Dodger will bark about his travels

My buddy Dave was reading me a survey from USA Today that ranked 80 breeds of dogs according to their intelligence.

About two minutes into the discussion I started to get ticked off.  Ranked #1 was a border collie, #2 was a poodle and # 3 was a German Shepherd.  See my name is Dodger and  I’m a 14 month old retriever.  I have my own blog; I’m constructing my  own web page and I’m on Facebook.

Yet despite all that, I placed #4 in the dog smart rankings.  There has got to be something wrong with this picture.   My bet is the survey was sponsored by the border collie association.

So I say to Dave, “Show me a sheep-herding mutt that has his own blog. Show me a puffed up poodle that can even spell web page. And German Shepherds – please – I’m not sure they know how to bark English!”   My first thought that maybe I could increase my ranking if I ran for County Council, but Dave says  that even with a #4 ranking I’m way over qualified.

But while trying to figure out how to surpass a poodle, the idea for writing popped up. It started when Dave and I were trying to see where I fit in the dog world.  He was telling me about all the working dogs: herd dogs, rescue dogs, hunting dogs, guard dogs, drug detections dogs, companion dogs.  Quite frankly I was having trouble knowing where I fit.  The thought of having to earn my kibble as a working dog made me kinda nervous.

The best description I could come up with is that I am a travel dog. I think that idea came to me because my buddy Dave loved the expression by Jack Kerouac “the road is life”.   I have no idea who this Kerouac character is, but I do know that in the short 14 months I have been around,  I have lived on the road  and I love it!  Every place I go is an adventure. I’ve chased cows in Alberta, and deer in Montana. I’ve flown into Vancouver airport (and wasn’t tazered). I’ve dug for clams in the Pacific Ocean,  got chased by a bear in Kamloops (great town, ugly animal). I got covered in sand under the Mackinaw bridge and swam in the Mississippi.  I am proud that I have left my mark in a lot of forests throughout Canada and the US.

Mostly, Dave and I travel by car.  He drives.  I sleep. I think it is a good arrangement.  However there are a few things I am responsible for during our travels:

1. Sniffing out where Dave leaves his keys .

2. Sniffing out where Dave leaves his wallet.

3. Sniffing out where Dave left the GPS.

4. Sniffing out where Dave left the car.

Dave’s a good guy but he sure is forgetful.

Most of this blog will be about my travels.  But when my buddy Dave and I are not on the road, we hang around a little area called the Muncipality of Prince Edward County in southern Ontario.  Dog – that is a big name for such a small place.  Most people just called it the County.

I have been walking around the County since I was a pup and I love it. I haven’t come across a place in my travels where people are friendlier.  Dave says there are lots of great restaurants too. I have to take his word for that as I am not allowed in – a sore point with me right now.

But lately Dave is getting kinda grumpy.  He keeps looking around the Main street of Picton (the largest town in the County) and he mutters about “architecture by Sinclair”. Then he said something that really caught my attention.  He said the local Council had sure turned the whole area into a dog’s breakfast because of a lack of planning. Now that sounded good to me and I wanted to ask which cafe served dogs but Dave didn’t look like he wanted to talk.  I’ll get back to him on that.

The other thing I like to do when I am not traveling is to hang around my friend Copper.

He’s a 3 year old Bassett Hound.  I’ve been teasing him lately because on the intelligence scale he ranked 75th out of eighty and I think even then he was given the benefit of the doubt.  He got beaten of by a Shih Tzu for dog’s sake.

My buddy Dave says Copper is as “dumb as a stump”.  I’ve spent a lot of time around stumps but I am not sure what that means.  When I asked Dave he just says that’s what one of his wives used to call him. No matter Copper is a lot of fun and he is smarter than an Afgan Hound.  BOL!!

Next week I will be barking about meals and music on the road.

Dodger