Day 247 Trip to Lednice

Diane left in the morning, and we went to visit Lednice, a place in the south of Moravia. I was happy to go there, because it is the biggest park of the whole Czech Republic, over 200 km2 big!

I went with Griffin, Nicky and Jabben (and their parents)

It started out a bit boring for us, there was architectural palace and blah blah... and Jen made me do k noze the whole time although it was a Sunday and I demanded a day off.

Bleh

But then we got to the good part!

The sticks I couldn't carry, we climbed on

With a stick bigger than me

Marianne stealing MY stick

A river goes through the whole area. I had been running a lot (and herding the others) and got thirsty. Jen had a bottle of water for me, but nothing tastes as good as warm germ-y soupy swampy water!

A lot of water, but no swimming! 

 My friends and I needed to go to the toilet, while that little uncivilized human kid peed on a tree stump...

It was altogether a very fun day!

Day 246 Young Padawan

So Diane came to visit us in Brno! I was very excited!

Except that when she came over, she didn't greet me like other dogs usually. She acted as if she was already queen of the place... oooh, I forgot! She indeed lived here once!


I thought I could impress her with my collection of toys.

But she wasn't impressed at all, she smiled and pointed to that really chewed off piece of rope I really like. She held it up thoughtfully. It used to be attached to an evil squeaker ball, and she proudly told me about the (2 second) battle she had with it and epicly killed the evil squeaker.

She inspected the place briefly and asked where Captain Kiwi was. I informed her that there wasn't any Kiwi anymore :( Diane took a grave look, and said that now I must me chief of this house for Jen's protection. She said she would teach me the ways of being a good boss.

Me, reluctantly sharing my huh... I mean her bed.

She gave me a list of rules on how to dealing with dog toys:
- kill all squeakers
- take out the flesh of all stuffed animals
- dismantle all ropes
- clean out all bones.

She gave me some manner rules:
- eat as fast as you can
- splash as much water on the side when you drink
- if you vomit, make sure to eat it before Jen can clean it

With guests:
- alert if the doorbell rang (Jen doesn't like this)
- bring a toy to the guest if the guest is human
- be very stern if the guest is a dog, and only let in after inspection


I already do most of these, this won't be to hard.


I also showed her the parks, Luzanky and Namesti 28 Rijna. Again, she was unimpressed, and told she once was the queen of these territories.


She said being the queen of the park is a big responsibility, with a lot of work to do. I said I was ready to learn!

First we started with the routines checks. We had to verify is all the morning dogs had marked their territories. We sniffed every tree and trash and indeed, all were peed on properly.

Then we patrolled the perimeter, and made sure all dogs knew we were around. When we would meet a new one, we sniffed his age, breed and gender, and let them off on their merry way.

The we picked up all the big sticks, and put them in different places, in a very calculated and precise manner (i.e. just anywhere).

Diane, giving her report back to Jan

Now this was indeed a lot of work!

Day 234 Lily is back

LILY IS... LILY IS...

 LILY IS BACK! NO TIME TO WRITE I AM TOO EXCITED!!!!!

Day 232 Forest with Nobinka

At school there is this other german shepherd, Noble. She is approximately my age, with my same temper, same eagerness, same stubborness, and drive. I'm not too happy about that, I find it unnecessary competition for me, so I usually remind her constantly who is the boss between us (usually a good rude bark in the face is enough). However because of this we are often kept seperate.

Nobby's mom and mine got the brilliant idea to take us on a trip to the forest together. Hmpf, couldn't Jen have picked ANYONE else?? Jen said it would be to work on my behavior and to work on her Czech, as they had decided to speak only czech the whole afternoon. Mwahaha can't wait to hear that, Jen's czech is awful! :D

Training on focusing, and me on staying.

I managed to get in a few bad barks and growls towards Nobby in the beginning of the session, but Jen kept making me busy with heeling and stuff which made it hard for me. I had trouble focusing, when Nobby was in front of me, but when I was in front I was fine. Nobby was the same too.

 As soon as we got off leash in the forest, we broke into a game of chase (my favorite). If I can't bark her how good I am, at least I can show her how fast I run, and how much better my stick is than hers! Ha!

We found a pig walking about

In the evening Jen invited friends over for dinner, so we did quick grocery shopping.

Ugh, vegetables again

And dog treats, yay!! :)

 Now I have a nice assortment of 5 different treats in the treat pouch. Weeeeee!

Day 231 Meeting with Jabba the hut

Jen took a resolution: she reduces my free off leash time (I usually get over 3 hours a day...) and increases the walks in the city time. I don't mind, as long as I get to do cool stuff!

Lot of people in town

But I did good!

