Fuzzy Mermaid

A couple of days ago my girl told Stella & I to pack ourselves into the GoobMobile for a little ride.

We LOVE going mobile.

Stella even agreed to be the navigational co-pilot.

We hadn't been to this particular dog park since last October, so I wasted no time getting reacquainted with all of the amenities. The spa facilities are fabulous.

Come ON, Stella! We'll hike the perimeter then I'll show you the swimmin' hole!





Uh... listen, Stella. Since you can't be trusted and are tethered to the girl...






I'll just go ahead to scout things out.












Once we got to the pond, Stella jumped right in.








She's always been a big fan of water, but we'd never had her in water over her head before.






As a side note, doesn't it look like someone deflated her usually fluffy back legs?

She watched me splash around for a couple of minutes...

then decided to briefly test drive the deep water.

From that point on she was a SWIMMIN' FOOL!

I watched my fuzzy mermaid of a sissy try to drag our girl (who was holding on to Stella's 15 foot leash) out to sea and across the pond. Too bad our girl doesn't trust Stella to come when she's called. Given the freedom, that little ball of merfuzz would have been across the lake and back several times!

After our swim we headed up toward the main gates to see who else was parkin' it, and Stella met this sweet elderlab.

Stella and I hung out with the lab pups for a few minutes, until something a little disturbing happened. There was an older man close by who had another lab (not pictured) with him. I was hoping for a little playtime with her, and when she growled at me I started playing with her like I do with Stella. I used my usual strategy of keeping my booty and the rest of my body between her head and my head, talkin' trash and being loud. Before I knew it, the guy who owned the lab girl started screaming at my girl and then kicked me a few times in the ribs. I thought he wanted in on the wrasslin' action until my girl came over and took me by the collar and stepped back from the lab. My girl was confused and so was I.

We were just going to walk away until the lab owner yelled some HBO words at my girl and then said that he'd seen me out at the park a few weeks before and that I ALWAYS attack other dogs. My girl asked if his dog was okay and mentioned that we had not been out at that park for several months and that my mouth had been nowhere near his dog, and the lady who was with him kept saying, "He was biting her all over! He was BITING her!" (The few times I have put my mouth on another dog my girl has gone out of her way to apologize and take responsibility for the fact that it's her fault, not mine. But this was not that kind of situation.)

Well, my girl could tell there was no reasoning with these people and would have walked away and left it at that (even though this guy was maligning my character and Stella was now talkin' trash at him for all she was worth), until the guy called her another HBO word and told her that she needed to learn how to keep me under control and that I was going to get someone killed. He was walking away from her as he yelled all of these things, and my girl (who NEVER goes off on people in public) lost it. She told the guy that if he was going to be an ASS, then maybe HE should take his dog and go home. The guy then flipped her the bird, to which she replied, "VERY mature, grandpa," and walked away. (As another side note, we did notice a police vehicle pull up a few minutes after the exchange, but we were already hiking back around the park by then. There was noone waiting to talk to us when we went to the parking lot to leave so we figured that was that.)

Even though I could tell my girl and Stella were both keyed up, I was blissfully unaffected!

Stay cool,

Stanley

Pee S from my girl...

This is Stanley's girl. I do not advocate getting into an argument with ANYone in public for something so ridiculous as being called a name or because someone falsely accused my dog of something. There are some other things in my life right now that have me angry, I have been ignoring that anger, and this is an example of how misplaced anger can bubble up at an inappropriate time. The whole situation is too absurd to even be embarrassed about, but at least I've tapped into the anger and am starting to deal with it. I'm just glad the guy who kicked Stanley kicks like a wimp, and that Stanley wasn't hurt. If Stella spoke English I think all of our ears would have been burning, though. You should have HEARD her telling off that guy. Whew!

Putter, I Borrowed Something

Yesterday I borrowed something (actually somedog) of Putter's to enjoy at the park. This is who I borrowed. He may be my buddy, but Hercules is Putter's boyfriend. (He's a whiz with the camera ~ notice the Hercules double-shot ~ a great face shot combined with the fetching booty shot?)

Hey, I hadn't seen my bud for a couple of months and it was time for a pow wow.

Ever camera conscious, I was not as intent on our trek through the park as Herc was.

It was kind of a weird day. It was 56 degrees, warm in the sun, but cold when the wind blew. And, there was still snow on the ground.

We kept an eye out for interesting sites along the way.

And, we waited patiently when Herc's hooman sissy, who has yet to be born, forced his mama to find an appropriate place to get some relief.

Even though we had to stay on our leashes, Herc kept trying to mix things up with me! (Bring it ON, goober boy)!

Now, my girl is a little Herc crazy, and I don't have trouble mentioning that Herc's mama is a little Stanley crazed, but I willingly give my love to Herc's mama. (She likes my goober hugs best). Herc on the other hand, plays hard to get with my girl. Then, when she least expects it, he comes in for the smooch. Closer...

Closer....

Then he licked my girl right in the mouth (which was open at the time he came in for the smooch)... right after he partook of some lovely deer poo along the trail.

Putter Gurrl, I'm sure that as much as Herc & I enjoyed each other's company, he would have LOVED to have you along for the fun! Thanks for letting me borrow YOUR boy. (I may be borrowing him again sometime soon).

Goober love,

Stanley

Foster Sister For One Day

My girl went out of town yesterday. Usually I go along for the ride and to be her navigational co-pilot, but I didn't get invited. She knows I'm not the kind of guy who loves staying at home to catch up on my lounging or for special alone time with Merv. So, I thought she'd feel sorry for me and bring me back a little something to make it up to me. She did. She brought me this sweet Airepup.

