Crystal's new puppy, Sabrina

Crystal got a new puppy, Sabrina, a chocolate lab. She is just so cute. It is fun to be around a baby every once in awhile. So much energy and abandon. Her fur is the softest brown velvet, and she has pretty green eyes. See more pictures of Sabrina on the dog blog, www.dawgdude.com.



Ahw!

Missing Chubs

We went to a new place on Sunday for a hike, and we had 4 dogs with us (our own 3 dogs and Hoss, who we are readying for adoption). All the dogs pretty much stay with the pack with the exception of Chubs, who is more independent. He is part German shepherd and part hound dog, but he seems to be all hound dog on the trail. When we are hiking, he keeps his nose to the ground, and his nose takes over. He finds and chases various animals, rabbits, foxes, coyotes, deer, big horn sheep, elk, etc. While he is chasing, he does a bay. He has a different bay for different kinds of animals, so we can usually tell what he is chasing in the distance by the sound of the bay. We think he is mostly a deer hound, though. He chases but never really catches. He ultimately can't keep up with a deer, but he tries. Usually he chases and then comes back after 10-20 minutes. Some of other dogs follow him (which is trouble sometimes) but then they come back much sooner. When we stop for lunch or a break, we usually round up everybody including Chubs. Chubs also is a talker. He is very talkative, and it is so cute, it is hard to describe in words what it is like, but it is not barking when he talks to us.

On Sunday, however, following the deer chase, Chubs hit the paved road. We think because of the pavement (manmade), he wasn't able to track us back. We looked for him, calling him, and whistling for about 4 hours. Finally, after dark, we decided to head home sans Chubs, 18 miles away (since Crystal was at home waiting for us as I had invited her for dinner, and she had expected us 4 hours earlier, so she was really worried about us...that is another story).

While we were looking for Chubs, Buddy and I sat where we had parked, while Gary drove up and down the paved road and then up and down the dirt road where we had hiked. I prayed for Chubs' safe return.

After we got home, to Crystal's great relief, Gary went back up to camp out and look for Chubs some more. After he left, I told Crystal that either Chubs was going to show up or Gary would show up sometime during the night.

By the way, Crystal and Chubs have a special connection, they just love each other. Chubs is always so excited to see her, so Crystal was quite upset too about Chubs.

About midnight, Gary returned with a homemade sign in his hand that said "found lost dog walking down road" with a phone number. It was posted on a mile marker. It had been up there before dark, but we just didn't see it when we were looking for him the first time. We called the person at midnight and Gary returned home with Chubs around 1 a.m. Chubs seemed freaked out by the ordeal, but we were so happy to see him.

I realize that dogs have shorter lives than we humans generally, but still I was not ready to lose Chubs at only 2-1/2 years. He is such a sweetheart, so loving. We sing a song about him, we sing lots of songs about him actually, but songs with the word love in them, we substitute the word Chubs, such as the Beatles "All you need is Chubs," and it is true. He is awesome.

We discussed whether Chubs would run off again and get lost, and think that probably yes, he will, as he becomes so singleminded with his nose to the ground, but we think at least he was doing something he loved.