I know, I know... my bad dawg

Haven't been here in a few days. I have been hanging out with a few friends. Michelle I met at "Right Start" but then we didn't hang out until we ran into each other in the computer room when we were still staying at the Misawa Inns. We lost touch for a while because we both got busy with school and when I went to call her I had lost her number. Luckily a few weeks ago I ran into her and her husband at the commisary and she gave me her cell number again so we've been getting together lately. She works at the base kennel and I went and volunteered there yesterday. It was her first day opening on her own so I wanted to be able to help. Plus, she let me do all the fun stuff.

Friday was the most interesting day so I'll let you know about that. Well first Thursday we had gotten coffee and then she came over and we watched American Idol and I kept her out until like midnight when she had to be into work at 5am. I felt bad so I definitely had to go in with her when she had to return at 9 something to open at 10. So I gave her a call at about 8:45 and let her know I was going to go with her for the day. I called Colleen and let her know I'd call her after we got done and she and I could get together. We hadn't seen each other for about two weeks. So Michelle comes to get me at about 9:45 and we go. She shows me all the animals and the way the place is set up. Only one dog reacted poorly to me. It was a Red Shar Pei. I think Shar Peis are just initially stand-offish. Kimmie's mom has on and it took me a while to win her over.

Anyway, after I met all the dogs we did a bit of cleaning because we had to wait until a certain time to start taking the dogs out to the pens outside for them to use the bathroom. Then we started to take the dogs out. The first to go out were a Pit named "Seamus" and a Bernese Mountain dog named "Sully." I had to wonder how anyone brought those two out by themselves! They were ridiculously strong! So pretty much they were taking us out to the pen. Anyway, we let them in there and we went to get the other dogs. The next dog I took out was a Black Lab named "Kuma" who was ridiculously adorable and very friendly but for some reason always had her hackles raised. Anyway, when I let her into the pen and was unaware that it had one of those locks at the bottom that just falls into the hole in the ground, I hope that makes sense, anyway, point is I locked myself in. So after a minute of laughing at myself I jumped the fence. So those dogs got to stay out there for 15 minutes.

When we brought them in I got to do playtime. Only a few dogs got playtime where you take the dog(s) into this special little room and just have some one on one time with them. The first to go in was a Shiba Inu named "Inu." Very cute dog. I tried to get him to play but he had WAY more interest in just sitting there and getting pet. So tried to get him to play for a while but then I wore myself out and he got his way. For the rest of his time I just sat there and loved on him. That was totally fine with me! :D So after his time was up I took him back in to his kennel and went to get the next dogs for their playtime. The next dogs up were two long haired dachshunds named Tally and Lucky. I have no idea which was which. But there was a black one and a brown one. The black one was a lot more playful than the brown one. The brown one was kind of like Inu who just wanted to be loved on. The black one was interested in chasing me so I pretty much just ran around the room in huge circles for a bit and then pet them for a bit. While we were in there a guy came in to drop off his dog to get groomed and the two dachshunds were WAY more interested in what was going on there so for the time he was out there talking to Michelle they just sat there trying to stick their faces under the door. After their playtime was up I went to put them back in their kennel and saw the dog who checked in sitting in the grooming bath. His name was Goliath and he was a giant mastiff. Very cute though. So I helped her (sort of) with him and then went and got the next dog. The Bernese Mountain dog, Sully, went first. Now he and Seamus share a kennel so I was wondering why they got seperate play time but when I was in there with Sully I realized it was a damn good thing! Those guys had some ENERGY! So I played with Sully and then near the end of his session I had to sit down for a second and I guess he was just as tuckered out becase when I sat down he jumped up on the couch and plopped right down on me. So we sat there and I pet him for the remainder of his time. I put him back and got Seamus. He was HYSTERICAL! He played with me but he could have just as easily amused himself the entire time, and for the first few minutes that's exactly what he did. Then we started to play tug-of-war with this little rope and because it was so small he accidentally nipped me a few times so I decided to switch to a bigger rope. Yeah, he weighed at least 90 pounds but I'm betting even a bit more than that because he had stepped on my toes a few times and they were sore for the rest of the day! After I put him back it was pretty much time for Michelle and I to leave. It made me kind of sad. :( They were all such fun doggies!

So after we left there we both needed showers since Goliath got us soaked. He was a pretty good boy in the bath he just didn't appreciate it when Michelle cleaned his ears. So he soaked us. So she dropped me off at home and we both got showered and then decided that the three of us (Michelle, Colleen, and myself) would go to dinner at the Mexican restaurant off base. So we did that and then we were going to go get coffee but we ran into some issues at the two coffee places on base so we ended up just getting some flavored Godiva coffee and some chocolate at the BX and going back to Colleen's. We talked until midnight (ha! sorry, that's her dog's name) and then Michelle and I headed home. It was a really fun day and I would really like to volunteer at PAWS and the kennel again. Plus, I'm seriously considering this home business thing and that will look good as far as experience goes. Plus, volunteer work is aways great to have on a resume. Anyway, this is ridiculously long so I'm going to do something else. :p

"That's right, Blanche. Marriage eliminates the need for an overnight bag and a stop at the drug store."
Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur) Golden Girls