Brno is preparing a festival. On a topic oh-so-surprising... beer. As if Brnoans needed another excuse to go out and drink beer, but why not?

This man doesn't have food so I offered him my kibble. He wasn't impressed...

Jen is using this opportunity to work on her czech. She used me to start a conversation with a beggar on the street. He was really nice, Jen even offered him something from the stands but he refused.

Small note aside, we really need a camera... right now we are using Stef's

 This evening I got to meet up with the Griffin!!! And he brought along a friend of his from Norway, her name is Jabba the hut, or Jabben for friends... Welcome to Brno, Jabben!

Weeeee Griffin!

Meeting Jabben (Jabben wasn't thrilled)

Day 229 First day back at school

Today I went back to school! Jen actually had taken me two days off school so I could settle in (that or she also wanted to keep me for herself a couple days).

My school

I started school two weeks ago actually. It's fun! I go in the morning at 8 and get picked up anytime after 1PM. It's a small office with a lot of big dogs! We get to play as long as we're not too boisterous. The trainers pick us up and we go on trips to different locations.

Today we went to the mall. I was not so focused and a bit stressed, leaving my friends to work one on one with a trainer, and with all the crowd and rustle around... Too much excitement! This confirmed Jen's suspicions, and she decided to work on this again, take it easy and do like we did before: just sit or walk around busy places...

But we still have Bamba until tomorrow, so we don't quite just yet practicing calmness. Yay!

Weee!!! we played so much!

until we got exhausted

Day 228 Family portrait

Today we also had Ryan (a corgi) and his mom over. They don't have electricity in their house. Ryan didn't care much, but his mom did.

When they came it occurred to us that we look like a family. Guess who's the daddy!

Other than that, Jen noticed I am a bit stressed in town once again. It's not my fault, I am a country gal! And that lady with the crutches totally deserved a good barking!

The crutches completely offended me

Also, I sang along with the ambulance music. And threw a small fit when Ryan and Bamba left without me... Jen said we might have to do a few revisions to get me back to my old self.

(but my old self was 2 months ago, so shouldn't it be my young self?!)

Day 227 Settling back in

OK, I haven't been here 24 hours, and Jen is already babysitting another dog, Bamba, our upstairs neighbor. She is also babysitting two rats. I told Jen I'd be nice with the rats, but she still doesn't trust them out with me.

We went walking a long time in the morning. I am supposed to go to school, but I got a few days off to settle back in! Weehee!

Bamba put me up to date with all dog affairs in Brno, she stayed here most of the summer

 Bamba is Lily's roomate, so I asked her when my best friend Lily will be back. In a week she replied! Yay great news!

In Luzanky we met the other Mety and his owner.

VERY BRIEF hello to the owner

But long happy hello to Mety!

I was happy to go back to the garden. It's in bad shape, the summer made it all dry! I decided to help and give it natural fertilizer, but Jen picked up my poo :(

Playing in the garden

Jen, embarassing me in front of Bamba

Day 226 I am back!!!

Wow, so much time has passed! So many things!

Mommy left, surely she will be back!

3 weeks later, still waiting...

Jen went off to France and Norway and was very busy. So I kept myself busy too. Another family kept me, a very nice older couple. The man was retired and had a lot of time for me. When I got back to Jen, I asked her if she could retire too, and Jen said she only wished :(


Anyway I would take my summer-family jogging a few times a day. I didn't tell them about my ball addiction, so they let me play ball a lot. I didn't tell them either I am very capable of bringing sticks to the hand, and had pleasure running away with sticks. And finally I didn't tell them I shouldn't be on flexi-leash, so I got that privilege over the summer! Mwahahaa I am so evil!!

Jen told me she had a nice summer too. She went to a colder country, and went on a lot of walks too. She always pretends to walk me, but I know she's doing it at least as much for herself than for me!

This summer she cheated on me with other dogs...

She cheated on me with other dogs

She saw Ayla, Cony, Griffin's homes

 And other animals!

I wish she had brought me back a pig-snack

or a cow leg!

I noticed Kiwi is missing. Jen said she wouldn't come back. I am partly happy because that I can have my toys for myself, and I won't be blamed for mischief I didn't do, but I will miss her in the mornings, we used to play together so much, I will miss chasing her, and punching her with my big paw that's bigger than half her body... Good times indeed.

Jen bought me a bunch of presents. I didn't have anything ready for her, so I went to the garden and fetched her the nicest stick there! (I even chewed on it a bit to make it more personalized). She bought me a new IKEA ball, she was sure mine would be destroyed. She was partly right, I did try to take the stuffing out, but my summer family was nice enough to stitch it up so I still have the old one. So now I have two favorite IKEA balls!

I don't have enough toys, don't you think?