Dog Toys

How long is a dog toy supposed to last?  Well, the indestructible dragon lasted 3 1/2 months.  The Octopus still thrives.  The rope and cloth frisbee - made to last - lasted... a day!  The rope toy is banished to the outside because Monty whips it around  and then tosses it.  A close call with the China cabinet and the rope became an outdoor toy.  He's chewed through a number of balls.  His dent-a-bone and Kong are still good.

So today, we went to the store and replaced his dragon.  Got a 99cent frisbe, some more tennis balls that sqeak ( he loves squeaky toys)  and a longer rope toy so Amy can play tug of war.   

We got home and had a great game of frisbee.  The 99 cent job has a couple of more days left.  Amy played tug of war with Monty.  He hangs on to one end and runs with her (weird way of playing tug of war - but hey, they had fun).    When we went inside, Monty got his new dragon and is a very happy pup!

Monty has been pretty well behaved overall but I have found, he doesn't like going to bed early.  The other day I had an early appointment and went to bed early and brought Monty with me.  His normal routine is to come up with me and when I turn off the lights he curls up on his bed.  He's there until I wake in the morning.  Very uneventful.  So I go to bed early, turn of the lights and Monty starts jumping on me.  Nudging me with his nose.  Jumping on the bed (where he doesn't belong and he knows it).  It was a circus.  I was laughing but soon gave up on trying to quiet him and get him to settle down.  I caved.  I got up, let him out and asked Jay to let him back in.  I went to bed.  Monty didn't.

Monty in the Grass

Lighting and Invisible Fences Don't Mix

A couple of days ago our automatic sprinkler system went nutsy.  We tracked it down and one of the leads was bad.  Jay surmised we may have had a lightening struck.  This morning, Jay noticed Monty down in the bushes - past the invisible fence line.  I was just about out the door for work, but I dropped everything, grabbed a lead and ran into the back yard.. Calling Monty came running, from the font yard (yeah it doesn't take him long to move around!) He was happy and bumped into me, ready to play and of course, impossible to catch.  He ran to the back and sure enough crossed the line.  Jay voiced the opinion he took the shock.  I thought not - no yelp, no reaction.  We ran behind him and he was in a thicket of bushes, ivy, weeds, etc.  No place we could follow.  I walked around - scouting from what is now my neighbor's back yard.  Jay called from our yard.  Monty would run out - almost far enough for Jay to reach him - then run back.  Oh what fun!  Finally, he left the thicket where I was waiting, as he turned to go back in I grabbed hold of his coat.  Ok, not the most elegant catch, but I got him.   Put him on his lead and brought him home.  Yup, no signal from the collar and no shock.  Investigation showed the main unit was down.  The lightening that got the sprinkler system, got the fence.  We're lucky we didn't lose Monty.  Thankfully he knows his borders and it took a while to test it. So tonight, we have another wonderful thunderstorm.  Monty's in for the night and Jay unplugged the brand new unit - just hours old so it wouldn't get fried tonight. 

Monty Smiling

Monty Smiles and other tidbits

You may call me crazy but I swear Monty smiles at me when I come home.  I call, he runs sees me and his face lights up.  Honest!. He has also been seen getting into my vegetable garden.  He just jumps over the 3.5 foot fence.  (thank goodness we have an invisible fence, he can't jump it and he cant dig under it).  Jay was concerned he couldn't get out because of lack of running room.  Nope,  No problem.  He just jumped straight over it when called.  Happy little guy  - he thinks its a great trick.

The first night we had Monty, he started to go downstairs. We wanted to keep this as a "haven" for the cats.  A firm no and jerk on his collar and he hasn't gone down stairs.  Monty would wait on the top for either Jay and I to come back up rather than follow us down.  Well, we jinxed it.  Jay wondered out loud how long it would last.  Yesterday, he decided to follow the cats down and got into their litter.  

Jay put the baby gate up to retrain him not to go downstairs.  So now, when he tries to go downstairs and can't, he carefully goes behind the door and shuts it!!!

Monty Back at the Beach

Of course if we're at my Mom's we go to the beach.  During the season dogs are only allowed on the beach before 10am and after 6pm.  So we took Monty down at the appropriate times.  This time, since I went into the water, so did Monty.  He swam and swam - he loved it.  By the end of the weekend I had a tired, sandy and very happy Puppy

Monty Playing with Aaron at the Party

Family Party - meeting the big boys

Every fourth, our family gathers at our cousins house for a full day and evening of fun, food and laughter.  My cousin John owns two very large, older dogs.  I knew I could leave Monty for a few hours at my Mom's but not the whole day and night, so we left for the party later than normal. John invited Monty to come over and we went and picked him up.  Monty met Zeta and  Zena just outside their yard.   The three of them were playing and having fun but it was a bit much with all the people too.  They finally calmed down.  So now Monty has a few more friends!

To the Airport

Boston's Logan Airport is between where we live and my mother's house, where we were going for the 4th.  On the 3rd of July we dropped our daughter off for her long awaited and well earned trip to Japan.  Figuring they have to let dogs in since they fly too, we decided to bring Monty with us.  He was a gem! We by passed the moving walkways for solid ground and as we approached the terminal it hit me - escalators.  Sorry, I'm not that brave, we took Monty on the elevator.  He handled it beautifully.  On one ride there was a tot in a stroller.  Monty's tail was wagging and he used his best manners.  A wonderful encounter.  Monty caught the attention of a lot of people; receiving a lot of pets.  A whole new experience and Monty again proved that I can trust him in most any situation.

Sour Apples Equals a Visit to the Emergency Vet

We have five apple trees in the back yard which drop unripe apples.  Monty found these delightful play things.  He'd toss them in the air, roll them around. As long as he didn't eat them, I wasn't concerned. Then he decided to eat them.  Right before the fourth of July weekend, he started vomiting and couldn't stop.  He became listless and wasn't moving.  So, in the middle of the night, we rushed him to the Emergency Vet.  Thankfully we have a good one close by.  Diagnosis - after ruling out blockages and other causes - a severe upset tummy!.  He spent the night and they re-hydrated him.  The next morning we picked him up and our ever energetic dog was back.  We kept him on a lead the first day home, which was Friday before the 4th.  Since we were going to visit my mother, I knew I'd have an apple free weekend to watch him recover.  It was scary but Monty's fine.

Monty Meets Aaron

Aaron came home from college in June and met Monty for the first time.  Aaron would have preferred a dog the size of a Mastiff but it didn't take long before they became best friends and were playing.  Even though Monty's a medium size dog, Aaron at times treated him like a small dog.  He picked him up and carried him around!

Catching up - Visits to the Kennel

Life has been so hectic, I haven't gotten back to Monty's blog but he's been through a lot since May.   He went to a  kennel for the first time over Memorial Day weekend.  He had absolutely no trouble with this new experience and he was promptly labeled a "sweet pea" by the staff.  We took a four day vacation in June and he went to the kennel again.  He was perfectly happy there.  When we picked him up he was sleeping under the dryer after his bath!!!  While on vacation my camera got soaked and Amy's stopped working properly.  We picked Monty up and drove directly to the camera store.  He was a hit with everyone in the store.  In fact the guy who was helping us owns a Brit!!!