our dog.... my defender.. :)

Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting our dog, Goose, knows what a great dog he is. He greets everyone with a wiggle that consumes his whole body and plenty of wookie-ish noises. I really should record it one day.

He's a big snugglebutt.

He is seriously one of the most well-trained dogs I've ever met. He will sit, speak, lay down. If you move your hand in a talking motion [or as some of us University of Florida alumni call it -- "a baby Gator chomp"], he will speak. If it isn't loud enough, you tell him "louder" and voila, it is louder!  If you point to something and say "Goose, what is this?" he'll root around and sniff at it like a bomb dog. If you hear a strange bump in the night and want to let any would-be intruders know that there is a "vicious" dog inside, ask him "WHO IS IT?" and a round of frenzied angry barking will commence.

me? vicious? I just like to nap with my cute little bandana!

With that said, he does tend to opt for vigilance over relaxation. Case in point -- yesterday.

I took him out to his little pooping spot and there was a partially deflated mylar birthday helium balloon with just enough life left in it to slowly bounce along the grass as the wind blew. Clearly a threat. Goose immediately goes rigid and growls at the balloon. It moves. This elicits a bark. After staring the terrorist balloon down for a good 5 minutes, he decides that it is finally ok to do his business. As he's going, he happens to look back over his shoulder and see the balloon catch the wind and take a few bounces towards him. He jumps up, barks quickly at it and trots back towards me. It was hysterical. I was on the phone with a friend and lamenting the fact that I didn't video it!

Last but not least, on Sunday, I sat outside with a book and Goose to get a little bit of sun. A bug comes flying over and he watches the bug land and crawl around on the patio for a couple of seconds before Goose lunges at it while making a chomping noise. He missed, but he tried. :)

With Goose around, the hubby doesn't have to worry about who is protecting me when he is out and about [even after we dragged him away from his warm, sunny home of six years to the cold north country!]