My Other Favorite Girl
I don't write very often about our family dog. And I probably should, along with posting photos of her because 1) She is a beautiful animal and 2) She is, more so than our other pets, like our third child.
I was reminded of this Wednesday when my wife and I took her to the coast for the day. Both kids are away (one with one set of grandparents, one with the other set), I had the day off, and my wife suggested we beat the heat (it's been over 100 for 3 days straight!) and go to the much cooler coast. We packed a lunch, we packed the dog, and we went. And it was a wonderful day, in large part because of our dog. Her name is Foppa. She's a 7 year-old black lab/shar pei mix named after the nickname of our favorite hockey player of all time, Peter Forsberg.
I've heard from a lot of people that labs and lab mixes can be "late bloomers" when it comes to finding their intelligence and their best behavior and I think Foppa truly demonstrates this. She has always been a friendly dog and would never hurt a soul but she was (and still is, but to lesser degree) pretty hyper and, if meeting someone new or encountering another dog, prone to jumping, licking, etc. In the context of our little journey to the coast, a year ago there is no way we could have done with her what we ended up doing Wednesday: Letting her off the leash, running in and out of the ocean waters, fetching sticks from the water, and behaving perfectly around strangers, including children. She minded our every order and the only time she had to be re-attached to her leash was when another free roaming dog was approaching. Aside from drinking too much salt water (which she later threw up), Foppa did awesome and she had so much fun! We wished we hadn't forgot the camera because the look on her face as she bounded in and out of the water and running through the sand was priceless. I wanted a shot of her I could caption with "Best Day Evaaaaah!" :P
Last night we took her to the river for more fun and games and, again, she did so great. She wore herself out and crashed like a little kid after an exhausting day once we got home. When I woke up this morning she was asleep on the couch and with both our sons still away with the grand folks she was the only "kid" in the house. I suspect she is going to be very excited when the boys return but I hope a little part of her goes, "Oh man... I kinda liked having Mom and Dad all to myself!"
J
I was reminded of this Wednesday when my wife and I took her to the coast for the day. Both kids are away (one with one set of grandparents, one with the other set), I had the day off, and my wife suggested we beat the heat (it's been over 100 for 3 days straight!) and go to the much cooler coast. We packed a lunch, we packed the dog, and we went. And it was a wonderful day, in large part because of our dog. Her name is Foppa. She's a 7 year-old black lab/shar pei mix named after the nickname of our favorite hockey player of all time, Peter Forsberg.
I've heard from a lot of people that labs and lab mixes can be "late bloomers" when it comes to finding their intelligence and their best behavior and I think Foppa truly demonstrates this. She has always been a friendly dog and would never hurt a soul but she was (and still is, but to lesser degree) pretty hyper and, if meeting someone new or encountering another dog, prone to jumping, licking, etc. In the context of our little journey to the coast, a year ago there is no way we could have done with her what we ended up doing Wednesday: Letting her off the leash, running in and out of the ocean waters, fetching sticks from the water, and behaving perfectly around strangers, including children. She minded our every order and the only time she had to be re-attached to her leash was when another free roaming dog was approaching. Aside from drinking too much salt water (which she later threw up), Foppa did awesome and she had so much fun! We wished we hadn't forgot the camera because the look on her face as she bounded in and out of the water and running through the sand was priceless. I wanted a shot of her I could caption with "Best Day Evaaaaah!" :P
Last night we took her to the river for more fun and games and, again, she did so great. She wore herself out and crashed like a little kid after an exhausting day once we got home. When I woke up this morning she was asleep on the couch and with both our sons still away with the grand folks she was the only "kid" in the house. I suspect she is going to be very excited when the boys return but I hope a little part of her goes, "Oh man... I kinda liked having Mom and Dad all to myself!"
J