Summer is upon us, and I am sure many of you love this hot weather. I’m more a 70s girl. When it hits the 80s or 90s, it’s just too hot for me – and for my dog, Ollie.
Because of his short snout, I have to pay attention that he isn’t having difficulty breathing. He loves the outside. If I’m out, then Ollie is out. He always has a big dish of cold water with ice cubes, but he usually takes the ice cubes out.
I hope all of you whose pets enjoy summer outside provide fresh water – and please provide shade, especially during these hot spells.
Ollie usually finds his shade space under the steps. He is never too far from me. Ollie goes up to the garage, or “man cave,” with my husband. They each have a chair up there and watch the cars go by. Ollie will definitely get his exercise going back and forth from the garage to the house.
One afternoon, my husband was at the garage and I was in the house cooking. Ollie was barking up a storm. I could tell by his high-pitched yips that he suspected a critter nearby. Wondering what it could be – bear, squirrel, raccoon, turkey – out I went.
Lo and behold, he had cornered a groundhog behind the propane tank. The groundhog was chattering and Ollie was barking. I tried my hardest to get ahold of Ollie’s collar, but he is very protective of his mama and wanted to keep me safe.
That critter had some big teeth, and I certainly didn’t want Ollie to get bitten. My husband came down and spoke to Ollie, who minds him well. I got Ollie in the house and the groundhog left the yard and all is peaceful again at Wiederville.
Ollie likes to go out in the middle of the night to do a critter check. We always have pesky raccoons around. I don’t know how many he has treed in the time he has lived here, but probably a lot. Because I’m afraid of bears, my husband takes Ollie out at those hours.
Sometimes they are out there for a while. When I ask, “What the heck were you guys doing,” my husband says they were checking the perimeter.
I took Ollie to the vet for his yearly checkup. He loves it there. He’s the only dog I ever had that loves the vet; maybe because he was born there and remembers.
Ollie got his shots and a clean bill of health, except for one small problem: he’s a bit on the stout side. The vet called him Mr. Chunky.
He eats anything we are eating; he will leave his bowl full and wait till after supper to see if we will hand feed him anything. I do my best to discourage this bad habit. Eventually he will go eat his supper.
If I come out in the morning and his supper is still in his bowl, it goes outside to the crows. Ollie doesn’t like the crows, either, and tries to chase them off. He is a very protective little dog.
He is a bully mix, but I think he has something else in his genes. Maybe someday I’ll do a test to see if he is anything else from what we were told, French bulldog, Boston terrier and pug – oh, and Butterball turkey.
If you’re searching for a new fur baby, check out The Central Aroostook Humane Society at 210 Cross St., Presque Isle, or find us on Facebook.
Please be responsible: spay and neuter your pets.
Gail Wieder is on the Central Aroostook Humane Society Board of Directors.
