Weekend Adventures

This weekend wasn't super special but there were lots of fun times to be had!

First off, we went over to Mike and Crystal's for game night on Friday where I got to hang out with April and Gami and all the big humans.

Then, we came home after Mike gave me ice creams, he thinks this makes me love him more than Mom... he could be right.  Mom went to bed late and woke me up a little after 3am!  She's crazy.  Mom got ready for something and took me outside for business and fed me 1/2 my breakfast.  Crazy and weird.  Then Mom left!  She said she was going to pick up new retired greyhounds.  I think there were some kinks in her plans though, cause Hotel de Phil (the back of Mom's car where I ride) smelled more like Mom than strange dogs.  Word on the street was that the doggies were late and Mom had to leave before the doggies arrived.  :(  The doggies still got to come to GHC and try to find their forever families though!

When Mom came home, it was still morning, so she took me out for a short walk and to go business and fed me the other half of my breakfast.  We hung out for a little while and then Mom surprised me with my delicious noms bone...  Then, after I got tired of chewing, I took a nap while Mom talked to Dad and took her nap.  Then, she left again!  This time she was in her work clothes though.  She came home to feed me lunch around normal dinner time and we went to the dog park for business time and I impressed her by fetching a tennis ball three times!  She's easily impressed, what can I say, I trained her well...  Mom went back to work and she got home late.





Then on Sunday morning Mom left in the morning and came back.  We hung out for a little bit and I did more chewing on my delicious bone and then we took naps.  Then we went on a ride (my new favorite thing, btw) with Crystal and Mike and Gami!  We went to St. Mary's River State Park for a hike/walk.  This was where the most interesting part of my weekend took place... and Mom's loudest moment of the weekend.....

We came up a hill and there were 2 women and 1 man with a more small than medium sized furry black dog (FBD).  Gami went up to FBD and they sniffed and Gami started barking at FBD.  FBD growled at Gami then I walked over to FBD and sniffed.  FBD then stood up on its back legs and growled at me.  Before Mom could even try to pull me away, I decided that FBD was going to be a tasty treat.  I grabbed FBD by the neck and wouldn't let go.  Mom is yelling and Gami backed away like she didn't know who I was and the strange man is trying to pry FBD from my mouth while the other 2 women are holding FBD.  While the man is trying to get the FBD from my mouth, Mom smelled something and realized that the FBD pooped, some of which landed on the strange man's foot.  Finally, the strange man got the FBD from my mouth and handed it to one of the women.

While Mom is trying to hold me back, I wiggled lose and out of my collar and went back over to the strangers trying to find the FBD.  The strange man grabbed me and Mom put my collar back on me.  Mom and I backed away and one of the women said, "She blinked finally.  I think she's still in shock."  The other woman had been feeling around the FBD's neck for any punctures/blood but she didn't find any.  The man explained, "This happened before with a lab when she was a puppy."  Mom is continually asking if the FBD is ok while holding my collar and trying to cover my eyes.  Mom gave the people her phone number so they could call if they found any kind of wounds later.

Thundar thighs!!!!!!

Mom pretending to sit on me like I'm her personal bench...

Pictures together!

Dis is fun!

Is dere more tasty fuzzies for me?  I kid, I kid... kinda.

Hai Mom!!!

After the scuffle, we continued on our walk.  I went on like nothing had happened.  Mom and Mike and Crystal kept talking about it for the rest of the walk.  They were all very surprised that I had decided that FBD was for eating.  Dad told Mom, "Next time, you'll remember his muzzle."  Mom told him, "I didn't even think of it because usually he's got no issues.  We've walked by pure Maltese dogs before and he doesn't even care.  We can even walk by squirrels without him turning his head even.  Today was completely out of the blue, but apparently Phil is a huge fan of fuzzies."  Showed you, Mom!

The lady called this evening during dinner and informed Mom that FBD was fine.  She also asked if I was caught up on all my shots and Mom was quickly able to tell her yes.

Mom says that our ride to NC in a week and a half is going to be a little bit cramped for me, but on the way back to MD with Dad in the car, it's going to be even more cramped.  Today in the car, Mom had one of the back seats up for Mike to sit in, which kinda threw me off my game since there was less space for me, but on the way home, when I finally got tired of standing, I laid down in the very back and was fine, which made Mom feel better about crowding Hotel de Phil.

Whew, being retired is hard!

Invader!!

Guys.. Mom let a stranger in the car.. AND THEN.. into our house!!!

I mean, this Joey seems nice enough, but he's really throwin off my naps with all his spunky energy. Woah buddy, I'm a Greyhound, we don't roll like that. Or at least I sure don't.

Joey's Mom said that he is a Ibizan Hound, which is a type of sighthound, like Greyhounds are.  Joey is much smaller than me, less than half my size actually!  He's only 30 pounds!  He is supposed to be around 40, so Mom is going to work on that while he's staying with us.

Oh yeah, Mom is letting Joey stay with us... for a month.  Mom seems really smitten with this new puppy.  But, she's already told me that I'm her forever #1.  Sometimes she even says, "Maybe even over Zeplen, maybe, but you were already potty trained and you don't pull on the leash, so maybe I'm biased."  

