Those of you who have or have had pets can relate to how sometimes they seem almost human......maybe even smarter than their owners.

Case in point: Murphi, our wonder Yorkie I told you about this summer and her float trips on the Bitterroot River. Well, it's December and now we have 15 inches of snow in our backyard. Murphi is a whopping 10 inches tall and 9 pounds with her parka on. (yes, she is wearing a Montana Grizzly Dog Parka) She has slowly worked her way from the covered deck (no snow) out into that vast white wilderness of the backyard with snow well over her head.

I shoveled a pathway and an area that she can go in to go potty, but being strong willed and a smart Yorkie, she figured, "what the hell, let's try the rest of the yard."

We had freezing drizzle last night and the snow has a good ice crust on it. I was watching her about two hours ago out in the snow.

Murphi: "Hmm, this stuff seems pretty hard. Maybe I can just jump up and walk on it." Up she goes, big as you please on top of the snow.

Bob: "hey dummy, you better be careful or you're gonna fall through the crust into snow over your head."

Murphi: "yeah, right. I'm only 9 pounds. This stuff would hold a St. Bernard." Murphi slowly works her way uphill to the top of the back yard and learns a valuable lesson in gravity and slipperyness. Her feet slip out from under her and she starts to slide down the hill, gaining speed on the way. At the last second she sees she is going to hit the deck; tucks her head; bangs into the front of the deck; gets up and looks around like "what happened?"

Bob: "I told you to be careful. Better not do that again."

At which Murphi picks herself up and heads back up the hill. Drops on her back, and slides down the hill again. She's still out there sliding down the hill.

I hate to spoil her fun, but we are supposed to get another 4-6 inches of snow tonight and cover the ice crust. She'll probably want me to shovel a slide path off tomorrow. Ha...she can shovel her own sliding hill.

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LOL!!! absolutely precious story. they're like little kids, aren't they?

our dog-like-thing, peanut (chihauhau/rat terrier) thinks she's the queen of snow. she's a whopping 12 lbs with her pink bubble jacket equipped with a pink fur lined hood & she goes flyin out in the snow like a pit bull!!

Thats why i trained my chihuahua to go potty in a litter box!
Seems that dogs have NO idea about the cold. They will go outside, fart around, get too cold, and then look at you like "HELP!!!"
I had enough of that with my last 2 pups.....having to stand outside in the cold until they found JUST the right spot to go.
And it always seemed that no matter HOW big an area i would shovel form them to go potty in, they just HAD to try to go through the snow to find a better spot.

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Funny Bob.

My son has a beagle-basset mix. She is about 6 months old. Dave came out from Chicago to visit us for Thanksgiving break. Correction my wife drove the 2 hours in and I drove the 2 hours to take him back because the Metra train does not allow dogs on board. Even if they are in a kennel.

The little thing adores our dog. He is a 60+ pound mutt. You look at him close enough and you will see a breed you recognize. Officially he is German Shepherd, Australian Sheepdog/BlueHeeler and Border Collie. Although they don't list it in his papers he has a strong resemblance to a Doberman. (I looked online at the dog adaption sites. Only a very few of them have mixed breed dobbies. I think they intentionally ignore that blood line in order to get the dogs into homes.)

Any way, my son's dog has almost no hair on her. My son mentions this to my wife. She immediately begins to crochet a doggie coat for the little miss. I have to laugh. I have had 3 dogs over the past 20 years. She never cared too much for any of them. She she feeds them and gives them water if need be. A treat every once in a while bit she tells me they are my dogs and I have to deal with them. They all have lived in our garage and only come into the house when it is below zero and the water bowl is frozen solid.
Our son's dog has to live inside since he has an apartment in Chicago. As I said she is kennel trained. My wife would never allow my dog on her brand new floor (about 3 weeks old) but the little beagle was running all over the place 2 weeks ago. My hound stands at the back door and has the look of, "Hey! This isn't fair! I want in too." But he doesn't hold a grudge and treats the puppy good too.

I said to my son, it is the Grandma syndrome. She is going to treat her grandkids better than her own kids. You watch.

As I was taking my son and his dog back to the city, he was telling me his options for Christmas. He wants to go to Colorado to his g-f parent's place. he doesn't want to fly, too expensive. He says Amtrak doesn't allow pets either so they have to drive. She lives in the mountains beyond Denver so he needs a 4 wheel drive vehicle or chains. I told him to buy chains. If they stay together he will need them. He wants to borrow a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I don't want to pay the gas or have him driving a truck with 200,000 or more miles, that has already had a transmission or 2 go bad.

My solution after watching "Grandma" and his dog is for him to ask his mother to doggie sit. He calls he up and tells her that I said that we would watch his dog. I never thought I would call my son who was in many firefights in Afghanistan a coward but he is. :lol:
Grandma agreed to watch the dog while he is gone.

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Cheesey, my wife's solution to taking a chihuahua potty is to open the window, hold them outside and squeeze.

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I've always disliked the fact that I can't take my dog with me when I go to the office. I used to take him in periodically when I went in at night, but that is frowned on now. And as for bringing him in during the day, forget it.

Now that The Mom has moved to assisted living, the problem has gotten even more acute. It means he is alone for several hours a day. The look he has when I leave in the morning makes me feel like a real shit.

Its probably the biggest reason I try to leave the office and work at home more and more. (That and the fact that I hate much about my job these days.)

Over the holidays, I'm going to look into setting up some webcams with an old computer. Anyone ever done this that can explain how it is done, how it works. I'm looking so that I can "watch" him over the course of the day, perhaps talk to him from time to time. But I want to keep it private; I don't want anyone to be able to "look in" on the house.

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Oh yes, and has anyone ever found a decent solution for the "salt and cold feet" problems? I've tried a couple of the "shoe" thingies.....I'm not surprised the dog gets rid of them ASAP -- they're about as well designed as a government committee.

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Your university must be really uptight. We have professors and even students who bring their dogs on campus and no one blinks.

Maybe you'd like Europe better. At least in Germany, you can take your dog anywhere: on the subway or tram, to the restaurant or cafe, in the store. But Germans are fanatics about dog training, so their pets are extremely well behaved.

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I'm sure no one would have a problem if I took him for a walk on campus. But bringing him to the office -- save perhaps a quick in-and-out to pick up a book I forgot -- uh uh.

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