Max at Freedom Park

Freedom parkThis picture is of Max and Pam at Freedom Off Leash Park. Max is eager to get back to running with his new buddies, rather than pose for a picture with Pam!

Freedom Park is a nice park, with a big play area for dogs to socialize, and a small network of paths meandering through some trees and brush.

It allows you to take your pet for a walk alone, while they are off leash, or you can let your dog mingle with the wide range of dogs out walking their owners.

One of the more unique dogs we saw there today was a 1 yr old GoldenDoodle named Chevy (her birthday was today) – we actually met two Goldendoodles, the second one had been to a groomer and her hair was cropped shorter, and that owner said that their hair was not supposed to be left long, but we did like the way Chevy’s hair rippled when she ran. They sure are a frisky friendly lot. But they are also a larger breed, with bushels of hair!

Here is a movie of Max socializing with Chevy, the GoldenDoodle – She was just 1 year old, and frisky! Quite a tease really, wanting Max to chase her to try to get the grey ball, or the stick, or the red ball, or the orange ball- she found every toy in the park.

Elmo, Buck's Buddy

ElmoThis picture of Elmo, a 12 year old Blue Heeler, is our neighbour’s dog. He’s looking awfully dapper in his blue bandana!

Elmo and Buck were best buddies.  He doesn’t see too well, and Buck was pretty much deaf.

Elmo and Max are trying to get along – it’s a work in progress. Last night they did really well. Nobody jumped the other!

My next big hurdle!

Day One for MaxHmm… I have been hearing about a meet and greet. I have to go out to mission to meet some other dogs, and if I get along with them I can stay with them (I think they called it boarding) while Mum and Dad go on holidays. It sounds like a fun place, sounds like there are alot of other dogs there to play with so that might be fun. I’m not throwing my support behind the idea 100%, I’ll have to meet Anna Maria and Brian and then I’ll make my decision!

I might decide that being around alot of other dogs, going for walks in the woods, getting fed a couple times a day, getting to sleep on my swell beds at her place..  being entertained all day..  that might be terrible..  hey… wait a minute, that doesn’t sound bad at all? Well I’ll just keep an eye on the other dogs and see what they are like and then I’ll let you know how this meet and greet goes..  I think it’s going to happen in a week or two.  Stay tuned!

Max!

Halloween 2008

Pam. Halloween 2008. This Halloween we were expecting some pretty terrible weather. According to the weather man we were going to be deluged with rain. HAH! I don’t think so.

It was almost balmy. I was not cold at all sitting outside under our overhang by the garage. Maurice did a spectacular job decorating this year.  I had bought a new blow up at Costco, a group of ghouls with 2 large trees with a bevy of monsters in between them. The blow up is about 7 feet long or so, and pretty tall.

It’s nice and bright, and the number of people who were taking pictures of their kids in front of the blow up was amazing. I also got alot of requests to pose with the kids (I guess I’m not that terrifying).

The REAL Reaper?Maurice added to the fun by coming out with a yoda mask on, and he would just stand there, the kids didn’t know if he was real or not. When he spoke and yelled ” get the little ones, they taste the best!” they knew! Never saw kids run so fast in my life. 🙂 hee hee

Not to be outdone, Max added to the festivities by providing some sound effects. He would bark from inside the house, or garage when the kids came up and that provided some spookifying sounds!

WOLF!Maurice set up the karaoke machine for me as well as the small stereo we have with a subwoofer, so the heartbeats, screams and thumping drums, buzzing fly’s and what with Max the wolfs howls… the night was complete!

We usually get about 175-200 kids, but I think we only had about 125-150 this year.  Marit, our next door neighbour came over with a swell treat of some home made pumpkin tarts with whipped cream on them. yummy. Thanks Marit! She looked swell in her vampire type outfit and was handing out candy next door.

The Canucks were playing tonight, and we won against the Ducks. I missed the game, but it was for a good cause. Halloween has always been a fun fun holiday for us, and while some may think we over do it, we consider it a gift that we can give to the kids once a year.

Monsters in love!Maurice here — I have to say – this year was so much fun. Never seen so many kids run for their lives!

