Strand night, Marina visit

Very exciting news - Mum didn't have to go to work today! During the very hot day we hung out at home and watched movies and played Playstation games. When it got cooler we had a car ride (car ride!!) to the Strand. I think Mum wanted to rollerblade, but there was a little bit of rain so we just walked instead.



This is the water park that always look like it would be fun to play in... apparently, it's another 'humans-only' deal. Sigh. 

I stopped at the fountain - Mum only let me have a swim on the way there, not the way back, she says I could get into trouble for having too many spa baths in the fountain. 

No spa bath?

Then we walked right to the end of the Strand, and paid a visit to the Marina to watch some boats.

 On the walk back to the car, we saw a familiar face - AUSTIN! While Mum and his parents were talking, we got to PLAY! Also, I get to see Austin at the river soon for a playdate soon, I can't wait!

You  can just see Austin in this photo!

 

Run, river, run!

I got to go on a very exciting Adventure this evening, because Dad came too! Usually it is just Mum who takes Zeke and I out, so it was twice as much fun this time. We went to the river again and WOW, I have never seen the river filled with so much water.

It was actually deep enough for me to have a proper swim in! Mum came with me, and I practiced my water-jumps (There is a video further down if you want to see what water-jumps are) and also had a spa bath, which was especially nice because the water was running so quickly. 

Spa bath time!

Takeoff!

 Also, I dug a stick out of the water. It fell on top of me when I wasn't looking, so I chewed on the stick for a while to teach it a lesson. 

Bad stick!

There were other people and dogs enjoying the river too, including some people who had a big mattress right there in the river and were lying on it! That looked like fun... sadly Mum kept me on a lead so I couldn't go ask if I could have a turn.

Mum can be SUCH a spoil-sport!

Anyway, here is that video I mentioned which Mum took for me. In it you can see how well I swim, and also how good my water-jumps are!

  What a great evening at the river! 

PLAYDATE!

I finally got to play with Guin again today!

GUIN'S HERE! GUIB'S HERE! GUIN'S HERE!

Her brother Arthur came too. He reminds me a LOT of Zeke, because he doesn't want to play, and he is grumpy. Guin - her full name is Guinevere - is my Great Dane friend. She is my only friend who is bigger than me!

Guin is great at playing Tag and Chase. She isn't faster than me, of course... although with her big long legs she can move pretty fast.

See? I'm in front!

There were lots of fun puddles in the park too, after all the rain. First we played in them...

Then we cooled off in them! 

Guin and Arthur's Dad helped by splashing me with mud, too!

 
It was so much fun getting to play with Guin again. Even though it's a lot harder to win Wrestle with Guin than it is with my smaller friends... 

 
We left when it got a bit hot, but before Mum took me home, we stopepd by Work so I could have a hydrobath. I really don't see why I needed a bath though. Mud is great for your skin and fur! 

An Overcast Evening Adventure

Tonight we went to the Strand, and although there were lots of puddles and we drove through rain to get there, it was cloudy but not rainy.

Rainy car ride

We walked around the big salty swimming pool (for humans only - how come no dogs are allowed in all these swimming pools?) and I stopped to smell all the interesting smells.
Then we went all the way down the Strand to the pier, where we sat for a while and watched some very big waves. I'm a pretty good swimmer but I wouldn't like to swim in waves like that...

 
I also got my photo taken with a dugong. They are a bit like big, chubby dolphins, Mum says. This one is just a pretend one. Humans have very odd decorating tastes...

Mum also took this video to show how good I am at walking along the tops of the little walls they have at the Strand. She says this will be good for my Agility training, whatever that is!
 

When we got home I lay down in the kitchen to guard Mum's chicken and pasta. Even tired Anatolians must protect their human's kitchens!

 

Where'd all this water come from?!

Last night it was raining when I went to sleep, and it was still raining when I woke up this morning - later than usual, because it was still very dark from all the clouds. Also the rooster down the road must have been confused because he wasn't crowing, either, and he usually wakes me up at five AM.
But anyway, a wonderful thing happened overnight! A river moved into our yard and over half our street! Mum didn't even go to work - maybe cars don't float well?

YAY!

So Mum and I went for a walk in the rain. It was amazing!

Hey Mum, was there a road here yesterday?

I give up Mum - where'd you hide the driveway?

