Once again, sorry my (single) reader for not blogging for so long. There has been a lot to blog.

Monday, Tony Gwynn Sr, only 54 years old, went onward. Sabo, who's been most closely associated with his Padres... well, ever since he's been Sabo, was disconsolate. The sports industry, us legions of couch-potatoes... and far beyond in both his home town of Long Beach, and here in his adopted home of San Diego... has been in shock. I'm not ashamed to say I'm wiping a tear or two blogging this today.

Tony Gwynn Sr is not just Mr. Padre... he's Mr. Aztek, and Mr. San Diego Sports, as well.

Here, in No-Titletown... the only major city which has never won a major championship (outside of the 1963 AFL Champtionship !!!1!)... that's really what us couch-potato's have got to hold onto. The only other player who comes close is Junior Seau, who sent himself onward when he was only 53. You know... sometimes being a couch-potato really isn't fair.


It does get tiring hearing Eastern Staters whine about how their town hasn't had a championship in, like a decade (boo-hoo), or prate on about how San Diego teams have historically sucked because... the city sucks (LOL), us fans suck (false), players from San Diego suck (false, and irrelevant, there's a draft), players living in San Diego suck (false), nobody's from here (so very false), and we're all fair-weather fans (again, not fair).

None of that is our fault... we can't help it if we've had (and continue to have, in the Charger's case) the absolute-nut-worst professional owners in modern history. Why SDSU FBS can't recruit remains a mystery wrapped in the usual chicken/egg dilemma. If you're a die-hard fan of these teams... you are by definition not a 'fair-weather' fan. There isn't any 'fair-weather' here... ever, at least when it comes to sports (Not yet, Sabo the young optimist reminds me). Look closely into the mirror all ye who back teams crying 'Titletown'... as that's where you're likely to spy a true 'fair-weather' fan.


But ZOMG, we don't ever complain.

Let's see... living here, and being doomed by evil owners to losing sports entertainment... or moving to, say, basically rural PA or WI. LMFAO... Sabo & me will continue backing our losing teams here, TYVM.

1. Quote:

   Originally Posted by MissileDog

   ... I realized the local trainers (@Petco) & Dive Bar #0 are about the same reasonable walking distance from the Sabotat...
   OOPs: This should have read Sabo's local: Dive Bar #1 -not- the all the way across town, and not dog friendly: Dive Bar #0.
   
   Ironically, years ago Dive Bar #1 used to be located down the block from Dive Bar #0. When they nuked the strip mall Dive Bar #1 was originally in, I assumed the business got nuked too. What actually happened was they moved the business to the Sabo'hood. Several years later, after a change of name, I rediscovered this bar by happenstance.
   
   
2. OOPs: I forgot that Sabo's Little Monster Reason #7 is a three parter... I blogged part #7A: 'How to train Sabo'... but forgot parts #7B: 'What to train Sabo -- in what order'; and #7C: 'Training maintenance.'. I'll blog these details when I continue Sabo's Little Monster List right after the upcoming...
   
   
3. Quote:

   Originally Posted by MissileDog

   Is it a three day weekend if an equinox falls on Friday?
   
   Yes, of course. The same goes for the solstices...
   OOPs: I actually meant no Sabo Big Weekends until the three-day solstice weekend, of course. Just a hint: this upcoming Sabo Big Weekend might be the best ever !!!1!

.

The Theme for the renewal of Sabo's Big Weekend (and it's already started) is... Sabo Hikes Rose Creek... all the way from the Pacific Ocean to it's farthest and highest source. And the Sabo Twist is... hike it on the wrong side of the tracks & I-5.

Friday PM	North Jetty, Vacation Island#, Capehart Park*
Saturday	Capehart Park*, Mt Soledad Park, Doyle Park*
Sunday	Doyle Park*, Nobel Park*
Monday	Nobel Park*, Miramar National Cemetery
Tuesday AM	MCAS Miramar, Alliant University, Maddox Park*

^{* Leash-free dog runs. # Shore access.}

Happy Summer Folks !!!1!

Rose Creek/Canyon has had several names post-contact, including La Cañada de San Diego (San Diego Canyon), La Cañada de las Yeguas (Canyon of the Mares), Soledad Canyon, and San Buenaventura Canyon. Although wild roses are endemic to the canyon, that's not where the current name comes from. That honor goes to Louis Rose (1807-3-24 to 1888-2-14), an early land-baron, who owned the lower canyon, as well as Roseville in Pt. Loma... and was the founder of San Diego's Jewish community.

Friday 6-20, Noon

By tradition, Sabo's Big Weekends begin in the PM of the preceding day. In this case a beautiful last day of Spring... no June-gloom in sight.

Sabo started out at noon from the North Jetty parking lot in south Missile Beach. Dogs are banned here on the beach, and adjacent parks, until 6pm. This is as close as Sabo can now legally get to the Pacific Ocean, or the Mission Bay channel.

So Sabo headed in the only direction he could... east over to the bayside. There he turned north up Bayside Walk. Even though Bayside Walk looks like a park path, it's actually a dedicated city street closed to cars.... and as such open to dogs on leash.

A 1924 state law vacated Bayside Walk from San Fernando Place to Ventura Place, along with Flushing, Folkstone, Galloway, Gloucester, Harbor, and Huntington Courts. So today's it's a park pathway (no dogs during the day). From here, Sabo would have had to hike the city streets. Instead, Sabo & me jumped in a pre-staged vehicle, and drove to the Paradise Point Resort on Vacation Island.


Originally named Vacation Village, this very leashed-dog friendly bungalow hotel's restaurants, marina, and grounds (except the five pools) are open to the public. The beautiful 44 acre tropically themed gardens include extensive ponds, walkways and gazebos, as well as a 70 foot observation tower. The sandy shoreline is not part of the hotel grounds (again, no dogs during the day), but the marina area is part of the hotel grounds. So dogs are welcomed along the marina shore, as well as in the outdoors marina bar: The Barefoot Bar.

However be advised... during the Cinnamon era, this bar was remodeled, removing the 'sand box' and easy in-water access... also now shoes are required. Still, all-in-all, a nice dog friendly daytime oasis. From here we drove to the Rose Creek Cottage... a historic wedding venue.


This is Sabo's first sniff of Rose Creek... and the last until tomorrow. The reason being the Sabo Twist mandates we stay on the 'other' side, in this case the west side, of I-5. Since I-5 basically occupies the entire western floor of Rose Canyon, we're going to have to make a detour.

So Sabo hiked up the very first of eighteen unnamed side-creeks off of Rose Creek, which I hereby dub... Mountain Side-Creek. Mountain SC, the only Rose Creek tributary in the Pacific Beach, has mainly been diverted and developed. Except... for a gully running along the west side of Soledad Mountain Rd, north of Felspar St.

Capehart dog park is block further up Mountain SC. After Sabo had a good run we travelled... for miles and miles it seems across town... back to the Sabotat. That night, Sabo's Padres, in their best comeback of the year, beat the hated Dodgers at home on "Beat LA" T-shirt night 6-5.