Her given name is Ariel, but she doesn't really answer to it. So, I'm calling her Gertrude for now ~ Gertie for short. She's nine months old and my girl picked her up for Airedale Rescue. It seems her hoomans didn't know how to treat her ~ her dad beat on her & yelled a lot. Her mom wanted to make sure she found a better home before her dad really hurt her. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Who could ever raise a hand to this Sweetpea!!??

When she got to my house, we did our little AireDance around each other, exchanging greetings and introducing ourselves.





Gertie was not a bit shy with me, though she took awhile to warm up to any hoomans who were around.











Best of all, she didn't waste anytime getting right down to WRASSLIN'. My kinda girl!

I heard my girl say Gertie liked to swim, and did that every day at her first home. So I set up my pool and tested it out before inviting her in for a dip.

Wait a minute. Was there another Dale here or was I just imagining it? (I got a little carried away with cooling myself down. Where'd Gertie go?)

After swimming together for awhile, we repaired indoors to investigate the WRASSLIN' possibilites there. I had to give her a rundown of the house rules first. Basically, it's MY HOUSE, and I RULE. Other than that, we're pretty easy around here.

Today we met Hercules out at the dog park. He took a real shine to Gertie. I think the feeling was mutual. (That's Herc in prime humping position).

We also made a new pupfriend. This is Nero, a Bouvier des Flandres who just moved here from Quebec.

We all took turns wrassling him, but it was Herc & Gertie who really tore up the park with their wrasslin' prowess. Watch for Herc's signature move & see if you can guess what it is.

After parkin' it with Herc, we came home, had a bath each, then resumed our wrasslin'.

I've gotta tell ya, this girl Gertie is pooping me OUT!

Love,

Stanley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Update~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

My good buddy, Lady Bug, and her family are going to adopt Gertie!!! Lady's mama went with my girl yesterday to pick Gertie up. She loves Lady, but is not as crazy as my girl is in the way she expresses that love. As soon as she met Gertie though, something just clicked inside her and she started talking puppy talk to her. Gertie felt at home with Lady's mama before she even felt comfortable with my girl. So, after consulting with Lady and the hooman pups in the house, it was an unanimous decision!!

WooHoo!! Hercules gets to keep his girlfriend close, and I get another buddy to play with here in GooberStan!!

Flying Solo

Could you resist this face? (That's right. I'm actually biting the hand that fees me ~ try to ignore that little fact and concentrate the FACE).

Well, apparently several people and doggies CAN resist this face, and DID resist this face (and the dog that goes with it) two different times when I went to the dogpark this weekend. I've never had trouble like this before. It didn't matter what dog I approached ~ male, female, large, small ~ no takers! I think I'm rather fetching, but watch this pathetic video if you want proof of my resist-ability.

I took a shine to this little white puff dog. He wasn't interested either, not even after I put the royal paw mark on him. (He was a pristine white color when he arrived at the park ~ I thought that was just WRONG).

I contemplated retreating into my alter ego, the Loch Ness Goober, but that seemed an even lonelier route to take. (Notice how shadowy the park became as the Loch Ness Goob emerged...)

So I left the watery lair of the LN Goob and went on a hike around the park trails with my girl. At least I knew she wanted to be with me. Notice how when I came to her I went between her legs? That's a sure sign I'm feeling a little needy.

As we were heading for the gate to leave I spotted some terrier-looking folk. Upon closer investigation I found not 1, but 3 terrier brothers just waiting to be noticed ~ a Giant Schnauzer named Baron, and his 2 mini schnauzer brothers. Baron just had surgery to remove one of his front legs about 6 weeks ago (he has cancer). You'd never know it. He was running and playing like there was no tomorrow. His 2 little brothers were cool, but one of them does NOT like to have his booty sniffed. I found that out the hard way.

Anyway, my girl just parked herself next to the schnauzers and gave 2 of them Atomic Booty Scratches while I played with the 3rd one, then they'd all switch. It worked until it was too dark to play anymore. (Due to the frequency and ferocity of the Atomic Booty Scratches, my camera person was unable to capture any of this on film).

Whatcha gonna do? Good help is hard to find sometimes.

All in all, I still had a good time flying solo at the park, but I'd have to say the Fun Factor increased exponentially when I was able to add a few friends to the mix.

Goober love,

Stanley

Ollie Ollie Ollie Get Your Sheepdog Here

This is Herc's cousin Oliver, the Old English Sheep Dog. (I like to call him Ollie).

He joined us at the park yesterday, so of course I had to have a welcoming wrassle with him.

Not wanting to stop at mere wrassling, I went for the head hump.

Obviously, I missed when Ollie employed his counter move. (That's Ollie's mom overseeing the humping action).

I was distracted from my humping endeavors when this big hooman boy brought out his soccer ball. The game was ON!!

He wasn't bad... for a hooman boy. A worthy opponent...

Of course, the better player ended up with the game ball.

We tried to negotiate Herc out of keeping this toy away from us.

Eventually everydog had to take a breather.

I love Herc! He has no problem expressing his love for his cuz!!!

We ended our outing with two of my favorite things...

Shameless begging for eatables (from a stranger), and...

...an athletic booty scratch from a devoted fan (Herc's mom ~ she LOVES me).

Feeling better and having a BLAST,
Stanley

Pee Ess

Lest you think I'm crazy, let me tell you that you are not seeing double. Oliver's mama and Herc's mama look alike because they are identical twinkie dinks! Fun, huh?