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January 2011:   Wrigley   
 

Well here it is the big milestone, Wrigley has been with us a year now, every so often I go back and read his GRR Bio. and marvel at what a great con job he did. No doubt he is the greatest con artist in the world as he plays all the angles to get what he wants, he slowly reveals the real Wrigley to us as time goes by. He started sleeping by my side of the bed a year ago, then moved to Linda's side, then alternated both sides not wanting to play favorites.
I recently noticed when I get up in the middle of the night for a trip to the bathroom that he is among the missing, so I check the living room and find him curled up on the sofa with his head on the pillow snoring, with his favorite cat bunked in with him. I also notice when the coffee pot goes off at 4:30 am that he sneaks back into the bedroom and claims he has been there all night guarding us when we get up.

He still loves to go for rides but there are some times he can't go and he seems to realize that in advance, so he gets on the sofa and looks like a sorry whipped pup, looking for sympathy, upon our return he used to meet us at the door, now he just lays with his head on the pillow and wags his tail at us, like back already?

He had a tough time with the Christmas tree and his tail, he can neuter a tree in a flash, not to mention the cat pulling the balls off and playing soccer with them, I think they are in cahoots together. He still lives for his daily 3-5 mile walks through the park and always enjoys meeting other dogs, he still flushes out deer, rabbits, cats, quail, and an occasional skunk. He likes going off the paved trails and on to the dirt paths roughing it, he would have made an excellent hunting dog.

He is totally jealous of the grandkids and always has to be in the middle when they are here, Linda says we are joined at the hip, his storm phobia is manageable so far, of course we have never left him alone during a big storm, I told Linda perhaps another dog as we didn’t realize our old dog had a storm phobia until its friend passed away, but we will wait and see. We had a storm the other night and I just went out on the sofa and he jumps up on it with me and goes right back to sleep, laying on me. His fireworks phobia is much worse than a storm coming through, although none are supposed to be in our area they are and go off for days, in which case it is hard to get him on track for his potty call walks in the neighborhood.

He is a primo beggar, he just sits and watches you eat and looks sad and drools, I am putting him up for an Academy Award, you would think he is starved to death. I guess that is why we keep him on Science Diet Lite.

Although he loves water that does not include a bath, when we first got him last year we took him to Petsmart for the total make over, he evidently fought them tooth and nail and they told us next time it would be more $$$. So next time we threw him in the bath tub, he wasn't quite sure about this and did put up a fuss. During the warmer months it was easier to bathe him outside with the hose, he was starting to smell a little gamey this week so we decided on a Saturday bath back in the tub, now it took both of us to manhandle him and get him in the tub as he wanted no part of it, so it looks like his next bath will be when it warms up again.

Well after 1 year that is life with Wrigley, everybody he encounters on his walks say what a beautiful dog he is and ask about the breed and say he is what they consider an ideal dog, so well-mannered, he is definitely the best dog we have ever had and makes life interesting, he seems to have a lot of love to give and it's too bad his owners who had him previously never saw that in him, he is also a lot of entertainment and fun with his antics and sleeping on his back. I don't think there is a mean bone in his body, on walks in the park little dogs are all over him and he seems to enjoy it, it seems he can sense a dog's personality when we approach them, some he will stop and sniff as others he will ignore and walk on by. I have seen some snarl at him and want to go after him and he just ignores them, I have no doubt any that did jump him would be in for a rude awakening, although I have never seen him wanting to get in a fight I have no doubt about the fact he could certainly finish a fight, with all our walks over the year he is all muscle, he likes going up this one cliff and has to drag me up it as it is steep and rocky and I am a little slow in my old age, Linda says I'm probably in good shape thanks to him.

So now on to Wrigley year 2, we are hoping to go to another GRR picnic if they have one this year.
Jim and Linda