The earliest sunrise this year was 5:40 AM from 6-7 to 6-17, the latest sunset will be 8:01 PM from 6-28 to 6-30. However, the days with the most daylight, 14:19, are both Saturday 6-21 the first day of Summer, and Sunday 6-22.

In honor of Summer, Sabo and me returned to Capehart dog park at sunrise. After Sabo had a another good run, we continued up Mountain SC gully, where passable, until it peters out at Loring St. Here, we jumped into a pre-staged vehicle and drove to Mt. Soledad park.


Sabo has been here before... in fact, this is the very first place I ever took Sabo, even before the first Sabo Big Weekend. It was misting that day... but my new little Sabo-doggy still 'dragged' me up the scary-steep steps to the cross, and around all four levels of the new, established decades after the obviously religious cross, veteran memorials. He's always been a 'go-dog' !!!1!

At 822' above sea level, it's basically LOL at calling this hill a mountain. On the other hand, that's higher than anyplace in RI, MS, LA, DE, FL and DC. There is, however, a panoramic 360 degree view over northern San Diego city. From here, we can look several miles south, and about 820' down to Sabo's start point at the North Jetty. We can see off to the east, where several more miles away, and at about a 80' higher elevation, lies our end point of Alliant University. More immediately, we can see almost straight down about 700' to the floor of Rose Canyon... our next destination.

<sup>I've been glossing over the underlying logistics... but this segment deserves some explanation. La Jolla Pkwy has K-rails down the middle and it's trailhead down from Mt. Soledad is in a no parking zone.

A vehicle picking up, or dropping off, a hiker here on the fly here must necessarily continue onto a freeway, either I-5 South or SR-52 East. The nearest turn-around point is Regents Rd on SR-52.

The closest parking to the lower trailhead is on La Jolla Scenic Dr South, north of it's intersection with Via Capri... accessed by hiking up hill NW along La Jolla Pkwy trailhead, then significantly uphill SW on La Jolla Scenic Dr South.

To hike through between from the La Jolla Pkwy trailhead to the Revelle Dr trailhead you're going to have to cross La Jolla Pkwy at some point. Although it's legal to cross anywhere (including climbing over the K-rails), the first reasonable location is at Torrey Pines Rd... almost a mile to the NW and significantly uphill, then downhill. After crossing head back again and up a significant hill to La Jolla Scenic Dr North, then downhill again to the Revelle Dr Trailhead.</sup>

At the bottom of this mountain hill, and still west of I-5, Sabo finally sniffs the floor of Rose Canyon. This little slice of land, known as Sunnyside, has an interesting history.

Originally Rose Creek looped around to the west of the current SDG&E Conductor Farm. During the Spanish era, The El Camino Real, the trail between the missions, skirted to the west of the original creek bed. In 1881 the railroad built up the canyon where I-5 is now, crossing Rose Creek just south, and again just north, of this little slice. Trains stopped at Sunnyside station 1918-1926. Satellite pictures in 1929 show what was probably a ranching community with more than a dozen buildings packed between the creek and the tracks.

During the automobile age, the original main road to LA didn't pass through Rose Canyon. That all changed when US-101 was built up Rose Canyon in the 1930s... right through Sunnyside. At that time Rose Cr was diverted to a second channel west of the railroad tracks, creating today's old creek bed west of I-5. The USGS 1942 topographical map indicates seven buildings remained at Sunnyside. Satellite pictures in 1953 show them replaced by the Conductor Farm.

In the 1960s I-5 replaced US-101. At the same time the second channel was filled, a third cement channel was cut along the east side of the canyon, the railroad was double tracked and realigned to the west bank of this new cement channel, and a frontage road was established along the west side the freeway to access the Sunnyside Conductor Farm.

Across the freeway from Sabo & Me the Rose Canyon Bike Path was squeezed between the freeway and the railroad tracks in the 1980s. The Rose Canyon-San Clemente Canyon Hiking Trail was established east of the cement channel in the 2000s. And c.2020... two more tracks will also be squeezed in for the UCSD trolley extension.


Anyways... Sabo and me continued hiking north up the frontage road to Gilman Dr (Old US-101, and the route of The El Camino Real), then south along Gilman Dr, under I-5, then east to the La Jolla Colony Dr trailhead into Rose Canyon Natural Park. This was also the site of a railroad station, named Elvira (1915-1965). Following the mandate of the Sabo Twist we hiked on eastward along the 'wrong', in this case the north, side of the railroad tracks. The railroad here was doubled tracked, and realigned north of Rose Creek, during WWII.

We ended our day by diverting north through a small Condo Park, along which I lived for a time during college (professional pics of Sabo here incoming), then continued a couple of blocks to Doyle Park. Amazingly, Sabo had enough energy for another victory in the dog run here. Later, back at the Sabotat, Sabo endured watching his Padres lose 2-4.


Sunday afternoon Sabo's Padres lost their game, and the series, 1-2 to the hated Dodgers... and their GM lost his job. After Sabo recovered from this debacle, we drove... for miles and miles it seems across town... back to Doyle Park. After another visit to the dog run, we continued eastward, north of the railroad tracks, and then diverted north through the meadows up to Nobel Park, and the dog run there.

Monday, we returned early to Nobel Park, where Sabo again pwned the dog run. Then we took a different path south and down through the meadows to site of another railroad station, named Selwyn (1882-1948). These meadows are the only part of Rose Canyon Natural Park north of the railroad tracks, except the sliver we've already hiked along. About 100 yds east under I-805, Rose Creek enters MCAS Miramar. So Sabo header north, up and out of the canyon, along a strip of open-space between the freeway and Miramar National Cemetery, to Nobel Dr.

That evening, Sabo's Padres beat the Giants, 6-0, in San Francisco.

^{Logistics note: The closest place to park near the Miramar National Cemetery is back at Nobel Park itself... which makes a circular trip back along Nobel Dr, and has the benefit of allowing a bonus visit to the dog run.}

Upstream, the next public accessible location in the Rose Creek Watershed is a up another unnamed side-canyon, east of Miramar National Cemetery, and just south of Miramar Rd. This is at another railroad station (since 1889) now named CP Cumbres. The mainline was built through here in 1881, and branch line farther up Rose Creek was added in 1917. Passenger trains haven't stopped here since the late 1950s, the depot was razed in 1960. Now it just serves as the junction point between the NCTD mainline and the PSRR Miramar branch line.

Sabo enjoyed the short hike down to the depot grounds (inside the wye, now a boat storage yard), and checking out the nearby Pacific Sun Railroad yards.

Next, to abide by the Sabo Twist mandate to stay on the 'wrong' side of the PSRR's Miramar branch, we had to detoured north. So we drove up to Maddox Park in Mira Mesa, where Sabo checked out still another dog-run. FYI: Sabo went 8-0 this weekend as 'fastest dog in the park' ... and has only been outraced once so far.


MCAS Miramar opened as Army Camp Kearny on 1917-1-18. It's probably most famous when later, as NAS Miramar, it hosted the Top Gun fighter school... fictionalized in the movie starring Tom Cruise. Now it's a Marine Corps Air Station.

