Fall is here

Fall is here,


and Winter is not far behind........


We had a sudden drop of temperature today; I could smell the dampness in the air, and it truly felt like winter. Take a look at the sky from yesterday,

and the sky from today.....

Things I like about Fall/Winter:

• I am much comfortable as I don't get as hot during the fall and winter. My super thick sheep coat makes me more susceptible to over heating than the normal wire coated dogs.

• Since I don't get as hot, I don't need to be groomed as often, and that's ALWAYS a great thing!! I think mum says instead of every 6-8 weeks, she will stretch it to every 10-12 weeks.......... (how about until Spring mum?? You just have to do lots of sweeping and vacuuming after all the stuff my long hair may bring in!!)

• If I am lucky, I'll get to play in a few inches of snow. Unfortunately, it rarely snows in Vancouver......we just get rained on a lot. Maybe mum will drive me up to the mountains to play in snow?? *hint*hint*

• I get to go to My rehab center and swim in the warm, salt water pool twice a week!!

Things I don't like about Fall/Winter:

• Due to the high rain precipitation in Vancouver, I get a lot more feet baths.....

• I don't get to go to the beach as often because..... (shh...my lazy mum doesn't like the cold and the wetness). Oh, but she tells people it's because cold water is bad for my arthritis . Hopefully that will change once I get my custom made wetsuit from my designers Butchy & Snickers !!

• I don't get to go on outings like I do during the spring and summer

• Since I don't get as much exercise during the Fall/Winter, I DON'T GET TO EAT AS MUCH!!! Mum doesn't want me to gain weight because she says that's bad for my arthritis. (why am I being punished for something that's completely NOT my fault?? It is not me, who doesn't want to exercise!!)

• I will have to be on leash a lot more since I'll be doing a lot more neighbourhood strolls than beach walks............

Take today as an example: we had a drop in temperature, so mum decided we were going for a leash walk instead because she didn't want to turn into a popsicle. I mean, what was she thinking?? It wasn't even raining!!!

Anyway... so we went to Balaclava Park, and walked by the dog off-leash area at the park.

We didn't stay, just walked past the area because mum doesn't like me running on hard ground due to my bad elbow. Running on soft sandy beach she doesn't mind, just not on hard surfaces.

Since I didn't get to play very much off-leash, I decided to take mum on an extra long leash walk. Yes, I know this area pretty well too, so I led the way!!

I came across this house, and was sadden by the unexpected news.........

Apparently, my supplier.......

Had a sudden heart attack and .................

Even though I didn't know Mr. Bones well, I knew his bones well......... and I was really upset at the fact that ...................

Then I realized, I didn't see a tomb stone that says Mrs. Bones!!!! So I was very relieved that I'll still be getting my bones!!

Note: my leash only came off during picture time, otherwise, I was leashed up 100%.........

I took mum further and further away from the park. We crossed numerous of streets in all directions, and finally, mum was lost!! Mum won't admit it, she says she was just testing me but I think otherwise. She has an extremely bad sense of direction, so she gets lost very easily.

The reason I think mum was lost was because she started to tell me "Let's go home" and "Go find your car!". You see, I used to take tracking lessons where I would stay behind with the instructor and mum would go and walk a 200 ft trail in the forest, over logs and all kinds of disgusting stuff, and finally leaving my reward at the end. She would come back to get me, and give me the command "TRACK", and I would of course, sniff out her trail and find my reward. Once I find my reward at the end, mum would give me the command "Let's go home" for me to track the same trail back to the beginning. I was really REALLY good at tracking and graduated 1st in my class with the fastest time, and most accurate (there were some 90 degree turn traps that mum was required to set)!!

Now, mum usually never uses "Let's go home" unless we are really lost, like last time in the forest...... So today, when she said "Let's go home", I knew she was lost. (But she says she just wanted to see if I remembered.) On top of "Let's go home", she told me "Go find your car" since she knows how much I love my SunshadeMOBILE . Usually when she says this, I will head toward wherever SunshadeMOBILE is.

Even though I wasn't ready to end my leash walk at the time, I felt sorry that mum looked really cold. So I decided to take mum back to the park.... Afterall, it was me that took her so far away .....hehehehehe! I didn't have to put my nose down and track my way back though because I knew exactly where I was and where the car was. I just started to cross streets here and there and finally got mum back to the car!

Mum looked so happy when we got to the car, and she said to me "I knew you could do it Sunshade! Good girl!!"

Uh huh mum, I know you just don't like to be embarrassed.