There wasn't quite enough water to swim in, but almost! Zeke wasn't very happy. He stayed at home and whimpered after us. Zeke is not as fond of rain as me, since with rain there is often also thunder, and thunder scares him. He might be my big brother, but with some things I am more brave than he is. I'm used to loud noises - try growing up with my Uncle Kimba, or my Aunt Raven - WOW they can bark loud!

Training days and broken cars...

Yesterday morning, we had a Riverway adventure to do some training with The Dogfather, which is both fun and hard work. It's the same sort of Work I do with just Mum, practicing walking calmly, Sit, Wait, and Come Here. But it's harder, since there are more dogs there, and a lot of the time, I would much rather say hello to the other dogs than pay attention to Work!

This time my friend Guin was there, too! This was very exciting. At one stage, Guin was walking right behind me, so I had to stop and roll over to tell her I was ready to play! I think when Mum put my harness on, she was still sleepy, because she put it on backwards - so when she went to pull me up the whole harness came off. This was okay since I could jump up and ask Guin to play, but then Mum TOTALLY overreacted, and practically crash-tackled me to the ground and grabbed my collar and then I had to have my harness back on... what a spoil-sport!

Sigh - back to work! Thanks to Michael for this photo!

After we were finished training work - I didn't even get to play with Guin! - Mum and I stayed in the park to eat breakfast. I had a chew treat and Mum had an apple.  I decided I didn't really want my chew unless Mum held it for me though. 

 

Today, we usualy do have another Adventure, but, we couldn't this time. Mum broke her car! I don't really understand cars, except for the fact that they take you to REALLY great places. Hopefully Mum can fix her car soon. I hate missing out on Adventures.
In good news, I also learned that tonight, the Dogfather and his wife had a little baby human! The baby human has been called Indi Rose, and I can't wait to meet her and give her a lick to welcome her to the world! 

The River is Running Again!

This morning we had a River Adventure! The river is where I learned how to swim as a puppy, and back then, when I was littler than Zeke, there was LOTS of water in the river. In the last several months there has hardly been enough river water to paddle in... even though of course I am bigger than when I was a puppy.

Lots of water at the river!

But after some rain, there's water again, and now the river is a great place for an Adventure. Zeke likes the river too, because he enjoys swimming. It is easier for my big brother with his sore back legs to swim than it is to walk. Even though he gets sore, he still plays with me. He really is a good big brother.

Zeke thinks he's fierce...

But he doesn't fool me!

Zeke and I take a stroll after our play

There's lots of things to do at the river! Like taking a paddle...

Going for a run...

Perfect Anatolian camouflage! Well... apart from the purple harness. Thanks, Mum.

Have a spa bath...  

Swim (sort of... okay, the water wasn't deep enough for a lot of swimming)  

Oh - and practice my canonballs!

I was a bit tired after all that. But who needs a waterbed?

North Shore fun

North Shore has lots of fun places to visit - paths to walk on, a little river with lots of mud which Mum never lets me swim in, and of course the dog park!

We went for a walk beside the river first, and when I was a bit tired, we sat down by the water. Not for very long though! Some pesky mosquitoes found us. They can't really bite me because of all my fur, but they do bite Mum. I helped by eating two of them but the rest were too fast for me, so we kept walking. 

Put your best paw forward!

After our walk, I had to do my Work and practice sit, wait, drop and come here, and then I was allowed into the dog park to run around and say hello to Dusty!
Dusty is another one of my friends. He's a gold-and-white Border Collie who is very good at playing Wrestle, and he is also great at Tag and Chase. Dusty likes to play Ball too. I'm not really interested in balls, but sometimes I do steal Dusty's, so he has to chase me to get it back! He is pretty fast... not faster than me. But he thinks he is, since I let him win sometimes.
I also got lots of pats and attention from a human at the dog park. She said I was her favourite dog there! I showed her how good I was at doing sit, and I got lots of cuddles.




Then I thought another dog was being rude to me so I growled, and Mum was very cross with me. I had to go back on my lead and lie and watch the other dogs play... that wasn't so much fun.
After that I had to do more Work and we went outside the dog park to practice sit and drop and come here more, until the sun went down and we had to go home.

Waiting on my long lead until Mum tells me 'Here'

Oh well, I had a lot of fun seeing Dusty! My brother Zeke is a good brother and everything, but he's also old with sore legs so he doesn't always want to play with me like my friends do!