Uncle Gary appears from the sea

Our neighbor “Uncle Gary” and Yogi have a unique relationship. On paper, Yogi is highly trained, numerous classes, certs, service dog ++. Uncle Gary taught him to bark for treats, (that’s actually a pretty easy trick, yup).

So we are sitting on Fuji beach at the end of the day and Uncle Gary, (80 yrs old), pops up out of the water and starts walking towards us. Wetsuit, fins, spear, stringer of fish.

I have always wondered what was going on in Yogi’s brain at that moment, but true to form, he started barking hoping for a bit of sashimi.

Taking Stephen on a Walk

Stephen had to have paw surgery and has been confined for months. He seems to be healing and he has no idea how lucky he is, when I had surgery they gave me the cone of shame to wear on my head.

Now that he can walk short distances, I am starting to take him out.

Buster, if two dogs do it

Yogi, Buster here, I think I have something going! According to Patch and edited for clarity, "The Knox County Humane Society in Galesburg has been accepting donated chairs for its dogs thanks to a "suggestion" of sorts from Buster Brown, When the dog returned to the shelter, Buster became attached to sitting in a chair at the front of the shelter.

That's when the shelter provided Buster, who has become a mascot for the facility, with his own cushy accommodations donated by a local plumbing and heating company."

So Yogi, Jagger, see if you get the word out. If you're in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the human wherever you are, just walk in say "Human, You can get anything you want, with Buster's easy chair" And walk out. You know, if one dog, just one dog does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two dogs, two dogs do it, in harmony, they may think they're both scroungy mutts and they won't take either of them. And three dogs do it, three, can you imagine, we'd have to call them three dog night.
Apologies to: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arlo_Guthrie

Pee Mail to Jagger

Hey Jagger,

I want to tell you about my "biscuit" routine. I was catching up on howls and growls on SnoutBook and I saw an advertisement for a HUGE box of dog biscuits. They were from some warehouse store called Crateco.

For a week, every time I saw Stephen or Kathy, I would emote, dog biscuits, you are thinking dog biscuits, you can't live without dog biscuits, now, now, now. It finally worked, those two aren't deaf, just hard of hearing.

Now they have them, I have to teach them to use them. You and I both know I am going in my crate at bedtime, but why not give the hummies a thrill? So, I pretended I didn't want to go in my condo, no, anything but that.

Kathy was the first one to get the idea, now, she grabs a biscuit, I pretend I am so excited, we go outside to use the facilities. After potty, I run up the stairs and wait, when they open the door, I run to my crate, they shut the door and I get THE BISCUIT.

Now see how easy that was, I have been sleeping in my crate ever since the first night I came to my forever home, well actually, summer forever home, but now I get a biscuit too. BTW, they say those biscuits help keep the canines pearly white.

Sniffs and licks,

Yogi

Pee Mail from Jagger in Bonney Lake

Hey Yogi,

I am now in my forever home, I like Becca, I know you have met her.

I am currently in my 'I won't potty outside corral.'  It's a little scary going on grass, does it bother you? And the smells and sounds, I get so excited, I forget why I'm there.

Attached is a pic of me in a similar predicament last night over pooping....don't I look prophetic and forlorn? I learned that in Whelpingarten, humans fall for it most of time, at least that is what the other puppies told me.

In reality, I'm more tired than sad. I actually fell asleep while sitting, woke up when I fell over! Does that ever happen to you?
I'm growing fast!!! I've already grown out of the chocler necklace Becca got for me.  I think we're now (4 days later) ready for the adult neck accessory!

Hope you are having fun in Hawaii, be sure to visit when you get back to Washington.

Aarf, Jagger

I graduated from 30' lead class today

Well it took a lot of time, (330 hours), to move from 6', then 8', to 30', but Stephen and Kathy are starting to get the hang of it.

Karen, (the lady in the yellow T-shirt), is Caesar Milan trained, so she is easier to work with than a lot of human trainers. Her facility is called Bark Bark Backyard.

The goal is so that I can with them off lead, assuming there is anyplace left in the USA that allows that.

I can see TV (and there are dogs in there )

God told Stephen that he needed to get one of these new 4K TVs.

How did Stephen know it was God?

Stephen was in Costco while I waited in the truck, saw one, thought it was awesome. Just then, a gentleman stopped, in Costco, said I just bought one, really researched it and spouted specs, why you should get this one, avoid that one.

Stephen came back to the truck all excited and told me about it. 

I listened, dogs are good listeners. OK OK Stephen, but how do you know God wanted you to buy one?

Ah, good question Yogi. When, I got home, wanted to watch a movie, put it in and my TV went snap, crackle, pop, spark, spark. I let it rest and it worked again, but this close to the beach, it will go up in smoke soon.

Alllllright, maybe I will spot you that God wants you to have a 4k TV, but what does that have to do with me?

Sure enough, Stephen came home with a TV and they unpacked it. Other than playing with the wrapping material I have never understood why humans sit in front of those glass boxes, I know they make noise, but ........

I could never see the TV.  I know other puppies would watch TV, not me. It looks like abstract art in the Neo-Plasticism style.

But we got the 4K TV, Stephen put in 5 Below Zero, because, who cares, Yogi doesn’t watch TV… well I do now. There are sled dogs inside of Stephen's new TV and they run right into the edge and disappear.

Every time the dogs show up, which is often in that movie, I would jump paws up to the table holding the TV and bark at the strange dogs. They are like ghosts, have no smell, but they are definitely dogs.

Stephen felt this was not good. For a number of reasons: claw scratches on his teak table, afraid I would knock over his screen, and he felt it was bad form . . .

The movie turned out to be the most intense dog/person training session ever,  For the entire movie Stephen and Kathy used treats, just commands, even physically controlling me by my collar, what's up with that?  They took turns, not good cop bad cop exactly, but I recognized the handoff training style.

Other dogs ask me are you “trained”? 

Heck no, they still have treats left. One movie was not enough, I will let you know when I talk Stephen into sharing his bowl of popcorn.