In the middle of the base, for about a mile, a public street, Miramar Way, runs along the north bank of Rose Creek from the main gate to Kearny Villa Rd, then across Rose Creek to I-15. Rose Creek this far upstream is not much more than a gully piped under the roadways.

This area also used to be much different. Kearny Villa Rd used to be US-395, the major road north out of San Diego. Miramar Way, east of Kearny Villa Rd, was the right-of-way for the abandoned eastern extension of Miramar railroad branch... which crossed US-395 at grade.

^{More logistical notes: The only place to park on Miramar Way is at the deadend, east of I-15.}

After hiking this lonely stretch of road on MCAS Miramar, Sabo & me drove to our final location this big weekend... the campus of Alliant University, in Scripps Ranch. Previously known as Cal Western, then US International, this private, non-secular, non-profit primarily graduate level university's campus is open to the public. Shockingly, visitor parking is free.

Rose Creek here is just a depression. It finally ends up about 900' above sea level in the broad tree-filled bowl NE of the campus Gym. Sabo enjoyed strolling the pleasant roomy 120 acre campus.

By tradition, Sabo & me headed back to the Sabotat at noon, the day after the 'weekend'. That night Sabo's Padres won again 7-2. As predicted: Sabo had a blast on these trips... this was unquestionably the biggest and best Sabo Big Weekend ever !!!1!

Independence Day weekend is the biggest, busiest, day at the beach. So Sabo's going back to the Beach Shack for four nights. It's still an open question if Sabo is really a 'water dog', so... the theme for Sabo's Big Weekend is...


Of course, where Sabo isn't allowed to swim, he can hike those shorelines, or as near to the shore as possible. However... the Sabo Twist is: no going over bridges.

Sabo has been willful at times. But I would hardly call him a 'Willful Dog'... or say he has a problem with willfulness itself. His willfulness only strongly manifests itself as a symptom of his Little Monster Reasons #5, #4, & #2, as I will blog then.

However, he does have a few other bad habits. And I did forget to blog 2/3 rds of Little Monster Reason #7. So I might as well make this installment a catch-all.

Still More Reasons why Sabo's a Little Monster

• #7A: How to train Sabo
• #7B: What to train Sabo
• #7C: Command Maintenance
• #6A: The 'Nose Nudge'
• #6B: Up on tables
• #6C: Chewing clothes
• #6D: Begging Grandpa
• #6E: Won't get in a bag

I blogged #7A in post #50. I need some training in dog training, so Sabo & me are going to Obedience School. If fact, after Sabo's Padres beat the Reds 3-0 at Petco Park (in both today's day game and the series), Sabo & me walked up to the Petco store and signed up for classes. We start this Tuesday !!!1!

Reason #7B is this: I need some advice on what to teach Sabo. For example: I'd like to teach him to do his 'business' on command (like Cinnamon), stay out of the streets (like Flower), and to jump up into my arms (better than Cinnamon, who tried but wasn't much of a jumper). And I'd like to teach him sign language. But considering his relatively advanced age, IDK what's reasonable to expect of him. He's officially 2½ years old, but I imagine that The Pound rounds down on their age guesses... and he's actually three years old by now. I also need advice on crafting an overall training 'game plan'.

Once a dog learns a command, they need some sorta maintenance routine, or reinforcement, to retain that command (#7C). Sabo is no exception. I need advice on this issue too.

"Praise Sabo","The good dog to be","Yes for Sabo"	Sabo's praise Mantras	Solid
"Sabo No"	'Stop doing that'	Solid
"Sabo Sit"	Previously trained	Spotty
"Back","Sabo Back"	Respecting Thresholds	Strong
"Sabo","Come'n Sabo","Sabo Come Here"	Previously Trained	Strong
"Sabo Drop It"	I trained Sabo	Solid w/dog rocks
<leashing behavior>	Previously trained	Solid w/gear
<bedtime behavior>	Sabo gets in his nest	Solid

I listed Sabo as 'Strong' instead of 'Solid' regarding coming when called, and not bolting... as he's had a few, albeit less than a handful, misbehaviors involving these commands. They all involved Little Monster Reason #2, which I'll blog then... except two. One was on Mayday when I hurt myself at City College.

The other was on the very first day I ever took Sabo out and about. After we visited Mt. Soledad, I drove to C's Bar & Grill... so Sabo could meet his 'dog-father' B for the first time outta doggy prison.

After I had parked, Sabo bolted out of the minvan. At first I couldn't figure out how... as he didn't go over or by me. But it turns out he is able to get out the drivers door from the back of the minivan, by squeezing between the bottom of the seat and the door post.

He took a B-line at some random dude walking across the parking lot, yapping as he went. It had rained earlier that day... and about half-way there, at full Sabo speed, he belly flopped in a small puddle. Me & the random dude both cracked up laughing. Then Sabo got up and took off in a completely different direction at full Sabo speed.

Without even thinking, I used 'the voice' and commanded "Sabo Come Here". Sabo immediately ran as fast as he could back to me, and then exhibited his <leashing behavior>. He also does this <leashing behavior>(where he lays down, rolls over, freezes, and awaits being leashed/collared/etc), whenever I start messing with his gear.


The 'Nose Nudge' (#6A), is that annoying habit some dogs have of slipping their nose under an idle hand to induce scratching. Just like the 'love bites', I don't really mind this behavior, and I want my doggy to freely communicate with me. But eventually he really should be trained out of this behavior.

Sabo has only got up on the dinner table about three times, and never when there was food on it (#6B). Obviously he has never been trained to stay off of tables, and needs to be.

Just last week I caught him dragging one of the pair of shorts he picked out for me @Kohl's out the back door, undoubtedly to chew it up too (#6C). Other than chewing up that one old pair way back in his first few days... these are the only two time's he's shown any interest on chewing clothes. He's shown absolutely zero interest in playing with rags as toys.

He doesn't actually beg, and has never once whined. He'll sit right next to me on the couch while I'm eating, and completely ignore me. He doesn't follow me around when I'm in the kitchen. However, when Grandpa is working in the kitchen, he'll occasionally mutely follow him around on only his two back legs (#6D). While very cute... Grandpa needs to be trained to say "Sabo No" when he does this.

I gave up trying to train Sabo to get into the backpack (#6E) when I inadvertently induced Little Monster Reason #4, as I'll blog then.

Flower, our family dog growing up, should be everyone in the family's all-time favorite. She's still Grandpa's favorite, without question... but then again, she was Grandpa's dog when it really came down to it. He was the 'Head Master', and he did all the 'heavy-lifting', like training.

However, for us kids at the time, Flower was a given of life... she was one of us kids too. Now, as adults, that was so, so, so long ago... and it was the definition of 'normal' to us kids at the time... that a whole lot, most in fact, of Flower lore and stories have passed out of human memory. Which makes me sad.

