Flowers around where I smoke

See the full gallery on Posterous

Sail Boats at Point Pleasant Park tonight

I had forgotten that Wednesday nights sail boats go out into the harbour for some kind of weekly regatta - back in the day when I had Charlie and Leonard I used to have to avoid going to Point Pleasant Park on Wednesday nights because Leonard had a lot of sound based fears and when they would shoot the gun to start the regatta Leonard would bolt and we'd spend the rest of the evening trying to find her -

one night she was clocked running straight down the middle of Young Ave headed back to our apartment on Pepperell Street - it was not fun times back then - I don't know how many hours we used to spend looking for her when she'd run away because of something that had scared her at Point Pleasant Park - ususally though she'd always stay in the park, which was lucky.

But if you were a regular at the park 10 years ago and you remember people hollering "LEONARD, LEONARD!" That was either me or my husband at the time.

Anyway - on to tonight - the sail boats are so beautiful!

Buttercup being beautiful while looking at all the boats going by

Bubby didn't really care about what was going on out on the water - he just wanted to run around and have fun

Some pretty pictures for a Saturday night

Buttercup was feeling photogenic when we went for our walk tonight at Long Lake

Some days she is just on fire with looking beautiful - there is nothing more beautiful than her, as far as I'm concerned.

Right as we were leaving Long Lake - Bubby got into a pile of mud and was mud from head to toe for the walk home - he was feeling like a very big boy for about 20 minutes while we walked home - but he wasn't feeling so big when he got put in the kitchen sink - I can tell you that!

It was right when I stopped to take this photo that Bubby got into a big pile of mud - nice photo - but right underneath me was a mud pit - a really stink type too.

These are a couple flowers in a pot on my back deck - my iphone can take some pretty good pictures.

Its with an app called "Hipstomatic" - I really like it.

This is Bubby looking cute - also taken with the iphone, with the hipstomatic app

Communication, not Domination

There's a link to an article floating around Facebook right now about a really good book that I'm going to get the next time I can get a bookstore - it's about a book called "In Defence of Dogs, why dogs need our understanding" by John Bradshaw - and he says that dogs don't want to dominate or control us - they want to control their own lives. There's another really good article at the Magazine, "The Independent" about the book as well which is also a must read.

NOTE: I just checked the Chapter's website - and it appears that the book has a different title in Canada - up here it's called "Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet - so if and when you go looking for the book - this is what it's called!

It makes sense to me. I've never bought into the domination theory of Cesar Millan, the Monks of New Skete and their types. I have always looked for a back and forth communication with my animals.

I am not a dog trainer and I never will be. I don't want to be, I will always only be a dog owner - but I have tried very hard to never hurt my dogs in the way that I have trained them - because with all the different training techniques out there - it is pretty easy to do more harm than good.

Shock collars, prong collars, invisible fences, correction training, jerk and release, crate training, chaining dogs up, using treats for training, NOT using treats for training, nothing in life is free, citronella collars, clicker training, the koehler method of dog training - there's so many ways to try and get your dog to "conform" to what you define as being a "good dog" - but if your dog had any say in the matter - how would he choose to live his life with your family?

Because that's what he is - a family member of yours, for good or for bad. You've chosen to bring him in to your family. And now you're doing all these crazy things to try to make him conform.

Cesar Millan says that the dog wants to dominate us - become head of the "pack" - but John Bradshaw has come out and said that he just wants to be able to control his own life, and that all they want to do is to please us.

I buy into that theory a lot more than the dominance theory.

When I got Charlie (and his sister Leonard) and became obsessed with dogs and was reading everything I could get my hands on - what made the most sense to me was the "nothing in life is free" philosophy (which some trainers say is also an aversive technique because it involves withholding things that the dogs wants until he "earns" it - and I should say I don't use the program anymore). That was after having made every mistake I could possibly make on my first dog George - who was a beagle mix and horrible barker - who I threw jars of pennies at and even put a barking collar on that my inlaws bought for her that made a horrible noise everytime she barked. Poor George.

