On the prowl...

At night, I tend to walk Max just down the street and around our small community. Our nightly walks are close to home ever since the encounter with a coyote.



About eight months ago, I was walking little Max through a large park less than a mile from our house at night. Nature called so I tied Max up to a tree in front of the restroom and went inside for just a minute. I heard Max barking. When I came out, I saw a tall, scraggly looking coyote run past Max. I quickly untied Max and started yelling and cursing at the coyote. We turned around and started our walk back home. I turn around and saw the coyote following us. I yell and curse at the coyote some more and the coyote would slink off into the shadows. We continued our walk home and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the coyote following us from the darkness of the field parallel to our path home. Again, I yelled and cursed at him some more until he slunk off once again. I wasn't so much afraid for myself, but I was afraid that this coyote would run by and try to snag Max. Max was still pretty small at just 10 months old at the time. I couldn't believe how aggressive this coyote was. He must of been pretty hungry to be stalking us like that.

Tonight, like every night, we walked down the street and around the block. Toward the end of the walk, we were walking towards the corner of the community that is open to the canyon when we spotted a pair coyotes walking past a light post. Max barked weakly at them. One coyote turned and started approaching. I yelled at the coyote and he just stopped and looked at us. I quickly took out a small flash light and focused the beam at him as I yelled at him. He then turned away into the darkness where the other coyote went.

Since I tend to work pretty late as an engineer, I tend to walk Max at night. I never walk Max at night without:

1. A flashlight... I carry a small mag light. It is useful for picking up after Max in the dark as well as help scaring away hungry coyotes. The light shining directly at them in the dark is a pretty good deterrent. Coyotes are mainly nocturnal animals with eyes that are very sensitive to light. A bright light focused at them blinds their night vision and ensures they can't stalk you out from the shadows.
   
2. A small pocket knife... I have never had to take out my knife for any reason and probably never will. It is good to be prepared though.

Moral of the story, be prepared and be aware. I hear about coyotes attacking children in East Los Angeles in the news and local cats going missing all the time. Even pets and kids in the backyard are not completely safe. Coyotes can leap pretty high fences just like deer can. These coyotes are out and about hunting every night. Be careful out there!

Moooooo!!!

The San Diego Corgi meet-up group sponsored a Halloween costume contest! And here we have an incredibly cute, passive, and shameless puppy! This would be a deadly combination! So we went out to like 5 stores looking for a suitable costume and we found it at Walmart!



This costume was actually designed for a human toddler! It was about Max's size and oh so cute, we had to get it! We actually had to perform surgery on this costume to customize it for Max... you know, since he doesn't walk upright and he has rather gi-normous ears and we haven't gotten around to train him to zip down to take a leak yet!



Can you tell what he is? Lemme give you a hint, that spotted black and white thing around his neck is a cow bell! It is a cow bell that I bought when we were at the Ben and Jerry's factory while touring Vermont leaf peeping! Actually, when we purchased the costume, we didn't look closely enough and we thought it was a cow costume! It is actually a pinto horse costume! This costume was much cuter than the actual cow costume which is black and white. I think these colors are much better for him and the mane is just too cute to pass up!



Here are some pictures of our competitors! Max drew a lot of attention because his cow bell was rather loud. Every move he made, it would go ding-ding-ding! It was hilarious!



So in summary... through the power of Walmart and good 'ole asian ingenuity, we WON with our hybrid horse-cow costume! We took the "Most fitting Corgie costume" award! You know, since corgis are herding dogs for sheep and such.



Finally, after gaining fame and fortune (a pack of dingo rawhide bones!) from his glorious win, a groupie Corgi dressed as a fairy offers herself to the Maximus!!! Too bad he got his dog-hood chopped months ago... but don't tell her that!

Corg-fest!

We took the little guy to his first Corgi Meet-up in April!




It was a rather warm day out in Poway! There was not a lot of shade so all the Corgis were pretty much hunkering down underneath this one little tree! It is not easy having to wear a fur coat all the time!