In the winter, we live in Tempe, Arizona but during the summers, we stay near Olympia, Washington about 15 miles from a little town called Yelm (if you’re interested, find Olympia on the map and look to the southeast. We’re about 50 miles from Mount Ranier National Park).

It takes us almost 30 hours to drive to Yelm. Both Carol and I hate the drive which we do in two, long days. We endure the drive for Annie’s sake. We’ve heard horror stories about dogs in airplane cargo compartments. Additionally, we fear that the extreme Arizona heat would kill Annie if the plane she was on was delayed on the tarmac.

Recently, we heard of an airline whose sole passengers are dogs and cats (http://petairways.com). The pets fly in the passenger compartment. All the seats have been removed and the dogs have “flight attendants” who ensure the animals have water in their kennels and are content. If the airline ever flies from Tempe to Seattle, Annie will be on it.  

In Tempe, our house is surrounded by walls and, although Annie has a dog door and can enter and leave whenever she wants, she has no access to the street or the companionship of other dogs. Of course, in the city of Tempe, this has some benefits. The walls prevent Annie from running into the street or interacting with a dog that might not be friendly (Katy, a dog we once had, was viciously attacked by another dog one evening while I was walking her. I’m not sure who was more traumatized, me or Katy). We take Annie to the dog park as much as I can so that she can get animal companionship.

Our house near Yelm on the other hand, is surrounded by two and a half acres of grass, trees and garden. We open the door in the morning to let Annie out (she also has a dog door if she chooses) and she stays out as long as she wants. Fortunately, she never leaves the property unless she is accompanying us on her two daily walks.

Additionally, almost as soon as we open the door, our neighbor’s five dogs (you can see the pictures below) come bounding over (it helps that my wife gives them treats whenever they show up) and, sometimes, stay all day. These five dogs are all males and we think of them as Annie’s boyfriends (no sex, please. Annie has been neutered). It’s comical to watch the dogs settle into their respective places.

Our cabin is small, about 700 square feet, with a porch outside the front door that is only about five feet long and perhaps four feet wide with three wooden steps leading to a concrete footer below.

Harley, a male, black Lab, typically lies on the dog bed that we leave on the porch with Boots, a black Chihuahua who weighs no more than three pounds, curled up beside her.

Boots torments Harley, jumping on him and grabbing at his ears. Harley thrashes his head from side to side in an attempt to fend off Boots and, occasionally nips at Boots to tell him “That’s enough.” Boots, however, only stops the torment when he’s good and ready. 

Annie lies next to these two on the porch, as close to the bed as possible because there’s no room for her on the bed. Even though it’s Annie’s bed, you know how generous and docile Goldens are, so Annie cedes her bed to Harley and Boots without complaint. Annie weighs 75 pounds (we suffer over trying to limit her food), so part of her invariably lies in space hanging over the steps.

Carol, my wife, will occasionally shoo Boots and Harley off the bed and invite Annie to lie there but, when Carol opens the door to do this, Annie often comes inside and crawls under the small, wooden coffee table in our combination living room, dining room and kitchen (I told you it was small. There are two other rooms, a bedroom and a laundry room. The laundry room doubles as my “office” where I’m typing this). When Annie comes inside, Boots and Harley resume their accustomed places on the dog bed.

Mocha, who looks like a pit bull but has the disposition of a Golden, lies on the concrete footer at the bottom of the porch steps.  Mocha had been owned by a teenager at the other end of the ½ mile long dirt road that runs beside our property. The teenager let Mocha run loose and he invariably showed up at our doorstep (as mentioned in an earlier post, my wife feeds strays. Strange how they keep showing up at our door).

Last year, the teenager was killed when his car turned over as he raced with another car down this dirt road. His mother put up one of those roadside shrines with a cross and bouquet of flowers. When his mother moved away, our neighbors, Chuck and Pam, mom and pop to the five dogs, adopted him.

Charlie Brown, a white Cocker Spaniel, usually lies in the grass just beyond Mocha. He is an itinerant visitor, sometimes showing up to stay all day, sometimes coming and going and, sometimes, not appearing at all for several days.

Unlike the other dogs, Charlie has figured out how to get into the dog door after watching Annie disappear into it. The dog door is in the laundry room at the back of the house, embedded in a wooden door that leads to a back porch that is even smaller than the one in front. We’ll often hear the slap of the dog door as we are settling down to sleep because Annie likes to spend her nights on this back porch.

We occasionally find Charlie trapped in our house. We have to let him out the front door because, while he has learned how to get in the dog door, he hasn’t learned how to let himself out. We’re waiting for the day we come home to find that all five dogs have mastered the art of dog door egress.

The final dog of the fantastic five is Snoopy, aka “The Evil One.” He is an adorable brown Cocker Spaniel with ears almost as large as his body. We’ve dubbed him with that moniker because one day, out of the blue, he attacked Boots with what looked to us like evil intent. I don’t know if Boots had done something to annoy Snoopy or if Snoopy simply snapped, but we were shocked. Our neighbor, Chuck, had to kick at Snoopy to get him off Boots (don’t worry. His kick didn’t connect and Snoopy did let go). There’s been no more trouble between Boots and Snoopy since that day…at least not in our presence.

By the way, if you’re looking for Snoopy in this menagerie, you’ll find him pressed up against the glass of our front door, looking in, hoping to see Carol preparing some treats.

While Annie pretty much ignores them, we believe she enjoys the company of other dogs so we’re happy and, we believe, so is Annie. 

Annie’s Boy Friends:

Boots is in the top picture, Charley Brown is in the middle and  Snoopy, Mocha and Harley (left to right) are in bottom picture