Bear just went nuts. He would run over to another dog, or a pack of dogs, and just get right into the middle. And then they would run!

When Mommy decided that we could go to the DOG BEACH on Coronado Island, we hopped in the car with Daddy and Mommy and off we went! Casper was given a bone, which he thought was lucky... but he didn't know where we were going! Casper is all about his stomach. Which is why he looks like a fuzzy beach ball.

Here we are in the car, speeding down the highway toward Dogs, Dogs, and more Dogs. It's a pretty long drive, and I'm a nervous car rider. I pace, and try to figure out how to open the windows, and attempt putting my paws on the center armrest to get the people's attention. Mommy just says, "Yasha, sit. Yasha, SIT. YASHA sit. YASHA SIT." Over and over. Sure, I heard her, but I just can't keep my bottom on the seat. Bear lays down and lets me crawl over him, paw him, lick his ears, and try to get him moving too.

Then... the car stopped... the leashes snapped on... the door opened......

WOW!

Digging for Bear

Remember that post a while ago, with Bear inside of the Rubbermaid tub? Well, there were *other* videos taken that day. Videos with... ahem... MOI... in them. I'm the Princess, after all. If I ain't in it, it ain't happenin'. Bear is cute, yeah, we get that part. But he's Bear. And I'm ME.

So below, from the secret archives of Allison's camera, rescued from the darkest corners of obscurity, here I am, Digging for Bear:

An Eskie head in every pot

Mommy loves to cook. We love to watch. It's the "Cooking Show", complete with Smell-o-vision and sometimes samples for the audience.

We keep our toes just on the edge of the carpet, so that we are technically in the dining room. Eskies are good about figuring out the technical angles. Toenails can hang over the carpet, and noses can be a little farther into the kitchen, but anything else and Mommy says, "Dogs out!". The offending dog(s) creep back into the dining room and lost their good spot to the better behaved. When food hits the floor, however, it's every dog for themselves.

Sometimes the casserole, or whatever, gets really stuck to the baking dish. Mommy doesn't own a dishwasher (well, she actually owns three, but we aren't the kind of dishwasher she wants to use) A while ago, the lovely smell wafting from the oven was a Shepherds Pie. With LAMB. Real ground LAMB.

Nothing brings out the Wolf in a dog like lamb. It is an incredibly compelling smell, and it gets right into the dogs most primal neural network, causing all of the synapses to fire at once. I'm drooling just thinking about it. If they sold lamb on ebay, dogs would learn how to bid. Most dogs would figure out how to be smarter just to get some lamb.

Anyway, the Shepherds Pie often sticks to the baking dish. This time, in an excess of bonhomie and general good cheer, Mommy sat the dish down for us to clean. She doesn't do that often, but that means it's even more special. And if anyone is reading this who has, in the past, eaten at our house.. or who, in the future, may possibly do so...well, soap and good hot water do wonders. And if it really freaks you out, next time take Mommy out to dinner instead. You can bring us home the scraps.

So, the dish hit the floor, and we all three went for it. We never fight... we just sort things out in a growly, posturing way. Generally, Casper gets his first when it is food related. Casper is SERIOUS about food. He says that it's from his Mysterious Past, but then he stops talking and gets that Look. Like he's an ex-CIA agent and if he tells you, he would have to kill you. So we don't ask. He's just jerking our choke chain, so to speak. We think. Maybe.

Casper hogged the dish, this time, until he almost licked the glaze off of it. Maybe in the future Mommy will divide the Shepherds Pie into three smaller baking dishes, so that there can be an Eskie head in EVERY pot.

My Best Day

Life is good when you're a dog. Someone else hunts for the food, someone else picks up your poop, and Mommy randomly takes you Next Door to play in Granny and Gram's back yard.

Today started out like any other day... wrestling with Bear, then a nice nap, and barking at dogs walking by outside. Then we put our harnesses on, and went Next Door. We run and pull when we are going Next Door, it's so incredibly exciting. We never know what we will find there... food? Another dog to play with? A big party of family? Since no one tells us anything, going Next Door is always a surprise.

We were pleased to run in the yard, and then Mommy started the barbeque. The meat smelled so rich and... and... meaty. Pork spareribs, lots and lots of them! And the best part of this meat is that there were Bones. We hoped that they were the good kind of bones that we could have. Our whole focus changed from running around in the yard, to praying for bones.

Mommy pulled a piece off of the fire for us, before anyone else got to eat, and let it cool off. She wouldn't give us Bones, but she tore meat off and told us to dance for it. Boy did we! Bear wouldn't sit down, he was so enthralled with the smell.

After dinner, we took a Walk. Down to the beach! We love the beach, but Mommy doesn't take us very often because she can't handle all three of us. She should just let us off of our leashes... we know the way! But she's funny that way, she likes to control how fast we are going and which direction. People are so hard to understand sometimes.

The Allison puppy and her Thomas went with us. Allison took pictures of us having fun in the sand. I rolled in the sand and seaweed, which smelled just delightful. There were subtle nuances of dead fish, with a tickling of grey seal and dolphin, finishing with the scent of a yellow lab that had been by previously and rolled also. Then, I ran. And ran. and ran. Even Casper, fat thing that he is, ran and capered. Bear runs up to the water, but doesn't go in very far. I go in up to my belly. Casper is the fat square one, Bear is wearing the blue harness, and I am in pink. Of course.

Here is the video of My Best Day:



Yasha

When we were pups...

Now that I figured out how to embed video from YouTube (pretty good for a dog, eh?) here is a quick video of our first day home. It was July 1st, 2006 and we were just eight weeks old.

Three days later, everyone celebrated how cute we were. There was a parade, and a BBQ, and fireworks at night. At least, I'm pretty sure that it was us they were celebrating. Everyone loves us.



Casper makes a cameo appearance, but I am definitely the star. Mommy says so, and Mommy never lies.

My Silly Brother, Bear

His official name is Klondike's Dancing Bear, but mostly we just call him Bear. Or Bear Bottom. Or Mr. Bear.

We were playing in a big Rubbermaid tub, and Bear stopped to take a little panting break. Here's the YouTube Video:



It's hard to admit, but he is rather adorable!

Yasha