Sassy No Longer Has a Park To Visit - She Lives in One

In Phoenix, I walked Sassy to the park every morning, sometimes as early as 4 AM to avoid the heat.

In Northwest Arkansas, we live in a park, a double lot where trees surround the house. Just like the dogs in "Up," Sassy lives to chase squirrels. She has no hope of catching one, but the thrill never goes away.

The morning walk begins with, "Sassy - let's go kill a squirrel." She knows that includes walking across the main road and going up the hill on Wentworth.

First we stop to see Maynard and Homer, two neighboring guard dogs, big babies looking for attention. Sassy chases Maynard in circles and fusses with Homer. Old Homer is known for not liking smaller dogs, so he sometimes wears an expression of disgust and dismay, backing away to watch from the porch. Maynard enjoys the chase.

Across the street is a new Scotch terrier, usually inside. On the corner is a little dog who stays outside without a leash. That is Sassy's boyfriend. Our granddaughter got them together for a social meeting. Ever since, Sassy and her boyfriend have enjoyed daily chases around the yard. Sassy on three legs can keep up with other dogs on four. The new neighbors admire Sassy and talk about her with me.

Chipmunk holes are abundant, so Sassy checks them out. Chipmunks do two things to hide. One is the freeze. When they stop moving, they blend easily with the background. If Sassy charges, they duck into their hidey-holes nearby. PETA does not need to be alarmed. Sassy has no chance to touch her mammal friends.

Precious and Treasure Enjoy Their New Home

Precious can be counted on for mischief.
1 Silden Lane, Bella Vista, Arkansas, 72715.

Precious and Treasure are enjoying their new home, too. The previous occupant used the back porch for his dogs' exercise and sun. The house is stretched out, and the concrete back porch runs the length, with much of it under a roof. Today Precious and Sassy enjoyed a nap on the big pillow under the roof. The porch can be accessed from a guest bedroom, the living room, or the dining/kitchen area.

Treasure likes resting in little cubby-holes and sleeping outside when it is cold (Phoenix style - 40 degrees).

Sassy and I will also take our walks around the area, which is quite hilly. She has a nice front yard for tossing the ball. Lately we have had daily rain, so walking is a bit limited.

Arkan-Sassy

Sassy and her fur-sisters are moving to Arkansas, because Greg and Chris have a chance to live near their son's family. That means a permanent vacation, of sorts, with three delightful grandchildren about 15 minutes away. The grandchildren have rescue cats, but they love dogs too.

Sassy has enjoyed Glendale. She cleaned up the mean streets of Poinsettia. Where cats once roamed at their pleasure, now felines tremble and hide. Some head for the trees. Others zip under the semi-open garage doors. Sassy's favorites hit Mach 1 crossing the street or leaping over the fence.

Sassy has come face to face with many cats and kittens. If they play innocent and just look at her, she does nothing. She has great intuition for their sense of guilt. If they run, she boosts their speed as much as she can.

Today her street was free of roaming cats. It will probably take years for them to start purring again in the morning.

Sassy is enormously popular here. She greets every dog and person she meets, wiggling with pleasure when people talk to her. The pet owners all know her by name and call out to her. Dogs want to play with her and plant their front feet, which is canine speech for, "Let's run around the park together."

She will have a park-like setting in Arkansas, and squirrels to train in the art of survival.

Foster Mom Asks: "How Is Sassying Doing?"

Sassy is resting under the glass kitchen table.

BettyP has left a new comment on your post ""Some Books Are Meant To Be Tasted, Others To Be S...":

Hello all. We have been thinking about you and Sassy. We are glad that she found her wonderful new forever home and love to read about all her adventures. Is she helping to make the shelties less shy?

[Betty is Sassy's foster Mom.]
***

GJ - Sassy is having a great time with the Shelties. They were annoyed with her at first, but now they get along great. Precious and Treasure are both less shy than they used to be.

