kitties, squirrels & bunnies...oh my!

Well, Gus was supposed to do Guest Blog Thursday today. However that's not gonna happen.
Here's the story.

I'd say it all started last night. The air was thick with humidity, lightning was all around us. Rain was going to come down any minute. Gus & I were outside with Momma. She wanted us to do our nightly business before the rain came. Naturally, I got mine out of the way lickety split and ran in and got a treat from Daddy. Not sure why Gus doesn't do it this way as treats are great, but for whatever reason he doesn't and last night was no exception. He stayed outside watching, listening, waiting. You could feel the tension in the air. Although Gus was lying down he was still on edge. His nose was stuck between the pickets of the fence. He was watching, waiting, listening. Something was out there............maybe (Gus does this all the time so who knows if anything was actually out there). It was going to rain any second. Lightning was everywhere. Momma called Gus to come in. I could tell he didn't want to and prepared myself to not get a party time...... but Gus surprised us all and came in..... so Party time! We got frozen banana - sure was good. Let me explain "party time". This happens when we listen to Momma or Daddy right away when we are actually much more interested in something else. The actual treat varies but it's always really yummy!

The rain started shortly after we came in. Lots of lightning and thunder and the rain was really loud too. Happened all night long. Have to say all that noise doesn't allow for a good nights rest. Which is why it all went wrong today.

We were tired and Gus & I weren't sure if we were gonna get our morning walk. It was still raining but only a little bit at this time. But to our surprise Momma & Daddy got out our leashes and outside we went. Rain had stopped now but it sure was wet. I saw it first. Coming around the corner. Gray Kitty.

Gray Kitty doesn't have a home. But our neighbors feed her and she taunts us with her ability to roam freely and still find a meal when she chooses. Momma says our neighbors are good people and that Gus & I shouldn't bark at them - but they feed Gray Kitty - so it seems the term "good people" depends on where you stand as Gray Kitty is our enemy. Especially Gus' and because she's Gus' enemy - then she's mine too. Anyway, back to this morning. Gus saw Gray Kitty seconds after me. As we were on leash we couldn't dart after her and Momma & Daddy quickly distracted us with treats, well me anyway. Since I hadn't had anything to eat since last night I was quite hungry and much more interested in the treat. So I looked at Momma and gave her all my attention. She rewarded me with a treat and quite honestly I forgot all about Gray Kitty. Gus didn't. He pulled toward where Gray Kitty had disappeared around the other house because even though she was out of sight now - we could still smell her. This irritated Gus. He was so close to being able to chase her - yet still couldn't. He pulled against his leash some more. Daddy had to work hard to get his attention. So the walk started on a bad note. Gus & I were both pretty jazzed after that and it's really hard to not pull on the leash. Then came the semi truck.

We were walking our route and Gus had just marked the fire hydrant (I don't know why Gus does this but he likes to water a lot of things). We were approaching the corner and this big orange, noisy truck was just sitting there. Then a school bus arrived at the corner at the same time as us. Gus doesn't like school buses or large trucks although he's come to an acceptance of school buses since they come by several times a day almost every day. But large trucks, semi-trucks, he still doesn't like them. The noise gets him excited and a bit nervous. He doesn't lunge at them like he used to but he still doesn't like them. I asked him why once but he just shook his head and told me to be glad I've had a cushy life and haven't had to live on the streets. That's all he would say.

We walked past the semi truck and the bus moved on. Gus did not like all the noise. I picked up on his nervousness. We both wanted to get to the field. The golden retriever we walk by came out to say hi. She's harmless so she doesn't bother us. But I would like to cross the street and say hi back some day. I think she's impressed with my high step when I walk by. I bet she's a lot of fun. So we continued walking. The streets were noisy with the car tires on the wet pavement. We wanted to get to the field but Momma and Daddy didn't seem too impressed with our urgency as they kept turning around and walking slow at times. They say it's because they don't want us to pull on the leash but they just don't understand all the smells after it rains. All those smells are intoxicating. SO hard to behave because it's sooo exciting.

We made it to the field at last. And there they were. LOTS of squirrels all running around and playing games with each other. Just teasing me & Gus. Well we pretty much lost it at that point. It was so exciting. Gus really, really, really wanted to go after them and kept pulling and pulling and barked a few times. Daddy wasn't very happy with that. Even after the squirrels were out of sight we could still smell them. I know you humans can't smell like we can so I think that leads to some misunderstandings between us dogs and you humans. Daddy was pretty patient with Gus as he was misbehaving quite a lot. Me? I was a complete angel. Uh-oh. Momma says I can't say that because it's not true - but at least I wasn't misbehaving as much as Gus (is that ok to say Momma?). Then came the bunny.

Bunnies are even harder to resist as they run in all different directions but never out of sight! And they have such a bright white tail they are so easy to see - even for humans. Well we were really excited - who could blame us - and the rest of the walk pretty much went the same way. When you're already tired from the energy of the storm keeping us awake last night and then Gray Kitty, semi truck, squirrels and bunnies - it's so hard to be good.

Momma and Daddy weren't too happy with our behavior on the walk and Gus never likes it when Daddy isn't happy with him, so Gus refused to do the blog today. I tell Gus to look on the bright side, all this rain means there will be lots of worms in the yard and Gus is a great dead worm hunter, I bet he's the absolute best! Oh the joy of rolling in dead worms! Gus finds them and rolls on them then I get a turn then he gets a turn......what FUN! I am soo looking forward to it! Life is fun!