Lambiedog

Over the river and through the woods, or, A difficult visit

We took a trip to Ojai to visit our relatives.  Below is a picture of me with some of them.

From my perspective, the evening was problematic.

From my hosts' perspective, I was not the easiest guest. 

What threw me was the presence of their puppy, Annie.  Annie did a lot of swiping at me with her paw to try to engage me in play.  Each time that paw came toward me I got nervous and snapped.

It got to the point where, as depicted in the photo at left, I growled when Annie even looked at me.

    Things went downhill from there.  I was not my finest self.

    I began begging to be picked up.  The more anxious I got, the less safe I felt anywhere but in my owner's lap.   

  
I made it through a reading of Peter in Blueberry Land, but when my owner put me down so she could play with the young master of the house, I freaked out.

 It was time to go home.  I was not proud of my performance, but I was relieved that it was over.

Something good this way comes

     

Professor Moriarty

People frequently say admiring things about my prodigious intellect.  What they may not realize is that the gray matter packed tightly into my petite brain cavity is not always used to positive effect.

To wit, a recent series of diabolical poops I have been making indoors, with absolutely no justification since the doggie door is literally within sight of my chosen spot.

I am a complex dog.  Underestimate me at your peril.

A boost on the uphill leg

    Teresa's husband, Roger, and daughter, Janise, came along on the Secret Stairs Franklin Park East walk.

    Roger turns out to be a softie who picked me up and carried me along up the hill behind my owner, who didn't even notice or think to question how I was doing such a good job keeping up.

    On the downhills, however, he left me to my own devices.

    In the course of the walk we encountered a ferret.  I myself have never seen the appeal of ferrets.  Just another rodent, I would say.  However, Janise and Teresa were quite enamored of this ferret that we met.

    
    Janise was very careful to make sure I got lots of attention too, so I didn't feel jealous of the ferret, just incredulous that anyone could ever find it cute.

Vote for Thomas' remix!

    While Thomas recuperates from his surgery, he has been working on a remix in a contest on Indaba Music. 

    Having listened to this song, 'Just Can't Let You Go,' by the teen pop star Manika, easily five hundred times as Thomas perfected his remix, I can fully recommend his final version as the one that should win. 

    To do that, however, he needs votes.  Come on, Lambie-lovers, stand with me -- let's make our preferences known! 

    You can listen to Thomas' remix below -- it's #1, the one by "The Menstrels" (T's nom de plume).  (#2 is the original, 'pre'-remix version.)

    Then, after it's knocked your socks off, please vote for it.  The catch is that to vote you need either a MySpace account or an Indaba account.  Both are free.  Within my own demographic [dogs, natch!] there are not many of us who have MySpace accounts, let alone Indaba accounts.  However, I joined MySpace today so that I could vote for Thomas.  I felt it was the least I could do. 

L.I.D.*

    * Lambie In Disguise

Helicopter brother

          He tends to hover over me, anticipating my needs and smoothing my way.

        
       But we both know that it's high time for me to learn how to deal with obstacles on my own.  

           He's trying to learn to let go.

         

Me and my owner

     My owner and I have a close relationship. Whether it is heading out to the bluffs, playing with my rawhide, or just relaxing, we stick together. 

  
                We're in sync. 

Bluff buff stuff

    As I was completing a bodily function at the bluff this morning, my eye was drawn to an adjacent Crossfit session being held by a group called Functional Fitness on the Bluffs.  

    I had vaguely taken in these sessions before, while in passing, but never paid much attention. Today, however, I took notice. 

     I wandered over to take a look.

        On the plus side, it seemed like something that might help me with my back pain.

    On the minus side, the class looked rather challenging, and taking it would defer my breakfast.

    The minus side won. 

Heroic rescue tale

    Enough about the deficit -- now here is a newsworthy story, from Australia. It concerns a dog named Bibi who is blown from a pier but saved by a heroic young man who happens to be at the pier to scatter his family member's ashes. 

Bibi's rescue actually occurred almost two years ago, but news is slow to travel across the Pacific.  Here's what happened:  

Bibi, who is a Maltese / Shih Tzu mix, was walking on the Brighton pier in suburban Melbourne with his owner when he was blown into the water by gale-force winds.  He tried to dog paddle back, but the wind was strong and for a while blew him even further from the pier.  

A hero named Raden Soemawinata happened to be on the pier for a ceremony to scatter his grandmother's ashes into the Melbourne bay.  Mr. Soemawinata stripped to his underwear (conveniently, he was a part time model), got into the water and swam Bibi to safety.

 
Bibi and his owner were both very grateful.