Life after Riggs

JODIE: Well, Riggs has been gone for over a week and we've wanted to mention him in our blog, but, as usual, it took some doing to get Dad off his butt. Or perhaps I should say get his butt in front of the computer to take our dictation. Today, everything fell into place.

COCO: Are you going to tell our friends how much we miss Riggs?

JODIE: That was the general idea, but we have more to say than just that.

SANDY: I have to admit that it was nice to have such a handsome guy around the pool. At the very beginning I had to snap at him once when he was giving me a lot of attention, but he never bothered me again and turned out to be a real gentleman.

JODIE: You're still suffering from the trauma of getting, knoc.....er...pregnant at your last home. Do not worry, you have been "fixed" so no male will ever be able to that to you again. In addition, I have it on good authority that Riggs has also been "fixed" so he will not be producing any new puppies either.

COCO: We've had so many males pass through here in the last few years that a girl can't be sure.

JODIE: Oh, we can be sure. It doesn't matter about the males because we three beautiful Labs have ALL been "fixed" and WE will not produce more puppies. Another thing, Riggs was not just another dog passing through on his way to a forever home. He is in his forever home with Sam and Donna and he was here for a week. Didn't you enjoy swimming and playing with Riggs?


COCO: Well, my thing is jumping and diving and I rely on a Human to throw my toys in the water. You like to play tug and chase, so you had more fun with Riggs than Sandy or I.

SANDY: I think it was  nice to have such a hunk of male Labrador running around our pool. It gave our pool some class! Besides, he was so gentle that you wouldn't think a guy that big could be so gentle with us girls. He never played rough and he even let Jodie win at Tug.


JODIE: Whoa there, Sandy. What do you mean he LET me win at Tug?

COCO: Get real, Jodie! He out weighs you by thirty pounds. If he wanted, he could tug you from here to the dog pound.

JODIE: Not so! Not so! I can even pull the toys away from Dad and he outweighs me by a ton!

SANDY: Sorry Jodie, but I have to agree with Coco. I've seen you play with Dad, and I'm SURE that he lets you win, then chases you around the pool. It's the only way he and you get any exercise. As for Riggs, if you haven't noticed, he is el primo, heavy with MUSCLE. Her chooses to be a gentleman because he is just a nice guy.

JODIE: I'm shocked, shocked, I say!

COCO: Oh, don't go all dramatic on us. Let's just say that Riggs was being extra nice to an old lady lab and let it go at that.

JODIE: OLD????  OLD????

SANDY: Give it up Jodie. You are in dog years what Dad is in people years. And you were calling him The Old Man since I came on the scene, probably earlier. I'm the baby in the family and closer to Riggs' age than either of you. If you look, you will see that, like Riggs, I'm in my prime.

JODIE: I'm old, huh? Well with age comes wisdom. I know who I am and what I can and cannot do. I get along with nearly all people and dogs and I'm generally welcome anywhere. One more thing, I AM THE ALPHA DOG AROUND HERE! And you'd better believe it. Now this conversation is over.

COCO: But....

JODIE: OVER!!!!

Welcoming Riggs!!!

JODIE: Hello all! We have a visitor this week and we've been looking forward to seeing him again for quite some time.

COCO: Yeah, but he can't dive.

JODIE: Coco, please shut your cookie trap for a little while. We'll get to the swimming later.

COCO: But he can't dive!

JODIE: Coco, HUSH!!!  Now, I'll continue. We met Riggs a couple of years ago on our way back from Alaska and spent an afternoon with him at a dog park in Missouri. I guess he wasn't fully grown back then because he has grown a LOT bigger since then. You will notice that he is a very handsome specimen.




Riggs, the wonder dog! Running around the pool with his favorite toy.

SANDY: I didn't know Riggs until he showed up on Friday. There was a lot of sniffing and such and we all got along pretty well, but I had to snap at him once when he was over doing the sniffing thing. That can be such a problem with males, but he got the message and we coexist in peace.

COCO: Still.....he can NOT dive!

JODIE: Coco, you can be a real pain in the butt!!! OK, lets address Riggs as a water dog. First of all, he has never seen a swimming pool until Friday and he's used to a pond where the water gradually gets deeper. Second, the water in the pond is not as clear as the pool, so he can't see how deep it is. Third, although he can't dive, (and you are the ONLY one who can), he can swim circles around you.

COCO: So what, he can swim in circles.........

JODIE: You're getting on my nerves, Coco. That's an expression. It means that he can swim much faster than you can.

SANDY: And he can swim much faster than I can, and I used to be the fastest swimmer in the family. And he's handsome.

