On a Hot Day in May

One of the most difficult questions I've ever faced: what are you supposed to do with a puppy who needs exercise when it's 85 degrees outside?

When it was his self-declared nap time (which ended up being most of the day), I tried putting a fan on the floor to give him a little breeze. This, as with most new things, bothered Hobbes. He did everything he could to move out of the direction of the blowing air. This chiefly meant hiding behind a chair, but eventually he wanted to sleep near where I was studying, so he scooted partially under the couch, just missing the edge of the breeze. Apparently he likes being hot.

When it was his owner's declared outside playtime, a large, under the bed tupperware container (recently brought back from college), was transformed into a Corgi wading pool. I have never seen a dog chase after waves he's created, but Hobbes will spin himself in circles trying to bite the water. He only ends up drinking water.

For a change, I brought out the giant ball, or "The Enemy" as I've decided to call it. Since Corgis are herding dogs, and I don't generally enjoyed being herded, we bought Hobbes one of the giant slightly-bouncy balls from Target. He knows what to do as soon as he sees it. He started growling, and as soon as it was put on the grass, turned into a crazed herding dog, chasing that ball all over the yard.

When I got bored of watching him do that (since playtime is really supposed to be for my enjoyment, of course), it was time to add a variation to "The Enemy". "The Enemy" went into "The Pool". This caused much distress. Hobbes doesn't like to go into "The Pool" for extended periods of time, and he couldn't push "The Enemy" around due to the sides. So he ran around the pool, biting at the ball until he finally gave up, jumped in, knocked it out, and proceeded to chase it over the lawn.

The outside amusement for the day complete, it was time to come inside, dry off, and avoid the gentle breeze of the fan.

Ice Cubes

(Somewhat in the style of "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie")

If you take a puppy for a walk, you will cause him to pant. When you return home, you will feel bad that he is so hot and tired. You will be tempted to give him an ice cube. If you give a 4 month old puppy an ice cube, he won't know what to do with it. So you'll put it in his water dish. This will make the puppy very curious. You will leave him alone to do research on the computer. About 5 minutes later, you'll hear him barking. You'll return to the kitchen to find that he has gotten the ice cube out of the bowl, mainly by turning the entire bowl upside and spilling water everywhere. Then, he will proceed to have a FRAP attack. This will cause the water to be spread all over the kitchen. The only saving grace is that it's hilarious to watch the puppy spin out of control because of the wet floor.

FRAP

"FRAP attack" is a phrase commonly heard in our house since the arrival of Hobbes. Mom found it one day while searching the internet for jokes about Corgis. It stands for:

Frantic
Random
Acts
(of)
Play

Hobbes has this habit of "FRAP-ing" out for no reason whatsoever. The house will be quiet, then you hear what sounds like a herd of angry rhinos charging through the house. It's actually a 4-month old puppy who has turned the house into a race track. He'll loop around the living room, behind chairs and under tables, go through the hallway, do a circle in the washroom, head to the kitchen, then repeat. Usually he skids out of control and almost slams into the wall a couple times.

There's a new variation on the race track. Dad has decided that he'll give Hobbes a little push each time he runs past his chair. A small push, at the 100+ mph that Hobbes is running causes him to spin around in circles, after which he continues with his lap.

The most frightening part is when he charges straight at you while you're sitting on the sofa. In your head, you know that he can't jump up on the couch without a footstool, yet it really seems like there isn't any stopping him. Until he crashes into the couch and falls over.

The Diary of a Corgi Owner

The past couple weeks I've realized a few things.

My dog is a nut.

And I love telling stories about him.

Yesterday someone suggested that we could write a book entitled "The Adventures of Hobbes". Since I'm not part of the self-publishing industry, a blog is as close as I'm going to get. So here it is - "The Mighty Sock Hunter" - dedicated to all the weird things my dog loves to do!