Camping Season is off to a great start!

We're halfway through a short camping season here in New England, and Mom & Dad are totally committed to hitting the road every chance they can.  Mom is adamant that we only go to campgrounds that allow us pups and we've had some very interesting adventures so far this season. . .

Keira and I have very few rules, but we are serious about ropes and picnic tables.  That being that we can wrap ourselves around a picnic table in the most creative ways possible and find that we are unable to move.  It's a plus if we can catch some unwitting person sitting at said picnic table and wrap them up as well!

Jeff and some of his friends came camping with us once.  Mom broke out the inflatable mattress as the dinette and couch bed were full.  Keira has decided that anyone who sleeps on the floor is fair game to share. . .

Keira and I had a new adventure, this year.  We went on a Ferry to Block Island!  Mom was seriously concerned about it as we both refuse to do stairs in any form and she had visions of us both balking at the stairways to get to the decks of the ferry and causing a backup of people trying to get on the boat.  She was completely astonished when both Keira and I dragged them UP the stairs and then back down!  Here we are on the top deck. .

Now, when Mom and Dad take us to camping destinations, they make sure to take us on as many places as they can.  Block Island was a great trip (once Mom relaxed about the boat ride) and Mom and Dad had interesting experiences. .

Mom would want to go into stores and Dad would be holding us dawgs - Mom would be both exasperated and amused when she'd come out and find Dad surrounded by women of all ages, yeah we can be quite the chick magnets!!

Dad would go into stores and Mom would stay outside with us?  She'd end up with weird old guys or gay guys - she was fine with the gays (they are good people, she says) but she could've lived without the weird old guys. . .

And guess what?  While we were at Block Island, we ran into ANOTHER British Cream Golden from Ohio - go figure!!



Left to Right - Ohio dude, me in the center, Keira on the right.

July 4th weekend, we went up to Wells, ME.  Whenever we go to a new area, Mom researches pet-friendly locations by using a really good website GoPetFriendly.com .  She found what looked to be a really nice walking path along York Harbor, so we went to check it out.  We had trouble finding the beginning of the trail (it had GPS coordinates, we didn't have the GPS with us) but we eventually found it as it crosses several roads.  Dad pulled into a permit parking only area on the side of the road so we could go down to see the sign that had all the posted rules.  Yup, it looked like dogs were allowed but while we were there, we ran into a lady and her 2 kids (who just lost their chocolate lab recently) who knew the trail in its entirety.  While her daughters hugged and kissed me and Keira, she clued us in on the trail - it weaved in and out of pet friendly, it was all good intel as far as Mom was concerned.  We walked a little ways down the trail to check it out so we could come back, here's what it looked like. .



 As we were leaving the path, we ran into a York, ME bicycle cop and we greeted him cordially.  Turns out parking, however temporarily, in a Permit only zone is a $50 fine if paid within 7 days, otherwise it doubles to $100.  Mom's probably NEVER, EVER going to return to York, ME again!



Mom and Dale (Mom of yellow lab Murphy and black lab Liam) also had the Kennebunk Dog Park as a destination to visit over the weekend and we all went.  It was probably the most stellar dog park Mom and Dale have ever seen - it was at the entrance of the Kennebunk dump but clearly the people who designed/built it knew and loved their dogs!  It was huge, had a nice run area for tossing tennis balls, a wading pool, a working hose and water bowls EVERYWHERE!  There was also a nicely wooded area. . .  Here we are, having fun in that Dog Park and we recommend it to everyone!

Keira doging a beagle. . .

Me and Keira hanging under a bench at the Kennebunk Dog Park!



I'll keep you posted, we're having a great season, us campin' dawgs! 

~ CHOW, BABY ~

So I showed Keira the ropes for going camping. . .

Now that Spring is pretty much here, Keira and I have seen the 3+ feet of snow in the backyard dissipate and while we are enjoying rolling around in the mud, Keira's having some adjustment issues because she can't pee or poop unless it's on a snowbank.  Mom finds this both entertaining and exasperating as snowbanks are kinda hard to find around here right now. . .

So, we took the camper out for a shakedown run.  Those of you that followed me in the early days may recall that last year at this time, Mom and Dad went to Normandy Farms Campground to (1) evict the mice from the motorhome, and (2) see how the puppy travels in the motorhome before hitting the road for a 17 hour trip south to Myrtle Beach.  I did fine with the motorhome until we got to the campground and almost face-planted Mom in the gravel when we got there but I'm a cool campin' dog now and a seasoned veteran.

Not so much little Keira, however. . .  I tried to show her it was OK but she cried and cried. . .

Mom says we lucked out - although Keira cries, she doesn't upchuck or otherwise release anything nasty in the camper and she didn't try to take Mom on a face-plant flight, which was good.  Keira pretty much looked to me to see what to do and she did well with going in and out of the camper and stuck to me like glue.

