Day 63 Rainy day

Me, bored out of my mind

Today was a rainy day. We did get to walk this morning, around lunch and in the afternoon, but because of the weather, there were barely any other dogs, and since Jen refuses to play with the ball with me, I was full of energy and begging Jennifer to find something to palliate to my boredom.

Jen chases me with the vacuum cleaner
I'm NOT counting that as a game!

When this happens, we play indoor games. Here are the games we play:

• hide-n-seek. Jen waits for a moment of inattention on my part and hides. When I realize she is missing I look for her in a hurry. When I find her, I am as happy as if she'd left the house for 12 hours! But Jen is quite big, and there are not so many hiding spots for her, which brings us to the second game...
• hide a toy. I have to sit and stay, while Jen hides a toy in the house. This can be quite tricky, as now she even hides a toy on, under and behind other things. I'm happy Molly and Kiwi had the courtesy to leave most of my nose intact as it is quite handy,
• tug-of-war. I'm progressively getting stronger, but I slip on the floor while Jen has a better grip. Harumpf, one day I will be stronger than Jen!
• getting treats out of a kong. Later in summer she said she'd make a popsicle out of the kong, but only to eat out on the porch because it can make a mess,
• wrestling. Not a fair game though because I am not allowed to use my mouth. So I either lick Jen madly, or find a toy to chew on while Jen is pushing me around. Still one of my favorite games though,
• some kind of training. Last to date was "clean". What Jen means by this is to clean the floor of my toys and drop them in the toy box. But unless she is really on my back checking I am doing it properly, I get very distracted and even the most boring toys suddenly become super interesting. Jen can't complain, she does the exact same thing when she is putting away her stuff!

Sitting and staying while Jen goes and hides a toy

Also, I play with Kiwi a lot. We became friends. Or she is my friend, and I am her... well she tolerates me more now!

I never talk about my night walks, because Jen is bad at taking pictures at night, and I prefer to illustrate my activities with photo material.

But anyway, tonight in the park I met 3 other future guide dogs: Cassy, Oliver and Monty.

Jen is not good at aiming with the camera at night
so Cassy is cut out.
Here is Monty, Oli and I

And I found my first hedgehog tonight! It's basically a ball, but not a fun ball, because I can't pick it up.

Jen told me StinkyR...hum I mean Kiwi is an expert at finding them. She once spotted 8 in one evening! Jen used to prevent her from bugging the hedgehogs (Kiwi is always on leash so it's easy for Jen). But every night, Kiwi would pull and pull and try to play with them. One night Jen got the brilliant idea to let Kiwi play with one, hoping Kiwi would get mildly hurt and would stop tugging on the leash.

Kiwi played a long time with the hedgehog, the hedgehog got a bit stressed and rolled up into a ball much to Kiwi's delight who rolled it around. Eventually Jen decided the hedgehog had enough and took Kiwi home.

Only home she realized what a mistake this had been. She found 17 baby ticks on Kiwi's face! (apparently hedgehogs are the perfect tick vectors...).

So tonight, when I found the hedgehog, I was careful not to get to close to it!

Day 62 Tourguide again

Remember day 17, the excitement game?

I am proud to say that... that game is 99.9% over! (well I'm not as proud as Jen is, but whatever makes her happy makes me happy as well I guess!)

And I remained completely calm!

Today we worked a lot. And by a lot I mean that by the end of the date, I would use any second of break to lay down and try to fall asleep. Jen is french! The maximum 35 hour/week of work should apply to me!!

Jen had someone visit us, so I had to show him around Brno too. From the cellars under the city, to the top of the cathedral tower, we did everything possible there is to see in one day!

The cellars are a series of underground cold and dark connected rooms under the city. They were used as storage, as passages, as taverns and as secret places back when the Brno was a young city.

Here is the torture room. Jen said some of the instruments
look a lot like the ones she uses  in her veterinary classes!!!

We walked around the main square, around the new and old Town hall, to the Moravian square, we passed a million churches... and walked up the cathedral bell tower.

So for buildings like Bella's that has only a few floors, there are elevators. But for a tower, humans put stairs! Where is the logic?

