I like having Chip visit! It’s so much fun!
Mary, Jesse and I went to meet Chip and Will for lunch on Nov. 22, which would be last Saturday. I hadn’t seen Chip in a while, so it was fun to have lunch. Then, he came home with me! We had lots of fun playing tug of war that night with my fuzzy pink bone.
I think we woke Mary too early on Sunday, because by 5a.m. we were romping into the bedroom to see when our morning walk would be. Mary wasn’t feeling well, so Jesse came over and took the two of us for a long walk in the afternoon. I think we were walking for about an hour or a half or two hours? I’m not sure, but Chip was lagging by the end. After a walk like that, even kibble tastes good.
Monday, we got my usual 45 minute walk in the morning. After Mary got home from work, we went to the dog park for a bit until it got too dark to see. Mary took us on some errands, which weren’t too boring because we got a car ride with open windows and a trip to Petco. They were sweeping under the kibble shelves, so I didn’t have to dig to get a buffet selection of bits. Tuesday, Mary usually takes me to the Costa Mesa park, but she didn’t go to practice. Instead, we got a walk around the block, which involves a rather long hill. Chip started to slow down and walk a bit further behind the higher we got, but he seemed to do ok on the way down. Afterwards, Chip was sighing about being out of shape, so I checked and found out the block was actually 2 miles, and the uphill part was 0.6miles. I guess he had a reason to complain?
That night, it rained, so Wednesday morning and afternoon the walks were wet. Chip didn’t seem to mind the moisture too much, but he didn’t like the wet grass. Too bad, he doesn’t know what he’s missing!
Wednesday night the excitement began. Jesse joined us and we drove for about an hour in the dark, rainy night… I knew where we were going - to Mary’s parents’ house! I like it there. We got there in the evening, and Chip took to the house right away. Actually, he marked a potted plant in the dining room with a spot of pee. Of course, he was caught and corrected right away. Did he think he could get away with something like that? Of course not, and to make sure, every time he goes near there I herd him away.
Thursday morning started with another long walk. Then, the interesting stuff started. Lots of food was prepared, and for quite some time, a large turkey was sitting out in plain view. Is that our dinner? I can’t wait, is what I thought! Well, even with all the cooking, we still got three long walks. Which made coming inside harder, because there were even more interesting food smells when we came back in.
Mary’s brother came home in time for dinner, and Chip ran right up to him in greeting. He pushed me out of the way! And Ken said hello to him before ME! I was hurt. So, I didn’t let Ken get close to me for at least a day and a half. I made him win back my affection. I hear he met Chip before me, but still, he should have said hi to me first. I was deeply hurt.
Then, Mary’s dad started carrying around the nicely browned, moist, succulent turkey. Chip was following him around like a love-sick puppy, sitting or laying down at his feet as he cut it up and carried it back to the dinner table. I whispered about choice bits of pork katsu and tuna that Mary’s dad sneaked to me when she wasn’t looking, and I guess Chip also realized Mary’s dad was the food-giving target. I also told Chip that every time I’m over, he asks if he can give me sashimi. I still haven’t tasted this delicacy, but I’m working on it.
At any rate, we only got a bite or two of the delicious turkey. Sigh. It was such a large bird I thought we would get a leg each, at least! Well, there are still leftovers to dream about…
Friday, our morning walk was shorter than usual, at maybe half an hour. We later went to the dog park in Temecula, which is very small compared to the parks we are used to. When we got there, no other dogs were there. The grass was still wet, so Chip refused to run around on the grass and walked the concrete perimeter. He looks round, but he fit easily in the gap between the light post and the fence, even though it was only about a foot wide. I was busy getting a lot of tennis ball chasing in, since I haven’t been able to run off leash lately. Chip was whining by the entrance. Then, a female 14 month old black lab showed up. Chip wanted to mount but she was also busy chasing a tennis ball, so when Mary was holding his collar and he was in mount position, the other dog ran away and left him hanging! It was pretty funny, but not as funny as when he tried again and the other dog backed up into him. Which meant Chip rolled straight back onto his back with all four paws up in the air! He looked pretty surprised. After that, since we had been there for about 45 minutes, we left.
Afterwards, Mary started to brush Chip. Actually, he was furminated. I don’t think he was expecting it, but he is a bit sleeker and smoother now. Mary’s mom has been petting him even more now that he is so silky! I have to butt in to remind her that I, too, am silky and soft.
I think Chip normally gets more human food than Mary gives him, and while we’ve been visiting we haven’t been eating treats either. If we finish our kibble, we get chicken jerky, but both of us have been distracted by the human foods. I like Chip’s kibble, in his bowl, and after eating most of mine I usually check his out. Chip hasn’t been eating as much when he holds out for human food. Well, today it paid off. Mary’s dad and brother brought home salad (uninteresting) and PIZZA for lunch! Well, there were five humans. They got three two-slice boxes of PIZZA, so they each had one slice and some salad. Guess who got to share part of the last slice? WE DID! Mary’s dad gave us some glorious tomatoe-y, cheese-y, pepperoni-y goodness! So much for Chip’s diet.
We both had eaten some breakfast, but the pizza tided us over and let Chip pretty much skip dinner. Mostly he skipped dinner because he smelled the beef cooking in the sukiyaki and was sulking in the living room cause he wasn’t getting any. Well, Mary cut a piece of meat in half and gave us each half on our kibble. She even walked over to Chip and told him “Chip, beef!” so he came running. I normally only get a bit like that, but I think Chip must be used to more human food, because he was still sulky after that. Oh well.
Saturday, Mary had to go away to some judo practice. While she was gone, Jesse took us on another long walk. This time it was about 2 hours! We wandered all over the place, and saw some Christmas lawn ornaments that I thought were scary. Well, they were big, and they moved! After Mary got home, we all ate lunch. Breakfast for Chip and me, since Jesse didn’t feed us since we just collapsed and slept after our walk.
After some more rest, we went for another hour-long walk. We went back to where the lawn ornaments were, and Chip shied away from the see-saw Santa and 3 reindeer, so it wasn’t just me. The Mary/2 wise men (weren’t there 3 in the story?)/sheep/goat/baby inflatable one was ok, but there seemed to be a Joseph missing. The moving reindeer was a bit more worrying. It was lit and kind of made out of some fuzzy stuff. Strange.
Anyway, we are back home relaxing and waiting for dinner. It smells good. By the way, the layout here is ideal for playing chase around the dinner table, under through the chairs, around the armchair and coffee table, and up and down the stairs. Multi-level houses with walkways and railings overlooking the dining table and living room are ideal for monitoring the progress of dinner or looking for motion that might indicate a walk…
Well, I have to go now and romp around a bit. Eight paws thundering on the stairs makes a pleasing amount of noise! I will add photos later when I have time to do some sorting…! More later!
