Minnesota Guy Meets Hector - Video

Video footage of M-Guy coming out to meet me for the first time.

They Took Away My Tree!!

Hey everyone...The Inspector here! I've just been trying not to freeze my tail off here in Minnesota. I need to figure out how to get M-guy and M-gal to move. It's so cold here a few weeks ago they even brought a tree inside to keep alive. It was even one of those trees that live through the winter for crying out loud. When they brought it inside, M-guy was watching me closely like I was going to do something to the tree....not sure what that would be though. Sniffing it made me want to pee, so I unfortunately had to take a break and head outside to color some of the snow. M-guy told me I was a very good boy. Not sure why the big fuss since I always go outside to go pee. Anyway, I got to go back in after that and investigate the tree some more to figure out what they didn't want me to do to it. The green pointy things smelled good, so I took a little taste. That must have been what he didn't want me to do because he opened my mouth, reached down my throat and pulled out all the skinny green things I snagged off the tree. They tasted so good though, I just couldn't help myself from trying again and again and again. They caught me most of the time unfortunately, but I was able to sneak some green goods off the tree here and there.

Then it happened - they went and took the tree away! If I would have known they were going to take it away because I kept eating it, I would have been more discreet. I figured I was golden until it warmed up at least. Don't they know that tree is not going to survive out there?!? I guess I'll have to settle for all these bones and new toys laying around that we got in these big socks that are hanging in the house for Christmas. Oh wait....I saw Santa this year and we hit it off.....maybe he'll get me another tree I can eat.

H

Sliding Glass Doors.....Friend or Foe?

Hmmm.....ya, not much thinking needed on this one. DEFINITE FOE!!! I mean seriously......what kind of crazy person thought this one up?!? Saturday we're over at M-Guy's friends' house and I get to play with their female Pit and big male Rottie. It was a pretty sweet set up. There was a big opening in the family room to lead out onto the deck, which then went down to the yard with stairs you barely had to use if you didn't want to. Of course I chose not to. We got to play chase a bunch of times and could bring toys and stuff in and out of the house. I got the other two dogs riled up and into a good wrestling match, and of course being the good dog that I am thought we should take this rough housing outside to appease the humans. I spring free from the other two to have them chase me outside when WHAM!!! This invisible force later described as the "sliding glass door" was put in place so the humans could turn on the "air conditioning". This sliding glass door thing is just wrong. I'm all for running into things, walls included, but there's a technique to it. Full speed, face first because you can't see it coming is not it. The only thing I haven't figure out is who is more insane - the person who invented this messed up object or the people crazy enough to buy them and put them in their houses.
H

Walls.......hmmmm.......

Okay, so for the most part they are good things. I can usually bounce off them to help me get to where I want to go. The best thing about walls is that it's so much easier to just let them stop you, instead of having to expend all that energy to stop yourself. When you run at them, they don't move and stop you dead in your tracks. It's awesome! Much more stable of a stopping device than M-Guy's legs.
The one downside is that I think they are built similar to the stairs in some way. Much like how the stairs are not stationary, the end of the walls called "corners" are not so stationary either. It seems to happen most when I turn around, but the corners randomly shoot out and extend themselves to make openings smaller than the first time I passed by. Not a huge deal until you turn around right as they shoot out into your face. Man does that sting. So my lesson for today when it comes to walls - Aim for the center!

H

Me too!! Me Too!!

I couldn't let my friends out in Cali have all the fun, so I made sure M-Guy knew I was ready for that Good Canine Something-Or-Other test by helping M-Gal around the house while he was in Colorado with Wallace and Ajax. I made sure that she knew where one of her socks was by going and snatching it out of the laundry basket. Then I made sure her sandals looked extra clean with a Hector Special Spit Shine. The rug going into the laundry room really needed a beating to get the dust out of there as well. Then I cleaned one of the windows, but that was a little tricky because I had to get up on the desk to reach it. M-Gal kept stopping me from doing all these things like I wouldn't do a good enough job. She had dumped brand new toys all over the place that she wanted me to play with, but I didn't want to play. I had to prove I could be a Good Doggie Citizen thing like all my buddies back in Cali. I was able to do one thing before she stopped me though. The big plant in the corner really needed watering, so I was able to get it free from its pot and bring it to her to make sure she was aware of the necessary attention that the plant needed. After that I got dinner in my crate for a hard day of house chores, and she called M-Guy to tell him all the things I did to help her around the house. M-Guy must have been pretty impressed, because he got back from Colorado and finally took me to take that test. He said I was a very good boy, and that I passed!! Well duh, I'm sure once they heard about all the stuff I did around the house to help M-Gal out, the rest were just details. I got a big rawhide when I got home. It was good. Hey M-Guy.......you haven't unpacked your suitcase from Colorado yet. Let me help you with that...........

H

Stairs......hmmmmm........

Is it just me, or do stairs just appear to be still objects? Minnesota Guy and Minnesota Gal always sigh and shake their head whenever I run up the stairs with comments like "Doesn't that hurt?" or "You need to learn how to climb stairs instead of ricochet up them." Whatever! I know how to climb stairs. Who doesn't know how to climb stairs? Not me, that's for sure! What do they expect when the stairs are always moving out from underneath me with no warning?!? At least when I go down them, I can avoid them all together by launching myself from the landing, and striking a sweet pose during my hang time. Yeah Baby!

H

Rise and Shine!

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP - Annoying? Yep, I thought so, too. Especially way too early in the morning after my first night with this Minnesota guy. I sure hope they get more sleep than this on average here in Minnesota. Of course it seems that when they're not sleeping here, they are driving somewhere, and that lets me get some extra snooze time, so maybe this will work out nicely after all. We headed to something called a disc dog competition. Lots of people kept coming over to see me, which is no surprise.......I mean look at me - Who wouldn't want to spend time with an adonis like myself. Only one real pet peeve from the day. Minnesota Guy kept putting stuff up to have my kennel in the shade. But don't worry ladies, he wasn't very good at it and always had a little bit of sun shining in part of my kennel for me to curl up in and catch some rays. Seriously, how does he expect me to keep my bronze god of a body if he doesn't let me soak up the sun? Hellooooooo.....?!? Anyway, it was a fun day. Lots of people rubbed my chest and told me how sweet I was. I met a couple of nice doggie friends, too. They were disc dogs in the competition, but were super nice to me even though I wasn't competing. Not really sure I get this whole disc dog thing. It seems like a lot of work, but at least it's a nice bunch of folks to hang out with. I'm hungry. Hey Minnesota Guy - Where's my food?!

H