Doodlebug Dogs' Blog

Sparrow’s Log:

Oh, man. Today’s been one of those days where you wish you could go back to sleep and wake up all over with a different version of reality. When I climbed out of bed this morning I could not bend my right front ankle. We thought maybe my leg was asleep but, uh, no such luck. Somehow, in my sleep, I sprained my paw. Weird. There’s a few theories kicking around. Like maybe that fish that freaked me out in the lake yesterday cast an evil spell on me and until I do penance to the fish gods I will be gimpy. I also just may have snuggled funny.  Sasha was so sweet to me. Emma was carrying me so I wouldn’t run, or even walk, and Sashi didn’t notice at first but then she realized something was off and stayed right by our sides. She didn’t even want to play ball! Emma tried to rev her up but she was half-hearted and only fetched a couple times. She did find some balls under the fence that needed rescuing but other than that moment of care taking something else, she was my body guard. I’m really hoping my paw gets better soon ’cause we’re about to fly to Maine and run on the beach for 2 weeks. Yikes. I’ll be super depreso dog if I have to be on-leash and kept still that whole time.    Oh, and did I mention that it’s REALLY hot again? Wasn’t it supposed to level out today? Hmmm…….. Oh! Did you hear the super sonic booms? That was cool. I’m usually scared by that sort of thing but it was so different that I just found it intriguing. Then we heard on the radio that it was because President Obama is in town and fighter jets were called because a general aircraft got too close. Exciting. See, I almost forgot about my paw for a second! Ok, must chew bones to distract myself and keep still. Emma’s orders.

Sparrow’s Log:

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT and I got my toes bit by a little fishy in the lake and that frozen salmon Emma gave me yesterday as a cooling-off-fill-my-tummy treat was making my belly feel all a tremble. But I still swam lots. Wasn’t so into holding my little orange ball in my mouth as is my normal OCD style. I felt more like sniffing all the sniffs, saying hi to dogs and letting Emma carry my ball. Every once and a while I’d check to make sure she still had it and was being a good ball steward. She usually is. Except when she spaces out and some other dog gets my ball and then we’re in a bind and I yell at her very loudly. She tells me it’s my job to keep my eye on my ball – Ha!!! How difficult these humans are to train… The whole entire reason I bring her to the park is so that she can carry all our balls. I’m little. Sherpa is not my job description. Anyway, we got out of there just as the big heat started to settle. Phew. Oh, and I made up a new game. It’s called Frog Soccer. I place the squeaky squishy frog before a human’s feet, they kick it as far as they can, I catch up with it, give it a good squeeze and shake then stand and wait for another human to come along.

Sparrow’s Log:

Even though it’s Sunday and even though it’s 100 degrees out and even though I got dragged around the Ballard Farmer’s Market all morning, when mid-day hit Emma said we had to go take care of Opie and Sasha. Sasha’s dad is traveling far away and Opie’s parents are out for the day so those dogs were depending on us to let them out to stretch, play and go potty. But it was so hot! I suggested to Emma that we walk along the Sound in front of the Olympic Sculpture Park because then we could go for a dip and the cool sea breezes would keep us from getting heat stroke. She thought it was a very smart idea. We picked up both pups and there we went. We didn’t walk a long way due to the heat but it was exhilarating none the less. Sasha and Opie got to know each other and everybody pooed, peed and got some silly’s out. Opie thought the water was the coolest thing he’d ever seen, and, though he swims like Sasha used to, straight up and down like a giraffe, we have decided he can have honorary membership in our water club. He can be a full charter member when he proves his skills a little more. He told me he could swim all the way to Bainbridge, but I think he better practice somewhere a bit more contained like Greenlake until he figures out how to do the horizontal doggy paddle rather than the vertical one. 

Sparrow’s Log:

The hose was hot today. Well, I mean, the sun was hot which made the hose the hottest place to be. I mean, the wettest place to be which I guess makes it cool not hot but, oh, you get my point. Excuse my ineloquence, I have sunshine brain. Sasha and me go crazy with the hose. Especially when the temperatures up. We like to try to catch the water drops in our mouths. She’s got a bigger mouth than me so she’s more successful at this endeavor.

The lake was wonderful too. A bit crazy at first. Not only were the interloper Labradors up to their ball stealing shenanigans but a purple harnessed puppy with pointy ears and blue eyes decided my ball was the coolest thing she’d ever seen. But we worked it out. Her attention span was about 3 seconds so as long as Emma threw a rock off in the distance to distract her, it was fine.

Sparrow’s Log:

The big news from Team Doodlebug today is that Jasper has a crush on Sasha. He thinks she’s the prettiest lankster Labrador he’s ever seen. While she was bouncing up and down in front of Emma trying to make tennis balls appear, Jasper was puppy play bowing like mad and giving her big GU-RUFFS. He even went so far as to go in for a butt nudge, his tail high as it could go and wagging a mile a minute. Trouble is, Sasha’s a bit wary of intimacy and his advances put her on edge. She wasn’t sure whether to snap at him or pretend he didn’t exist. Engaging playfully seemed to be a foreign concept to her. Poor Jasper. He didn’t give in though. Even when she was less than pleasant he stood stoically beside her, cheering on her ball technique from afar. When Emma waded out in the lake to throw Sasha’s ball, Jasper waded out with her and watched Sasha through her whole retrieve to make sure she didn’t get lost or drown. Meanwhile I stood on the shore shivering, wondering when Emma would come back in and throw my ball again.

Sparrow’s Log:

We picked up a super cool new dog today, Jasper. He’s a 9 yr old Yellow Lab that acts like a pup. Though I wasn’t sure who he was when Emma first brought him into the car, he made sure to let me know he was a friend by immediately climbing into my seat in the front of the car! He sat over me the whole ride across the city to the park and never stepped on me once. Even when Emma turned a corner a little too sharply. Very impressive. In fact, he would lift his paw up and brace it on the center console if he needed balist, so as not to smush me. A true gentleman.

At the park, Jasper’s nose took over and we all did our best to keep up. But once Emma fed him enough liver and salmon treats he got it that she was home base and he could do what he wished as long as he kept an eye on the rest of the gang and checked back in.

He was very friendly to every dog he saw and loved sniffing in the tall grasses. He doesn’t like to fetch balls and there weren’t any big sticks around but he was perfectly content to wade out in the lake with Emma and swim about on his own. He thought Sasha was nice but she was a little unsure about him. I think she was a bit disconcerted at no longer being the The YelLow Lab of the pack.

It was real hot by the time we left the park and everybody konked out hard in the car, legs well-stretched and fur pleasantly damp from swimming.