Sunday, July 27, 2008

Bonding Time with Hughler


My dad, Phil, has a dog. This dog's name is Hughler, a black and white Australian Shepherd. Hughler joined our family about 10 years ago in order to fill the gap left by our beloved mutt, Spud, who was sadly taken away by cancer. Spud was the meanest dog ever. I mean, he was great with all of us kids growing up, but if he met up with a stranger, he'd likely end up trying to gnaw their face off. Anyway, back to Hughler. So Hughler was chosen from a large group of other shepherd puppies from the pet shop 'cause he had the most beautiful blue eyes you've ever seen. Little did we know that those beautiful blue eyes would transform into a typical brown color after a couple weeks...Oh well, live and learn I guess. Hughler and I have never really been good friends. He's just so annoying most of the time and super spoiled by Phil. My dad loves this dog like a second son. Anyway, Phil took off for Manhattan earlier this week to visit Maria. Before he left he was sure to tell me that I needed to remember to take good care of Hughler while he was gone for the week....By this he meant feeding, brushing, petting, babying, walking, and praising Hughler all week long. "Yeah Dad, okay, sure," I said. And by that I meant that I'd do the bare minimum of filling up the dog's water and food dish every night. Come mid-week, my good friend Tess invites me to hang out with her and her two super cool Labs, Howard and Sadie, at Tanner Park on Saturday. I agreed to go of course but then started complaining to Tess that it's at times like these that I wish I had a puppy of my own to bring along to the park. In reply to that Tess says, "Well, why don't you just borrow your dad's dog for the day?" What? Are you talking about Hughler? Ugh. I can't bring Hughler with me. Hughler and I don't hang out, and he's such a brat, he'd probably end up just running off, ignoring me when I called him. So I decided just to go sans puppy. But by the time Saturday rolled around, I was having second thoughts and decided to take Hughler with me in the truck. And I'm so glad I did. As soon as he saw me grab his leash and head towards the truck, he started freaking out. He was so happy, I thought he was gonna pass out from excitement. And when we got to the park and met up with Tess and her puppies, Hughler was such a good boy. It was so much fun to see him playing with all the other dogs and jumping in the water. Tess, thanks for suggesting that I bring Hughler with me. It was lots of fun. I guess Hughler isn't as annoying as I thought he was.

Here are some pictures...I was a little camera happy, 'cause I was so glad that Hughler was behaving and having a good time in the water.


Tess and Tim watching over the puppies while they swam.



Hughler swimming.



Tess with Sadie & Howard. Howard wasn't wanting to cooperate for the photo op.









Here I am with Tess. It was so hot on Saturday, I was wishing I had worn shorts.

5 comments:

Luke and Mel said...

That looks like you had so much fun! I bet Hughler was lovin' it. He needs the exercise too.

Luke says, "I bet you're Hughler's favorite family member now. He's going to always be in your lap now!"

Poopers AKA 2Ply said...

This is a funny post "little did we know..." Well, Hughler is such a beautiful boy even with the brown eyes! And he was very good. I guess this means you'll have to bring him to dog lake when we go, huh?

Melanie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melanie said...

That Semisonic song reminds me of Heath too. So does Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".

Maria said...

Woah...woah... Girl, I'm glad that Hughler behaved himself. That was very brave of you to take him- I would have been worried he would run off without listening too.

Did you tell Dad? You should show him these pictures.