Holden and Me

Most of my friends have grandchildren, I have granddogs.  Don't get me wrong, I love Josie and Holden, they are wonderful.  John and I have certainly had fun anytime they come to stay with us.

Holden, Meredith's black lab, has been with us for a few weeks.  She had to be out of town and due to several other things going on, we told her he could stay with us for a bit.  What a change he brings.  John calls him, Bigun.  That is his slang for 'Big One'.  He is a big boy, 80+ lbs. and still a growing puppy.

He is more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings, faster than a speeding bullet...oh that is Superman, but Holden can do all of that too.  If he wants to come in the door then he knocks everything out of the way to get in.  Coffee table in the way, no problem, I can get by.  He is totally oblivious to anything between him and what he is headed toward.

We watched the movie, Marley and Me, last night.  It was amazing to see so many similarities in Holden and Marley.  And Holden sat and watched the movie with us.  Don't know if he was taking notes or just enjoying the film.

Our old dog, an Australian Shepherd named Nick, looks at him with a hint of dislike, but does tolerate Holden pretty well.  They play together, but on occasion I see Nick herding Holden toward the woods behind our house and I wonder if he is hoping the new pup will follow him and get lost out there.

When he came, John had to build him an escape proof kennel.  Meredith nicknamed him Houdini, he could get out of  the store bought crate she had in 2.2 seconds.  And that doesn't work too well when you have a big dog.  But John prevailed and Holden sleeps in his "new" bed now with no problems.  We put him outside of course and when Meredith called to check on him, we told her he was sleeping outside.  "Oh he's not used to the cold weather, he always sleeps inside with me," she said.  I promptly emailed her a photo of him in the pond, swimming, with ice all around, and I think I saw a smile on his little face.

Anyway, life has been interesting with the big boy around here.  Had to teach him NOT to eat my chickens.  We, I think, have passed that hurdle.  Every time he looks at one of them, I whack him on the nose and say, "NO!".  So far, that has worked.

Holden enjoying left over pasta.  He learned a few tricks while eating this.

Here's a video of Holden and one of his gourds.  He found my stash of dry gourds and they have become a true source of enjoyment for him in the pond everyday, temperature doesn't seem to matter.

Holden enjoying his gourd

Yesterday, he and Nick came back from their jaunt in the woods, and two Canada geese were in the pond.  I watched to see what he would do and he did just as I thought.  He jumped in the pond and headed for the geese.  They started honking and swam just far enough head of him to be safe, but I have to say, he was persistent.  He swam the entire length of the pond and then they flew over his head and landed about mid way the pond, so he turned around and started after them again.

He doesn't give up too easily.  Maybe it runs in this family.

PCQ