It carried over to Leonard who was the highest strung sheltie mix you'll ever meet - and I put it on her a couple times and it affected her for the rest of her life - and it was then that I realized that simple training tools could go from being a training tool on one dog to a form of abuse on another dog. It was one of the most valuable things I learnt in my whole life - and it was so unfortunate that I had to learn it at the expense of another sentient being. Poor Leonard.

I am so glad that hopefully I only have made every mistake once.

There's a dog trainer I've been enjoying lately that I've been watching videos by - his name is Zak George - and he's got a facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheZakGeorge - he does whine quite a bit about how he's so much better than other trainers, which is a bit annoying, but other than that he's pretty good to listen to.

I am finding it all very interesting with the new puppy - he is very smart and can figure things out. Buttercup doesn't let him get away with anything when it comes to her - but he's very respectful of her which is a good thing.

He is really social with other dogs and is a great player - which is so nice after Charlie and Daisy - Charlie and Daisy loved each other deeply, but towards the end of their life didn't like other dogs very much - so it has been nice being able to go to dog parks again and see other dogs play.

What's not fun though is watching other dog owners be idiots with their dogs, but probably they also then go home and be idiots with their children
too.

What is going to be my challenge with Bubby isn't other dogs - it's going to be humans. I got him when he was 7 months old - so something happened in his first 7 months during one of his imprint periods that has made him be fearful of humans and he reacts by being very timid, and being fear aggressive with some people - he lunges out and tries to bite people's ankles - which is cute for about 5 seconds - until he makes contact.

I want to be able to take him shopping with me like I have been able to do with Buttercup - but I don't want to have an incident like the woman did in Home Depot in the States - so I am taking it very slowly - we'll see what happens. I only want good things to happen when we go shopping - all the way around.

I plan on having Bubby for about 20 years - that's a long time to not be able to do stuff - so I'm betting that he's smart enough that we'll figure things out together. It's all sunshine and lollipops.

Especially if it's a 2 way conversation and we are both getting what we want, right? Once I read John Bradshaw's book, maybe I'll have it all figured out :)

Odis, pit bulls, stun guns, and fear mongering

I'm going to tie everything up in one post about the tragic story that's been unfolding in the last week about the shih-tzu that was killed by 2 dogs in Dartmouth.

There are several aspects to cover - the idea of how to protect yourself and your dogs if unattended dogs do suddenly come out of nowhere and start to attack you and your dogs or heaven forbid, your children - what can you do? That's one thing;

The fact that this story is showing once again that bylaw A300 is absolutely useless in protecting dogs, humans - and being a deterrent to irresponsible owners - one week later the dogs who attacked and killed Otis are still in their home unrepentent. And when and if the owner is charged - it will just be a slap on the wrist, and at worst the dogs will be killed, a small fine and they will be allowed to go out and repeat the procedure and begin again - maybe they'll try a more interesting breed next time.

News coverage in the last week - don't get me started! Okay - that's where I'll start!

In order to be a journalist - I guess you have to go to journalism school, right? Just like I have to go to blogger school in order to be a blogger.

And at journalism school they teach you that you have to be objective and not put in your own thoughts and ideas....

Rick Howe. News 95.7 - he should NOT talk about dogs. Ever. At least not pit bulls - or - as he likes to say "I like to call them pit bull type dogs". What a joke.

He talked about the Otis story on Friday - and here's some of the things he said -

"The attacking dogs are described as “pit bull like dogs” – just google dog maulings or something similar and most of the stories involve such dogs – these pit bull like animals.   99% of them are related to pit bull type dogs. Is it time to ban this breed.


A horrific story – and the very latest in a number of these incidents that seem to happen with regular occurrence with this type of dog.


Should we require some kind of licencing of dog owners who want to be owners of these dogs who tend to border on being vicious at times – do we make more stringent requirements for people to own these kinds of dogs = at 4:20 of 7:30


Netta says you don’t need a licence to be a parent of humans and there’s no way to enforce it


When talking about how pit bull type dogs are not at the top of list for dog bites Rick says -


The problem is – when these dogs do make the news these more vicious breed dogs, when they chomp on you it’s a whole lot worse than when a poodle chomps on you."

These are actual verbatim quotes - I taped the show - so these are actual things he said on the air on Friday.