Like I said, Flower should be my all-time favorite. But I can't honestly say, at this point in my life, that she is. Right after Flower was sent onwards, I'd get teary-eyed talking about her. I was long over that five years later. Today, almost five years after we sent Cinnamon onward, I always get teary-eyed when I talk (or blog) about her. I've never gotten teary-eyed over Sabo.

Of course, so far nothing bad has happened to Sabo... and the only 'Broken Arrow' was so incredibly short I didn't have time to become emotional. Other than that, I follow The Missile's master S's very wise advice: "Don't dwell on bad things that might happen to your dog. You're going to cry anyways... at the very end. There's no need for pointless crying before then."

But, once again, that was a Cinnamon story, not a Flower story. See... it's just not fair to Flower's memory.


Flower was born right next door on the fourth of July. Her mom Buttons lived next door -- for the first two years of Flower's life. Her dad was surely some anonymous dog who got access to Buttons while in heat. Buttons had multiple litters, none of them planned.

Now, we were promised the pick of this litter... so Buttons having that litter would have been a 'big deal'. Independence Day was also a 'big deal' in the now Sabo'hood... way back then we had our own parade and our own fireworks.

Even a few years later, as a child, it didn't seem possible to me that both of these really 'big deals' would have happened the same day, and I wouldn't remember that coincidence. I quizzed the grown-ups about this, suspecting they just assigned 7-4 to Flower after the fact... mainly because us kids wanted to celebrate the dog's birthday. But I never got any of them to "fess up"... and it most certainly could have happened that way. It's all a moot point now.

As I blogged, Sabo does know how the 'turbo' part of the turbo-leash works. Just like Cinnamon, when he hears that 'click' he'll stop going in that direction. When I first got Sabo he'd also flinch, expecting to get jerked back by neck, when he heard the click. I try not to do that, and soon but him in the harness... and that flinching behavior disappeared.

But Sabo still has some issues walking on leash. He sometimes (a) 'pulls', he (b) 'crosses over' and trips up other people walking with us, he's (c) 'leash reactive' around unleashed dogs, and he'll (d) walk on the wrong side of poles, and then often tangle by LOLtastically circling these poles.

The root cause the leash re-activeness, and with the exception of Mayday, the pulling, is Little Monster Reason #2, which I'll blog then.

Regarding Sabo walking on the wrong side of poles... well that's an issue of me guiding him better. I got spoiled by Cinnamon... as she was some kinda doggy genius when it came to leashes/tie-downs.

She'd just never cross-over or get tangled on poles while walking... all on her own. We'd take her to a patio bar or the food court, give her the full 32' diameter of the turbo-leash... and she'd navigate the entire sea of table/chair/railing posts without ever getting tangled (although occasionally she'd get snagged). People would ask if she was magical. We'd say: "Of course she is, but that's not why she doesn't tangle. Just watch her... she'll periodically turn around and visually track the leash's route through the chairs, and unwind herself as needed".


Regarding the pulling... well at first I didn't care and thought it was funny. I had him on the harness, so he wasn't choking himself. I remember seeing dogs, albeit smaller than Sabo, be able to 'fly' in short arcs in harness, which I thought was cool.

That all changed on Mayday.

Sabo went crazy that day. We were sitting under the tree, resting. Then, for some reason, he just decided to start pulling like crazy... pulling towards nothing at all. I know it was nothing at all... because I walked him over there, and he wasn't really interested to be there.

Anyways, I just couldn't calm him down. Then he started backing up and running full speed to try to jerk the turbo-leash free. To my complete surprise, he eventually managed to do so. He ran about halfway down the hill towards busy Park Blvd, then stopped.

A pretty young Asian coed walking by offered to pick up the leash for me. I figured he'd come back when called... he always had before. So I said that's OK. She went about her business. But Sabo wouldn't come when called, and then started straight down to the edge of the street. That's when I injured myself trying to chase him down.

After my accident, we moved over a hill to a different part of the lawn, which was mainly empty, and out of sight from where we previously were. I still couldn't calm Sabo down, and he still was pulling... this time at nothing in a complete different direction.

This misbehavior has been a completely isolated incident... so I'm treating it as an anomaly. However, this incident changed my attitude regarding this 'pulling', and I've added to this list.


Sabo's 'dog-father' B, an experienced 'dog person' suggested I put Sabo on the short leash for training. I doubled down and got him a 'leader'-collar (aka head-leash) too.

Sabo don't really care for the head-leash, but he tolerates it. More importantly, it's decreased the 'pulling' and 'crossing over' significantly in the last six weeks that Sabo's been walked in it.

Sabo and me had an exhilarating, and in our own ways, frightening ~ten minute experience during the Independence Day fireworks. I broke my 'virgin' getting teary-eyed over Sabo blogging this.

We had planned on spending Thursday-Sunday nights at the Beach Shack for Sabo's Big Weekend. However, we went to a house party back up in the Sabo'hood on Friday, and stopped by the Sabotat just before the fireworks stated. BTW: we've had enough excitement this weekend, TYVM. The remainder of Sabo's Big Weekend of swimming is temporarily postponed.

The Sabotat is, of course, miles & miles away from the beach... and now-a-days a few miles away from the nearest fireworks. However, if you get up on the top terrace, and have some binocs, you can see those few miles away fireworks just fine. Which is what I did.

Now, I knew Sabo wasn't inside, and when I called him, he didn't come running. He had gone missing. I went and checked the house again... no Sabo. I checked the front door... locked. I went out front and checked both gates... solidly latched. With no reason to think he was out front, I called out "Sabo Come Here"... and out of the darkness, I heard his jingle-jangles, then saw him, as up he ran. Whew...

But, how'd he get out? Well, while I pondered this... we went back into the Sabotat, and up to the top terrace... to watch more of the fireworks. There Sabo explained it all to me.

Individual fireworks have always been highly illegal in SoCal because of the extreme fire risks. But this year, there was a buncha scoff-laws in the Sabo'hood. One of those a-holes popped one off, and Sabo spooked. We were standing near the 4-way Flower Corner... he ran over to the 5-way Sabo Corner, and with a buncha scratchin and clawing, somehow got through the fence there into the back-line neighbor's yard (again).

So I climbed half way up the back fence (to the 'fourth terrace'), called Sabo over, and picked him up and set him back down into the Sabotat. But before I could even go over to the Sabo Corner and figure out WTF... another a-hole pops one off.

Sabo, once again spooks, and with a whole lotta scratchin' and clawing, gets over into the back-line neighbor's yard again. But before I can call him back over again... still another a-hole pops one off, and Sabo spooks again. This time he somehow got through the back-line neighbor's side-yard gate... and out into the streets around the block.


Now this wasn't a broken arrow ~ I knew where my dog was. And I knew he knows his way around the block (but not which way, when I called him earlier, he came from the direction of the 30-house long way around) So I went back down the terraces, and set off running the six-house short way around, expecting to meet him coming towards me.

And that's exactly what happened. When I got around the far corner, I called out "Sabo Come Here". Again, from out of the darkness, I first heard Sabo's jingle-jangles, then saw him running full speed at me. Just before he got to me... yep you guessed it. Sabo spooks once again, goes around me, and then around the far corner towards the Sabotat.

