Team Small Dog, together again.

Gustavo went feral while we were gone. Ruby was just depressed.

They didn't have a bad week. Ruby and Gustavo had a staycation with Gary. I've heard of these staycations. I've never taken one, I think staycation's other name is unemployment. You hang around the house, supposedly getting things done you can't when you have to go to work. You're supposed to paint walls, install laminate floorings, and break things on your roof with a ladder.

Luckily Ruby and Gustavo didn't try any of these things. Mostly they sat around in the living room while Gary was at work. Watched the Giants on tv and learned many facts about baseball and probably some super naughty words at the same time. Ate carne asada and enchilada de pollo. And instead of hiking in the woods and to the beach, took short little trots down to the end of the block every morning and night. Gustavo for the first time doesn't look like a bony little string bean, he pudged out a bit and went completely feral. Ruby spent the week depressed and sitting alone in our back bedroom, in the bed under my desk she usually shares with Otterpop. Gary was able to coax her out after a few days, but I think Ruby felt lost without me and Otterpop around. She's going blind, she relies on us to be her eyes.

Early Tuesday morning, we all went down to the beach. Everyone ran like maniacs through the seaweed. Gary is afraid of losing Gustavo, and never let him off a leash all week. Gustavo is used to running fast, very, very fast, every day. Boy was he happy to see the beach. And even though he was a good boy, staying with the group and coming up to the top of the cliff when it was time to go, I never once got him to look me in the eye. We are going to have some work to do, starting back in our driveway this morning. We may be back to square one in the focus department.

Ruby hasn't left my side since I've been home. She's back in her bed right now with Otterpop, I hear snoring at my feet. They're laying in a little lump under the desk. But I think she missed me just as much as her Otterpop. Maybe even more. Because I never steal her squeaky ball and hide it in the bushes out back. I'm the one that goes and finds it. Me and Otterpop show our love to Ruby in very different ways.

Otterpop is of course, like, Whatever. She's happy to be back, running the household like the unbenevolent dictator that she is, controlling who gets what bone and where. Ruby just sighs, and gets in her bed. She probably did that while we were gone, too. Ruby is a sigher. Gustavo is impossible to control, he is the Mexican Revolution of Uprising Against Otterpop. Otterpop is Spain and he is Pancho Villa and he steals the bones and runs them into his secret lair, until Spain collects them back to her hoarding spot.

This is an endless cycle that goes on and on until it's time to go to bed. I think our house was a lot quieter while we were gone. Except for during those baseball games. Because the Giants just have to win 2 more games, is what I hear. My dog agility friends from places that are not a short drive to San Francisco, this is sort of like winning those semi-finals for the Grand Prix in your special shirt. You win it in your special shirt, you qualify for the big round on Sunday, this baseball thing has a Grand Prix finals called World Series. Popular at my house. As much yelling and screaming as you hear in the stands at the Big Dog Show. Some of my family members think that the World Series is a bigger deal than winning at the Big Dog Show.

We know, better though, don't we? Although at least I have the whole Team together for the baseball version. Even if the Mexican Revolution is happening in the living room at the same time. We can pretend we're watching the baseball. I'll be over here rooting for Mexico to bring down Spain. And Ruby will lay there and sigh.