What really irks me is that a lot of people listen to his show - so he has put out there into the ether that pit bulls a "vicious breed dogs" - and that they are at the top of list for "dog maulings".

I really wish he WOULD HAVE googled dog maulings - because he would have been very surprised what he had found - it would have been a ton of top results of NON PIT-BULL RESULTS.

I googled "dog maulings"

These are the top results I came up with:

#1 - the Diane Whipple case in San Francisco - do you all remember the breed of those dogs? YES! Presa Canario - NOT pit bulls...

#2 - "Manslaughter charge for mother in baby's mauling" - in Quebec - in 2010 - by a husky dog - NOT a pit bull...

#3 - "Delaware man gets jail time in dog mauling case" - - it doesn't mention the breed of the dogs in the story - but it certainly has a familiar tone  -

"A Delaware man received a stiff sentence this morning for allowing his dogs to badly maul an elderly man who underwent several surgeries for his injuries. Virgil Mitchell III, 34, will serve 180 days in jail and was ordered to pay $380,000 in restitution to cover medical bills stemming from the attack by his Cane Corso mastiffs. Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Everett Kruger also ordered Mitchell to perform 240 hours of community service, including 40 hours at a dog shelter or humane society, and barred him from owning dogs for five years. Mitchell will be placed on work release after 45 days in jail, but must spend all non-working hours in jail for the remaining 135 days.


James Bright, 67, of Delaware, was attacked by four of Mitchell's dogs on Oct. 5 while walking near the man's home on S. Washington Street near London Road. Mitchell had pleaded guilty to a first-degree misdemeanor count of failing to confine a vicious dog and four second-degree misdemeanor counts of allowing animals to run at large. Mitchell's dogs were seized by authorities and euthanized. He had been charged six times since 2001 with allowing his dogs to roam and one of the dogs also had bitten someone in 2008.  He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors in a plea arrangement to avoid a felony charge. "The victim is satisfied with the punishment and wants to see the defendant start paying back his outstanding medical costs," Delaware County Prosecutor Carol O'Brien said in a news release."



The First hit that mentions a pit bull - is 27 hits down - and it says "pet pit bull mix"

So that's pretty disingenuous of Mr. Howe to say that about his googling. It's absolutely untrue.

And saying that incidents like what happened with Otis are a regular occurence is also untrue - it happens so irregularly that we should hand all our guns over to our dogs - we'd be a lot safer.

I'm not going to get into statistics because I don't have them - but the stories that make it into the news here in Nova Scotia are at the rate of about one or two a year. If you take into considerations that there's tens of thousands of dogs in Nova Scotia - that's pretty good.

And in those tens of thousands are probably thousands and thousands and thousands of those dreaded pit bulls. And only one or two tragic incidents.

That we all agree happen because of OWNER irresponsibility.

So I think it's safe to say that Rick Howe - and any other public person - needs to stop spouting off the garbage about pit bulls are vicious and are killing at a great rate, and something needs to be done to them. The fear mongering has got to stop.

My last agenda item is for the owners of dogs who want to protect them against the mongrel hordes - the owners of all the Otis's out there who are afraid that their dog is next and are scared to walk their dogs right now.

I was actually asked for advice about this - what could be done, so I did a bit of research for techniques and have come up with some ideas - I used to own dogs that could kill little dogs - and I was also cognizant of that fact and was careful not to let anything bad happen - and now I am the owner of little dogs who are on the other end of the spectrum so it's interesting to feel the dichotomy of the situation, as it were.

The problem is - a couple of the ideas are actually illegal here - down in the United States - personal protection is held very dear - so you're allowed to carry whatever you want - but up here in Canada - you're not allowed to carry anything.

Stun guns, or "personal tasers" - they are a big item down in the States and very popular - but alas, they are illegal here - and it seems to me that if you didn't get the dogs at the exact right moment - you could piss him off and be in a much worse state very quickly - there is a crazy website down in the States - http://www.stunguns-usa.com/stun-guns-for-dogs - that is all about stun guns just for tasering dogs - marketed to joggers and dog walkers.