 

JODIE: And, besides Dad, he's the only one who plays Tug with me.



Here's Riggs cruising back to the steps with his toy



JODIE: Here I am trying to tease him into playing Tug with me again



SANDY: I was having fun by myself chasing my favorite ball when Mom would throw it in the pool



COCO: Hey, Riggs!!! This is the way a REAL dog jumps off the side of the pool!! HA HA.

JODIE: My apologies to Riggs and our readers. Coco can be such a ...........well........such a jerk sometimes. Yes, she can jump off the side of the pool and yes she can dive to the SHALLOW end of the pool to retrieve toys. But, she cannot swim as fast as Riggs, she's not as sweet as Sandy, and she certainly is not as smart as I am. Riggs will be here a while longer, so we'll see just how fast he learns. He is much bigger that Sandy, Coco, or me, but he is really a well behaved, mild mannered gentleman and it's nice having him around.

A short note from Coco

COCO: Arf to all of you. Riggs, we'are waiting!!!!!

I thought that I would show you why we have a problem getting a blog out more often.

This is our typist, our transcriber, and our ultimate connection to the Internet. I'm trying to get his attention, but to no avail. I'm not really complaining too much as he does play ball with us and let us in the pool, just not often enough! To be honest, he even takes us for a ride in the car when he's running errands if it's not too hot. However, being a Lab, I could eat all the time and I could also play all the time. One of my favorite times to go in the pool is right after the folks have dried me off. I protest by rolling in the dirt. That gets me attention, but in a negative way. I don't get in the pool, but I do get another bath and dry down.

What's a girl to do? He's so cute when he's asleep! What's really funny is that when he wakes up, he will INSIST that he wasn't really asleep. Yeah, and I'm not really a dog.

Mom says to cut him some slack as he's been working hard getting the house and grounds back in order, what ever that means. Everything looks great to me and Jodie and Sandy have no complaints.

Oh, by the way, unless she starts behaving, Sandy is in for a little trouble. She has suddenly started digging holes in the yard. Not in the area beyond the grass, but right in the middle of Mom's lawn. Is Mom displeased???? Oh, yeah!!!

So right now, the three Queens of Williams Ave are chilling out after having supper and I'm working with Dad to get this out. I promised that he can go back to sleep (not that he really sleeps, (ha ha), when he's done.

More later from Coco, the Chocolate Rebel.

We're home!

JODIE: We got home last week and things have returned to normal. Dad says the whole trip was 5827 miles, but that's PEOPLE miles. That's over 40,700 dog miles!!! Coco and Sandy sleep, but the long ride stresses me out, and it doesn't start when we start moving. The stress actually starts as soon as I recognize that a move is coming. The awnings go up or the basement is packed or the slides come in. Any of those will start me on the road to stress. Then, when the rumble of the engine shakes the camper I really go into overdrive, huffing and puffing. But, it's over for now.

Now we're back to fetching the ball in the yard or spending time in the pool. I love the pool. I mean I REALLY love the pool, but now that we've been exposed to the surf of the Pacific Ocean, the pool is not quite the same. Oh, we can swim and romp in the water a bit, but we can't take the long runs down the beach and chase a ball or a stick into the surf. I miss the long runs in the shallow water, too.

SANDY: At first, I didn't understand what Jodie and Coco were raving about when they talked about he ocean and the waves. In fact, the very first time I was at the ocean I jumped out of the Jeep and ran full speed to the water. Jodie and Coco just kept running and swimming until they were in the waves, but I came to an instant stop when my paws first hit the water. Remember, I was very hesitant to go in the pool, where the water was nice and calm. To see the breakers and surf, I was dazzled, but only for a moment.

JODIE: That's true. She came to love the surf as much as we do. Coco and I were concerned the first time a wave broke over her head, but she came right up and continued chasing a stick. The waves and the surf never fazed her. Here's the truth about Sandy, when we she moved in she was a tad smaller than Coco and me and we thought she was full grown. That was not the case. Sandy is now taller, longer, and a lot faster than us two slow old Labs. On land or in the water, she is ALWAYS the first to reach anything thrown. In addition to being fast and strong, she's as agile as can be.

By the way, Coco will not be joining in this blog because she won't come out of the motorhome. Whenever someone is working in the camper and the door is open, Coco moves right in until she eventually gets thrown out when they lock the door. She always was a bit of a doofus.

SANDY: We had visitors for a few days recently. Lorena, a friend from Canada was down for a couple of days and though she has no dog, she showers all of us with lots of attention. The Barbara from Homographs came and she ALSO gave us great amounts of attention. After that, Mom's cousin JoAnne from Massachusetts came for a visit in their motorhome and they had two dogs, Molly the Golden Retriever and Riley the Dachshund. Unfortunately, they were used to being on a leash all the time and we didn't get to play.

