty agile - I can wrestle with the best of them. climb into small places to dig where I am not supposed to, destroy anything in less than 10 minutes and can soldier crawl under tables.... someone should make those a doggy sport.