Maggie with the muddy nose in the rain

[Stacy]

Maggie here. I would like to take a public opinion poll. See, my mom says I'm really naughty. But I say that cute dogs like me can't possibly be naughty. And my mom isn't really mad either. She says she's exasperated. Whatever that means. It's a big word. 

See, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. I can tell time. And I know when my mommy has to go to work she leaves at 10. So sometimes when she lets us out around 10 I decide that I'm not coming back in. Because if I don't come inside she can't leave. The problem is that sometimes I don't know what day she's going to work (sometimes I don't think she even knows!) and she tells me that she's not leaving, but I'm not sure if I believe her. 

So today it's raining and I refuse to come in the house. And ha ha, she can't catch me. She's taught me lots of things. One of the games I know that she didn't teach me is keep away. See, I'm faaaasssst. Zooom! And mommy thinks she's all smart coming outside with treats and my leash. She tricked me before, but not anymore! I'm on to her stupid games. I know we're not really going for a ride with my muddy nose and feet. And if I look hard enough the squirrels might still come out to play. Oh! There's one now! 

She says she's going to make me wear the long line in the yard if I don't learn to behave. I tell her I'm behaving just fine. I'm protecting the yard from all the critters, duh. And I'll come in when I'm good and ready. She just has to sit on the back porch with me until I get tired of being wet. 

So what do you think everybody? Aren't I a good good dog? 

Love, Maggie

[Dolly Dykhouse]

Maggie, I wonder if your mom and my mom have talked...if she has go...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't know why your text came out that way, but here's what I read in my email notification:

"Maggie, I wonder if your mom and my mom have talked...if she has gotten any of her crazy ideas from mine I am very sorry. I'm sorry you don't like the "B" word; in my house its, "Henry, shower!" I have learned that the trade off is worth it. Plus it makes me laugh to see my mom jumping up and down and yelling all kinds of words I don't understand, I just zoom around faster and fly into the mud and sand, it's funny watching her and an even better it's a fun game to play even if I always win."

LOL, that photo would definitely trigger my "OMG, OMG, OMG" response.

[Stacy]

I have the OMG OMG response to that one too! Does anyone else worry about putting that much dirt/sand/mud/whatever down their pipes? I have plumbing fears with a doodle that dirty! It's an old neighborhood and I see a lot of plumbers around here. Old trees. They replaced my main line when I bought the place, but I would like to stay plumber-free for as long as possible.

Not to mention that I would then spend the rest of my life cleaning the bathroom! It's well worth the 14 dollars to take her to the dog wash for a bath. Also worth the 60 dollars to have someone else do it for me!! 

They keep talking about how we got something like 10 inches of rain in the last few days. I didn't really think it rained that much, but it's just squishy outside. I don't mind her playing out there, but I don't want to chase her. The long line is my friend. But it's so strange. It really does seem to be just that one time of day when I have trouble. She really can tell time. She just can't read the calendar. She's so smart that she's making me step up my game to keep up with her! 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

The amount of times Luna came home absolutely filthy (the water was BLACK) ... nothing ever got clogged.  She was a heavy shedder too but at least her coat was relatively short.  It was a double coat though and could hold a surprising amount of grime on her smal 40 lb frame lol.

With Riley I have visions of her little white paws suddenly matching her black coat when we move.. it's still very much a construction zone (only half the houses on the street are built) so mud everywhere!

[Stacy]

Good luck with that! I have a picture of Katie digging in the mud when she was a baby and she wasn't just dirty, she was 5 pounds heavier from the mud dripping off of her! I suggest more supervision for Riley than I was giving Katie that day! 

That's the thing about the securely fenced yard. I think they should only require minimal supervision. But they're like toddlers. If there's nothing to get into then they will make something to get into! (Like a huge muddy hole!)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Well we can't put up a fence for a year at least (according to our contract) so it will be on-leash only which will help ;)  No unsupervised mud time!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'll tell you; I lived in a townhome with an unfenced yard and a dog for 27 years, and that whole time, I yearned for a fenced yard where I could just let a dog out without having to trudge around with him/her on a leash in all kinds of weather at any time of day or night. 

Then I moved to my current house. Put up a fence, adopted JD. For almost 12 years, my dream was a reality. JD went outside, did his business, sometimes laid on the patio watching the world go by. Never ate anything, never dug, never even chased a rabbit. The worst thing he did was trample my flowers running over to the fence to bark at some dog going by. And he hated rain and even wet ground, so the idea of getting muddy was almost as abhorrent to him as it is to me.
Now there's Jasper. I might as well sell this house and move back into a townhome, where I will save money with lower taxes and much less maintenance, because I am never going to be able to trust this guy off leash in the yard, lol. I'm back out there in all weather at all hours following a naughty puppy on a leash! 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Haha.  JD was too good he spoiled you :)

If it's any consolation Luna was a terror in our fully fenced yard until she was about a year old then could mostly be trusted out there.  She still occasionally got into things but wasn't doing stuff like digging giant holes in the garden like she did when she was a puppy.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That would be some consolation if my breeder didn't post videos of his 5 year old mother digging in her yard, lol!  

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Oh no! lol.  Trouble.

[Stacy]

Jack and Ava were cut from the same cloth. They were both exceptionally exceptional. Ava never did a single thing wrong. She was my perfect dog. I miss her every day. Not just because she was perfect, but she was my heart. 

Jasper will grow up. He'll grow out of the puppy antics and you'll love him. But he will never be JD. Just like Maggie will never be Ava, as much as I love her. I still wish I could rewind time and have her back with me. But I feel so lucky to have had her for the short time she was here. She was just my wonderful sweet girl.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Exactly.