So I run back around this far corner. Luckily there was some folks around, who were obviously annoyed a-holes were setting off fireworks in the 'hood. A nice lady said she tried to catch him, but he sped around her and then down the another street that Ts off there, away from the Sabotat.

So I ran down this second block, calling out... no jingle-jangles... no Sabo. About half-way down, where another street T's off away from the Sabotat I asked a couple walking up that street if they'd seen a dog go by. They said "nope".

At this point Sabo is either going to loop around this second 24-house block, right back towards the Sabotat, and I'd meetup with him at the near corner. Or... he went farther down these streets... all of which I know cul-de-sac, and would better be searched with a flashlight & car.

So I turned around and ran back towards the Sabotat, calling out when I got to the near corner. Sure enough... I hear Sabo's jingle-jangels, then see Sabo come zooming down this second block right towards me.

And just before he got to me again... yep you guessed it. And Sabo spooks, crosses the street, and goes off in the fourth direction at the near intersection... and disappears from view again. Luckily this time he didn't leave jingle-jangle range, and came running when I called him again... right up to me and did his <leashing behavior>. I quickly snatched him up, and carried him into the house.

We were both out-of-breath, drenched in sweat (it was a hot night), high on adrenaline, and were both oh-so-happy that Sabo was safe in my arms again.

After I made sure all the doors were closed, I set him down. He immediately ran to see Grandpa, and get some love. Then he climbed under Grandpa's bed and hid. Sabo 's Grandpa too.

Yeah, just like the trainers at the pound said, Sabo is a 'resource guarder'. When in 'guard' mode he'll take his prize outside, if possible. That is what he does with the 'rawhides', any 'cookies' (dog treats), and the few people-food leftovers I've given him.

If he's in 'guard' mode, and can't take his prize and leave... and I pet him, or reach for the prize, he'll clearly and obviously go through the classic dog escalating sequence of (a) trying to push my hand away with his snout, (b) freezing up, (c) growling, and (d) then snapping.

He's never showed any signs of actually biting. The first time he snapped at me, which was over a 'rawhide', I just pulled his Ole#8 Nest out from under him... sending both him & the 'rawhide' flying. I snatched that 'rawhide' up before he could. He was bitter and growled, but almost immediately backed down and basically forgot all about the 'rawhide'.

I can intentionally induce this behavior at will.


But every other time I've just ignored him and went about my business when he started 'guarding'. One time, however, he became stressed over a 'rawhide'... and when I opened the door, he took that rawhide into the Sabotat and spend the entire night, for about five hours, compulsively chewing up that whole 'rawhide'.

Once he 'guarded' a chew bone at his favorite BBQ restaurant. It had a little bit of meat still on it. I tried to nudge him away with my foot, and he snapped at my shoe.

I've trained him to back off of his food bowl, or feeding 'puzzle toy', when full of dog rocks (dry food), and then jump up on a footstool, or equivalent when I command "Sabo Drop It" -or- when I reach for his food. In the course of that training, on two occasions, he became stressed and started trying to gobble all his rocks at once... but he seems to be over that now.

I haven't tried dog slop (canned food) yet... and have been kinda scared to so far. The pound trainers said he was a 7 (out of 8) on 'guarding' bowls of dog slop. When I've tried "Sabo Drop It" after giving him dog treats, I've also induced the 'guarding' behavior. And when I tried feeding him in the (now returned) doggy backpack... as part of an aborted attempt at that kinda training... I inadvertently induced this 'guarding' behavior too.

But here's the thing... he'll only go into 'guarding' mode while he is in that special doggy-bliss state of contented and single-minded chewing. After he gets bored with chewing, which is usually quite soon... he couldn't care less about the 'rawhide' or chew-bone. He'll just leave them and wander away... and he doesn't care if I pick them up at all. He also couldn't care less about 'guarding' his bowls, his Ole#8 Nest, and he doesn't like toys.

As a practical problem, I could consider this solved... as I've trained him not to 'guard' his dog rocks, I don't feed him dog slop, and I can pick up the 'rawhides' and chew-bone. But, I guess, eventually I'll have to work on these other 'guarding' behaviors... after intentionally inducing them.

Little Monster Reason #3 regards how Sabo deals with other people, including his 'shy dog syndrome' behavior.

Sabo isn't a fearful dog. I initially thought he might be, because he used to cringe on the turbo-leash... and I misinterpreted his previously trained <leashing behavior> as bellying in submission. He's also not scared of people, other dogs, or new places.

The first time I took him to the bar, and to dog beach, I thought he might be too 'forward' instead. He 'pulled' at the bar trying to meet new people, and a couple of times went onto other people's beach blankets without invitation. However, those were isolated incidents... and I'm treating them as anomalies.

What he is is 'reticent'.

When a new person goes to touch or pet him he'll usually turn away. He'll do this even to people he just ran over to to say 'hi' to. He'll usually do this even when it's not a new person. However, he doesn't act scared or run away. If the person tries again to pet him, he'll usually allow & always enjoy that attention.


Last week, the Petco trainer noticed something about Sabo... he doesn't like people reaching over or around his head. That might explain why he snapped at R in the bar... twice. R is good folk, a reg, and Sabo's biggest male fan at our dive. Both times Sabo was sitting next to R, with his head resting contentedly on R's leg, thoroughly enjoying a neck scratching, when R reached over his head to scratch him on the back... and Sabo snapped at him.

As blogged above, way back-when he snapped at the nice neighbor lady when she went to pick him up and hand him over the fence to me. Besides these three snaps, four other times Sabo has ran at, growled at, and tried to follow other people... for no reason. Twice off-leash in front of the Sabotat: once at the dude who lives next door, who Sabo had met before, and once at a random walking by, after he called Sabo over and tried to pet him. And twice at randoms out in the parks: once off-leash and once on-leash.

The targets, who had nothing in common besides being older males, were mildly annoyed to mildly bemused... so no big problems. But that's not the way a Good Dog behaves.

They're doing the applications on-line this year, and I've already sent Sabo's in. They said they'll send confirmation emails out by 7-14. But, unless something unexpected happens... pencil Sabo in for the Dog Day of Summer @Petco Park later this month !!!1!

I guess I misunderstood Sabo's vet. I got an email from them last week that Sabo has some kinda booster shot coming up before 7-15. It's not the Rabies Certificate the Padres required a scan of... so we should still be good there. But just in case... because Sabo, really, really, really, really, wants to go... I'll scan this info too and email it to the Padres.

So tomorrow is going to be a big day for Sabo. We're going to the vet in the morning... then have an off-leash run (and hopefully a swim) at OTL Island. In the afternoon, it's Sabo's first trip to the dog groomers, and then our first day of Obedience School.

Little Monster Reason #2 is the nexus of dog-reactive and barking. The dog-reactive behavior is the root problem underlying the leash-reactive behaviors and pulling problems [#5] and bolting and not responding to command [#7C].

