28 degrees and cloudy. Every Winter we share our breezeway with a pair of Carolina Wrens. They sleep in an old Paper Wasp nest that is hung on the wall. On cold evening we leave the door open until after dark, giving them the chance to come inside the protected breezeway, so they can stay warm. In the morning we have to remember to open the door so they can get back outside before someone forgets that they are there, and accidentally lets them in the house! Over the years this has happened on many occasions, the most recent two weeks ago, my son came bursting in the breezeway too quickly, scaring both birds and they ended up flying inside our home. This was a first for Petey, he didn't know what to do while it was going on. He has little interest in birds, squirrels or chipmunks. I think being exposed to them at my feeders since he was a puppy has conditioned him to ignore them. Thankfully both were easily coxed out, but turning off all the lights in the house, and leaving the outside ones on.
Today Petey and I had a wonderful one and a half hour hike up in the county park. It was a bit warmer, around 36 degrees, but windy and cloudy so it felt much colder. We jumped a herd of six deer who were taking refuge in the park from hunters. Although there is no hunting where we hike, I know that the rules aren't always followed, there was fresh blood trail yesterday, I can't wait until the hunting season is over so I can stop worrying about Petey or I being accidentally shot. Upon seeing the white flags of the deer all running, Petey looked right at me as if asking....what do I do? I told him to COME which he did immediately. He has come a long way with his off lead recall. We then continued up the trail, Petey just glancing at the direction the deer ran. We continued on to do a loop around the fields, immediately upon coming out of the woods there were two women who had three dogs, all on lead, Petey again looked at me for direction, I told him leave it, and pointed where we were going, he happily ran ahead with out a moments hesitation. I didn't recognize the women or the dogs, so we steer clear of unknown dogs now. Petey has had too many run ins with aggressive males. There weren't too many birds out today, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Chickadees, W.B. Nuthatches, half a dozen Horned Lark, Goldfinch,Canada Geese, a lone gull and a Turkey Vulture. We scared up another doe at the very end of our outing, Petey again looked at me and then looked back at the deer, and did not take chase. I am very happy with him today!
For some reason I always end up wanting to own multiple dogs, I'm not sure why this is. On one hand I feel like Petey would be very happy with having the companionship of another dog, but on the other hand...he wouldn't be able to go as many places with me. After only two years our relationship is getting to a really wonderful point, all that I have ever hoped for and more. He is my favorite dog of all. It's almost as if he can read my mind and knows what I want him to do. There were only two other dogs in my life that I felt could do that too. One was Khan, who was my first dog after leaving home. He was a G.S. Wolf cross. I gave him to myself for my 20th birthday. The other was Uno, a Weimaraner. During the time I had both of those dogs, I also had second and third dogs after having them for about 3 years. Once another dog was in the picture, it changed the relationship. I have to try and remember this every time I start cruising Petfinder.com! Having one dog is really nice, the only down side is when they die, it is devastating to not have another to help you through the loss.
Off to go and do a little decorating for Yule!
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