April Fool's Day

Felix down at the river on one of our walks.

Yes, he likes the water. He wanted to play in it.

I was working up in my office today when I heard a car pull in the driveway. I was expecting Clay, who had gone to town on some errands, so I went downstairs and outside to greet him. It wasn't Clay, but it was our local Animal Control Officer. I had met this guy a few weeks back when he had stopped by, checking with people in the area in an effort to find a lost dog. He's a nice young guy, a big improvement from the good old boys who typically hold that position in most rural counties. I had been impressed when I first met him because I had never known an ACO to actively assist in a search for a lost dog. I had contacted them when Maya was missing two years ago and they were less than useless. Also, I had heard that this guy had assisted in saving another local dog just a couple days ago who was found mired deep in the mud of a drained pond after being missing for two weeks.

There's enough lab in him that he enjoys being wet.

But what brought him around to our place today was an anonymous report that had been made alleging that we were starving our dogs. He saw a few of the dogs in the dog yard before he even got out of his truck and knew immediately that this was a hoax. Our dogs are obviously well fed, although some of them might argue that point. He said that someone upset by dogs barking may have made the call. It just occured to me that maybe it was someone's April Fool's joke? but making a false police report is itself a crime so that would be taking things a bit far.

We had a nice visit anyway, and it gave me a chance to thank him for his efforts in finding lost dogs rather than just playing the role of "dog catcher." Clay came home while he was here, and Toquima's folks came to get him as the ACO was leaving, so they all got a good laugh from the "starving dogs" accusation.

Sparky and Max out on a hike today. 

The pics are just some random shots from the last few days, apropos of nothing.

Maya has taken up a lot of the
slack left by Daisy in terms of
playing with Felix.

His weight was up to 35 pounds at the vet
the other day. I'm cutting back to twice daily
feeding. Maybe he's the one who called the
ACO, but I'm more inclined to suspect Vince.

I've been walking Felix and Maya together.
Felix needs the exercise and the experience.

They are a handsome and formidable pair of dogs.

Felix and Maya sharing a bed in my office.

First wild flowers I've seen on the trail.