Okay...I know this is supposed to be a blog about the dogs, but I absolutely CANNOT RESIST posting this. The fact that it made me laugh to the point of tears leaves me no choice but to share the entertainment value of this video. As mentioned to my bro, I think one of the primary reasons this thing made me laugh so hard is because I could see our dumb-dumb cat doing something equally as elegant. Enjoy!
We have (or had) a dog that stinks...bad. Ty and I were standing in the kitchen on Monday night going "what's that smell???". "I think it's Wally...," was Ty's response. He began sniffing at Wally's fur, which was oddly quite the role reversal - usually they sniff us. "Yep...it's him," Ty declared. I replied with "No way! Can't be." I leaned down to contribute to this sniff-fest. Huh, I thought - not bad enough to stink up the kitchen, but certainly not delightful. Right then and there we decided that Wally needed a bath.
You see...we forget that Wally doesn't swim (yeah...he regularly displays some pretty wimpy behavior when faced with the prospect of becoming FULLY SUBMERGED in a large body of water). Hunter, on the other hand, is in the water almost daily. Thus, eliminating the need to bathe him very often if at all. As a result, we've carried over this aloofness towards bathing to Wally. In a way, you could say we deserved what we got. A stinky dog.
So...last night it was time to do the deed. Ty and I debated the best place to rinse the stinker out...the bathtub or outside. Outside would save on cleanup, but the bathtub would confine him to the bathroom and give him minimal places to run. But...given just how dirty he was, we decided that cleanup would not be fun and we both envisioned splatters of dirt-laden water being sprayed across our bathroom walls with each of Wally's inevitable shakes of the body. An outside bath won out this time.
To avoid the "run away" syndrome that both Hunter and Wally exhibit when approached with a hose, I strapped Wally to my body with a leash around my waist and the other end attached to his collar. I must say, it worked pretty well. As predicted, he lunged away from me at the sight of running water, but I was able to reign him in pretty quickly. He submitted, with his head between my legs, to the "torture" that ensued. I wet him down and began to scrub. He shook the suds off pretty often, so my decision to bathe him outside was confirmed as a good choice quite quickly. Once I was done with the suds, I began the final rinse...again with his head hiding between my legs. And then...he was all done and I released him from his confinement. The second that leash was unclasped, he charged around the yard...shaking the water from his scrawny little body after every few steps. He looked at me from a distance with a confused look...afraid to come too close for fear it would happen all over again. As though he was saying "what did I do to deserve that!?!?!?!?" I turned to Hunter with hose in hand (Wally was still wandering the yard in recovery mode) and asked "want a bath Hunter?" His ears perked, as though interested. All it took was for me to turn the hose towards him and he bolted. It was pretty funny. Since Hunter had just gone for a swim 20 minutes prior, I let him go unscathed. This time...hee-hee-hee.
BEFORE
Notice how happy he is...at this point, he doesn't know what's coming.
AFTER
The trauma is over and the smile is gone. Poor dog, but lucky us!
I've decided weekends are gonna be tough to keep up on for blogging, so weekdays for sure I'll post something. The weekend was a busy one for us, and kinda boring for the dingo's. I felt bad for them, but we'll make up for it this week and over the weekend.
Ty and I participated in the Glacier Challenge this weekend and had a blast competing as a 2-person team. We had a ton of friends up in Whitefish taking part with larger teams, so in addition to exhausting ourselves while completing each leg of the race on our own, we had so much fun hanging in Riverside park with friends and taking in the beautiful day. My mom and dad came up to help us with all our gear and water/nutritional support and Danni was also there to help keep things in order and make sure we had the equipment we needed when we needed it. We couldn't have done it without Mom, Dad, and Danni, so thanks you guys!!! Shayla and Molly (my parents' dogs) got to make the trek up to Whitefish with us and got TONS of attention from spectators and participants alike. Hunter and Wally stayed home and got lots of rest and long naps ;). I'll post photos from our adventure when I get them from my parents and Danni.
Sunday involved another early morning for me, as I met up with Danni, Callie, and Iris for a 22 mile trek on the cross-country ski trails near Blacktail. It was a beautiful morning to be out. I would have loved to taken the dogs with me, but despite the obvious fact that the distance would have been too much for them, the overwhelming presence of wildlife in this area (Iris and I spotted a COUGAR out here a few weeks ago, amidst bear tracks, bear scat, and a LOT of mountain lion scat!!!), this was no place for the dogs. Maybe for a hike sometime...with leashes!
Ty and I were EXHAUSTED Sunday afternoon, so we took it easy. Watched movies and lounged. It was great. Ty took Hunter and Wally for a swim and chuck-it session while I was gone in the morning, so they did get some fun over the weekend. Ty had to sacrifice his body to the mosquito-fest in our park nearby so Hunter could swim, but I know it sure meant a lot to Hunter and he appreciated it immensely.
I took today off from work. I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck after the weekend I'd had, so I decided a sick-day was in order. Hunter and Wally snuggled in with me for a long snooze. I must have been tired...slept from 8:00 until 1:30, with a short moment of awakeness around 11:40 when I had to let our very own cougar in from outside (he was howling at the front door as though he'd been out there for days...without food or water. In reality, it had only been 3 hours.) At this point, Wally needed to go outside, so I traded Wally for Rosco as a snuggle-buddy on the bed. Hunter was in it for the long haul and probably could have happily slept until 5:00, or so, had I been up for the challenge.
I hit up the Humane Society for my hour of volunteering on Mondays. The dogs gave me the usual sniff-down when I got home. I think they feel as though I've been cheating on them. Today I helped with cats, so the "you're a traitor" sniff wasn't quite as intense as it usually is.
Ty and I went to see the movie Wanted tonight and had a glorious dinner consisting of movie theater popcorn, Reese's Pieces, and Junior Mints. When we got home we were beat and went straight up to bed. Hunter looked at us like "hey...you just got home...it's time to go to bed already????". I know...sorry Hunter...I'll do better tomorrow. A lunch-time run of 4 miles will be in order with the pups. And I'm pretty sure Hunter will get some swim time. I'll be a better mama real soon, dingos!!!!
...we were basking in the sun at a gorgeous lake cabin on Hayden Lake. Ah...I miss it. I'm pretty sure the dogs do too. We arrived early Friday with some of our best college friends. Friday afternoon involved boating, wake-boarding, and tubing. Friday night was an awesome display of fireworks that would probably put most small-town displays to shame. Saturday was more lazy and we mostly relaxed and swam. The dogs also got a turn at swimming and in Hunter's case - dock diving. He's nothing close to the dock divers you see on ESPN, but it's still fun to watch him launch himself in the water after his tennis ball. Wally was a big sissy all weekend and didn't get into the water once on his own. He wanted to soooo badly, but would chicken out every single time. He did get a few nudges from bystanders that sent him flying off the dock, but I think it did more to ease our pain from watching him lean towards the water repeatedly - in a stance that makes you say out loud "just DO IT already" - vs. doing any good in helping Wally realize he can swim and it's okay for him to get in the water. If anything, we probably scarred the little dude. Oh well, it was still fun ;). Sunday we headed home pretty early and made it back in time to get settled into being home again before the week began. Here are a few photos from the weekend. Can we do it again? Pleazzzzzzzz!!!!
This is the tram that takes you to the lake-front.
Happy to be here!!!
What's this? They're not moving?
Sunset view from one of the many decks.
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