Moxie gets a new name, sort of

Our long, low little speedster is now known as the Moxerati. He's that quick! He's had two 6-wk sessions of beginning agility at Ace DogSports, and is ready to move up. He still has mental meltdowns occasionally, but he's way better than he was -- just thinks every turn should be his turn, and all the other dogs and their handlers should just get the hell outta his way.

Here's a link to some movie footage of last week's agility lesson.

Meanwhile, he would like it known that on occasion he makes Elsa a pretty good lapdog too!

Skunked again

Another slightly tweaked email...

So last Thursday night, or rather very early that morning, I'm deep in the land of zzzzzzzz's when all of a sudden the dogs started going crazy, and then somehow they were outside on the patio. It had been hot that day, and I had left the bedroom sliding door open, but the screen was supposed to be locked. Anyway. The screen was open and the dogs were outside. I got them back in, closed the screen, lay back down, and then realized that a dense, oily cloud of stink was rolling in thru the screen door and the windows. Not to mention that Miko was making this weird yurking noise and sort of scraping his tongue
with his front teeth, and part of the dense, oily cloud of stink in the room was rising up off of him. Uh-oh, thought I -- I'm not the sharpest tack in the wall when I've just woken up -- uh-oh, I think we just might have a Skunk Issue here. By this time, Miko was blowing frothy bubbles. Stinky frothy bubbles. He looked like he'd eaten a tube of skunk toothpaste! I guess he got sprayed in the face.

I don't know why he didn't just invite the critter into the house so it could stench up the last few corners that weren't already reeking. And I can't imagine how Moxie managed to avoid getting sprayed. I am grateful for favors, small and not-so!

Fortunately I had kept an old email from a friend with the Kansas State vet college recipe of peroxide and baking soda. This is the 2nd time I've had to use it on Miko, and it does work quite well. Unfortunately, the back of the house was full of Pepe le Pew's "perfume" so nothing to do but set our fans in the window facing out, and turn them to high. We slept in the living room. :-(

Friday there was a strong breeze, which helped to clear things out. So did the baths I gave both dogs. I threw away the old dog bed that Miko rolled and blew bubbles on, likewise his leather collar, which apparently received a direct hit. The house really doesn't smell too bad now (she said hopefully). I'm supposed to have an editorial meeting here on Sunday....

The thing about skunk stink is once it gets inside your nose it stays there -- takes up residence in your sinuses, or nose-hairs or something. I kept smelling it all day Friday, even at the gym. I even asked someone in the locker room if she smelled it too (what I meant, of course, was "do I smell like skunk?"). She said no. And then she launched into a story about the time her dog had gotten sprayed a few weeks ago.

Once was enough, i told Miko. "You're supposed to learn from your mistakes!"

He gave me a pained look. Didn't I realize that he had protected the house from a vicious predator?!?