Sheri takes me, Luci, on a our exciting morning walk!

Hi Friends and dog lovers,

This morning I was so excited when Sheri brought out my pink collar and leash that I could hardly contain my emotions! I jumped up on Sheri and ran around in a few circles before she can get me calm enough to hook my up! I've learned to jump up on a patio chair, facing Sheri, and this lets her get the collar on me pretty fast, and then the leash is a snap. I like to bite at the leash a few times before we get out of the back yard, don't know why, guess it must be a left over behavior from my early puppy days! Sheri says it's part of the 'puppy anxiety' that goes along with just the thought of taking a long walk!

Our walk went well, into the meadow and along the creek that had hardly any water in it today. I tried to find just one spot for a drink but that spot was too deep down the creek's edge, but I tried anyway! Sheri gave me a stern, 'don't jump into that deep place, Luci!'

When we got us into the residential area, here comes a BIG friendly male boxer ( no collar or tags) approaching us...and my nature is to be shy with the big dogs, even if they are friendly...just something about that huge size, almost 4 times my height, and a very loooong wagging tail that appeared as long as his whole body. He was so nice and wanted so badly to play with me, and once he got so close that he touched my nose, and I instinctly jumped back a pace and got between Sheri's legs for protection. Sheri told me that this big boxer dog, we named, "Mr. Big Boxer' was a friendly dog and most likely had a home near by but had gotten away as he roamed freely. I wanted to be nice but it was just too overwhelming that he could become my friend right away. Sheri told me that we must call the 'Animal Protection Service' through the local police department and report that ' Mr. Big Boxer' was on the loose and scaring me. That's what she did and the 'Dog Protection Truck' came in about 10 minutes, as we waited under the shade of some trees. Mr. Big Boxer stayed right with us and kept attempting to get close to me and touch noses, but I just couldn't bring myself to let that happen again. The nice man in the 'Dog Protection Truck' must have had a way with dogs, because Mr. Big Boxer went running right to him and a collar was soon on him. The nice man, we named, Mr. Nice, asked if Mr. Big had bothered or hurt me, and Sheri told him, 'No, just scared her' but we wanted to get him to a safe place so his owner could find him. Mr. Nice told us that he could scan Mr. Big for a micro chip right there in his truck, and if he had one, his owner would be called and Mr. Big would go home real soon. Whew...Wow...what a new and scary experience for me, Lil Luci, and my first confrontation with a big male boxer dog who was friendly. Sheri tells me that each time we encounter a new dog like we did today, it will help me to learn more of 'dog socialization' which Sheri thinks is important for my emotional/mental health! I am really not sure about all of the things that humans think important for Lil dogs? :(.....

Well, that's about it for today...I was really happy to get back home in my big back yard and romped in the sprinkler system that on full blast. Sheri and I were quite hot, and that was a fun cool down! Until next blog, happy dog days of summer and I would love to hear from your with comments at the end of our blogs?! Puppy luv, Lil Luci...