Happy Birthday Duncan!

Exactly one year ago today, we were hiking the beautiful Lake of The Woods Trail in Killarney Provincial Park. Breathtaking, in every sense of the word.

Also exactly one year ago today, Bella produced nine beautiful wheaten terrier puppies. (That's Duncan in the blue collar, using one of his siblings as a pillow. He does like pillows!)

Later today there will be a trip to the store to choose a birthday toy, and maybe a bit of a hike somewhere. Meanwhile, here are a few highlights of Duncan's first year:

Day #1 in his new home

Hard to believe he fit under the couch!

Poor little guy. :(

Christmas Eve

A Christmas present from Bella! (still a favourite)

First walk outside 

Puppy playtime at school

Snow day

Working hard at school

With his friend Owen

Don't jump back...  too late!

Genealogy road trip

Dog fountain, Canada Day

Post-skunk bath

Swimming at Pinery 

Running at Scotsdale

Crawford Lake

Yesterday we went hiking at Crawford Lake, the site of Duncan's first picnic. Since he's now a big boy, we tackled the Escarpment Trail, the big loop in the centre of the trail map. The first (southern) half of the loop, to the lookout, is an easy walk. 

The second half is a bit more rugged – but only for humans who didn't wear their hiking boots! 

Duncan had a wonderful time. There are so many fascinating smells in the woods, rocks to climb, fallen trees to jump over, other trees to wrap the leash around...

The trails were nearly deserted; we saw one class trip (probably for the reconstructed native village) and only a few other people. 

We'll try this trail again in a few weeks; the view from the lookout at the escarpment edge should be wonderful once the leaves have turned:

The Civilized Way to Drink

Duncan has never really been fond of drinking from his water dish. He prefers to drink from his own personal fountain in the bathtub. Any bathtub. But he's recently discovered a new way of staying hydrated.

It's a bit of a tight squeeze. He'd like us to get some wider mugs. But he didn't let that stop him!

Isn't that a cute little black nose?

As you may have noticed, he had an enabler here. But he manages quite well on his own - he was sitting innocently next to Megan the other night when he suddenly dove into her drink too. Fortunately she was also drinking water, but we're going to have to keep an eye on anything stronger. Combining a teenage wheaten with alcohol – or caffeine, for that matter – sounds dangerous!

Comfy on the Couch

 

Duncan seems to enjoy burrowing behind - or occasionally under - the couch cushions. Sometimes it's a tactic to try to attack them, and he gets evicted. But sometimes he just wants a cozy little nest to snuggle into for a bit of a snooze.

 

And really, when a guy is snuggled in for a snooze, the least he expects is a bit of privacy. So if nosy people interrupt, the only thing he can do...

 

 ...is knock over another cushion and try to burrow in a bit deeper.

Wascally Wabbits

Finally, the weather is turning cooler. And Duncan is much happier about spending time outdoors, to the point where his buddy Sammy's mom commented on how frisky he's becoming on our morning walk. It's a bit like walking a pogo stick! 

He's discovering the joys of hunting the rabbits who live under the deck. He sniffs them out through the cracks between the boards, and tries to dig them out.

There's one, over that way!

But it's hard to dig through a 2x6, so he moves on to another rabbit. (Or possibly the same rabbit, also moving on. Rabbits have a sense of humour - like the one who obligingly let Kerry and her wheaten friend Candy, ages 14 and 12, take turns chasing him. He would hop a few yards until one of them got tired, wait until the old girls traded places, then hop a few more yards.)

He's heading for the tree!

I'd feel sorry for the rabbits, being harassed in their own home like that, except that they've lived there for several years. I'm pretty sure they know they're safe.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were laughing at our mighty hunter:

If It Works Once...

Who, me? Something in my mouth?

You may recall that I recently paid a ransom of chicken for a stone.

Um, nothing really. Just my stone.

 Duncan is a strong believer in sticking with a scheme that works. Kidnapping stones seems to work quite well, raising visions of expensive dental surgery in the minds of parents. So he kidnapped it again, right off the photography table.

I'll just keep an eye on it
while you go get the treats.

In fact, he's on a real roll. He figures that a bigger stone may equal a bigger treat:

Original stone on the left, yesterday's version on the right.

Driving Us to Drink

To drink water, that is. 

Duncan's favourite toys lately are empty water bottles, and he makes sure we keep him well supplied. (He tried to grab a full bottle once, but that didn't seem like a good idea!) They hold up surprisingly well to chewing, and make an interesting noise that is a pleasant change (to him, at least) from the standard squeaky toy. (For variety, he did steal the pool water sample bottle, but it just didn't have the same crunchiness.)

Meanwhile, his lovely new $20 miracle toy is still in practically pristine condition, though he will play with it once in a while. Probably just to humour us!

Held for Ransom

Continuing with our "random photos with associated trips down Memory Lane until fall arrives" strategy:

I've mentioned several times that Duncan is a Chewer Extraordinaire. And he learned the fine art of holding stolen objects for ransom way back when he was just a pup. We're getting pretty good (most of the time) at keeping stealable objects out of his reach.

But I may have mentioned (once or twice or thirty times) that he's smart. And now things are getting ridiculous!

I was sitting in the family room the other day, listening for splashes, while Duncan prowled the back yard. A furry head poked through the door, chewing loudly on some unidentified object. He brought his treasure in, dropped it, looked at me to be sure I noticed, quickly scooped it up, and ran upstairs. Apparently I was too slow to react, so the furry head poked itself out of the living room, looked down the stairs at me, and smacked its chops meaningfully.

I duly went and got the ransom money treats. Duncan set his treasure down between his paws and waited politely. 

Here's what cost me a hunk of freeze-dried chicken:

Yup, it's a stone. A random pebble, about 1" across. One of hundreds, if not thousands, of pebbles from the path beside the house.

This could get expensive!