Never Too Cold To Swim

It was supposed to be a weekend spent on yard work and house cleaning, but like most other weekends it was also filled with dog-related activities.

The Japanese Beetle grubs did a real number on my back yard last summer, leaving large bare patches that were quickly overwhelmed by the clover that is always waiting to move in. The yard has also been invaded by large clumps of some kind of coarse grass that I've been killing and digging. This weekend I finished up the recovery work, fertilized, and planted new grass seed.  Fall is supposed to be a good time for reseeding, but obviously Mother Nature will need some help with the watering as the drought continues.    Next year I'll be on top of the grub control, now that I have identified the enemy.  My yard looked SO good last spring, until the beetles began to eat the grass roots and kill off large patches of lawn.

On Saturday I went over to take a look at Louis, who was Lucas in the Argus/Reebok litter that it now 14 months old.  I sold him to a pet home with the agreement I could show him if I wished, as he was such a handsome pup.  He's now a very handsome adult dog and could certainly be shown and win, but like his sister Letty he has "tail issues".  Unlike Letty who just carries her high, he also has a funny corkscrew twist to his.  Their mom has a new litter this fall (no not here - I leased her last year), and we'll be curious to see if the tails are so weird this time.  With entries so low in this area, it's hard to find points, and as a State Employee I continue to lose purchasing power because raises are non-existent.  Money is going to be tight around here next year, so we'll be showing no extra dogs or doing unnecessary dog show trips.  Louis is a much loved pet and it looks as if that will be his career - keeping his family entertained.  I got a cute video of him doing tricks that I will post later.

This was Fernly's weekend to swim.  The weather was a bit chilly but that did not slow her down a bit.  On Saturday she & Argus went down to Hidden Falls Park on the Mississippi where she splashed in the shallows, bravely ventured out over her head, came up splashing and swimming, and decided it was FUN.  There was cold wind blowing, so we did not stay too long as Fern was shaking with the cold, but insisted on going back into the water.  On Sunday we went to Lake Como and got a chance to play in shallower water where Fern learned to retrieve sticks.  Had hoped to stay there for awhile but it's hard to find a time when other people and dogs are not intruding in our space.  Fern's definitely going to be a "water dog".  Argus is more of a splasher, and does not understand the need to retrieve more than one or two sticks.  Fern acts more like many of the older Paisley Dals who loved the water and would retrieve sticks from the water forever.  Hopefully it will be warm enough for a few more water adventures this fall.

Fern's socializing is going well, although yesterday she decided that the vacuum cleaner is actually a monster that wants to eat her. She's never been very comfortable around the vac, but this reaction was stronger.  We'll have to do some desensitization, to convince her that "vacuums are our friends".  Stay tuned.