Susanna Carr Blog » Jake

Adventures with Jake

Susanna — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:38:52 +0000

Every day I take Jake, my Golden Retriever, to the off-leash dog park. He loves this place and has to meet and greet every person and dog in the 40-acre park. Some days the walk is very peaceful. Other days, such as today, are very challenging.

Like when Jake gets caught in brambles and I have to pull the thorny branches off him. My hands are still stinging.

Or when he finds the biggest mud puddle and loves it so much he decides to eat from it. By the time I get to him, my boots are squishing with mud and may never recover.

Or when he runs after a duck and jumps into the smelly river. Fortunately the duck was faster.

By the time I get to the parking lot, Jake is not only wet and muddy, but he has grass stains on his forehead. I’m not sure how he managed that. And he still expects people to pet him. Strangely enough, they do!

So after this 45 minute walk, I’m exhausted and trying to gather the energy to take him to the self-service dog wash across the parking lot. And Jake? He’s wagging his tail like he’s having a grand ol’ time. I swear he’s smiling.

It’s days like these when I think the leash is the best invention ever.

Embarrassing My Dog

Susanna — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:33:35 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I have to show you what I gave my Golden Retriever for a gift. And before you think I’m weird for including my dog on my gift list, you have to understand that the first year I didn’t give him anything and he knew he was being left out. Ever got the evil eye from a Golden Retriever? It is designed to make you feel guilty. For. The. Rest. Of. Your. Life.

Anyway, this year it snowed a lot and Jake was getting snow and ice packed in his paws and between his toes. It took a long time to clean out the ice chunks and we would have to stop several times during our walks because it made him too uncomfortable. So I got him these:

Isn’t he adorable? He doesn’t think so. He thinks he looks dorky. It doesn’t help that many people would stop and ask what the hell was on my dog’s feet. Or laugh. Or both. Fortunately there were just as many people asking where I got the boots because they were having the same problems with their dogs.

Getting the boots on was not an easy task. Keeping them on made the walks twice as long! I’m sooo glad that snow has finally melted!