Everyday is a Good Day to Play

This is our beautiful Sable with saliva frozen to her muzzle and face. It was hard to get her to sit still for this photo. She just loves to play! The extreme temperatures don't bother her one bit, she wants to play fetch or tug-of-war. I am careful that she is only out in the freezing cold for short periods of time, but she gets one extra play trip to make up for the short sessions. If I were to think like Sable, I would have to revise the title of this post to be "Play-time, All the Time!"

If we get all the snow that the weather people are predicting, I'll post some pictures of Sable in the snow, she'll be so excited! Me too!

Morning Walk

Sable and I just arrived back home after our morning walk--it was lovely! It was snowing for our entire walk. It had just begun to snow a short while before we went outside, so there was only a little more than a dusting of snow sticking to the ground, sidewalks, and streets.

The only sounds I could hear were Sable's softly padding paws and the "huh-huh" of her breath as she strained slightly on the leash, the metallic "krunch-krunch" of my Yaktrax clad boots assuring me of a safe walk, and the distant "thrum-thrum" of vehicles speeding along the tollway.

And still, amidst the all the various sounds I could hear the soft "splich-splich" of the wet snow hitting the ground. The snow was quickly gathering on tiny tree branches which couldn't support the wet snow's weight and it was falling like leaden rain drops creating lacy patterns in the already accumulated snow.

A beautiful, "noisy", morning winter walk!

Toy Box

Just like most dogs Sable loves to play. She would willingly wake from a nap for a round of play.

If you couldn't guess by now, Sable is a little spoiled. Some of her toys are pictured: Herbie, Hotdog, Elephant, and Banana. While they may not be the most creative names, Sable knows each of her toys by these names and will quickly fetch one or more of them so that we can play with them.
This group of toys is rubber or soft plastic and is quite durable considering that Sable loves to chew. Banana has been a favorite for several months while Hotdog and Herbie have been around for a year or two, amazing survival rate.

However as much as Sable likes to play with the rubber toys, she absolutely ADORES playing with soft plush toys that have SQUEAKERS! The problem is that this type of toy just doesn't stand a chance against Sable's teeth.

The bedraggled toy pictured to the right was once a cute little puppy. This is Baby, and it did have two ears, stuffing and a squeaker. Baby actually survived longer than the average plush toy, it wasn't until the second day that Sable gnawed off the ear, and pulled out Baby's "brains" to get to the squeaker, victory! Even though Baby has been de-stuffed Sable still enjoys playing tug-of-war with it.

This very sad looking creature is Sable's newest toy and latest conquest. If you look closely you might be able to guess what animal this toy originally represented...any guesses?...alright, this mess is actually a pig named Porky. Porky's manufacturer claimed that it was created with a reinforced new material that would make it harder for a dog to chew through. Well, within several minutes of Porky's arrival, Sable chewed off the tail, opened each hoof and removed the squeakers! I spent ten dollars, so I took the Porky away for the night. Porky lost his ears when it was returned to Sable the next day. Since then, Porky has suffered general abuse and dishevelment that comes with being a dog toy, and surprisingly the body and the largest squeaker remain intact. Porky is Sable's current favorite and is often brought to me along with Banana and Baby all together in her mouth, expectant look on her face, and tail wagging fast and high, saying "Wanna play?!"

The Many Faces of Sable

Sable is full of personality. Here are just a few:

she has her playful side;

her pampered, sleepy, side;

her contemplative, I'm waiting to play side;

and her spooky side!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM SABLE!

Under the weather

It began at 3:30 this morning, Sable got off my bed and was asking to go outside, she never does this. To put it delicately, something Sable ate did not agree with her and she desperately needed to go to the potty. She still had a problem this morning but otherwise is as playful as ever. Her only food today has been chicken flavored rice, so I'm sure she is wondering where is her real food and all her treats.

Hopefully tomorrow she will be back to normal.

Spoiled!

Look at this spoiled dog, such a baby! Sable occasionally sleeps on the furniture and she especially loves it if there is a pillow for her to lay her head upon.

When she cuddled up on this pillow, there was another pillow on the back of the couch that fell over on top of her. It looks as if Sable is all tucked under a blanket, so cute!

Sable to the Rescue

While Sable and I were taking our morning walk, about a block or so ahead of us we saw a small dog running ahead of someone. We weren't sure if the dog was on an extended leash so we stopped at the corner. Sure enough the little dog was loose and giving its owner a merry little chase, as soon as the man was close the little dog ran away.

I called to the man and asked if the dog was friendly and he replied, yes. So I called to the runaway to come and visit Sable. The little miniature black poodle trotted over and immediately started the standard dog sniff greeting. Sable was a good girl and stood still while she was "inspected" and I was able to grab the poodle's collar. The little poodle was introduced as Oreo and her owner was very grateful.

I praised Sable for being such a good girl as we continued on our walk, happy in knowing we had done a good deed.