Leo and the Drive-by

Here's another animation about Leo, the Occasionally Good Dog. There are so many different ways to say his name!




You might also enjoy:

• Leo, The Occasionally Good Dog  - Meet my dog Leo.
• Ways to say "Leo": Reading the Menu  -  Short animated cartoon about the Occasionally Good Dog.
• Another Way to Say Leo  - Short animated cartoon about you-know-who.

Leo, the Occasionally Good Dog, Can't Seem to Stay Out of Trouble

Leo is rudely interrupted while reading the menu.

1. Leo, The Occasionally Good Dog  - Leo isn't always bad. Plus, he really, really wants to be good. 
2. One Time When Leo Was Good  - Liz and Jenn disagree. They don't think Leo really wants to be good at all. So in this story, I document how good he actually is.
3. Biker Bob Goes for a Walk  - A simple walk isn't all that easy.
4. Seals are Smarter Than Leo  - A pair of seals has a laugh at Leo's expense. 
5. Ways to say "Leo," Part 1: Reading the Menu  -  Animated cartoon.
6. Another Way to Say Leo  - Another animated cartoon.
   

Another Way to Say "Leo"

For all you Leo fans...




See another short animation about Leo...

Share this:

Naughty Leo is at it again.

Ways to Say "Leo" : Reading the Menu

For a name having only three letters, there are a great many different ways to say "Leo," for example:



Submit this post:

Funny animation about Leo, the occasionally good dog.

Seals Aren't Smarter Than Leo

One day in Barnes and Noble my daughter, Liz, picked up The Dog IQ Test by Melissa Miller. This book helps you evaluate your dog's intellect and social skills. Of course, the results confirmed that our dog Rosie was extremely intelligent and socially adept, but we were shocked to learn that Leo also scored high.

You see, Leo had been keeping his IQ under wraps with clever tricks to make us think he was dumb. For example, he had the habit of swimming through the frigid Puget Sound towards a flock of sea birds floating on the water far off shore. Invariably once Leo was within 10 feet or so, the birds would fly to a new spot, and Leo would paddle after them. He would repeat this act over and over again, day in and day out, to fool us into thinking he wasn't all that smart.

Leo would also bark incessantly at the base of a tree in which a pair of great blue herons nested, as if he expected them to hop down for a visit.

Then there was the waiting room cat. Lord of the vet clinic, he quickly earned the respect of all who entered. Except Leo. Leo lunged, and I, fearing for the cat, lunged after him.

I wasn't fast enough, though, and copious amounts of blood and yelping ensued. Although this ought to have ended Leo's interest in the cat, he continued lunging. To save his life, I fastened his leash to the arm of my chair until our appointment time thankfully arrived. Clever Leo of course knew all along that I'd do this.

One incident stood above the rest, though. Liz and I used to take the dogs to Maple Hollow, a closed Department of Natural Resources park, where the ranger had given permission for the dogs to run off leash. A trail wound through a maple forest and down to a deserted beach. Rosie and Leo would take long detours through the woods and still beat us to the water, running and swimming until they got tired enough to take home. We rarely saw any land animals in the park because they fled for cover when the dogs crashed through the woods. At the beach, however, we'd often see a pair of seals, lolling on a raft off shore.

One day the seals decided to swim over and have a closer look at us.

1. The seals came close to shore.

Leo went nuts. The seals turned around and swam away. Leo followed.

2. Leo plunged into the water to pursue the seals.

After swimming out so far that I could barely see them any more, the seals disappeared under water. Leo swam in circles looking for them. "Duh, where'd they go? Where'd they go?"

3. The seals disappeared under water.

Eventually giving up, Leo turned towards the shore. Two seal heads popped up out of the water and trailed him all of the way back.

4. Leo swam back to shore, the seals close behind.

To make a long story short, steps 1 through 4 above were repeated three times. Then the seals, apparently bored with the game, disappeared for good. I breathed a sigh of relief, believing that Leo would have become exhausted and drowned before ever giving up the chase. Leo was far too smart for that, though. I just didn't know it at the time.