I wrote this back on March 14th. See, that's the great thing about blogging... I can pinpoint exactly what and when I'm wrong. Sabo is a yapper. He's a 'Little Snapper & Yapper' doggy. ~~ *sigh* ~~ exactly the negative stereotype of little dogs I always had pre-Cinnamon. I'll amend this statement to say:

Yeah, he's a yapper. His barking at humans is well within all acceptable standards. His barking in general is also well within neighborhood standards... but not within personal standards. However, his barking at other dogs is clearly out of acceptable standards.

He really doesn't bark at people very often. When he bolted outta the minval, the very first day I took him out, he ran a b-line yapping at some random dude. But those were yaps of joy, and the random dude knew that. This has also been an isolated incident... it was the very time, outside the Sabotat, that he could run free since doggy prison... and I'm also treating this as an anomaly.

Just like the "Love Bites" [#8], and the "Nose Nudge" [#6A], I'm loath to just slap a Bark-Suppression Collar on him and make him STFU permantly... especially considering he never whines. This is because he also has the self-taught habit of giving me exactly one, very quick, and very polite, bark when he needs to my attention, or feels I'm ignoring him. I my doggy to connect with me that way !!!1!


The problems with Sabo come while on-leash with his yapping and pulling at other dogs. BTW: these are yaps and pulls in the spirit of "let's play", not aggression. This is a PITA while out and about. It's a big problem when in the dive bars and on the patios of the restaurants, where these behaviors are simply not acceptable... and I then need to take him home.

Sabo will also act leash-reactive around other dogs, especially unleashed dogs. AFAIK this is a pretty much universal problem, Cinnamon also got 'little dog syndrome' around big female dogs while leashed. Sabo's not any worse than most dogs... but of course he could always get better.

Off-leash, when Sabo is supposed to be walking under voice command... he'll sometimes bolt at another dog. He's done this twice across traffic in front of the Sabotat... and then doubled down and wouldn't come back when called (the only two times except Mayday he's done that)... forcing me to run across the streets to grab him.

He'll bark from the indoors at distant dogs. Dogs outdoors and across the fences and streets. This has became more of a problem as I stopped leaving the back door open for him a couple of months ago. Of course it's summer and all the window are open. He needs to be trained not to do this.

And finally... he's recently started to 'guard' me out at the dog runs, and kinda aggressively runs off any big dog who comes over to say 'hi' to me.


As I blogged above, the leader-leash has significantly reduced Sabo's dog reactive behaviors. But it hasn't eliminated them, especially in the bars and on the patios. And it doesn't address his off-leash dog-reactive behaviors.

To review... prepared for Sabo's new Petco Trainer C. Hi C !!!1! (Sorry, couldn't help myself).

Anyways, I've been blogging the new dog Sabo... ever since I got him from the pound on 2014-2-25. He was abandoned, and then turned in as a stray from a Vista trailer park. They estimate he was two years old on 2014-1-13... and he lost his balls at the pound a few days afterwards.

The Sabo blog is at <http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/226/house-blogs/flower-cinnamon-stick-sabo-1420473/> (here). An easier way to find the Sabo blog is by Googling "flower cinnamon sabo" (like this).

I've blogged a seven-part essay (in posts #49-50, #54-58) where I tried to write down what all of Sabo's training issues might be... and everything I could imagine that a trainer might consider relevant. This summary will be post #59.

The 14 Issues Sabo Needs Training Regarding
(In order of diminishing importance. With links)...

#2B: Dog Reactive (post #58).
#2A: Yapping (").
#3: Shy Dog (post #57).
#4: Resource Guarding (post #56)
#5: Pulling (post #55)
#6E: Won't Get in Bag (post #54)
#6D: Begging Grandpa (").
#6C: Clothes Chewing (").
#6B: Up on Tables (").
#6A: The 'Nose Nudge' (").
#7C: Backsliding (").
#7B: What to train Sabo (").
#7A: How to train Sabo (post #50).
#8: 'Love Bites' (post #49).

Obviously, I'm just pulling Sabo's tail here with this "No Love".

Sabo is all about the love. I know Sabo has fully bonded to me. Not only does he 'guard' me at the dog parks... he'll follow me around like a puppy, and watch me wherever I go. He gives me a big greeting in the morning, and whenever I return to him. But... he's not at all a 'lap dog'-ish or overly clingy, and he doesn't have separation anxiety.

Sabo is a happy dog. He's always smiling... and dogs smile just like people do. Sabo is everything one could ask for in a pet doggy... and more. He knows how to get excited... but at heart he’s a mellow soul, and a loving companion.

Sabo's NOT a Little Monster !!!1!

Sabo & me went to our second day of Obedience School today, and we're both loving it. Sabo plays with his trainer... I'm almost jealous. His trainer said we'd have to reschedule a week from next because he's going to be working the Petco Dog Day of Summer that evening. I said, no problem... we're going to be busy that evening too... we're going to the Dog Day of Summer !!!1!

And score... I didn't realize that Petco was buying The Park (@The Park) so the people tickets were free, or that Sabo gets to go on the field. Of course, we know Sabo will have 'a sad' at his shrine... The Tony Gwynn Sr Statue... but this is looking like one exciting big adventure for Sabo.



Sabo was disappointed that the NL lost tonight's All-Star Game 3-5 in Minneapolis. His was also disappointed the Padres (3^rd, 41-54, .432, 12 GB) at the game, Tyson Ross (7-10, 2.85, started Sunday) and Huston Street (1-0, 1.09, 24 Saves) didn't play. Now that the All-Star game counts, Sabo is worried about his Padres not having home field advantage in the World Series.

Like I've said, Sabo is young. He's got the faith. I, however, have a more well-rounded view on these matters.

One thing, well actually two things, that most sports fan don't understand are: In a series (a) the pattern in which home games are rotated, everything else being equal, is for all practical purposes meaningless, and (b) home field advantage only comes into play if the series goes full.

For most sports fans, the above just don't compute. But it's truly a 'Third Base' at blackjack situation... where it is pretty much impossible to reach a person who believes (a), (b) and the whole blackjack 'Third Base' superstition. I guess if my (single) reader doesn't follow... s/he can post a question.

Anyways... exactly how much does the All-Star game matter to the Padres? Well EZgame...

If the NL had won the All-Star game, the Padres would have been Prob(Padres in WS) * Prob(WS goes 7) * (HFA) to win the World Series. Since the NL lost the Padres are Prob(Padres in WS) * Prob(WS goes 7) * (1-HFA).

The difference, how much it matters, is 2 * Prob(Padres in WS) * Prob(WS goes 7) * HFA. Two of these numbers are close to constants, Prob(WS goes 7) ~33% and HFA is ~.050. We can do a quick/dirty estimate of Prob(Padres get to WS) at ~ 50% of Baseball Prospectus's "Win WS%".

This gives 2 * 0 * .33 * .050 == 0. Of course, BP has Sabo's Padres at a Zero% chance of winning the World Series. How much did it matter to BP's favorite, the Angels? 2 * .072 * .33 * .050 == .002736... or roughly 1/3 of a regular season game.

