Last night was supposed to be one of the best nights to watch the Perseid meteor shower, so I decided to stay up and watch some of it. Around 11:30 I went outside, set up a lounge chair in middle of the yard, and sat back to enjoy the show. A.J. of course came out …
Author: ajthespringer
A.J. is my dog. One of the things I did while on an extended break from my career as a technical writer and editor was adopt this totally crazy and adorable dog. He's provided me with an incredible amount of frustration and entertainment. And as you can see, he's also provided me with a large amount of writing material. I'm back at work now, but plan to keep the stories coming - maybe just not as often.
Sneaky A.J.
We have a rule in this house: indoor toys stay in, outdoor toys stay out. I don’t want dirty, slimy toys coming in the house from outside. So when A.J. takes a toy to the door, he has to drop it before we’ll open the door to let him in or out. He knows this, …
Irresponsible Dog Owner
Last year I found out from a neighbor that we had rattlesnakes in our neighborhood, and that neighbor had found out through postings to Nextdoor.com. So I subscribed to Nextdoor.com in order to keep up on neighborhood news and things (like rattlesnakes) I needed to know about. Today the thing one of my neighbors wanted …
A.J. Has a Brain
August 2, 2015 A.J. got a new toy yesterday. I got him a Kong Genius, hoping it would keep him busy for a little longer than most of his toys do. It worked pretty well. I stuffed a few treats into it, and he worked at it for over half an hour. He got all …
No Feet in the Pool!
August 2, 2015 After we adopted A.J. and realized how crazy he was, people who had experience with Springer Spaniels told us they tend to calm down when they turn three. A.J. turned three a week ago, and he’s been more obnoxious this week than he has been in quite some time. It started with …
A.J. Destroys a Backpack
July 31, 2015 Today was the toughest A.J. day we’ve had in a while. Greg and I went for a bike ride. Before we left we did our usual house check, making sure sure the counter tops were clear and the garbage cans put away. I gave A.J. a treat, and we left. I forgot my …
A.J. Turns Three
July 27, 2015 Yesterday was A.J.’s birthday; my little boy turned three years old. Well, technically it was his two-year adoption day. We’ve had this crazy springer in our house for two full years. Wow. It’s amazing how much we’ve been through in those two years. We decided to go out to dinner to celebrate. …
More Dog Door Training
July 13, 2015 A.J. is still asking to go outside most of the time rather than simply using his new dog door. So we did a couple of experiments yesterday to see what he was doing when we weren't home, and it went really well. First we left for a bike ride, and I put A.J. …
New Dog Door, Day 2
July 9, 2015 We’ve continued to work on getting A.J. to use his dog door. Here’s a conversation that took place at one point today: (A.J. is outside standing at the door waiting to be let in.) Greg: Should I let him in? Me: No, make him use his dog door. Greg: But he’s staring …
A.J. Gets a Dog Door
July 8, 2015 A.J. got a dog door today. We have two doors to the backyard, one in the dining room and one in the master bedroom. Both doors had full panes of glass, so it wasn’t possible to install a dog door in either. There was no spot for a dog door in a …
AJ the Springer 