You could also carry mace or bear spray - which you could pick up at outdoor supply companies - I'm not sure if that's available in Nova Scotia or not - someone suggested once that you could also carry another obnoxious smelling spray to spray into the face of an attacking dog and that would work just as good as bear spray - and is legal.

You could carry a stick - there is a good idea in a link at http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/articles/dogwalkattacks.htm -

It says to carry a stick 2 feet long and one inch in diameter.  point the stick at the dog’s nose and keep it there. Make the stick the obstacle the dog must overcome in order to advance. If the dog stops its advance, you have thwarted their initial attack. While still pointing your stick at the dog, take a small step towards them. If the dog backs up, take another step. You are now taking their territory from them. Repeat as often as necessary until the dog retreats. This sounds fine until you meet a dog that doesn’t back down.


If the dog does not back down, keep pointing the stick at them. The stick must be used as a joust, not a club. If you swing the stick and miss, you leave yourself open for a counterattack. The goal is to have the dog grab the stick so that their mouth is occupied. When they grab the stick, they will instinctively pull.


Pay attention-here’s the part a lot of people don’t know: When the dog pulls on the stick, DO NOT PULL BACK!! They are much stronger than we are and have a lower center of gravity. Pulling back plays to their strength and you will not win this tug-of-war. Additionally, if the dog releases their bite on the stick while you are pulling (probably with all your strength) you may stumble backwards and while trying to recover your balance the dog will be free to attack again.


The better move is when the dog grabs the stick, wait for it to pull and at that moment take a small step into the dog. This will push the stick into the dog's mouth. The dog can easily be injured by this action, so please be as gentle as possible. The idea is to defeat it, not kill it. You need to be focused on keeping the stick in the dog’s mouth, rendering it useless for biting anything else. Again, you do not want to push so hard as to injure the dog, but you do want to create enough of a negative experience so as to make the dog retreat and (hopefully) cause it to possibly not attack other dogs.


If they do not grab the stick and do not back away, begin poking the dog with the stick. They will soon grow tired of being jabbed and retreat.

It's been interesting all the same old prejudices that have come out on Facebook since this story hit - especially since yesterday when ATV announced the Bully Expo that's taking place in August - see below for link to the video - some people were asking other dog people if they would attend, and whether or not they'd take their own dogs - and the answers that people have been giving - that only "certain" types of people own pit bulls!

In this day and age, it's ridiculous the prejudices that people still have.

I will go to my grave with my belief that all dogs are equal, all dogs are the same. There is no breed characteristic that makes one dog more aggressive and prone to attacking another dog or human. I will never believe it. But that is me. I am stupid I guess. It has cost me friendships that I cared about, but in the long run it's the dogs who are the ones who stick around anyway.

The Bully Expo is going to be August 6th at Cole Harbour Place


CTV Atlantic - Family pet killed in Dartmouth dog attack - CTV News

Some flowers, ant and a ghost

See the full gallery on Posterous

Whisky the cat

I got Whisky in 2003 from an ad in the paper from a lady who was giving him up because her boyfriend was allergic - she had gotten him previously from the SPCA. I was looking to up my numbers from one to three cats.

I liked to keep my numbers of cats at three because I thought that kept an uneasy alliance - 1 cat was too lonely, 2 cats was too cosy, but 3 cats kept the atmosphere lively. In the years since 2003 both Liam and Gizmo have passed on - but Whisky has been the perfect cat - completely bomb proof to absolutely all the dogs I've brought into the house - not taking any shit from any of them.

He was like Sylvester in the Bugs Bunny cartoons - walking amongst all the dogs in the dog yard - not caring what was going on the room, just gently moving amongst it all.

He was so perfect I didn't even have a litter box in the house - he did all his business outside - most people who have cats that go in and out of the house still have litter boxes - the cat will be outside for 10 hours and then come in and take a big shit - but Whisky - that's just how perfect he was.

But he was of the same generation as Daisy and Charlie - and mortality has caught up with him, and last night I let him go. He's had a tumour growing on his left shoulder for a couple years - and I knew it was the thing that would end his life - and a couple weeks ago it ruptured. Other than that he's been the healthiest animal I've ever had. He's never been to the vet before - other than giving him flea medication I've never had to do anything with him except tender loving care - I figure he was about 18 years old when he died yesterday.