The stairs were extra-challenging because
there was space between the steps to see through.

And when we got to the top, Jen and her friend could admire the view, but I was stuck staring at the balustrade! (oh well, it had holes I could peak through at least...)

This was not made for dogs...

If I could, I would have fired the architect.

Fire the cannon!!!

This is me on the top of Spielberg castle

In the evening, Jen and her friend finally settled down for a drink, and I could rest my little paws. I am so mistreated!

I look so pitiful!

Day 61 Signs

When we walk in town, I notice all these signs:

The first one in my opinion says "no dogs on leash". Jen argued it means not dogs at all.

But then she puts my little working jacket on and goes in with me anyway! I think she just doesn't want to admit she is wrong...

This one totally says only black german shepherds allowed!

Today I jumped over the fence. Jen told me not to. I said "by human logic, there is no sign prohibiting jumping therefore I am allowed" :)

While looking at signs I found a funny graffiti of a dog peeing!

Ooh and I know another sign! It's when Jen gets red or has wrinkles on her forehead!
From what I gather, it's a bad sign! (Ba-dum-tshhhh)

Day 60 Hot day!

Hot day.

Very hot day.

I am starting to wonder if a black coat is really the best idea...

This made me think:

When Jen puts her dirty farm clothes in the washing machine, they come out white and smaller. I wonder is Bella looked like me but decided to go for a spin in the laundry?

We babysat Bella this morning for a few hours

Jen went to class without me from ten to twelve.

But she took me to school in the afternoon and showed me what she learned about horses in the morning.

She gave me a little speech about horse limping.

While trotting, the horse nods on its healthy leg and brings its head up on the bad one.
So it's easy she said, you can tell if the horse is healthy by if it nods.

I said I had a better idea.
I went up to the horse and asked if he had pain in his front leg. He nodded.

Ha! A lot easier than Jen's lame explanation!!!

Here I am teaching Jen's friends the Lehni (lay down) and Stay position

Between classes, I met LittleMe and her pack. She is not so little anymore, so I guess I'll have to call her MediumMe from now on :)

Conny, MediumMe, Bayos and I

We went to one of those gynecology lectures again. Today I must admit it was particularly boring (it was about infertility in sows).

I sleep comfortably under the desk
while Jen pretend to takes notes but actually draws...

After classes we went to meet Max. It was quite hot though, so we didn't play much.

Waiting for Max to come
Jen almost fell asleep

Max and I will sit here in the shade and be responsible
while Jen and Paulin go play with sticks

Day 59 Bounty hunter Falcon

Today was a long day for Jen, so it was a long one as well for me!

Baby black wolf

We found a "roseau" field, I forgot how to say that word in english at the moment

Jen had some classes I couldn't attend, so we got up early to get a long walk in the fields (see pics above).
I love those classes, she comes back all pig, cow and goat smelling. I always make sure to lick her clothes thoroughly.

(Careful, the picture is not for sensitive people)

Today her clothes had extra flavor.

Then we went back to university, to retrieve a stethoscope that auntie Renee forgot there. Because yesterday I asked Jen for an anti-horse pill, Jen felt we should check on my staying-calm-when-horses-are-around skills.

I did quite good
if I do say so myself  :)

They weren't quite as good as my being-hyper-when-something-exciting-is-around skills, but those are forbidden while I have my working jacket on so I stayed quiet.

Then Jen took me to see a bird.

Birds are fun, they are easy to scare and it is always a pleasure to claim territory over a flock of them in the park. But the one she took me to was alone and attached to a branch. What easy prey!!

Mr. Falcon

But Jen didn't let me hunt him. She said that that bird is a lot less innocent than he looks like. She said he had powerful claws and beak.

I approached him and asked him if he'd do a dirty job for me. He didn't reply but he did listen. I asked him if he would form an alliance with me, be a spy and join Colonel Pigeon's ranks to take him down :)

He looked back at me, and muttered with a dreary look, that the second this chain would be taken off, I could consider the job done. A shiver rippled down my spine. Ooops, what shady business have I got myself into? :( I gulped and ran away...