Mom was VERY pleasantly surprised - she brought corrals but not the crate, worrying that Keira would have the awful housebreaking issues that she has at home and maybe it's because we were camping and spent a majority of our time outdoors (either at the bark park or around the campfire), there were no accidents in the camper!  Unfortunately, the heater, which is right where the dog dishes are, must've kicked in when Keira was eating and she was afraid to eat so we had to move the dishes to another spot for her.  Mom's confident she'll do fine once she gets used to the noises that the camper makes. . .

Normandy Farms has the BEST bark park ever!  Keira and I, Murphy, Liam and Cinder DOMINATED that bark park and spent a lot of time there . . .

We met a chocolate lab from Georgia, BJ, he was cool.

This is me (Riley) - I get the tennis ball and lie on it!

This is Keira (she hid from the bigs dogs a lot)...

And here's Mom's favorite part of camping with Keira and I. . .

Next trip - Myrtle Beach!  Better go pack my sunscreen. . .

~ CHOW BABY ~



Oh, man, I've got a SISTER?

I wondered why Mom and Dad were gone and coming back smelling like strange dogs, then got suspicious when Mom set up my old nursery.  Well, here's why - Keira, my half-sister, daughter of my Dad Logan and Lady G of Maine. 

Sure, she's cute.  But tell you what - she's really a punk.  She jumps on my head when I'm sleeping, barks at me all the time and eats my food. 

I like it better when Mom puts her "away". . ..

Keira's been here about a month and what a month it's been!  I'm pretty sure it's a month Mom will NEVER forget - it was the timeframe she likes to call the ERA OF THE PARASITE. . .  (insert dramatic drumroll here. . . .)

Friends of mine on facebook may recall that I used to like to drink from the birdbath in the back yard?  Well, I exhibited absolutely no symptoms of anything other than some seriously soft stool and Mom decided to get me checked out.  Guess what, my friends, squirrels poop in and around birdbaths and they can spread something called Giardia, which of course I tested positive for.  Now, Giardia is a very persistent and nasty little gut bug that makes dogs poop soft serve ice cream, which is a real treat for Mom (who is a responsible pet owner that picks up after her critters)!   Mom would double-bag when we went for walks and even Heather, who is a very tolerant friend, would wrinkle her nose when it came to cleaning up after me!!

Then along came Keira.  Rhea advised Mom that Keira had been tested for various parasites as a matter of course (all results are negative) and while she had some stool softness, it should clear up pretty quick as she was being treated with Panacur and some chicken and rice added to her diet should take care of that. 

So - Mom's got two dogs, both pooping a smelly, nightmare-like version of soft serve ice cream and a countertop of powers, pills and liquid syringes.  Don't know about Keira, but I can eat the cheese off of a pill and spit it right back out, which makes giving me meds a wee bit of a challenge!  And, due to the contagious nature of Giardia (which can be transmitted if a dog steps in Giardia infected poop and then licks their paws - or in the case of Keira, who early on was exhibiting an interest in CONSUMING poop), Mom was a ninja in the back yard with a toy shovel from the Christmas Tree Shop and it was oftentimes frightening how quickly she'd swoop in and remove our droppings!

The above picture is us in the back yard, which is fenced in, and a largely poop-free zone.  Just have to be careful where you toss the shovel full - there's a couple of trees back there that try to throw it back!

The good news - Mom got us both tested, we're both now Giardia negative.  We've also been systematically decimating Mom's forsythia bushes in the back yard and are clearly getting enough fiber!   I bust off the big branches and Keira's taking care of the small stuff. 

I think we're past the rough stuff now.  Keira and I are having a blast with all the snow - Mom can't get us back into the house half the time and while I sink in the 3' of snow in the back yard, Keira just walks across the top! 

Ok, not all is perfect - we fight over every single toy!  Mom says the living room floor hasn't been this cluttered since Steph and Jeff were toddlers . . .

Stay tuned - and ~ CHOW, BABY ~

Uh, Oh, wonder what this means. . . .

Sorry, fans - I have been sooo incredibly busy.  Camping season zipped by and me and my buddies swam in oceans, lakes and rivers, dug in mud and sand and the coolest thing are fire pits!  I especially like to dig and roll around in them. . .

I'll have to post pictures later of all our adventures.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday season!

Now. . .  On to the reason for my revisiting the blog and adding a long overdue update.  Something's happening - Mom & Steph are all excited, Dad keeps telling me "life as you know it is over, poor buddy".  Me and the cats have noticed the changes - the breakfast nook is no longer a breakfast nook.  It's set up just like . . .  uh, oh. . . just like when I came to Grafton. . .

What does this mean, I wonder?  Lucy the angry cat thinks I'm about to be punished and crated for swiping all her cat toys and chewing them into oblivion.  Max the warrior cat is excited at the prospect that I may be locked up from now on so I can't chase him around the house and chew on him anymore.

Quite frankly, I'm worried.  This can't be good. 

Stay tuned, my friends - I'm sure we haven't reached the end of this story quite yet. . .

~ CHOW, BABY ~