He was probably the last cat I'll have - Bubby is not a fan of cats - so I am not going to replace Whisky - and really, I can't think of any cat that could ever replace him.

Rest in peace, Whisky. He's got his own category on this blog - he was an awesome little cat.

ps - I took him to the Halifax Veterinary Clinic - they were super, and I have to admit that I took him there on purpose - I knew that when I was finished I'd be pretty upset - and there is a Tim Horton's Cold Stone Brewery right across the street - and those who know me know that my favourite thing in the world is ice cream - so when I was finished at the Clinic I could immediately go and drown myself in chocolate ice cream.

I highly recommend that clinic - and I highly recommend going to Tim Horton's Cold Stone Creamery directly afterwards and getting the big jugs of ice cream afterwards and going down Quinpool Road

to Horseshoe Island and eating every last bit of the ice cream that you have just bought. About fifteen dollars worth of ice cream should just about suffice.

What's over there? A flower?

Monsieur Cock of the Walk

Bubby was feeling very full of himeself at Point Pleasant Park tonight. He was at the beauty parlour yesterday, so he's got a new hairdo - the bichon head was just too much for me at this point in his life - he was carrying around half of the backyard, 1/3 of the wicker basket he likes to sleep in, and about 1/2 cup of water at any one time - so this new hair cut is much easier to sleep with at night.

Chandler the Pug

I have known Chandler and his Mom Sandra since 2003 when Hurricane Juan closed down Point Pleasant Park and I started going to Seaview Park everyday with my dogs Charlie - and his sister Leonard who I had at that time.

At that time Chandler had a sister who was a german shepherd named Piper who was the gentlest, most beautiful dog in the world. And Chandler was a puffy, strutting, king of the world, I am the centre of the universe amazing fawn pug - who was the type of dog that was not to be ignored by anybody coming to Seaview.

We were all part of a group of regulars who came to Seaview every night at 6pm - and I was so lucky to become friends with the "regulars at 6pm" - inside and outside the park - Chandler and his Mom were - and are very special dogs and people.

Chandler died this week of old age - he was as lucky as Charlie was - living his whole life in the same home, coddled from the beginning to the end of his life. He was the symbol of dog friendly Halifax just like Charlie was - his Mom has been a leader in keeping Seaview Park open to offleash activities - participating in the constant cleanups that go on there - and maintaining the blog Seaview Park Woofs and Snorts so that regulars can stay up to date on what's going on at the park.

It doesn't make mourning any less painful when you know your dog has lived a good long life, in some ways it makes it hurt more because you've had them in your life for so much longer - but I think in some ways it should give some comfort to know that you always did the right thing by them. Right up the very end.

Chandler was definitely one dog in a million - you had to know him to love him, and all who knew him definitely did love him - with all his snorting quirks.

Luckily he leaves behind a sister Suzie to fill Sandra's house. I haven't met Suzie yet, but I'm sure that she's just as much a fire cracker as Chandler was. If there's a heaven for dogs - Chandler is being saucy to Charlie and Daisy right at this very moment. There's no doubt about it.

Is the NS SPCA Imploding, or What?

The NS SPCA has been in the news in the last couple weeks, and it seems like it's been there for not a good reason.

At the end of June 9 out of 11 members of the Yarmouth SPCA's Board suddenly resigned - because they disagreed with the direction that the Provincial Board of the SPCA was trying to take them - and they were saying things like they didn't agree with the new "governance model" that was being presented to them, that money they raised at their own branch was going to have be sent to Provincial - and then sent back to them before it could be spent - basically that the Provincial Board has become a very tough task master and very onerous and on their backs all the time.

At the same time - the Provincial Board has suspended the president of the Pictou Branch -

Ms. Garland seems to have the same problem as the folks in Yarmouth - but she's got a couple extra complaints about what Provincial is trying to impose upon her shelter in Pictou - like oh my dog - horror of horrors! Continuing to adopt out animals over the holidays!

"She said they asked them to change adoption papers, requested the shelter’s hours of operation be extended and are dictating how things are run at the shelter.

