Thursday, June 2, 2005
Yesterday, was a ruff day for Baby Benny. Not only was it raining when he had to go out for his morning business, but he also fell in the pool!
Yesterday afternoon, after the rain had passed, Benjamin & Henry were running around outside near the pool. I was working at the time but I was watching them for a bit from my office door (that leads to the pool area). The boys were acting like their normal crazy selves circling the pool and running around the patio furniture so I decided I better get back to work. I started to hook up a new computer when I heard a big splash. I ran out of my office door and saw Benjamin swimming as hard and as fast as he could trying to pull himself out of the pool. I reached down and scooped him out of the pool and he was soaking for head to toe. When he fell in, he must have went all the way under because his head was soaked. I toweled him off and as soon as I was finished he took off running trying to air dry himself.
There is only one question that remains. Was this an accident or did Henry have something to do with his brother falling in the pool? 
Monday, May 30, 2005
This weekend I took a much needed break from work and enjoyed a 4-day, mini vacation. On Sunday, we went to the doggie beach with the boys’ life vests and boogie boards in tow. Since it was Memorial Day Weekend the beach was pretty crowded, but the water was warm and there were plenty of dogs in the water swimming. It was hot, so the boys were very anxious to go for a swim.
The boys splashed around a bit in the area near the shore and then they hopped on their boogie boards so that we could go out a bit further in the water. We got out in the water a little bit above my waist and the boys were having a great time just floating on their boogie boards and going up and down with the waves. At this point, I was really wishing that I had a waterproof camera so that I could get a picture of the boys just relaxing in their life vests on their boards, but I was happy just being out in the water with the boys.
The boys were doing great just floating until Henry caught a glimpse of one of the buoys that was used to mark the swimming lane in the ocean. The buoy was bright orange in color and about the size of a soccer ball. It was a very thick plastic and it was tethered to the bottom of the ocean with a cord. When Henry first spotted the buoy he was about 30 yards away from it. I saw that Henry was fixated on the buoy and knowing Henry I knew exactly what he wanted to do. See, Henry has this thing about fetching in the water. Whenever he is in the pool it is his mission to pull everything out. He pulls all of his water toys out and puts them on the deck. He fetches the pool noodles and brings them out of the pool and he even tries to grab hold of the rafts and pull them out of the water as well. In his mind, he is saving them.
So when I saw him pacing on his board I knew he was about to dive into the water. Sure enough he did and he was headed straight for the buoy (don’t worry he was on his leash and I was swimming with him). After a long swim (for him anyway) we were at the buoy and he was trying to bite it and push it back to shore. I was trying to let him know that the buoy was not a toy and that he could not fetch it, but he wasn’t buying it. I brought him back closer to the shore a bit, but he was still fixated on the buoy and saving it. I was so proud of him for being so brave and swimming so far in the ocean and he was so proud of himself too. While he wasn’t happy about leaving the buoy behind, I managed to convince him that the buoy needed to stay in the water.
When we got back to our spot on the beach I got the camera out to take a picture of the orange buoy, but wouldn’t you know that I didn’t put the battery back in the camera after it was finished charging! I was really kicking myself, but at that point there was really nothing I could do!
So instead of pictures of the boys swimming at the beach, I had to settle for posting pictures of Henry swimming in the pool today.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
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Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Things are starting to heat up here in sunny Florida and this will be the boys’ first Florida summer. I always keep a close eye on the boys on our walks and while they are playing in the yard to make sure they don’t get too hot. Lately, I have noticed that Henry seems to be getting hotter a lot sooner than Benny. I figured this is likely due to Henry’s thick double coat. (Ben has a very short and thin coat). So I thought, why not just give Henry a haircut? We got out the clippers and gave him a little buzz. I was worried that his fur wouldn’t look right after the cut, but it isn’t even real obvious that he has had a haircut. Mainly, we just thinned out his coat.
I was surprised how still he sat while we were shaving him. He wasn’t afraid of the clippers and he even seemed to enjoy his first haircut a bit. As you can see, after his cut he was quite proud of himself and rewarded himself with one of his bones.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Sunday was the pug meetup at Dog Wood park and it was absolutely fabulous! The event was from 2pm-4pm and during that time the boys must have met 30 or more puggies (unfortunately, all the pugs weren’t there at the same time, but they trickled in and out during the two hour event). The boys had a blast and even though it was pretty hot and humid, there was a small pond to cool off the pugs. This guy really knew how to keep cool.
After the boys had some fun splashing in the pond, we took a walk on some of the fenced in trails. Benjamin and Henry really love running back and forth on the trails. Here is an action shot of the boys, Benjamin is in the lead (because Henry let’s him think he is faster)
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Gosh, I can’t believe how long it has been since I last posted. The move from MD to FL has kept me much busier than I had anticipated, but things seem to be settling down and everyone is getting back into their normal routine.
The boys are doing great and really enjoying their newly fenced yard. They have been swimming in the pool a couple times since we moved and Henry loves it! Benjamin, on the other hand, is not so fond of the pool.
Tomorrow, we are really looking forward to Pug Day at Dog Wood park in Jacksonville. It’s a long ride for us, but the boys do great in the car and love going to Dog Wood park. Look for some photos of all the new pug friends that Benjamin and Henry meet at the park coming soon!
Monday, April 4, 2005
Today, when Benjamin was relaxing by the pool he uncurled his tail right over the pool’s edge. If his tail was just a little bit longer he might have been able to get a good catch 