On the way back from school, trying to forget M. Falcon

On the way home we stopped again in Luzanly park. We had icecream with Stef and Molly. I told Molly to come play with me and the gang. Molly said she'd rather not. She said the pack of dogs I usually play with is sometimes arrogant with her, maybe because of her smaller size or her shyness...

Anyway I wasn't happy about that at all, so we marched to the pack, with my intention of sorting this out!!!... but then I was interrupted by ball.

Ball ball ball.

Ball

Ball.

Ball ball.

Ball ball ball ball ball ball ball..... It's hard to concentrate when, ooh look there, ball!! ball ball ball....

We left soon, Jen doesn't like it so much when ball! ball ball ball ball ball!

Day 58 Animal welfare

I sat in my usual spot

Today we had the pigs class again.






We talked about how pigs are reared in intensive farming. They live their whole life in cages. No walks, no toys and no cuddles :(

But I like chewtoys

And I love cuddles :(

That leads to behavior problems, like piglets chewing each other's ears off...
Ooops I also like chewing pig ears, am I also mistreated?

The  laws are changing in 2013 in the E.U. although the teacher was a bit pessimist as to if there would be an actual change, because farmers will be earning less money in order to comply with the new rules.

There is one thing I don't understand at all. Why do humans treat pet animals so differently than the animals they use as food?

Playing with Ellis the border collie in school
I'm happy I am free

Day 58 Food

So before the ski trip, it takes ages to schedule to meet Milan, but today, one day after the Jen got back we randomly met him :) I am always happy to say hello!

Also I got a new bag of food. I am quite good at eating them up, it takes me about 3 weeks to gobble down 14 kilos. And when I am done, a new bag appears at the door. How convenient!

Jen is a lot more complicated, she eats all kinds of different foods. I like it because then I can come with her on a trip to the supermarket to perfect my working skills.

Off to buy a cartful of food!

When Jen is hungry...

The thing I find sad though is that she never shares her food with me... Except today!

With the big bag of food came three extra treats. Jen gave me one. It looked too easy, I was suspicious, it looked like a trap. I didn't eat it.
Jen thought a while, went to the fridge and came back with the same treat wrapped in ham. THAT looked a lot less suspicious so I ate it! C'mon, anything wrapped in ham can't be bad! :)

Jen said the treat was a pill and that I am now protected from having worms. Haha she is scared of worms? Those are the most harmless creatures! I asked her if I could have a pill against horses. I still feel uneasy around them....

Dunno if you can see, but this is me staring at horses mowing the lawn in our park

Day 57 Abandoned!

I have not been able to write recently because... Jennifer abandoned me for 9 days!

I didn't notice any signs before she left. She was just innocently packing bags, hugging me a lot, told me to drive auntie Renee crazy when I'd have the opportunity... how could I have seen this coming!?!

So anyway yeah, while Jen was busy doing this and this:

I went to stay at Bella's and auntie Renee's.

Lovely Renee :)

 Renee is really nice. She says she comes from a place called "Malta". She claims it is not visible on maps because it is too small.

Jen says that she doesn't believe Malta exists, and that it's probably Atlantis. She told me to act as a spy and try to figure out where Atlantis is.

Me: "Bella! Show me your gills!"
Bella: "Nevaaaaar"
Renee: "Mety! don't listen to your mom!"

 We went to the lakes. I had a lot of fun. Jen doesn't take me much to lakes because I am not allowed in the water and she is afraid I will be tempted. I am lucky Renee took me there!

Auntie Michali, Griffin
and Nicky came too

Renee didn't know how to use the coat...
I didn't bother correcting her

A little kid asked if she could pet me. Her clothes matched my tongue :)

Day 47 Play video

Day 46 Check up

After having a hard time for the past week to find a time, I finally went to meet Milan today, my actual owner, so he could see how well I progressed.

 Jen told me to be at my best, but I am always my best! 

I behaved really well and he said I was doing really good. About a minute later I whacked him in the knee with a giant stick I found :D

No really, it is a true story!