Garland said the Pictou County shelter was asked to renovate its building after an audit was conducted, and is doing so now. They have been asked to open on Good Friday and near Christmas for adoptions.

“That is not the day to adopt animals,” said Garland. “It’s a last-minute thought for people to get an animal for Easter and it comes back the next week."

In April when I went to the SPCA's AGM - I knew something was up. When the Executive Director was talking about what their plans were for the coming year - she was talking about what they were going to be doing with the different branches around the province - and it really sounded to me that what she was planning on doing - (and let's face it - I'm going to use the term "she" from now on - because it's Kristen Williams who runs the NS SPCA now, and not the Provincial Board or anyone else, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that - because I personally think that what's going in, for the most part is fabulous) - was to strip all the branches of any meaningful power that they had - they were going to lose any voting power that they had at Provincial Board meetings almost immediately after the AGM - that was the only thing members voted on at the AGM - an "endorsement to reduce board size and composition" - as well as "an edorsement to accept new directors between elections" - thereby nullifying the reaons for ever having an AGM or voting members in one fell swoop.

So what is happening in the NS SPCA? Is it good, or is it bad?

First I will say what I think is happening. The person who is the Executive Director - Kristin Williams, who is a super brilliant individual - is trying to take the NS SPCA into the 21st century.

She is trying to build the organization into one that she envisions it - if you go and read their Strategic Plan for 2011 - 2013 - it's all there.

Kristin has not hidden anything that she wants to do.

She has many goals that are between 3 and 5 years that include strengthening and changing the governence of the branches of the SPCA across the province;
- To making Nova Scotia a no-kill province through the development of pet retention programs, trap-neuter release, low cost spay-neuter, etc.

It's a 3 page document and well worth the read - it's at http://www.spcans.ca/about/documents/StrategicPlan2011.pdf and you should go check it out - especially page 3 where she talks about the "No Kill Equation" and she says that part of it is -

10. Pro-active owner redemptions - One of the most overlooked areas for reducing killing in most animal control shelters are lost animal reclaims. Shifting from a passive to a more proactive approach has proven to have a significant impact on lifesaving and allow shelters to return a large percentage of lost animals to their families.

When Bill Bruce came here to talk about animal control that was one of the things that blew me away about his city - the fact that they go so far to reunite lost pets with their owners - they consider animals LOST, not STRAY.

So why is everyone at the branch level so pissed off with the Provincial branch? It's about control - the Provincial branch is taking away control - and I actually think that you are going to see the district boards around the province disappearing - they are definitely not going to have a seat on the Provincial board in the near future I don't think.

Also - the SPCA is getting out of the Animal Control game as well, which I think is fabulous - I have said tons of times that animal control should be a function of the municipality or town - and never contracted out - not to an SPCA, or a private company - so I am blissfully happy that finally the SPCA agrees with me - it has been brought up at the last 2 SPCA board meetings. So we'll see what happens with that.

So long story short - can a bunch of pencil pushers in Halifax run a charity all across Nova Scotia?

Today they put out a press release asking for volunteers to help run the SPCA down in Yarmouth. At the end of the day they still need bodies on the ground to run the organization.

My biggest fear is that all of these reforms, all of these paradigm changes are being handled and managed by one fantasmagoric dynamo of one person - Kristin Williams - and there is no one else on earth like her.

What if some company in Ontario sees what she's doing here and offers her a $150,000 job starting in 2 weeks? How could she refuse that?

And where would that leave the NS SPCA? Who could possibly fill the shoes that she's been wearing and that she created?

I am quite sure that the organization would crumble almost immediaitely. That is my worry. I hope it doesn't happen.

I don't know that there's anyone in Nova Scotia who understands the "Carver Model" who'd be willing to fill her shoes and take the shit, and implement what needs to be done, and do 50 other tasks in a day - and have 20 other fires going.

So is the NS SPCA imploding? Not if everybody would follow the company line.

But when you have volunteers who've been there for 28 years and think they have everything figured out - that is a really hard objection to overcome. I don't envy anyone that.

But I do love that there is someone trying to move the NS SPCA organiztion into the 21st century - their strategic plan is a thing of beauty, the fact that Kristin gets out there and goes and speaks to the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, and the different town's Councils about their bylaws - and how the SPCA can help them - and that they've realize that their organization was created to shelter animals, not impound them - is all amazing.

