MJ Kind of Day

MJ's not a big fan of the rain, so instead of wandering around in the backyard and laying out in the grass, he's inside, squeaking one of his favorite toys. He loves this snake. The other day, he and I played fetch with the snake for about 10 minutes. That's the length of his attention span. Then, instead of bringing the toy back to me, he runs up onto the porch and stands at the door to be let in.

He had sort of a breakthrough yesterday when he leaped up on the tailgate of my Honda Element to get in the back. He's been willing to jump in via the side door, but hopping up on the tailgate is the preferred method of entry here. Of course, he hasn't repeated that performance, but I'm going to work with him tomorrow, if it ever stops raining.

Roach a Rama

MJ's favorite position. He sleeps like this at night in his crate to take maximum advantage of the ceiling fan blowing on his belly. Don't you wish you could relax like this? This boy is very easy going...always wants to be involved in whatever is going on, but is content to just generally hang out with the human and four-legged pack.

We had some greyhound people over for dinner on Sunday night and he was the hit of the party. Spent his time going from person to person to get petted. At dessert time, we found out he has a taste for watermelon and strawberries. Who can blame him? Despite lots of people in the house and food out everywhere, he behaved well...no actual countersurfing, tho you can some times see him thinking about it.

His coat is finally beginning to shape up. He's had some skin issues that have led to lots of scratching and bald patches, but we've got it under control and his hair is filling in nicely...not much worse than a bald black dog.

Dog Days of Summer

Summer's tough on a black dog. MJ wants to go out and lounge around in the sun with the girls, but his black fur just sucks up the heat, so he wants back in quickly. He and my three hounds are getting along really well...so far, zero disputes and he's a bit afraid of my cats. We think of that as an asset. Not so good with dogs under 35 pounds, especially if they're yappy and jump around. I'm not good with those kinds of dogs either!

He's developed a real passion for toys and seems to have a gift for not killing the squeakers. Too funny. He runs from room to room with them in his mouth. Or, he'll lay outside on the deck with one. Last night, he felt compelled to test drive every toy in the basket. Now, if we could just teach him to put them back!

Yesterday, I came back from running errands and went into the back bedroom where the dogs stay when we're away. MJ was sitting very quietly in his crate and wouldn't look at me. I thought that was sort of odd. Then I noticed the side gate of his crate was standing open. (Two-gated crate. One in front, one on the side.) Apparently, I hadn't latched the sidegate and he'd figured out how to open it and let himself out. When he heard me coming, he jumped back in his crate. What a good boy.