In the dog house

Literally. Both of them. And just when I was just starting think we might keep ya.
Been a long week. Seemed like two weeks crammed into one. I am back testing the system like we did about 5 months ago. Seems that we are going to bring our Europe site on line in May and need to repeat all of our tests again. And I still have my normal chores to do.

Looking forward to a nice weekend off.

Woke up late (for me) this morning (0600). Took dogs for walk, fixed coffee, had some oatmeal, sat down to catch up on the antics of my favorite bloggers. At some point, I heard the distinctive sound of falling water coming from the foyer. Ever since the new girl has arrived, there has been 2 "accidents" in the house that I attributed to her (she was in heat, she was new to the program), so I have been a bit forgiving. However, this morning, when I heard that "sound", I knew Claire was in the chair in our bedroom, so that left only one guilty culprit. Sprinted to the front hall to catch the perp in the act and, to put it mildly, I was not happy. Grayson knew he messed up big time and has been hanging his head (& tail) in shame all day. Now, before you picturing me wailing the tar out of the dog, let me clarify something. I may speak harshly and express my intense displeasure and use more than a few colorful adjectives, I have never, ever struck any dog. No frickin way. Takes a pretty small/pitiful person to beat on a dog or cat. I am no patron saint for animals, but I have zero tolerance for people who abuse animals. That said, I was highly unhappy with Mr Grayson when he had his accident. Not sure if he is feeling insecure with the new house guest or had drank too much aqua after our walk, but I am trying to nip this new habit in the bud. I spent an hour with the throw rug in the shower trying to rinse it out. It is sitting in my garage now drying out.

I went out to get some new supplies and a new tandem collar for the dogs and came back later to unload the truck. Now Grayson I can trust not to run off, but as I was unloading the truck, Claire rounded the truck and took off down the street for a guy and his son playing catch. I took off after her. Of course Grayson, not wanting to be left out of the fun, took off after her and, once I had caught Claire, he kept on going down the block to the next neighbor & her dog. Here I am with no leashes and two free range dogs loose on the world. I was more worried about them getting run over than anything else. Finally collared both and drug them back to the house with lots of chastisement and scolding. Both dogs looked like they were going to be hit (not by me), but was able to muscle them into the house. Needless to say, daddy was not happy with the both of them. Grayson has run off to the bedroom to hide with mommy and Claire has put on her most pitiful (I'm sorry) look. I have rebuked her and told her that was not acceptable behavior. Goldens Retrievers are consummate social dogs and always look for love and attention and the worst kind of punishment you can do for a Golden is to ignore them. I made her feel guilty for a while before finally scratching her head. Grayson is still feeling guilty, but he is starting to get over it. I need to work on training both and, until I can trust them in an open setting, I will keep a tighter reign on them.



BTW - the parental unit celebrated her 87th birthday in, of all places, Hawaii on Thursday. Mom & dad are down on Kauai with my brother, his wife and nephew and wife. I arranged for a local company to ship her a genuine Hawaiian shirt to her on a layover from their cruise before they headed off to Kauai. I only hope I am as active as my parents are when I am that old.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Remember, you made me what I am today

(so it's all your fault!)