There were quite a few kids who wouldn’t even come up the drive way when Pam put the smoke on. They’d hang back and grab their parent’s hands. We’d try to coax them up the driveway by saying through the karaoke machine speakers “Come get your candy, it’s good candy, don’t be afraid!” But lots wouldn’t do it. Lot’s would come up and say, “thanks for scaring me!” lol

Sometimes I’d be in the house, and I’d see them come up and I’d yell out the mailbox – “Let me have the little one, no one would miss them – just the little one… oh come on, give me just a leg then…..” all in a transylvanian accent – If they ran (and LOTS did) i’d yell, “Aw no, you let them get away! Grab them Igor!!”

Motion activated skullThis guy was right at the end of the driveway, and people would be focused on Pam and her smoke machine. Little did they know, we had put a motion activated skull on this guy’s arm – and it would scream and blood would run down the face – it scared the daylights out of a lot of people, even adults. lol

Great start to the display!

Here is a movie of the guy in motion.

Halloween 2008Here is a another shot – it shows the red effect we got by having a big red spot shine down over the garage door. The big skull head had flashing red eyes too.

With the smoke curling out of there, and we had REALLY loud scary music coming out of the 3 or 4 speakers, it was a hellish looking place! Man it was fun. Kids literally ran away screaming! It was the best year for me.

We’re already planning how to improve things for next year. We saw someone with Chucky and the Bride of Chucky hanging from their garage… that might be a little too extreme!

Barking behaviour

Eye on MaxI  really enjoy my off leash park visits. We’ve explored Serpentine on Tuesday and Wednesday, and because it was not as busy on Wednesday, mum and dad decided to take me to another park in Surrey. It was pretty cool. I think it is called freedom park. It’s on 154th st and 84th ave.

I think I played nice, and walked   through the forested area, but I started barking at the other dogs (maybe so they would include me  in the war to see who could carry the ball..) but mum and dad  didn’t like that I was barking so much and the only one barking. It was near the end of the visit so maybe they were thinking that I was getting too excited.. and they told me it was time to go home. So when they said that, what did I do?? Did I take off and try to stall? Nope.. I trotted over to the gate and waited for slow poke mum and dad to get  there!? I could tell by the pleased look on their faces they were thinking… ” WHAT A GUY!!”  Unfortunately “THEY”  forgot to take the camera but promise they will do that next time and post some pics of the swell park and my brilliance at following commands!

Both parks they’ve taken me to have a doggie fountain where my and my buddies can get some water, but they have been dry and the water turned off. The other owners said that the city has turned the water off now due to the cold weather, not wanting the pipes to freeze or burst.. I would have thought having the water running occasionally would have helped prevent that, but I’m no engineer or plumber so what do I know 🙂

Max  (sometimes now also called Maxie!)

More Off Leash

Serpentine ParkWednesday the 29th we took Max to the same off leash park, Serpentine, but there were not as many dogs there today (we went a bit earlier in the day). So Max got to see a few dogs, but nothing like the pack that was there Tuesday! We decided we would drive over to the second off leash park we knew about in Surrey and it’s on 84th Ave and 154 st. Well!… it is pretty cool, it has a double gated entry so if a dog tried to escape through the gate he would find himself in a smaller penned gated area, so a swell idea to prevent dogs from running away.. but why would they run away from a swell park like that? There were tons of dogs there for Max to play with, and we went through a swell forested area that they have for the dogs (and humans) with a nice path and an easy walk around the park.

Both parks have a water fountain with a dish and the dogs know what that’s for! Unfortunately the city has turned off the water to these fountains (apparently so the pipes won’t burst with the cold weather is what some dog owner told us) but the dogs after racing around like fools all wanted water so we are going to bring some with us next time to dump in the dish for the dogs to share.

Max got quite excited at the park on the second day and was barking at the other dogs to play I guess. He didn’t bark the first day, but was barking the second day and we decided he was getting too excited and while he was playing nice, we didn’t want to encourage the barking like that. So we decided to leave and as soon as we said “ok Max we are going home,” he ran over to the gate to go. Like a good boy. Man alive he’s one swell behaved Dog. I can only thank God and Alicia and Karen and the others that I don’t know their name at the Abbotsford SPCA that they took such good care of our boy until we could find him.

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao