I love spending time with Axle. He is an outside dog for many reasons. One of the main reasons is as a guard dog, especially at night. He has a good fearsome bark that will get anyone’s attention who comes close to the house or garage. I always try to spend time with him but many times at the end of the day, I realize I should have spent more time with him. He is always quick to forgive and ready for playtime or go on an adventure. This weekend I made sure I spent plenty of time with him.

One of the games he loves to play is ‘keep away’. He is really fast and always wins. What I do is get a clean red mechanic’s rag from the garage and put it in my back pocket with most of it hanging out. I will pretend to walk from the garage to the house and he will always spot the rag and grab it. He will take off running into the yard expecting me to run after him. At 60 years old, I don’t do much running so I will stand on the patio and he will run past me close enough where I might be able to grab the rag back from him. Sometimes I am able to grab it but most times he is too fast.

This weekend we were playing that game and one time when he ran past me, I stomped my feet as if I were chasing him. He kicked it into high gear as he ran into the backyard. He looked back to see if I was chasing him and when he did, he almost tripped over a squirrel. In an instant his mission changed, he dropped the rag and tried to catch the squirrel before it made it to a nearby tree. The squirrel made it with no time to spare. I stood there laughing at him as he tried to figure out a way to get the squirrel but the tree rodent was safely on a limb laughing at him too.

Another time this weekend I took him on an adventure. He knows the words ‘Walk’, ‘Ride’ and now has figured out the word ‘Adventure’. When I say one of those words to him, he gets really excited. I have a harness I put on him instead of clipping a leash to his collar. Getting that harness on him is somewhat of a challenge since he is excited about going outside the fence. When I finally get the harness secured on him he will run into the garage waiting for the next step.

Yesterday I opened the back door of the Tahoe and he was inside in a heartbeat. As I backed out of the driveway I opened the back windows so he could stick his head out into the wind. He loves doing that. Every car that passed us going in the opposite direction he barked at. It was fun watching him in the mirror. I thought about getting a picture of him but I had left my phone in the garage. We stopped at the Jr. High School near our house to walk around. As we walk, he loves picking up anything he finds. I always say, “You don’t need that” and he will always drop it.

After walking around for a while we made it back to the Tahoe. He jumped back in without hesitation. He did his usual barking at everything he sees. He is learning not to bark inside the truck but is allowed to bark outside the window. When we arrived home, I unclipped the harness and he is out of it in a heartbeat and running for his pool. We have an old plastic sandbox that we keep full of water for him. He stands in the middle of the water and drinks like he has not had anything to drink in days. It is funny how he gets soaked with water all over when he gets a drink. As I walk into the house, he runs up to me, sits and looks at me with his smile like he is saying “Thanks Dad!”