Scout

We have had our dog, Scout, now for a year and a half, and I can't imagine what we ever did without him. He is really the best dog we could have asked for and we really enjoy having him. Here are some of the things we love about him, or just funny things that he does.

1. Scout is a great soccer player. He will chase a soccer ball around the yard for hours if we let him. I discovered this when I was teaching PE last year and he would come down to the field with us and I had to hold him back to keep him from hogging the ball and not letting the girls play soccer.

2. Scout is usually very playful and active, and since we live on a ranch he gets to run free and play all day long. That way he isn't really hyper when we come home in the evenings.

3. Our cat Raleigh sleeps in Scout's doghouse with him. They are best friends and keep each other warm in the winter.

4. We have a Kong toy that Scout absolutely loves to play fetch with. Unfortunately, because it is round and looks like a ball, things with this shape are the only things Scout will fetch. Forget throwing a stick, or a rope toy, or basically anything that is not round or bouncy. When we were gone at camp during the summer, Scout was with the work teams on the ranch quite a bit and they liked playing with him. Since his toys were in the house, he started finding rocks and dropping them at people's feet so that they would throw them for him to fetch. Seriously, he came up with this all on his own. Now he can amuse himself with a rock just like a soccer ball. We're only afraid he will break his teeth one of these days, but there is no stopping him now.

5. Even though he is a lab, Scout HATES water. We have tried a few times to get him in a lake or played with the hose with him, but he is not at all interested. And he absolutely hates baths.

6. When kids are in serious trouble here at the ranch, they are often disciplined by having to go out and shovel manure. Scout thinks that these kids are his best friends. He stays with them all day and plays around, then walks home with them and won't leave their side. One day, one of the kids who was in trouble was given the job of moving rocks out of the road. Every time he moved a rock, Scout would pick it up and put it back in the road, like they were playing a game. I'm sure the kid didn't think it was very funny, but the housedad who was watching him sure got a kick out of it.

7. In the summer, when bears are out, we often have several around the ranch. Scout is excellent at sniffing out the bears and scaring them away, or letting us know that they are there so that we can see them. I'm not sure I saw a single bear this year that Scout didn't spot first. It makes us feel a lot safer hiking knowing that he is with us. Of course, these are usually small black bears on the ranch. I'm not sure what he'd do if we came across a big grizzly, but I'm sure we'd be safer than if we were alone.