Severed Heads

It seems as though I have underestimated this Halloween business. It's huge over here and, unlike the UK, it is really nice. Lots of the houses in the neighbourhood have been decorated with lights and witches and cats and spiders and all sorts of ghostly things. I was walking down the street last night, just minding my own business, sniffing away, having a tinkle here and there, I poked my head into some bushes and nearly jumped out of my fur. Nestled next to a tombstone were two severed heads! OK so on closer inspection they were plastic but they didn't half get my pulse racing. I love the scarecrows and the smell of pumpkins is just divine.

Rude interruption

My dinner was rudely interrupted this evening with the arrival of three fire trucks at my apartment building. It was very exciting but boy do they make a racket. I guess it's just one of the downsides of living in wooden buildings.

Cooling off

I only managed to get my paws wet because I'm a law abiding dog and had to stay on my lead.

Ben the explorer

Autumn, or fall as they say out here, is just around the corner and the temperatures have taken a tumble. It was beautiful today: clear blue sky, a perfect 22oC, excellent exploring weather. We took a trip inside the beltway to Falls Creek State Park in Virginia. It was doggie utopia; so many smells, so many dogs. I exchanged a lot of business cards! I got some treats from the human of a Chihuahua called Buddy. He's one lucky dog, his human has started her own doggie treats business. I must say they were very good indeed. I can't say I'm a great fan of really small dogs, for one thing I've got to bend down such a long way to sniff their butts. I've eaten things bigger than him. Have a look at the pictures of me with Buddy and exploring the woods.

Death in the family

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the death of one of my nearest and dearest toys. After nearly two years of loyal service my Christmas reindeer tug toy has finally departed this world for the great garbage bin in the sky (a landfill site somewhere near DC). Thankfully the end was swift and relatively painless for the little guy and, to be honest, excellent fun. He still squeaks though. Roody you will be sadly missed.

Believe it or not

They have halloween costumes for dogs! I nearly got thrown out of the pet store for laughing at the costumes. I can't believe it. There was one poor dog who's owner kept trying different outfits on him. My personal favourite is the bumble bee or maybe the devil. They even have outfits for cats. Now that I have to see. I would love to see an owner trying to dress their cat up. Even the 'model' looks p***d off and he's getting paid for the photo shoot.

Fun run

I'm sitting out on my balcony watching the annual Kentlands 5K race. Ok, so it was a bit of any early start for me on a Saturday as they started setting up for the run at 6am right outside the apartment. The whooping and a hollerin' is starting to get on my nerves now, especially the cheerleaders who have been chanting the same phrase for the past 30 minutes - "Let's go runners, let's go!" You've got to admire their enthusiasm but not when they are right below your balcony.

They must have heard me, they've changed their chant - "Let's go walkers, let's go!" I'm guessing these are the stragglers. Good on 'em for finishing. Clearly, 5K is nothing for a supreme athlete like me, it's my human who would probably die trying to run, and as I have to stay on a lead, I couldn't take part.

Vacation

What do you think to the new look? I've just got back from a weeks holiday and I'm knackered. It was my first time in kennels and between you and me I wasn't really looking forward to it but I had a brilliant time. It was way out in the country, near a creek where we went paddling every day. I've made some new friends both doggie and human. My bestest kennel friend was the owners Bijon Frise, he knew I was a bit nervous so looked out for me. And it's always good to make friends with the bosses dog.

I had a bath, brush and my nails done this afternoon so I smell like a puffy toy dog - I really need to find some fox poo to roll in tomorrow and get my manly doggie smell back. I'm not sure I like the new look neckerchief they gave me at the kennel. It's nice and cooling when hot but I think I'm a bit old for that trendy look.

Tornado warning

I'm not joking, watch the video. I was all settled for the evening in front of the TV when the program was interrupted by a tornado warning. The announcer advised us to go to our basement or an internal room, so I'm hiding out in the bathroom with my human who, to be honest, looks as scared as I feel.

It's absolutely belting down with rain and the thunder is amazingly loud, maybe because it is being amplified by the toilet or something. Either way, I'm really not enjoying myself at the moment and the forecast for tomorrow is more storms.

Watch the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

Capital Dog

I spent the day in Washington DC and boy do my paws ache now. It was really hot, not good weather for a black dog to be a tourist. The pond in the middle of the World War II memorial was so inviting but it would have been disrespectful to dive in and do a couple of laps.

I walked the length of the National Mall stopping at every tree and fire hydrant within lead reach. I wasn't allowed to cock my leg against the Washington monument, the Lincoln memorial or the war memorials (not that I would of course). The World War II and Vietnam memorials were very sobering. It doesn't show up very well on the photos but the 'field of stars' wall contains 4000 gold stars, each one presenting 100 soldiers who died during WWII, that's 400,000! The Vietnam memorial is totally different. It's a sweeping granite wall with the name of every solder killed or missing in action engraved on it: 58, 261 soldiers.

I went by the White House to see if Bo was home. He's the Obamas four legged friend. There was no sign of him though, not even a forgotten poo on the lawn. I tried woofing for him but he clearly doesn't understand an English bark. The secret service guys weren't too impressed though.

Enjoy the photo's.

I like driving in my car

Well I don't actually but it's a necessary evil to get me to nice places.  How does driving in the US compare to the UK?  For one the car I've got is huge.  I have to bark extra loud so I can be heard in the front.  There are a lot of cars here and the roads are massive.  It looks a lot easier to drive here than back home.  All my human has to do is move a stick in the middle of the car backwards and put her foot on a little peddle on the floor and off we go.  To slow down she pushes the big peddle next to the little one.  It's so easy I don't know why she doesn't have a car like that at home instead of all this flapping about using 3 peddles and moving the middle stick backwards and forwards every few seconds. Seem a bit of a faff to me. 

Honey, I've Shrunk The Dog!

Is it the weekend already?  Or maybe it's my birthday.  I went to the dog park tonight, which is unheard of on a school night.  Between you and me it's a bit of night off for my human.  All she has to do is sit there and pet the other dogs while I run around exchanging business cards with all the other dogs.  She really needs to take some treats with her though.  It's embarrassing begging for treats from other humans when they are handing them out to their dogs.

There was this tinny little dog that looked like a Doberman that had shrunk in the wash.  I don't think he realized he was 12 inches tall because he acted like the full size variety, all bold and confident strutting around the compound.  He was a perfect match for his human, she was tiny.  She couldn't have weighed more than 7 stones when soaking wet.  Guess what car a shrunken Doberman and a tiny lady drive.... a Hummer!  Yes, a huge great hummer, more at home in the Iraqi desert than the parking lot in a state park.  It was so big shrunken Doberman had to be lifted in the back.

Coolest dog of the evening was a white Great Pyrenees.  He arrived in the back of a pick up truck.  Actually stood up on the bed of the truck - how cool is that?  He'd been to the grooming parlor for a severe hair cut.  For a dog that is bred to survive in subzero temperatures 35oC was proving a bit too much for the big guy.  I wish I'd taken a video camera with me - a classic Pets do the funniest things clip when the shrunken Doberman tried to mount the Great Pyrenees.  Absolutely hilarious!