An Update from the Pack

Hey there!  It’s me, Pip Squeak.  Mom* has been very slack about writing lately so I have taken it upon myself to write a note and let you know how we are all doing here “down east”.  First, Mom’s been working a lot.  Let me tell you, she’s up and going in the morning and doesn’t get back until 5 or 6.  Then we go for a walk, have a little play time in the back yard, have dinner, maybe chew a bone and go to bed.  That’s about it.  On the weekends, we go for a longer walk and get bigger bones.  All-in-all, it’s okay but I’ll admit things are a little boring.  We are trying to be good and take it easy on her though. 

This morning, we went for a run.  Now honestly, I really can’t tell much difference between our “walks” and our “runs” except that I don’t have to wait up for her quite as much on the runs.  She’s never going to break any land speed records, let me tell you and boy does she look silly doing it.  Don’t tell her I said this but she kind of waddles when she runs instead of trotting all nice and slightly diagonally like I do.  Dogs are so much more efficiently built than humans. 

Today we did “intervals”.  That’s her word for running more like us.  When she runs intervals, she runs and stops then runs and stops again.  This is similar to the way I run except I can never tell what Mom stops for.  I stop to sniff good things but lots of times Mom runs right past the interesting stuff (turkey poop, coyote tracks, deer rubs) and stops in the middle of nowhere just to pant!  I like running without my leash best because then I can stop at the good stuff.  Otherwise, I have to stop when she stops and, as I said, her choice in stopping places can be pretty lame.

When she does start running again, it’s funny because I never see what she’s trying to chase.  It probably doesn’t matter though because Mom’s never going to catch it!  Ben says he ran in a race with her once and there were some very fast humans there.  He thought some of them could even keep up with us chasing a turkey.  I wouldn’t believe that based on watching Mom run.  Heck, she can hardly catch up with me when I’m standing still getting ready to roll in something fabulous. 

Lots of times Mom stops to make us pose so she can take a picture.  Really, you would think she has enough pictures of us at this point but no it’s, “Sit here so I can take a picture” or “Lie down there, that will make such a cute picture”.  She even waits until we are all facing her before she’ll take the picture.  Honestly, there are things to sniff and chase crazy lady!  Let’s go.  We do pose to humor her though.  Today, she made us take a picture in front of an old airplane strip.  It was so boring it took a couple of tries before she got a picture with all of us looking towards her.  We were all scanning the woods for something more interesting!  Meanwhile, she ignored the perfectly intriguing pile of coyote poop right in the middle of the road.  People have weird priorities. 

This is us in front of the airstrip.  Anticlimactic right?  For those of you who don't know us personally, that's me on the left!

Mom told us today that we were lucky because even though she is slow, some people don’t ever run with their dogs.  Some hardly even walk with them.  It is hard to believe, but I’ve seen how excited some of the foster dogs get when Mom takes them running so I guess it must be true.  It’s funny but kind of sad at the same time.  It’s the most fun we have (other than chewing on bones of course).    

So, I told Mom that the next note she writes should explain to people how to get started running with their dogs.  I know how fun it is to go for a run with Mom as slow and clumsy as she is so if people just got started even a little bit, I know their dogs would appreciate it.  So stay tuned for her next note and get ready to start running with your dog. 

*Mom isn’t really my mom.  My real mom was a very nice border collie.  I call Lisa “Mom” because she took my family out of the shelter when we needed homes and she kept me forever because I was cute and persistent.  She also found homes for my real mom and my sister Ginger.  So she’s the mom of the family I live with now and it’s nicer than just calling her The Food Lady.