Bath Day! When I get home today it will be bath time for Trojan, Lilly and Rex. Rex is especially slimy! His front legs get covered in drool and then pick up dirt. The boy needs another bath and today is his day. They all need a nail cuttin' so that will be in order too.

Rex is in great spirit and has really settled down. Roxie plays with him a little and he gets real interested when Trojan and Lexus wrestle. Rex seems like a big puppy that is just learning what it is like to be a dog. His favorite toy is his food bowl. He barks at it and caries it around. He will even get it rolling and then chase it. I was real proud to see him tear across the yard yesterday. He still hasn't hit a fast Trojan run but Trojan's power is amazing. You can really see muscle gains in Rex's rear legs.

Well, it has been a week and I have gotten over this little incident. Last Wednesday, I let Trojan, Morrigan and Lexus out for lunch. I do this everyday and we walk down to their 'bathroom' about an eighth of a mile from the house. About three quarters of the way there I noticed Morrigan staring intently into the bushes on the West side of the road. I thought nothing of it and turned to till Lexus to catch up. I turned back around just in time to see the deer jump up about a foot in front of Morrigan's nose. The deer took off and Morrigan was right behind it. Then something amazing happened. Trojan jumped OVER his mother to take the lead. It was the most athletic thing I have ever seen from a dog. While I was impressed with his power I was still screaming ‘NO!’ and ‘COME!’. Of course, both of my well trained dogs ignored me and were quickly out of sight. I could hear them crashing through the undergrowth and then silence. Neither dog ever barked.

I had grabbed Lexus when she came rushing up. Working under the theory that one in hand is better than two in the bush, I ran her back home and put her up. Then the search began.

I knew where I had last heard them and decided that I would make a big circle. I knew that they would overheat quickly and odds were high that they would head for water. I started with the creek, which was a nice half-mile jog through the woods. (When I was a cop, I caught a lot of bad guys using this same technique. When you are looking for something/someone, get as far out as you think they may have gone and work your way back in towards where they came from. You will be surprised how often this works. Several armed robbers and Burglars will atest to that.) From there I worked my way downstream (North) for another half mile. Yes, I was wet and muddy because I was in a hurry. From there I turned East and came back up to my pond, I walked around the pond and saw no signs of them. I followed the stream that feeds the pond up to a smaller ‘pond’ and there I saw them both belly deep in mud with their tongues rolled out about a foot each. This smaller 'pond' is only about a foot deep this time of year and will dry up completely over the next two months. I had been calling for them both the whole time and I KNOW that they heard me. Morrigan reluctantly came once she knew that I had seen her. Trojan just coward because he knew he was in trouble. They were both exhausted. I finally got them to begin following me back to the house, another half-mile. Trojan never got within 50 feet of me until I had them go into the dog house. Lets just say we had a come to Jim meeting and they have both behaved very well since.

I went inside, took a shower and was only an hour late from lunch. I never did get to eat.