JODIE: I guess that's about it for now. We think that Dad's brother may be over in a couple of weeks and they should bring cousin Mya, not sure of the spelling. Then later in April we're expecting Riggs, the Missouri Wonder Dog to stay for a couple of weeks.

That's it from Jodie and Sandy. Coco will have to come in tonight.

Finally got Dad off his behind

COCO: We haven't posted for a while because we couldn't get Dad to do anything!

JODIE: That's being a bit cruel, Coco. You know that he's been without a good internet connection for a while.

COCO: Well, I was just trying to make sure that we didn't get blamed.

SANDY: I think Coco is just frustrated because she can't work off her excess energy.

JODIE: That's probably true for all of us. We haven't played fetch since we left the Hacienda and we haven't been in the surf since Perula. Let's take some time to bring our blog up to date.

When we got back to Hacienda Contreras there were some changes. Donkey Hotay is still there, but Ossa is gone. Neko is new and so is Bella. The Contreras have a house as well as the campground. Ossa was the campground dog and Neko was the house dog. Then along came the new puppy Bella and Ossa couldn't get along with the pup, so Ossa and Neko changed places.

This is Bella! As you may recognize, a Labrador Retriever.



Another picture of the pup.



This is Neko!

Neko is Barb's personal guard dog.

JODIE: Bella is a Lab like me and she looks just like I did a long time ago. She started out pure white, but we can see the yellow starting to come out on her back. Barb brought Bella down to see us a couple of times, but when she saw us three strange dogs she made a beeline back to the building. I'm sorry if we scared her. I'm sure we'll be great friend when we return next winter as she'll be almost full grown and as big as we are.

SANDY: Neko is a good dog, but she seems very quiet and shy.

COCO: She'll get used to all the campers and their dogs. She doesn't seem at all aggressive. Have you mentioned your sore foot, Jodie.

JODIE: Not yet. I guess I hurt my foot during some rough play at the Hacienda and it seemed to be getting worse. Mom and Dad took me to a Vet in Patzcuaro and he was very nice. I never even growled. He poked and prodded and said there was nothing serious and gave the folks some medicine for me. I'm feeling much better.

COCO: I also want to tell everyone that we have a lot of area around here, but we're always on the leash since I escaped the first day. There's PLENTY of room to play fetch, but the folks are afraid of the steer, the cow, and all the horses that walk free around here. I think they are over reacting to the steer that was going to butt Tilly. They're also afraid we may chase the animals.

SANDY: I'm the new girl on the block, but even I know that Coco can NOT be trusted. She got away the first day and the folks have taken no chances since then. We don't know where we are headed next, but are hoping for surf or at least an area where we can run and play.

JODIE: I guess that's it for now. We'll try to be better about the blog if we can get Dad and the internet to cooperate. Bye from all of us!

More from the beach

SANDY: I saw an appledater!! I saw an appledater!!

JODIE: Hold it Sandy, you're too excited. You're thinking of alligator, but even at that you are wrong. It was a crocodile.

SANDY: Appledater, alligator, crocodile.....who cares? What's the difference?

COCO: Gosh, people think that I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know the difference between alligators and crocodiles. Heck, I'm a Florida dog and I thought that all Florida dogs knew about alligators and crocodiles.

SANDY: So how come you guys know so much about alligators and crocodiles?

JODIE: Well, Sandy, alligators are a fact of life. That's why we NEVER get to go swimming in a lake or stream at home, we always swim in the pool.

COCO: Ya know Jodie, Sandy wasn't with us when we went all over the country, swimming in all kinds of lakes, rivers, and oceans. She missed out on swimming into the current of a river and letting it bring you downstream. Then we get out, run up along the shore and do it again.

JODIE: You are 100% correct. Mark this down......on this date Coco was right. I think we aught to explain what we're talking about.

COCO: OK, I'll go first. Nearly every day for the last several weeks we get to romp in the surf. We chase tennis balls or sticks and have a great time. Mom and Dad are very patient and let us stay out until we get tired.

SANDY: Actually, they let us stay out as long as we stay engrossed in the water. When one of us turns our attention to grubbing along the high tide line looking for fish bits, the day is OVER.

JODIE: They don't like us to roll in dead fish either.

COCO: Yes, yes, but the point is that we have been going out every day and each day is about the same as the last. That's why we've been behind in our blog. Now we have something new to add.

SANDY: Yup, the appledater.