So for the next month, Mom will be learning to deal with having 2 doggies in the house and I'll be learning how to share.. maybe.  Dad says that alpha dogs don't have to share, but Mom says I do.  So far Joey has already rearranged my toys for me.  I had them neatly piled in front of the fireplace.  Which is where I relocate them after Mom puts all my toys in my crate.  She's silly and doesn't know where they go, so I show her.  Apparently, Joey thinks that toys belong all over the house.  Puppies.  Siiigh.

Just a warning for you all, I'll be FIVE in October!!  I think that's how many toenails I have on one paw, but I can't be sure since I'm just a silly puppy-luppy.. or so says Mom..  don't tell her, but I call her a silly human-wuu-man.

Joey

Me and Joey in the back of Mom's car..  I think I like this setup much better than my hammock, Mom!

A crack in the back windows, one for each pup!

Mom thought this was a cute photo of me being awesome.

Ridin home.

<3 those ears... on both pups.

Mom cracked the window for my nose and didn't realize that  Joey's whole head could fit
through if he wedged it just right...  Lesson learned.

Back in my day....

So back in the day, I was a racing Greyhound.  Man, I was speedy!  I won 1st place 6 times!  I mean, that might not be the best of the best.. but now that I'm retired, none of that place stuff matters anymore.

Mom always tells me I'm her #1 puppy!

But if you want to see something cool... Mom found my racing videos!

Go to this website: http://www.trackinfo.com/dog-search.jsp
Then search for the name: Pals Spot Light   (now you see why Mom renamed me!)

There are number tabs at the top of the box.  Several of these tabs have my racing videos linked.

Whew, am I glad those racin' days are done.  This retired stuff is perfect for me!

I wouldn't be able to do this as a track doggy!  Never ever!

Making Mom love me.. LOTS

Mom came home from work early today because her internets have been actin weird.  These strange men show up, AND she let them in the apartment!  I'm not her guard dog, so I didn't really mind too much, except that these men weren't interested in petting me, so I wasn't interested in them!  I laid down on my bed in the living room so I could keep an eye on them.  They left after a few minutes, they said they had fixed the issue.  Mom seemed satisfied, so I helped escort them out.

Mom was very proud of me for being so good.  After they left, we laid down for a nap.  I love naps!  When we woke up, Mom started messing around the apartment and she acted like she was getting ready to leave.  She even got my last kong out of the crate, refilled it with peanut butter, put it in the freezer, and pulled the already frozen one out of the freezer for me.  And then.. she hesistated.  I was soooo close to getting my peanut butter kong!  Instead, she decided we were going to go somewhere!  Surprise!

Mom brought a huge bag of treats with her.  I'm not really sure why.  She only gave me 2 the whole trip, but either way, I was excited.  Mom showed me the treat, but I still was very scared about getting in the car.  She put my front paws on the back seat and then lifted me up the rest of the way.  UGH I hate it!  Either way, I got my treat and Mom cracked the windows so I could sniff outside while we drove to the place we were going.

I think Mom was rewarding me for being good while those strange men were at the apartment cause she took me to the public dog park!  They have an area for big dogs AND little dogs.  There were a lot of small dogs in the big dog lot.  Or maybe I'm just really big?  There were a few teeny-tiny dogs in the big dog lot though..  I think they were in the wrong place, but everyone was having fun, so it was ok, I guess.

I had a blast, even though I didn't really socialize with the other pups.  I really am a loner.  Mom was worried for a while that I was going to be lonely as an only-dog, but I think I've put her worries at ease.  I don't really socialize when I'm with other dogs.  I don't feel the need to play with them either.  So I spent most of my time at the dog park, walking around the perimeter of the fence, marking every spot that I possibly could.  I also marked all the trees and benches and I even tried to mark the water buckets, but Mom stopped me.

There were so many dogs, and I wasn't interested in any of them!

My only issue at the dog park was that I kept having the poopies.  I went normal business, then I went poopie, but then I kept having the runs.  Mom wasn't really sure what was going on, and I think she's worried about me.  She is thinking that hopefully, I was just nervous about being around so many new dogs.

Mom could tell I was getting tired cause I had stopped prancing around the fence and I was just moseying along.  I had walked around with some of the other doggies, but we just sniffed each other.  I really am not a player.  I'm a stand there and be petted dog.  Seriously.  When we left, Mom tempted me with a treat again to get in the backseat.  She put my front legs on the back seat and then I surprised her.  I jumped in on my own!!!  For the first time ever!

Mom is super proud of me right now.  She kept saying, "Good Phil!!!  Good boy!!"  I'm sure the people at the dog park thought she was crazy.  (Psst, she is!)  Mom then brought me home and fed me dinner.  She said I made her really proud today for being such a good boy!

I'm really just trying to be good because the other morning I tried to eat Mom's banana (and I did a pretty good job at munching on about 1/4 of it) and I got in the bathroom trash and was eating the dryer lint... all in the same hour.  Mom was definitely not pleased.

I showed her who the good dog is though!!