My (single) reader might have noticed that there haven't been that many Sabo's Big Weekends lately. Not to worry... as I mentioned before, I take Sabo with me whenever possible, and we get out for a while to the parks, bay, canyons etc, most days of the week. So think of it as Sabo's Big Summer instead.

So... what's the news for Sabo's Summer ??

I took Savo back to the Vet for a Bordetella (Kennel Couch) booster. It turns out this is normally given nasally, and which was administered successfully... after I grabbed a squirming Sabo tightly with his back to my chest. Sabo's vet said next time she'd give it to him as a shot. Other than that, once again Sabo was happy to visit his vet.


After the vet, Sabo & me went to OTL Island. There I finally got to try out the new life vest I bought Sabo for our aborted Big Swimming Weekend (7-6). Sabo didn't mind when I put it on him... but I didn't fit it correctly. After I put him in the water, Sabo (who's a strong swimmer) quickly swam his way right out of it.


I returned the military dog tags Sabo had been using as his 'jingle jangles'... so now he's sporting his 'official' tags on a light & loose little black 'break-away' collar with a pattern of skulls & bones in white... of completely unknown origin (It apparently used to belong to a cat named 'Shamu'). I taped over the word 'cat' on the collar so as not offend Sabo.

Sabo’s been loving going to Obedience School, and so have I. His trainer C obviously really cares about his students. He is, however, the only dude <60yo who doesn’t do the interwebs… so my seven part essay dishing the dirt on Sabo was a wasted effort directly. However, I still needed to collect my thoughts on the matter, so the effort was still indirectly worthwhile.

So far, in addition to deprecating ‘Sabo No’, and tightening up ‘Sabo Sit’... we’re working on ‘Sabo Touch’ (touching his nose to an open palm), ‘Sabo Leave It’, ‘Sabo Stand’, ‘Sabo Bow’ (down on front paws, up in back), ‘Sabo Down (lay down), and ‘Stay/Release’. We’re taking a two-week break from school right now… because Sabo & me & his ‘dog-father’ B are going to the Dog Day of Summer @ Petco Park the day after tomorrow !!!1!.


Last weekend (7-20) was supposed to be a Sabo Big Weekend. Sabo, being the ‘Revolutionary Dog’, is organizing his very first protest march. The target is going to be Koch Industries. The message is going to be that Koch Industries is making our eco-system unfit for dogs, along with their guardians and allies. The theme is going to be a legal, fun, family & dog-friendly, upbeat, and featuring sarcastic fun making of the two pernicious astroturfed 'movements' the Koch's have spawned... Libertarianism & the Tea Party.

The original route was going to be from Dusty Rhodes Park dog run, via the southern San Diego River jetty to Old Town Plaza… timed to coinciding with Sabo’s union meeting there. But… it turns out the river jetties, west of I-5, are considered part of Mission Bay Park… so no dogs 9AM-6PM. The next route considered was from the north end of OTL Island to Old Town... about the same distance. This has the advantage of most of the march being leash-free. But… 7-20 was the final day of the OTL Tournament itself, and so is one of the four days a year dogs are banned there.

So, Sabo postponed his protest march until later this summer. And we’ll probably come up with still another routing, as his union meeting is changing venue to offices in Mission Valley starting in August. Under consideration: north end of OTL Island to Coronado Brewing Factory -or- Morena Club -or- Tecolote Rec Center.

So, no official Sabo Big Weekend... but Sabo went to his union meeting, and Dusty Rhodes Park, on Sunday anyways, and to OTL Island on Monday.


In other news… actually in the news, there was a headline on the UT the other day saying dogs get jealous. It turns out scientists at UCSD had done the first peer-reviewed study which backs this up. Now, unlike most people it seems, I understand that it's necessary to scientifically prove the seemingly obvious to be able to advance knowledge into the realm of the non-obvious. But that ain't going to stop be from joining in on the LOLZ...

Like, if those scientific pin-heads would have left their Ivy Tower in La Jolla, and just visited with Sabo & me in the dog parks... they'd have seen that Sabo obviously gets jealous when a big dog comes over to me. He'll immediately run over, at full Sabo speed, and get between me & the big dog. Usually he'll aggressively drive them away... to the extend I gotta call him off. But... he'll happily interact with these same dogs anywhere else away from me.

This is just like when a dog named Rico (RIP) got in the news back in the Cinnamon era. Scientists verified that Rico knew over 200 words. We laughed and laughed... they shoulda just came over and hung with The Missile. I don't know if she knew over 200 words, but she knew 100 easy. Half of which she learned herself... she was always listening to us, even when she seemed dead asleep.

She also knew the difference between nouns and verbs, and between categories and instances. She was objectively smart for a dog. Mre important... she was a good little dog.

Over the All-Star break ATT upgraded me to the package with the MLB Network through the end of the season... at no extra charge. Sweet !!!1!

On the other hand (and it really is the other hand, as the UVerse folks don't talk to the POTS folks, or vice versa, at all) I'd been trying to get the landline turned back on, and the billing switched over to me… from the 3rd to the 22rd.

But it seems the fact that I got both UVerse and a POTS line is just too much for them to deal with. So first I got shipped a self-install box... but they called me up and told me that was for UVerse phones only, and cancelled that install while the box was in still transit. I still got this unopened box. Then they said someone would come out and do a physical POTs install... but nobody showed up on the scheduled day, even though I kept Sabo inside between 8AM-8PM. So I called them up on my cell, and asked WTF. They said nobody needed to come out, it was turned back on remotely. But we still didn't have a dial tone. So I called them again, and they scheduled another install for Thursday ~~ but an ATT tech showed up Tuesday night unannounced and he finally got the phone line to work.

Of course, about a 30 seconds after the phone was fixed… a telemarketeer calls. Arghhh !!!1!

Shortly after my previous post, we had a brief electrical storm. It was somewhere off in the distance, as there was no visible lightning, and the thunder was subdued. Regardless... Sabo was scared, and hid under Grandpa's bed again. I made sure all the doors were closed, and then called him out and over. He was slightly shivering with fear... so I hugged him tight until the storm passed.

For those not familiar with SoCal, electric storms are very rare. It's quite possible Sabo's never heard thunder before in his 2-3 years. I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble training Sabo to tolerate loud noise for the 2-5 hours a year it's a problem.

AFAIK Flower was never around personal fireworks or gun fire. She was afraid of thunder however. It's so infrequent here, often years apart, that she never had a chance to become accustomed to it. IIRC electric storms were the only time Flower got to stay in the house unaccompanied or over night.

Cinnamon didn't like personal fireworks, thunder, or gun fire. After she moved to Chicagoland... the first two were commonplace. In fact, she even didn't like her master S's gun cases. She didn't bolt however. As soon as the personal fireworks or thunder started, or as soon as she saw us messing with the gun cases... she'd immediately run to the truck or house door and ask to be let inside. Out and about, usually in the desert, we'd run the AC for her... of course.