Precious has mock fights with Sassy several times a day. Sometimes Sassy is on top and snapping at Precious lying on her back. At other times Sassy is down and Precious works her over with fake bites. They trade a few on the bed, but usually they do this at the foot of the bed.

Treasure is much more likely to jump on the bed for her favorite trick. She grins and puts out her paw for petting. As soon as the petting stops, she juts it forward again.

They have fun and relax together too.

Chris buries her face in Sassy's fur every so often. Sassy likes that.

"Some Books Are Meant To Be Tasted, Others To Be Swallowed, Some Few To Be Chewed and Digested" - Bacon

Clown or contrite sinner?

"Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; That is, some books are to be read only in parts; Others to be read, but not curiously; And some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention."
- Francis Bacon, Of Studies

I was blogging about a little-known theologian named Knapp. I decided to get out my copy, which I used for the introductory information about his life and training. I left it on the floor as I was writing, since my desk is full of important materials: food, coffee cups, cookie crumbs, books, and pens.

I was getting some Internet quotations in the same post when I looked down. Sassy was busy digesting Knapp in her own way, chewing away on the spine. The book is about 150 years old and doubtless glued in the spine with tasty animal products.

All of our dogs have enjoyed books as much I do. An old set of Eisenach Luther kept attracting Old Precious. The green Concordia books must have a good flavor, too.

Sassy was suitably contrite after being caught. No dog fakes sincerity better than she does. We made up quickly, especially since the book itself was almost immune to damage. The spine is well chewed, but the book opens and reads the same as before.

I Just Love Cats

Photo by JJ

Sassy is a superb cat hunter but never hurts them. She even desisted when cornering the neighbor's cat on its doorstep, with the neighbor watching. This distant neighbor loves Sassy. Fortunately, the dog's impulse control finally clicked on.

Sunday, when we walked at around 6 AM, Sassy found three cats on the ground. I only saw one, but Sassy chased them over their fences by charging them, driving them from their cover in bushes.

Morning morning, no cat was available for chasing as we walked toward the park. However, cats are either dumb or insolent. Maybe they do not learn very quickly. On the way back, Sassy caught one her regulars on the ground and got it flying into the garage, the door left a bit open at the bottom.

Sassy Loves the Park

Sassy developed powerful muscles in her chest.
Our granddaughter Josie says Sassy has "an invisible fourth leg."
Sassy still stops traffic with her three-legged runs."
Photo by JJ.

Sassy loves her daily walks to the park. She meets new and old friends every day. All of us get going early because the summer heat is upon us - 108 in the shade right now. At 5 to 6 AM, the weather is perfect in Phoenix, as "Dawn, the rosy-fingered child of Morn appears." (Homer)

Sassy always runs over to meet her canine friends. She was quite unsure of a German Shepherd twice her size. The German Shepherd was well behaved and wanted to watch Sassy chase her ball. Somehow, Sassy ran a wide circle away from her friend as she returned the ball each time.

Sassy was not intimidated by a full-sized poodle. She must do a quick read of each dog's character.

Sassy's German Shepherd breeding is obvious to everyone. She is a grouch in bed when falling asleep. The Shelties are not much better, delivering kicks to anyone petting them or getting in their way during a serious nap. Sassy used to sit up in bed and give a loud, menacing bark, her lower jaw quivering, when touched the wrong time.

She has learned not to be so bossy about her bedtime, but she is funny in another way. She decided the best place to sleep was at the top, among the pillows, so she curls up there every night, sometimes with a head draped on my pillow. She may growl a bit if I am too close to her. I ask her, "Am I in your bed or are you in mine, you poacher?" She reaches out a paw and presses down, as if to say, "Watch your blood pressure."

She may turn toward my wife and use her paws out to keep track of her. Chris adores Sassy.

Precious has mock fights with Sassy each night. Each one plays at being attacked on the ground. Sometimes they clap their jaws at each other in bed, then settle next to each other. Treasure joins them in three-dog chases in and out the doggy-door, best done at 2 AM.