Wet dog: A beautiful smell

There isn't enough Prozac in the world to give me the same high I get from the annual Doggie Paddle. This is the fourth year in a row I've gone to the neighborhood pool for some dog-on-water action, and I still contend that life doesn't get any better. For two hours, all is right with the world.

All of the usual suspects were there: the gung-ho water dogs, the scaredy cats, and the dozens of wet dogs, all seemingly named Buddy. And this year featured the dog in the red collar who almost knocked me into the pool not once, but twice. My favorite though had to be the little guy who starting the swimming motion ever time his owner picked him up.

I could go on and on about how much I love this event, but I'd rather let the pictures tell the story.



Someone is a little reluctant.





"Uh huh. So if one wanted to exit the pool, how exactly might they do that?"



Don't you know the cardinal rule of perms? You always have to wait two days before washing your hair.




"This swimming thing isn't so bad. Just don't let go of me."







"Um, excuse me. That dog took my Frisbee."






"But I 'm not ready to go yet!"

Usurping the Olympic spirit

I've previously documented my extreme hatred for the Olympic games and the crappy television programming that results.

Just how many interviews with Michael Phelps' mother does anyone really need anyway?

Thankfully, the good people at Animal Planet, the network which brought us the Puppy Bowl, are there to help me through it.

Get ready for the 2008 Puppy Games. The show will air Friday night, opposite the colossal disasterpiece that has become the opening ceremonies.

My television viewing decisions couldn't get any easier than this.

Where the wild things used to be

I didn't want to do this. I really didn't want this to be my fourth consecutive blog entry focusing on animals.

But, this weekend marked the five-year anniversary of my first date with my husband -- a date which took place at the zoo -- which we lovingly recreated with a return visit. In other words, how could I not write about it?

(Besides, we had some awesome Italian ice while we were there and that alone would have warranted a zoo-related posting.)

Okay, so the zoo in Baltimore has always been a bit underwhelming. San Diego it's not. The reptile house is closed (which, incidentally, doesn't bother me a bit.) The flamingos have relocated. You have to go to D.C. if you want to see a panda bear. The elephants only narrowly escaped the axe a few years back. The monkeys rarely throw feces anymore.

It's a sad state of affairs. They've removed so many exhibits that you now have to take a tram ride from the front entrance to where you can actually find an animal. They take your picture at the beginning and then let you pick which animal background you want with it because you certainly aren't going to find anything nearly that exotic at this zoo.

But there are still some cute critters worth seeing at our zoo and we even went the whole visit without Rich shaking his keys at any of the animals. The penguins are pretty adorable. I adore Magnet, the polar bear who swims laps like an old guy at the YMCA. The giraffes were pretty neat too. Rich somehow instigated a fight between two of them. (Lifetime ban, here I come.)

We completed our day with dinner at HOPS, which is where we dined on our first date. We didn't have Jonathan Ogden sitting in the next booth over this time around, but other than that, it was the perfect way to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the last time I let Rich finish a sentence.

Wet dogs = cute pictures

With Buddy still recovering from his flesh-eating virus and Snoopy with a double ear infection, I had to go dog-less to this year's Doggie Paddle.

As I've detailed in the past, the Doggie Paddle is the annual puppy pool party held to benefit the Baltimore County Humane Society. It's heaven for dog lovers like myself.

My darling-yet-allergic husband agreed to accompany me so I didn't have to go stag. Still, it's somewhat awkward to attend a canine function when you're sans dog. I felt like one of those creepy child predators who goes to the playground to look at the little kids. Here, I was just some crazy dog-less woman ogling the cute, wet puppy dogs.

This year marks my third year of attendance at the Doggie Paddle and I'm starting to notice some themes emerging. In some ways, this doggy gathering is not unlike high school with its cliques.

First you have the labs, doodles, weinmariners, and other larger dogs. They're the jocks of the crowd. They like attention and will do whatever they have to do to get it, especially if that means shaking their wetness all over you, taking a dump in the pool, or humping anything that moves. Always up for a game, it's rare to find one of these guys without a Frisbee or tennis ball around.

Next you have the golden retrievers who are clearly the coolest kids in town. They stick together and don't really associate much with the other dogs. They look good, they're athletic, and they know it. They're the first ones in the pool and the last ones out. It's not easy to break into this group. Hell, they're even blonde.

The smaller dogs like the pugs and poodles are the freshmen of the crowd. Some are more outgoing than others, but most look to the bigger dogs for their cues. They're just testing the waters, literally, and not so sure they're ready for the big pool. Some of them have realized they they can jump right in and play with the big boys while others remain scared that they'll sink, not swim.

No matter what group the dogs fall into, they're completely adorable. I relish this event every year and have yet to find a better stress reliever anywhere. So here, for your viewing enjoyment, please check out the bathing beauties of 2007, otherwise known as wet, smelly dogs.

Maryland's 11 best days of summer

I'm such a sucker for the state fair. I love the food, I love the baby animals, and I especially love the chance to step right up, spin a wheel, and win a free pencil. It's like trick-or-treating for adults.

