The joys of having a retriever in the house

 

It's not just pumpkins that they might decide to "retrieve".  This stuffed toy, a shark, was on the parking by the sidewalk when we walked on Monday.  That day Ember sniffed but left it ("somebody else's toy," her Hu-Mom intones).  But Wednesday morning, she decided to pick it up and carry it toward home.  We got two and a half blocks before something else distracted her and she dropped it.

HuMom of course put her into the car, and we drove back to replace the shark in its original spot, then took its photo and posted on the NextDoor app in case anyone is looking for their child's "woobie".  Could have been there for any number of reasons.

This is the second time in a week.  On Sunday it was a wiffle ball that she picked up from in front of someone else's yard.  I had to go return that, too.  She's always so proud of the trophies she picks up and carries.  Just like when as a puppy she would pick up the biggest stick she could find and parade it through the neighborhood.

Last November's target item.  She broke the stem off.  The neighbor lady recognized her pumpkin in the photo I posted and she was most gracious.

She's also retrieved work gloves, one of which I put up on the mailbox next to where she picked it up from the ground.  The other time I brought it home and posted about it, but no one spoke up to claim it, so I've just continued with the return to where she snatched it strategy.

Springtime, 2025?  Summer, maybe?  Windfall branches brought home.

Thursday is Ember's last day care day before Carl comes to visit, so most of my own efforts are in prepping for that:  make sure all the human laundry gets done.  Vacuum out the X-pen one last time.  

Friday victory

I had just the fullest heart Friday, after Ember and I went to the TSC to pick up chew sticks for her.  It was noonish, between bouts of rain.  The store was quite busy, lots of people, but not horribly crowded.  Ember came in with me, on her leash, as they do a good job as a dog-welcoming store.  She was so good!  She did not jump up on anyone, kept her paws down for calm greetings with other people.  She sniffed at everything, of course, but did not lick or mouth the merchandise (if she had I would have felt obligated to purchase it!)  When we had to wait in line to check out, she stayed calmly by my side and went into a nice polite sit.  When the line moved two steps, so did she, then sat again.  What a good girl!  Mommy was so happy!  Then the check-out clerk asked if she could give her a milk bone, and of course I said yes... she earned it.  And she slipped me a second one for a bribe to get into the car, but as it turned out I didn't need it.  I just put the bag of treats in the car and she followed it.

The beginning of the two-dog chaos

I did not sleep well Friday night.  Part of it was anticipation of Saturday's arrival of the chaos of two dogs.  Ember and I got up to a fairly normal start to the day, down to the coffee drive-thru, before Carl burst onto the scene.

As anticipated, Carl is nutso over the squirrels.  Ember remains silent over them. Carl barks at everything.

The squirrels are in that overhanging evergreen.

Anyway, the kids have made it to their hotel in Denver.  They are planning on taking FGC to Meowwolf (sp), an artsy/techy incredible place that's a chain of locations around the country (maybe the world).  Son and DIL went to the Denver one on their honeymoon, and have been to a couple of others, but they figure this one's OK for the kiddo.

Not dog friendly, though, so I get the twosome.

They share everything... in this case a stuffed crinkly owl toy.  They tug better with each other than they do with me!

Here they are sharing a bone, each chewing on one end.

Here they are sharing my lap.

When we took a collective afternoon nap, Ember claimed the prize spot behind my legs and Carl stretch out on the floor beside.

And we did a test run of putting on harnesses and loading up into the car to get Dexter (said car) a very expensive drink of gasoline.

Over 25 bucks for under seven gallons of gas.  And that's with the grocery store loyalty program 40 cent a gallon discount!

Oh, well, at least this is a fuel efficient little car.

I anticipated this:  they swapped meals.  Ember ate Carl's, Carl ate Ember's, but then interrupted his chow to go bark at a UPS truck.  Ember chowed down on the green beans, which was what he had left.

We were calming on the couch, and I asked Ember if she wanted her cookie, which she did, and went into the crate at her normal time for "until last call" which is when I come up and brush my teeth and get ready for the night.  However, Carl got to come upstairs with me, and Ember is not very happy about that, and is raising a ruckus in her crate as I type.  I will go ahead and brush my teeth and wait for her to quiet down before I go let her out for last call.  I doubt she'll want to go back in the crate after that, so I'm planning on a night on the couch for myself.

Life is good.  Spark on, y'all!