Who Chewed on THAT?
Skipper’s birthday “pig” is now missing a tail!
We love our Puddle Skipper, Skipper, Skippy, Skipp-A-Doo along with a lot of other nicknames we call our Black Lab. However, Skipper has a “passion” for chewing. Occasionally she gives into temptation and chews into a flipflop, the garden house, newspaper, or some other random item she is not suppose to chew on. The majority of the time she is great but like us she has a bad day every once in awhile.
When we joke about her chewing passion we often get suggestions….one of the most common is to make sure she has plenty to chew on in the yard so she is not tempted to chew on the other items. Well, this dog has more chew toys then any other dog I have seen. It is pretty common for me to walk out and see a line of toys she has recently been throwing up into the air or chewing on. We have ropes, tennis balls, birthday pig, chew bones and sticks in every color of the rainbow (red, green, white, black, orange), antlers, and a variety of other fun dog toys.
Red Chew Bone
The chewing can be a little much on some days, like when she tried to flood our house earlier this year when she chew the garden hose off the outdoor faucet while the water was on full blast and rushing down the wall of the house into the garage, however, she has a lot of amazing positive traits that far outweigh the occasionally chewing.
- Plays well with our kids, the neighbor kids, and any other kid that happens to be over
- Protects the house and property (and is even more protective when Jake is traveling
- Less door-to-door salesman and random stops, not everyone is brave enough to walk up a sidewalk with they have to pass a big black dog in the front yard or on the porch (even though she would probably lick you before bite you).
- Protective of the other pets and livestock (aka goats) in our yard
- Helps control our squirrel population
- Great friend to have hanging out with you in the yard
- And Many Other Great Positive Traits!
Just this past week I was home for a little bit prepping for dinner when Skipper started barking. I looked out to see a man walking up and down our street, I am not sure what he was doing but Skipper did not make our yard an inviting place for a stranger to walk into especially with her sitting at the edge of the driveway watching his every move.
Yes even a corncob makes an excellent chew toy!
All the other traits far outweigh the chewing. We love our puppy and enjoy having her around. She loves running around the yard, hunting squirrels, swimming in the creek and playing with the kids. She even goes up in the jungle gym with them!
Brina hanging out with her buddy Skipper!
Yes, this sweet looking and innocent Black Lab named Skipper was the one who chewed on all the toys above. Even though we find the random flipflop or torn newspaper in the yard we are thankful to have her around. She is wonderful with the kids and does a great job protecting our home.
Our Black Lab – Skipper
Skipper – “What! Can I help you?!”
As I was thinking about summer and all the outdoor activities we have planned I decided to share a post and a few pictures about one of the girls best friends and playmates….Skipper.We are thankful for our sweet black lab puppy. Well….I guess she is really not considered a puppy anymore since she is over a year old now. We got her when she was a puppy, the first weekend we had her it rained all weekend and she had a blast splashing from puddle to puddle thus her name, Puddle Skipper Hayes. She is always ready to play and there to greet you when you come home or outside. The girls love playing outside with her and even though she is a fairly big dog she is really gentle with the kids. I know she’ll be excited to have the girls home more often when school is out for summer break.
Skipper, our sweet black lab
Skipper can be found running around the yard, chasing squirrels (or any other animal that comes into our yard), and swimming in the creek. Winter or summer….rain or snow……she will be swimming in the creek. She is willing to do almost any outdoor activity from popping bubbles that the girls blow, to walking with me down to the compost, playing fetch, or taking a nap in the jungle gym. Skipper is the only dog that we have had that will literally climb the ladder to play with the kids in the jungle gym, she’ll even sleep in the jungle gym sometimes.
On guard and watching for any squirrels or other wildlife
When she is not swimming, playing, or chasing the animals in the yard she’s chewing on something, one of her favorite chew toys is my garden hose (not sure how many patches it has in it at this point). She’s a great watch dog too (although she’d lick you before biting you) but she has deterred several “sales” people from coming into the yard! It is amazing how quickly pets, like Skipper, become such a wonderful part of the family.
Travel & Vacation: Skipper was Busy
Skipper Being Good We been traveling more this year especially over the summer while the girls were out of school. While we have been gone my brother has been watching the house and pets. Skipper has been pretty good at watching the house and yard while we are away, however, occasionally she gets bored or naughty. She has over 4 acres of yard to run around in as well as random paths throughout the property so she stays pretty active even when we are away for a couple of days. Most of the time when we come home everything is in order and all is well. The last couple of trips we came home and noticed that Skipper had been naughty.
Naughty Skipper We left for a trip with one hose and came home to many smaller hoses. Someone was busy while we were away. The amazing part is she didn’t touch the hose the entire two months before and during other trips, it must have been too tempting this time around. Or maybe she was getting back us for going on road trips without her. Who knows, silly dog. She can be a mess at times but we still love her!
Skipper’s New Dog House
Skipper's New Dog House! See the black furry spot in the middle, she's sleeping! As we were cleaning up from dinner a couple weeks ago we looked out at the jungle gym and noticed Skipper all curled up and sleeping on the floor. She had found a nice place to go to sleep. The jungle gym has an area that is dry in the rain and you can see into the house (Jake made sure I had a good view of the jungle gym from the house) as well as the driveway and a good chunk of the yard.
Skipper learned how to climb up the ladder to the jungle gym and can often be seen up there playing (or sleeping) while the girls are playing in that area. A couple times Skipper was convinced she couldn’t get down from the jungle gym, I think after a “fun” ride down the slide, so we had to re-train her to climb down the ladder.
It wouldn’t be the best place to get stuck during a 100 degree summer day, but you have to admit it is a pretty cool dog house! She enjoys her time with the girls and loves the jungle gym almost as much as the kids. Skipper is a great dog for the girls, even if she tries taking over the jungle gym!
