MORE FROM THE LILY POND

BACK AGAIN...I've been busy today doing all these posts and trying to catch up on my writing....earlier today I coaxed my big dog Moe into my van for the second time...the first time was when we brought him home from the animal shelter 9 months ago and he puked all over the place....He had his bath yesterday and I administered some flea and tick meds to his back at the shoulders and at this tail as the directions advised...the ticks are really bad out here in the country....I picked 7 off him in the last 2 days.......for the most part, he likes his bath, it's trying to get him in the tub that is hardest of all...once he is in there and the warm water sprays all over him, he loves it....

He loves to go down to the pond and get a drink and just jumps in at the muddiest places and thinks nothing of trying to get into the house with the mud all over his legs and belly....
anyway to get back to the ride...he hesitated getting into the back, but with a little coaxing, he finally decided to jump in...as I closed the back gate of the van, he looked like he was going to bolt as soon as I opened the driver's side door, but I talked nice to him and he came up to me for a scratch on the head and a pat on his back...as I backed the van out of the parking place, he came up under my arm and I had to soothe him some more by telling him what a nice dog he was...finally as I got to the main road, he squirmed up into the passenger seat and decided that was where he belonged....as he looked out of the window that I lowered a bit, I could see how excited he was to know that he was moving and didn't have to work at it. I'm imagining him with his head out of the window and goggles on his face and the wind blowing his big ears back...he may also need a scarf to go along with the goggles..... He drooled all over the seat and I had to stop and clean things up a bit, but he loved that seat...as we went down the road, he decided to go to the back of the van and watch things go by from the back window, then he decided to come back up to the front...I took him on a short ride for about 20 minutes,didn't want to stress him out any more, talking to him all the time and he seemed to enjoy the excursion....he was also really glad to get home and out of the van.....as soon as I opened the back gate, he headed for the house and looked back to see if I was following him....after a while, he came back to me just to see what I was doing....

After I moved some things out to the barn, I decided to try to get him to get into the van again, but no dice...he took off, hell bent for election and went to the door on the porch side of the house...He is really a gentle dog, and I hated to try to get him to come back into the van, but I figured I should do it again and see if indeed he would get up into the back on his own again...so I put the leash on him and he walked nicely and calmly out to the van again...as I opened the gate, he sat down and just looked at me as if to say " what ????are we going to do this all over again...damn"!!!!.. I scratched his ears and talked nice to him, coaxed him a little and low and behold he just jumped up into the van and sat down as though he owned the place...I had him jump out and then jump back in and he did it with enthusiasm as though to say..."ON THE ROAD AGAIN"..his next trip will be to the vet's for his second round of shots.....good dog, good dog....