My sister Jenn used to say, "Leo is all brain stem and no cerebral cortex" and until that IQ test, I thought so, too. Now I know better.

Find out what happens when Leo reads the menu...

You might also enjoy:

• Leo, The Occasionally Good Dog  - Leo isn't always bad. Besides, he really, really wants to be good. 
• One Time When Leo Was Good  - Liz and Jenn disagree. They don't think Leo really wants to be good at all. So in this story, I document how good he actually is.

Share this post:

Leo gets high marks on the IQ test, but that doesn't mean he has any common sense.

Biker Bob Goes for a Walk

This is a story about a biker going for a walk. Although that sounds pretty boring, it really wasn't boring at all for the biker in question.

Before we get into the story, though, I need to create a picture of the biker in your mind's eye. Good writers create pictures with words. Lazy writers just draw them.

Biker Bob?

No, not Biker Bob

Biker Bob

If you're thinking that "Biker Bob" doesn't seem to fit this person so well, I understand. But my friend Dolly made it up, so it stuck. Dolly is the kind of person who can overcomes resistance to anything with a huge smile that includes dimples and outrageous enthusiasm.

When I lived in Gig Harbor a few years ago, a group of friends got together for activities such as hiking, nordic skiing, and bike rides. Because we were all of a certain age, 73.8% of the men in the group were named "Bob."

In this particular scene, 100% of the men are named "Bob."

At first this was confusing. Then Dolly came to the rescue.

It caught on.

This concludes the "How Biker Bob Got His Name" part of the story.

Now on to the walking part. Bob and I used to organize bike rides for the group that were supposed to go something like this:

Instead, they went like this:

In the end, though, everyone made it to our destination, thanks to Bob and I putting an extra 60 or 70 miles on our bikes keeping people rounded up. Following each and every ride, Bob would say,

I'll bet you're wondering what this has to do with walking. Well, not very much in fact, but it does have a lot to do with Biker Bob's personality, which becomes important later in this story.

Our group of friends would often meet at my house, so Biker Bob got to know my two dogs, Rosie and Leo. When he learned that I took them on daily walks around Gig Harbor, he volunteered to come along. This is probably Bob's idea of what such a walk would be like:

Biker Bob's imaginary walk

Instead, this is what a real walk was like:

And...

And...

Leo didn't always poop at the main intersection of town. Sometimes he pooped in the bank parking lot instead. And sometimes he pooped in both places.

And at the end of each and every walk (yes, he actually went on quite a few), Biker Bob would say,

BTW, did you know that seals are smarter than Leo?

Share this post:

My friend wasn't always well connected with reality.

One Time When Leo Was Good

Boy, are people in my life ever ganging up on Leo since I wrote the post about him wanting to be good! Jenn says, "I didn't ever get the feeling that he really, really wanted to be good. It was more fun to be bad from what I could see. I think he had a certain smirk while appearing to be so contrite. You know - the 'butter couldn't melt in my mouth' expression. On the side of his face which was facing you." My daughter Liz says, "If I had to explain the meaning of incorrigible to someone, I would introduce them to Leo."

I feel like I need to defend Leo a bit here. He really was good at least once.

First, some background for the story: Rosie and Leo had baths about every week with special shampoo to help my dog allergies. They were not fond of baths, probably because this removed all of the great smells they had so painstakingly gotten onto their fur all week. Rosie would resist the bath by making me drag her into the bathroom. This was accomplished without too much difficulty. Once at the edge of the tub, she resigned herself to a miserable fate and allowed me to help her in.

Leo, on the other hand, would willingly trot into the bathroom, and then go completely limp on the rug. If you're wondering what it's like to lift 60 pounds of completely limp dog into a bathtub, try it with 60 pounds of cooked spaghetti. 

By completely relaxing his muscles, every part of Leo's body would get contact with the floor except for his right ear, which was held up by cartilage. 

This operation generated a lot of business for my chiropractor.

