Quincy can jump the fence and take himself swimming in the pond at Cleary Lake dog park, but Roxxi is not the biggest fan of water. She did, howeber, have a great time in the river at Minnehaha Park recently.

What tricks or interesting things can your dog do? Our Max tried to entice a neighbor dog into the pool one evening. As they stood by the side of the pool, he walked in via the steps in the shallow end and swam around, looking at her as if to say "come on, the water's great!" When she didn't get it he got out of the pool, picked up a tennis ball in his mouth, went to the deep end and dropped it in. The neighbor dog just stood there as if to say "I can't get it," so Max promptly jumped in after it, swam to the steps in the shallow end and when he got out, dropped the ball in front of her. Needless to say, the neighbor dog never got what he was trying to teach her! But we sure had fun watching the show!

I dog-sat for my dad this past weekend. His spaniel, Toby, sheds more than any dog I've ever come in contact with. Man alive.

When I took him to our place, he put his head out the passenger window I had cracked and he let his crazy lips flap in the wind.

I learned that weekend I'm not ready for a dog yet. I enjoy sleeping in and staying in pajamas till whenever I feel like on weekends, but having to walk the dog makes that an impossibility. Additionally I spilled his dog food all over the kitchen floor and he wouldn't drink water out of anything but the toilet bowl. Gross.

Nope, I'm not ready for a pooch quite yet.

Oh, yeah -- this is my favorite part of the day ... NOT!

First off, we have two dogs, totaling nearly 100 pounds, in the bed with us nightly and one or the other (or both) is almost always under the blankets. As the outside world starts to awaken in the morning and the dogs begin to hear those sounds, one of them usually slithers out and goes off the foot of the bed -- sometimes taking those blankets along.

If we manage to stay covered up, Roxxi will then walk on my bladder and Quincy will start licking my husband's face, arm, leg -- whatever part isn't blanketed -- until I get up to let them out (I have first-out duties, my husband gets the night shift). I first have to take care of that stepped-on bladder issue and, if I'm not quick enough, Roxxi will do this snap-snap thing with her teeth (rather than barking) to let me know to get a move on.

As for the training thing, I once read a cartoon about aliens watching us from another planet and, seeing people pick up after the dogs in the yard and leading those people down the street on a leash, assuming that the dogs are in charge. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.