But what I really love is the fact that the fair doesn't change from year to year. It's the same exact tacky end-of-summer tradition I enjoyed as a kid.

The same attractions are always in the same place. The world's smallest woman is right across from the jacuzzi sales people. The bored state employees sit in the exhibition hall, fingers crossed and hoping that an altercation will break out over at the Jews for Jesus booth.

And in a cruel yet natural circle of life kinda way, the fresh pit beef is always right across from the cow palace.

Ah, the food. I mustn't leave out all of that yummy, patently unhealthy but oh-so-aromatic fair food. First you have your choice of meat, meat, and more meat. Add to that your choice of any deep fried anything on a stick and it's a veritable choose-your-own-heart-attack. Remember: Fudge isn't truly decadent until it's been deep fried.

Now this year I managed to experience a part of the fair I've never seen before -- the 4H livestock auction. I like my meat as much as the next non-vegetarian, but the auction was a bit more in-your-face than I would have liked. I can honestly say it's the first auction I've been to where they promise to "process" your purchase before delivery. Poor little rabbits.

But hey, Of course I'd be lying if I said I didn't love seeing all of the animals, even if I do have to ponder their demise. One of my favorite parts of the fair has to be the animal birthing area. I wasn't lucky enough to witness any of the little guys being born this year but I did catch a few calves and piglets who were born within the last day.

(Fun fact: Piglets grow at a rate of two lbs. per day. This is the same rate of growth I experience in the month of December.)

The end of the fair is always bittersweet. As a huge fan of fall, I'm glad to see summer fade away. But I will miss my chocolate covered frozen strawberries on a stick. You just can't find those at the Apple Butter Festival.

"Eli's coming, hide your heart"

I know I say all dogs are special but Eli, my newest dog-in-law, really is exceptional. He's a service dog, trained to assist my step mother-in-law who has Multiple Sclerosis.

And, as an added bonus, he's completely adorable. But what black lab isn't?

Eli joins Kay and the family thanks to the great people (and dogs) of Fidos For Freedom -- a non-profit group in Laurel that trains assistance dogs and the people who need them.

Rich and I met Eli for the first time a few weeks ago when we ran into him (with Kay, of course) at the mall. FFF takes a lot of outings so the dogs and people in training can get used to all kinds of situations. Eli already deals much better with crowds than I do.

With all the education and training Eli has, we feel seriously inferior in comparison. Rich jokes that he feels like he should wear a tie when we visit Eli. Heck, the dog is only two-years-old and he already knows sign language. Of course his primary duties include fetching things for Kay, supporting her as she walks, and "bracing" himself to help her in getting up and down.

Kay and Eli are now a little over a week into their 30-day bonding period. During this time, Kay is the only one allowed to care for Eli. No one else can feed him, let him out, or play with him. They're also not allowed to take him out in public yet. The idea is that Eli and Kay will use this time to really get to know one another.

We stopped by to visit yesterday and basically had to pretend that Eli wasn't there. For a dog lover, this is torture. Usually when I see a dog laying on the floor, my immediate instinct is to lay down right next to him. With Eli, I can't do this. He has a job to do and I can't interfere -- no matter how cute he may be. He's a working dog, not a pet, and that means no petting or fawning over him.

Kay starting going to FFF twice a week back in January to learn the commands she would need to know for working with a service dog. There are so many rules but she passed every test with flying colors.

When you first start at FFF, they tell you not to become attached to any one dog because you don't get any say in the dog selected for you. Just looking at Eli's little lab face, I don't know how someone can't fall in love with him.

Kay and Eli end their official bonding period on September 4, which also happens to be Kay and Harvey's 30th wedding anniversary. Seems like a pretty good way to kick off their next 30 years, if you ask me.

Read this book

I love to read. And while there are many books that I've enjoyed over the years, I think I've finally found the one that may very well claim the prize of my favorite book of all time.

The little tale (or perhaps more appropriately, large tail) in question is called Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog. In it, newspaper reporter John Grogan details the story of his newlywed days when he and his wife decided to get a dog as a test before having children.

While I'm only a few chapters into it, I already connect with the book on many levels. First, I'm still a newlywed myself, and second, Grogan and his wife are both reporters like my husband and I were when we first married. (Yes, I realize I'm no longer a reporter, but my wonderful husband still is... Although he prefers the term journalist.)

But more than anything else, I truly believe this book could very well be about Buddy, my 115 lb. Labrador Retriever who resides with my parents. Grogan's story of picking Marley from the litter mimics our selection of Buddy. And much like the Grogans, we didn't know quite what we were in for either.

So if you grew up with a dog, ever thought about getting a dog, or maybe passed by a dog on the street one day, this book is a must-read. It's already racing up the charts so don't get left behind.

Plus, unlike Oprah's book recommendations, I can pretty much guarantee this one's a true story.

By the way, once you're on a reading kick with dog books, I have a few more to recommend:

Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff
Timbuktu: A Novel by Paul Auster

I have a copy of each of these three books somewhere and I'll loan them out if anyone wants to borrow them. I just have to figure out what I did with them first.