George Of The Jungle

June 18, 2007. It’s another wonderful winter morning. It’s cloudy, grey and cold. Tom was again forced to wear his winter jacket and gloves for us to go play on the park. This is all well and good if this was December or January, but in 3 days or so, it will officially be summer. Bring on the global warming already!

Last night we went to the park for a short run before a walk and on the way out to the park, I tried to jump up and grab the ball out of the holder. Unfortunately, I mistimed the jump and forgot that I was on-leash. When I got to the end of the line, it snapped me out straight in a half summersault and I came crashing down to the road on my side. Missed it by that much. Man, that winded me, but, hey, I’m alright.

We also went and bought me a seatbelt harness for the truck because I bounce around too much when Renee or anyone else is in the truck. Tom also bought me a mesh muzzle to try and stop me barking and getting so worked up that I chew the seats, seatbelts, Tom’s arm and whatever else I can reach.

When Tom put that thing on me, I really, really hated it and worked hard to pull it off my face. It took all of about twenty seconds for me to get it off, so he’s going to have to try harder than that. Of course, I could solve the problem myself, if I would just stop misbehaving.

While we were out on the park today, during the full hour run, my attention kept being drawn to a big tree on the other side of the fence. Partly because I spotted another baseball under it, but, there was something else about that tree that had my spide3r sense tingling. I just can’t put my paws on it. What is it about that tree?

After we finished the run, which I might add I did really well with obeying commands, even with two joggers on the field with me. Tom and I walked around the fence to check out the tree and recover the baseball. As Tom bent to pick up the ball, we heard a cough and a rustle of branches. When we looked up we could see a guy sitting halfway up the tree.

He looked like he was living there. Tom asked him if he was ok and the guy said he was hiding from the people chasing him. We looked around and the only other people visible were the Chicken Wing Dancers. The guy said his name was “George” when Tom asked him. It was pretty apparent that the guy was either mentally disturbed or “cranked” up.

At this point we decided to leave and on the way home, Tom called the police to report that Tarzan, or better yet “George of The Jungle” was sitting up in the tree at the park. We didn’t find out the outcome of the call, but I think George left safely.

We had a very unusual thing happen today when we were walking to meet Renee for lunch. We waited for the light at the busy street as usual, but as we were walking across, we heard a voice say “Hey, your dog looks just like me”. We looked up and sure enough, sitting in a car was a fellow with a pure white beard and long grey hair. So, he really did look like me.

When we went to guitar lessons tonight as well, I was buckled into a seatbelt harness. It didn’t take me too long before I found a way out of it. The whole way over to lessons though, Renee kept complimenting me and feeding me treats when I was quiet, which was the whole way over and almost the whole way back. I’m starting to get the message, quiet in the truck.

Late in the evening, while Tom was cooking dinner, I saw our neighbour Richard riding past on his bicycle. As usual, I went nuts because you know how I love bicycles. I went charging towards the fence, but I was in for the shock of my young life. Richard yelled “NO!” and then I got blasted with the loudest sound I have ever heard. Something called an air horn. Well, I stopped dead in my tracks, dropped to my belly and turned around and went the other way.

He did it 3 more times and then the next time he went past, he just said “NO!”. I didn’t move. Just maybe, I have been cured of my bicycle addiction. We shall see if the lesson remains remembered tomorrow. Although, this evening, a motorcycle went past just after this and I went and sat next to Tom, I didn’t even try to chase it.