Charlie

May 4, 2007. It has been a busy week. One day we drove out to a place called Richmond, where I had never been before. Granted we drove right past it when I first arrived in Canada, but had never visited. We went out here so Tom could pick up his new purchase, a nice shiny, black Fender guitar. This one looks quite a bit different from his other one, so I wonder what it will sound like.

I did something today that I have never done before. I started barking in the car when I was alone with Tom. Usually I do it only when someone else is in the car. When we went across the Oak Street Bridge though, I just lost it and started barking at all those pesky bumps.

After that we drove to the place where he and Renee take lessons. We went across another big bridge. This one was called the Lions Gate. I’ve never seen this one before and I sat up in the seat and just took in the view. I must have been awe inspired by the scenery, because I just kept looking in every direction and never uttered a bark.

Tom played his new guitar for me and it is pretty loud, but it sounds really good. Now, granted, Tom is no Eric Clapton and once he gets a few more years of practice in, the guitar should sound even better.

Today we went to the park for my usual morning run. We started off in the usual fashion, a poop, a pee and the ritual chasing of the ball. We only got a few throws in when a lady arrived with a new dog we had never met before. He is a Doberman named Charlie. Charlie is about eight months old and has a history very similar to mine.

Charlie was left tied to a tree and was abused, before being rescued by his current owner. Lots of love and patience and we have both rounded in to pretty good dogs. I have had a little more training than Charlie, but he is at the point now, where I was in January. He’s getting lots of love and socialization. He is full of puppy enthusiasm and exuberance, just like me.

We ran around and around the park for a full forty-five minutes of almost complete full out speed. He chased me, and I chased him. I herded him and we just had a grand old time. We were still going at full speed after forty-five minutes, but unfortunately, Charlie and his owner had to leave, so playtime was over. I am totally exhausted and as soon as we got home, I had a drink of water and just crashed on the floor, panting for all I was worth. What a day!

It got even better though. Around noon, Caitlin and Karl came to visit me! Well, ok, they came to see their Dad, Tom, but I was high on the priority list. Caitlin was on a day off from work and Karl had a pro-D day from school, so they came to see us.

Caitlin wanted Tom’s help in picking out a digital camera, no doubt to take more pictures of me. After we did that and Caitlin got her new camera, we came home. Well, we were going to come home, but instead we went for Karl’s third driving lesson with Tom. This is the first one I have been allowed to come on.

I was on pretty good behaviour too. I did not bark at all during Karl’s lesson and did not jump around too much. I did cry quite a bit though. It wasn’t a comment on Karl’s driving at all. He did really well and you would never know he has only had three lessons and only been on the road twice. I just need to cry in the car for some reason.

Anyway, after the lesson the two of them headed for home and I got to get a bite to eat some water and run around in the yard for awhile. Then we will go meet up with Renee for dinner. Yahoo! I always miss her when she is away.