So…exciting developments over here. Ab and I are working with an advertising agency and formulating some creative (and fun) promotions/marketing initiatives/etc. Everything is very much in it’s infancy at the moment. While we prepare, we have been tasked with using the words “Austin Dog Running” and “Abby Loves Dogs” as much as possible in our blogs (to help with google placement). Austin Dog Running. This could be a bit challenging as we normally write about our various evening adventures and other nonsense, but we’ll give it a shot. Austin Dog Running. On second thought, maybe this won’t be too difficult.

Unrelated to Austin Dog Running news: Ab has taken up swimming…and the saxophone. I’ll tackle these two problems separately.

1. Swimming: I don’t swim. If my paws can’t touch the ground, I have a complete nervous breakdown (see earlier blog for more on my swimming experiences). But Ab has decided to swim some 10K race in Bermuda, so she is spending an inordinate amount of time in the pool these days. I stay home while she practices, so obviously this isn’t very good for our relationship. I took matters into my own hands last night and ate her swim cap. I hope that translates into a hefty vet bill.

2. Saxophone: I don’t even know where to start. She rented this sax for 3 months to make sure that she enjoys playing before actually purchasing one. She hasn’t had a lesson yet (that will happen on Sunday), so all she can do is assemble the instrument and then try to make some sort of noise (which consists of pressing one “key” (?) and blowing 4,700 times until it finally makes a honking noise). I can’t put into words how much I hate this. I stood right in front of her while she practiced last night…barking and growling at the instrument…to no avail. I’m taking the opposite approach today and ignoring her completely when she tries to play. She used this same tactic (ignoring undesirable behavior) on me during my puppy training…so I’m hoping she catches on quickly.

Abby Loves Dogs.

I don’t recall blogging about this previously…so for those of you that don’t know me…I am a certified therapy dog. I don’t actually DO therapy (and right now I’m really hoping that the various therapy dog organizations don’t read this blog). I went through the certification so that I can fly with Ab in the cabin as opposed to down below in the dog part. Disclaimer: Ab and I don’t really know what that means. We’ve never seen any part of a plane outside of the cabin…so we have no idea to what “down below” refers or how animals are confined during a flight. It very well could be a pleasant experience. However, Ab generally prefers to have me plastered to her side, so she’s using the excuse of “cruel and unusual pet flying conditions’ to justify having me sit in the cabin under the guise of ‘therapy dog’. Wrong, we know…but the difference between right and wrong doesn’t normally play a huge part in our decision making, so why start now?

Anyways…we have our test flight next month. Southwest is having some sort of sale to celebrate their 36th anniversary (I could be totally off on the number..but I don’t feel like opening another page to google that. 36th ?72nd ?…irrelevant detail). So, we’re jumping on a cheap flight to practice my flying behavior. I don’t really see any chance of this going smoothly. Ab was once almost arrested in a Panamanian airport for making a drug joke (it really was just a joke…but it was NOT AT ALL FUNNY to the airport security folks down there. They have a sub-par sense of humor). So since then, it appears that she has been profiled as a suspicious passenger and therefore must be thoroughly examined at every check point. I plan to go completely off my rocker while she’s being inspected. There is absolutely zero possibility of me sitting calmly through that process…and yet Ab is going to maintain that I am an experienced therapy dog while I’m jumping around hysterically. Impending disaster.

We. Can’t. Wait.

That’s about all that’s new for now. Well, of course, there’s also : Landon Donovan, we love you. We love watching you play. We love your interviews. We love everything about you.

All Austin dogs…hell, all American dogs…I better HEAR YOU on Saturday!

Peace Pups,

Pancho the Pigbelly