Shake shake shake

While Louise likes her walks, she's not one hundred percent on board with the wearing of the harness. On the one hand, I think she likes the fact that she can tug at the leash without choking to death anymore, like she did with a collar. But on the other hand, I'm not sure she is completely comfortable, as she will often pause to shake herself off, almost like she was wet.

Of course, since the net result is that the walks proceed just a little slower, and Louise is alive at the end (from not hitting cars along the way), we stick with the leash/harness setup. I think it is going to be a long, long time before we attempt to let Louise go off-leash. She's just too car crazy.

Dine and Dash at the Doggy Style Cafe

We took Louise back to the Doggy Style Cafe where she dined on a hearty meal of beef and vegetable mix, with a pumpkin and gravy topping.

Needless to say, the bowl was spotless when she was done, and there was food on her eyebrows. Yes, I believe it is safe to say it was THAT good.

Now before you all get the wrong idea about Louise from the title of this post, let me explain that while Louise did 'dine' at the restaurant, she did not 'dash' out without paying. Her bill was paid, but since the shop is on Denman Street, which is usually pretty busy, Louise was very interested in chasing and barking at the cars that drove by. Hence, the 'dash' part. We are still working with her on this fixation over moving cars. Our remedy for the problem at this time is a short leash, and no leash-free walking - period.

Taking the Seabus for a cruise

Another monday meant another long day at the office. Louise is starting to get into the routine, which is to say she is getting bored at times. Well that, and she practically INSISTS on having a lap to sleep in if she is to take a nap.

On the way to the office Louise stepped on something sharp and cut one of her paws. I ended up carrying her to the ferry, but managed to get her paw cleaned up pretty quickly and she was good as new at the office.

On the way home, we had better weather and a different ferry company, which dropped us off at a slightly different location. Still close by, so it was no problem though. It just meant walking a little further on the sea wall, which at that time (early evening) had dozens of dogs out for a stroll. Oh, the hardships.

One thing I noted on the return trip was the row of floating homes along the harbour's edge. While the photo does not show it well, I thought it was a cool concept to have a forty foot sail boat parked in your 'driveway'. Louise was unimpressed.

Playing in a new park

We had to get some groceries from a local spot, and decided to take Louise along for the walk. Her walks have been getting longer these days, in part because we combine them with these little errand runs. While my wife went into the store to collect up what we needed, Louise and I crossed the street to hang out in one of the many little parks in the downtown area. This one had an extensive water fountain that she could play in - as it turned out, she was more interested in it because she was thirsty, but wasn't quite tall enough to reach down to the water level. So Louise tried at many different times to get a drink, only to have to reposition herself. Eventually she was able to get a few slurps from one of the concrete 'lilly pads'.

There are two distinct side-effects of all of these long walks for Louise. One, she is getting in fantastic shape - so much so that people are commenting on how fit she looks. The other side effect is that on the day following a walk, Louise sleeps a LOT. Sometimes she sleeps so much that my wife gets a little concerned. I'd be concerned too if I was the one at home, seeing that my dog hasn't decided to get up yet, at about 3:00 pm.

If you haven't noticed, I'm also trying a few things with multiple pictures in these posts, as often one or two just does not convey the moment I am writing about. And of course, I'm having minor layout issues.

Seawall adventures (with geese!)

On the way into work yesterday, we stopped at the Seawall to stretch our legs and give Louise a chance to 'prepare herself' for a long day at the office.

In the parking lot, we stumbled across some geese who were clearly still sleepy. They let us get much closer than I expected and didn't wander off until Louise was practically beside them. Even then, it was a lazy, half hearted attempt to get out of our way.

After that, it was a short walk down to the seawall. This took us past the AIDS memorial and then to the paved walkway alongside the wall.

There were a few joggers out that morning, but no dogs for Louise to meet. She was okay with that though, as she was more interested in exploring the area, and getting a feel for her new harness. We saved romping in the water for another day, and settled for a game of 'jump the cracks in the seawall' instead. After all, we did have to go to work today.

One thing that was of particular interest to Louise was the water. She has not had a lot of opportunity to be around the ocean, so I suppose waves are a bit strange to her. Here you can see her taking a good look at what is going on down below. She seems to have no fear of heights, or at least, her fear is less than mine. I am the one tugging on her leash telling her to be more careful around the edge.

Yeah, just a little protective, I know.

Louise finds another lap to sit on

I brought Louise into the office again today and in short order she found a new lap to sit in. Which was actually good for me, as I had a few meetings this morning.

Most people at the office were commenting on her new 'handle' which you can see in this picture. We got her a new harness from a local pet store (I can't remember which one right now, sorry!) and really like it. The construction seems to be much more sturdy than ones we have had in the past, and the hemp actually makes it softer which causes her less irritation. This is good, since Louise is not really a big fan of harnesses.

After a tiring day of chasing folks into meeting rooms, a pug eventually needs to have a nap. Even then, the other people continue to be amazed at all the little pug noises that they hear, be it snoring, barking, wheezing or even just breathing. At least the floors are carpeted so they don't hear the tap tap tap of her toenails.

Moving day

The picture is a little blurry, but you can get a sense of how tightly things were packed in as we left Vernon with all of our stuff. Louise rode with me in the U-Haul truck, while my wife drove the rental car and was accompanied by the cats.

Louise was pretty excited at first, what with all the other cars she was able to see. (She still has a fascination with cars and tries to catch up to them. When she can't, she will sputter and moan and eventually bark in frustration.) Luckily for me, these are tiresome activities and she quickly wore out. She spent most of the trip asleep in her bed.

We arrived in Vancouver a few hours behind schedule, but very much intact and with high spirits. Unloading took us two days but at least we can say we are in our new place now. Lots of boxes yet to unpack, but we can deal with that. Louise seems to be okay with the new arrangement. She was really only concerned with where her food and water bowls were going to be, and with how many walks she can expect in a given day.