Talk From The Dog

I'm always looking for guest articles for this blog, but I was surprised when Ollie told me he would like to submit one. Surprisingly, he has a fairly strong command of the English language. And I think he makes some very valid points on what types of things might be important to the family pet.

Hello, I've never written an article for a blog before...in fact I don't think I've ever written an article at all. But, as a dog who has been around lake properties quite a bit, I have some suggestions for those of you who might be looking for a special place for you and your pet to hang out.

When I was just a little puppy, I used to go up to my grandparents' house in Northern Minnesota on vacation. They lived on a big lake with a big dock and huge pine trees, which gave me and my uncle Charlie the Dog lots of places to hang out. The world just seemed so BIG! I had so much energy back then, and I could just roam around all day.

As I got a little older (it seems like about 7 years older every year), I liked to hang out in the house more often, and Gramma's shag carpet came in handy to keep those old bones from getting too sore. But Gramma always loved dogs - and she believed they should be at least as comfortable as humans - so she put quilts on the floor for me and Uncle Charlie so that we would sleep better. Of course, she had pretty comfortable couches also, and about the time I hit my third birthday I started spending a little more time hanging out on them - mainly to keep my bones and muscles from getting too sore after a long day of chasing squirrels and sniffing animal droppings.

Oh, I love those great memories of Gramma and Grampa's lake home. By the way, they always had really good food - and lots of it. But I digress. I wanted to tell you some things I have seen - and heard - about what other dogs like to do at the lake.

I had several dog relatives that were also around water most of the time. I'll never forget some of the stories the humans would tell about those crazy dogs at night around the fireplace. Uncle Charlie and I didn't get real involved in the conversation, but we would nod once in awhile...and maybe wag our tails.

Probably the king dog of the family was old Grandoggy Chippy. He was around when my dad was a small boy and, apparently, he loved to sail off the dock to chase sticks. He would come running down that 100 foot dock at full speed and just keep going until his belly splatted on the water. Ouch! Now I don't mind retrieving a stick from the water now and then as long as I don't have to go over my waist to get it, but you certainly won't see me taking my life in my own paws like that.

Another real "lake dog" was Ringo. He was my older dog brother, but I never got a chance to meet him in person. He lived at my parents' lake house when the kids in my family were just little. Ringo was a "frogger," and would spend hours chasing frogs along the shoreline. He was also a heck of a fisherdog, and would try to grab the fish off my brother's line as he reeled them in. I guess one day he ended up with hooks in his lip twice, so my dad got a little upset with him and wouldn't let him fish anymore for awhile.

There are plenty of other stories of the ancestral dogs of the family...Granduncle Snowy, Great Grandauntie Ginger...and many others that I could go on about. They all loved being at the lake, wandering around in the woods, laying on the shag carpet, and eating great meals. Some, like Chippy, loved to play, while others just liked to wander around the neighborhood.

I guess us dogs all have our individual traits, just like humans do. Some humans enjoy fishing or boating, and others may just like to curl up with a good book. I certainly don't mind a good boat ride now and then to get the wind blowing through my nose, but if I only had a hard floor to lie on at the end of the day I'm not sure if my time at the lake would be as enjoyable. And from talking to other dogs over the years, they seem to like the same things I do...lots of woods to roam in, no busy roads to get run over by cars, a nice clean swimming area, and plenty of shade to hide out in on those scorching summer days.

Well, thanks for listening to my story. Gramma and Grampa still have real comfortable carpets and couches - and lots of food - although they don't live at the lake anymore. But my parents now have a lake cabin they bring me to, and its the same one Gramma and Grampa used to have as their house. It's great that Uncle Charlie still comes up there to visit me, along with other dogs, and we all still partake in dog stories from days gone by. And with my fifth birthday coming up soon, I'm not sure that life can get any better!

Ollie "The Dog"