Anyway, on to the story. Leo had a enormous amount of energy that was going to be expended somewhere, so to keep it out of the house, I took the dogs on a good long run outdoors every day. One day on our run, Leo made a quick side-trip into some bushes and reemerged smelling like something really, really bad. I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY bad. And there was disgusting goo all over his fur. As payback for every bad thing I've ever done, I had to get this awful slimy, stinky dog into the back of my Jeep and home, where I could wash him off.

As an aside, I believe that dogs actually understand every word we say, but pretend they don't, so they have more control, similar to when my son Brian was little and used to get plugged ears. I could tell whether they were really plugged or not by standing behind him and whispering, "Brian, would you like some popcorn?" 

Anyway, while muttering and cursing on the drive home I undoubtedly used the word "hose." When the dogs got too gross to allow in the house, I'd wash them off with the outdoor hose, which they hated even worse than a tub bath because the hose water was cold. Never mind the fact that the dogs would readily swim in the 45-degree Puget Sound, and I seriously doubt the hose water was ever that cold, they really really hated being washed off with the hose.

On arriving home, I pulled the Jeep into the garage, pushed a button to close the automatic door, and pulled a lever to pop open the back of the vehicle. Before I could get out and grab him, though, Leo jumped out of the Jeep and raced into the house. 

Panic set in. I could see several days of deep cleaning ahead.

After frantically searching absolutely everywhere else in the house, I looked in the bathroom.

And there was Leo in the tub. 

So, you see, Leo really was good one time, and possibly even more than one time. I'll think about it, and get back to you.

Biker Bob Takes a Walk
Seals are Smarter Than Leo

Leo, the Occasionally Good Dog

This is the first installment of what will likely be many about my dog Leo. Although he's been gone four years, his memory lives on and on and on.

In case you're curious about the title of this post, I should explain that I didn't want to start right off calling Leo a bad dog. Besides, sometimes he wasn't. Plus he really, really wanted to be good. It was just extra hard for him, due to his having 50 percent German shorthair pointer genes and all. That's why I thought up a title with "good" in it rather than "bad."

I'm writing this post because of Paula's comment that I must be very sad about the dogs' worshiping Bill when I was the one doing all the grunt work. Paula, just between you and me, it wasn't always bad. For one thing, Leo's favorite display of affection was to get a gulp of water and then come over and drool it into your lap. Once Bill came on the scene, my lap stayed a whole lot drier. Although Bill did get awfully jumpy whenever Leo was around. If you know Bill, you know that it is extraordinary for him to be jumpy. He is usually one laid back guy.

But there was at least one time when Leo was good...

You might also enjoy:

• Ways to say "Leo," Part 1: Reading the Menu  -  Short animated cartoon about the Occasionally Good Dog.
• Another Way to Say Leo  - Short animated cartoon about you-know-who.
• Ways to say "Leo" - The Drive-by - Another animated cartoon about Leo.

Submit this post:

I wasn't altogether heartbroken when Leo preferred Bill.

Another Thing About Bill

When I met Bill, he had no pets. I had two dogs, Rosie and Leo. I divided my time between Bill and dogs somewhat evenly. After all, it takes a lot of time to walk, potty, bathe, brush, pat, and feed two dogs, never mind go to the store and pick up dog bones and huge sacks of dog food. Bill was fine with that, but assured me that he didn't know anything about dogs, and couldn't be much help.

This didn't bother Rosie and Leo a bit. They ditched me, and worshiped Bill.

Bill didn't have to do anything. He could just sit on his hands, and the dogs would still worship him.

The same thing happens now with the chickadees. I've set up bird feeders and keep them filled. I've made the yard impregnable to cats. I've installed bird baths and put fresh water in them every day. I lug around huge sacks of bird seed.

But when Bill comes home, the chickadees fly over to the bird feeder next to the front walk and sing pretty chickadee songs for him that they never sing for me.

THIS IS NOT FAIR!











You might also enjoy:

• The Yard Robin Liked Me Better
• Leo, The Occasionally Good Dog