But that's airy-fairy - and you have the staff and volunteers who are collecting bottles, having barbecues to raise $50 - so that the kittens they're fostering can get their vaccinations - and they don't understand why that money has to take such a long trip.

So I guess we'll see how it all shakes out in the wash. I hope it's the animals who win out in the end.

Don't be hatin'

Long Lake

Now that I've realized that Bubby likes the water - I'm going to walk the dogs over to Long Lake - which is actually only about a 5 minute walk from my house. The access part that I'm close to is a part that no one ever goes to and is absolutely beautiful

It's a shame I never really walked this way before with Charlie and Daisy - they would have loved it here.

And Bubby continues to beguile and amaze me - when I used to walk in the woods with Charlie Daisy and Buttercup - I never worried about getting lost - I always used to just follow Charlie - he always kept us on the path, even when I couldn't see a path - he was always able to get us out of the woods somehow, and when he died I said to him - "how am I going to be able to go into the woods without you?"

And I think he has chosen his replacement wisely - last night when we were walking out towards the road and I had both dogs on leash - I suddenly realized I couldn't see a path - and I also realized - that I was blindly just following behind Bubby - and he knew where he was going - and within seconds - a path had magically appeared.

I have to say - he is awesome off-leash, always checking in, coming back to make sure that I am where he thinks I am, he never leaves my sight, just bounces all around me - he is such a joy. Really a perfect little dog.

Except for pissing and shitting inside the house - he's perfect. But Daisy used to have one shit inside the house everyday for the first 2 or 3 years she lived with me - and it wasn't because she wasn't house broken - she just shit because she wanted to. If I was home she wouldn't shit - but whenever I went out - she'd have a nice steamy one in my spare bedroom - and she used to mark with shit. So it was an adventure taking to someone else' house!

One time I took her to a friend's house and she ran right upstairs into the person's bedroom and took a shit on their bedroom pillow. I guess maybe that was the stinkiest place to shit in the house. Daisy was such a beautiful dog. She always knew just what she was doing. She was also one of those dogs who'd back up as far as they could manage next to a tree and shit on a tree.

So really - Bubby's a dream - 10 pounds of dog shit is nothing like 100 pounds of dog shit. When you look at it that way. There's really no problems what-so-ever.

I think we're going to spend a lot of time at Long lake - when I look at it on Google Maps - there's a lot of places to go from the entry point we went in last night - I'll just have to keep my eye out for leeches.

I have an eccentric fear of leeches. So if you hear someone screaming at the top of your lungs in Lower Sackville? It's me screaming from the middle of Spryfield because I've seen a leech.

Bubby likes to swim!

Today me Buttercup and Bubby went over to Shubie Park in Dartmouth where there was a combined Pug Pals of HRM and a Boston Terriers of HRM get together that was being held at the off-leash beach section - and it's safe to say that Bubby and Buttercup had a fabulous time.

I learned something very important too - Bubby likes to swim! He is the first dog I've ever had who will go in the water so this is very exciting for me - I love going to the beach and going to lakes - so it's wonderful that I finally have a dog who likes going in the water.

Bubby was so cute swimming around - he jumped right in with no prompting whatsoever - at the end of this post is about the cutest video you'll ever see - in my opinion anyway! This picture here is before he actually started swimming - this is where he laid right down and got his belly wet - this was also terminally cute.

This is where he was about to go in over his head - at one point I thought Buttercup was going to go in swimming too - I think I would have had a myocardial infarction if she had gone in too.

This little guy totally unimpressed with being asked to go swimming!

Pugs being happy!

There were fawn pugs everywhere today - it was very cute to see - I had never been to this section of Shubie before - it was a nice spot - although it only took a couple obnoxious dogs to ruin the experience for everyone - there was no place for dogs to go cool off if some dogs got over stimulated and/or their owners were not being responsible and withdrawing them from the action like there is at Seaview

This very happy great dane was having a great time with his kong wubba in the water.

A long shot of some of the frivolity

Here's the awesome little video -