JODIE: No!!! The crocodile! Dad puts us in the Jeep and drives way down the beach so we can play rough where there are no people. He drives beyond the place they call "The Lagoon", which supposedly has a crocodile in it.

COCO: Supposedly my paw! We saw that sucker on the way home. Dad didn't have a camera so there was no picture to prove it.

JODIE: Aha!! Today he had the camera and the crocodile was there and we have proof.

This is the "Croc". Dad says that if you look at the distance from the nose to the eyes, it seems like a lot of his tail is underwater and others have estimated his length at 10 or 11 feet.



This is the "Lagoon". It doesn't connect with the ocean except when extremely high tides was a wave or two far enough in to add to the lagoon. It really backs up to a swamp.



Here we are frolicking in the surf.

And here we are running back to get a stick or a tennis ball.

JODIE: So we just wanted you to know that there is a little excitement down here and we want to make sure that Sandy knows that crocodiles are not dog friendly. Crocodiles EAT dogs. Thankfully, Dad and Mom keep and eye out and don't let us get too close to danger.

SANDY: OK, I get it. What ever else we do, we do not get near alligators and crocodiles.

COCO: Now you've got it, Sandy. As time goes on you'll be swimming in a lot more places and you can be sure that Mom and Dad will make sure they're safe.

JODIE: And they always end up the same way, we go back to the camper and get washed down and well dried with a number of towels. AAAHHHH, what a life!

To the river and the beach

SANDY: Yesterday was kind of an unusual day. Dad dressed in his shorts and sneakers and that's generally the key to going to the beach.

COCO: Oh, Yeah!!! And we create quite a ruckus. We're going to the beach!! We're going to the beach!!

JODIE: It didn't go quite as we thought. Oh, we three girls were in the back of the Jeep and we were making a lot of noise. We REALLY like going to the beach and we DO get all excited. But when Dad drove out of the campground, he drove past all the streets that lead to the beach. That came as a shock and Sandy, Coco, and I got very quiet as he drove out of town and then took a left on the highway. Perhaps we were just going for a ride.

SANDY: A ride is OK, I like a ride. I like the beach better, but I like a ride, too

COCO: It wasn't just a ride. Dad took us to a river a few miles from the campground. He left us in the Jeep while he checked out the river. We could see the water and we were in an uproar, waiting to get in the water. The noise inside the Jeep was deafening!!

JODIE: The younger girls have no patience!

COCO: What the......you were making as much noise as Sandy and I were!

JODIE: I must have gotten caught up in the excitement, I don't quite remember.

SANDY: I'll continue if they're going to argue over nothing. Dad came back and started the car and drove the Jeep right down to the water. When he opened the rear hatch, the three of us FLEW out of the back and raced to the water. It wasn't quite what I expected.

COCO: No, me neither! The water was shallow, never getting up to my chest and the bottom was muddy. The water was nice and cool, but there was not enough to swim.

JODIE: That's right! Upstream the river was narrow and deeper and there was a nice current, but we couldn't get there because the land was fenced off. Where we were the river was very wide and very shallow.

COCO: Then Dad called us back to the Jeep, but I pretended that I didn't hear him. The river wasn't great, but it was better than going back to the campground.

JODIE: I'm ashamed to say that I didn't return to the Jeep either.

SANDY: I didn't hear anything!

COCO: I'm not surprised!

JODIE: Girls..... Dad solved the problem. He started the Jeep and took off. As much as we like the water, we DO NOT WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND. AS he drove away, he left the rear hatch open, and when he stopped all three of us very quickly jumped in. I thought our swimming was over for the day, but Dad had one more surprise for us.

SANDY: Yup, on the way back to the campground he took a left turn and drove to our spot on the beach. We were in the surf in a dash, then we played fetch with the balls.

Here we are on the beach chasing sticks. Dad didn't take any pictures at the river. We did have a geat time, though.

This is Archie and we have an amazing story to tell about him. Some time before we got here he was hit by a car and his back end was pretty broken up. His people were sure that he would have to be put down, but they brought him to a local Vet. The local Vet couldn't help them and referred them to a vet in Puerto Vallarta. Xrays showed a lot of broken bones in his rear, but not his spine or legs. I guess it's the bone that connects the hips and legs and spine. There was no way to put a cast on it. The Vet put on rubber gloves and went in through the butt and very carefully put the broken bones back in the proper position, without surgery. A week later they went back and the Vet had to make one minor adjustment and now Archie is a lively pooch. To see him run and jump, you'd never think he had a problem. Amazing!!!

COCO: I don't know about tat kind of treatment, but I suppose that if it works........

SANDY, COCO, and JODIE: Hasta luego from the Perras at Punta Perula