Sabo's going to have a big day today. First, he's finally going to the groomers, to get a bath and have his nails clipped. I plan on doing these things myself going forward... but I'm kinda curious how he'll react to being washed, clipped, and mostly briefly kenneled.

Then he's going to gear up with his Padres shirt, meetup with his Dog-father B, and we're all going down to Petco Park to go see his Padres play the Cardinals.

The White Sox invented Dog Day in 1996 when they moved into Cell Phone Field. The Padres, of course, had to start doing a Dog Day when they moved into Petco Park in 2004. These dog tickets are always hard to get... Cinnamon got shut out the first two years of Petco, then four more years at Cell Phone Field.

This year, there are 40 MLB Dog Days, held at 20 MLB venues. You'd have to charter a plane to go to a Dog Day at every venue... but could reasonably drive a road trip to 18 of them. The Pirates play and host the most (11 and 9 respectively). The Reds play in the second most, and are the most frequent visiting team (9 and 5).


That's enough games to crown a MLB Dog Day Champion.

The schedule guarantees at least two undefeated Dog Day teams. There are five teams still in contention: Cardinals (2-0, 2 Dog Days remaining), Padres (1-0, 2), White Sox (1-0, 1), Astros (1-0, done), and Brewers (0-0, 2). The Angels and Twins are also 1-0 and done, but their games were on the road... which gives the Astros, who won at home, the tie-breaker. Likewise the White Sox, which have two home Dog Days, would have the tiebreaker over the Brewers, who don't have any home Dog Days.

The Padres beat the Reds 2-1 at one of their Dog Days on 5-13. For Sabo's Padres to win the Dog Day Championship they need to beat the Cardinals today, and then the D'backs over in Phoenix on 9-14. Which is coincidentally when Sabo is planning to be over in Phoenix on his first big road trip. So... if that game isn't already sold out, Sabo will be going to two Dog Days this summer !!!1!

Sabo truly had a epic big day yesterday ~~ and today too. Yesterday morning I took Sabo to the local leash-free park. After Sabo once again out-raced the competition, he finally went to the groomers. From all reports he took getting bathed, having his nails clipped, and being kenneled for a few hours all in stride.

Then it was on with his Padres shirt, and off to Petco Park for the Dog Day of Summer. I'll admit I had some trepidations about Sabo being packed in with 499 other dogs all evening... but Sabo was great !!!1! In fact, all the dogs were mellow and acted good. A great time was had by all... four legged and two legged.

First we let Sabo have a moment of silence at his shrine... the Tony Gwynn Sr statue. Then we ran into Sabo's trainer C, who watched Sabo while I took a pee. Since we were 'out-of-school' I asked him if Sabo was his favorite student. He said 'no', and pointed out a big dog who was also at the game. However, he did say Sabo was his smartest student.

Before the game there were tents set up with lots of dog gear/service vendors. They gave out a nice "Dog Day" bag to collect the swag... and we filled it up. Then the dogs, and their guardians, got to parade all the way around the field on the warning track. At the end of the parade we grabbed a couple of seat in the third row of grassy bleachers right behind the RF 'sandbox' (The sandbox itself, as well as the first row, were off-limits to dogs).


Sabo saw his Padres win 3-1... well except for that several inning nap he took on the grass at our feet. Which shows just how good he was being... there were several other dogs within a handful a feet of us, all of which Sabo simply ignored.

We had such a great time, we're going to do it again.

The Diamondback's Dog Day in Phoenix is on Sunday Sept. 14th -vs- Sabo's Padres... and we've already reserved seats for it. Notice, while the Padres Dog Day is free, for both dogs and people... the Diamondbacks charge both dogs and people $19.75 (or $29.75) each to see the game.


After the game, we strolled along the embarcadero, while Sabo's 'dog-father' B did some photography work (professional pics of Sabo incoming). Today, before B headed back to Zonie, we had a nice long hike in Balboa Park, and then checked out Shelter Island Shoreline Park... where Sabo had a short swim.

Unlike The Bay (Mission Bay), which is under the jurisdiction of the city, and which doesn't allow dogs between 9AM-6PM this time of year... The Harbor (San Diego Bay) is run by the Port District. It turns out the Port District allows leashed dogs at all hours. Most of The Harbor is military, commercial, marinas, or preserves... but I had forgotten that there are a few pocket sandy shorelines open to dogs sprinkled along in the mix.

In addition to the nice little shore pictured above, the Port District website says that Spanish Landing Park, Chula Vista Bayside Park, Coronado Landing Park, and Coronado Tidelands Park also have sandy shorelines. In addition, depending on the tide, there are several pocket sandy shorelines along the Roseville area of Point Loma (Roseville was originally plotted by the same Louis Rose that Rose Canyon is named after).

As the dog days of summer continue into August, Sabo returned to obedience school yesterday. In addition, I've been taking Sabo to the local Sabo'hood dog park a lot lately... enough so that he's become a semi-reg.

For the rest of August Sabo & me are going to make a push to finish the great garage cleaning, and get a restart on the Beach Shack projects. Then, after Labor day... we're going on Sabo's Big Road Trip to Los Angeles, Vegas, several destinations in Zonie, and Baja !!!1!

So the last couple of nights Sabo's been going crazy yapping in the middle of the night. Which is a slight PITA as I gotta get up and let him out the back door over night. Over the weekend his yapping nemesis, a dog who sometimes visits the Chihuahua next door, was in town. But that might not be what was going on.

Sabo was watching his Padres beat Denver's team earlier tonight when he jumped up, and ran out the back door yapping. I looked out the back window, and in silhouette saw his target...a possum perched on top of the chain-link fence.

Sabo was up on the 'fourth terrace' half-way up the back fence, and could almost stretch up to the possum. The possum played possum for a very short while, before climbing down the far side of the fence and disappearing. Then Sabo stopped yapping and came right back in.

Twice Cinnamon 'treed' a possum back in the beach daze. The first time was a summer night. The front door was open, and one of the boys said "why is the dog going crazy out front". So we go out, and the little Missile was bouncing up on the 'porch couch' under the 'corner tree'. We looked up the tree, and sure enough there was a possum up it. The other time it was a winter night, and the door was shut... so she went crazy at the door instead. Same thing, a possum was up the 'corner tree'.

Sadly, the 'corner tree' died a couple of years ago... the victim of 'leaf curl', a root disease that has killed about half the trees in the neighborhood. The 'Icky-berry' tree in the same front yard is going to die of 'leaf-curl' soon too.

Both times we put The Missile right back inside... and I would have done the same thing with Sabo if his possum hadn't immediately left. Possums are dirty vicious flea ridden animals... I wouldn't want Sabo to have physical contact with one.

Sabo experienced his first Sound Cannon in Ferguson, Mo. this evening !!!1!

No... I didn't drive him to Missouri. I was watching a l-ivestrea-m of the St.Louis County Police attacking protesters. Before they set off the flash-bangs and started shooting the rubber bullets... they ordered the press to turn off their cameras and assaulted the neighborhood with a sound cannon.

Out of the computer speakers the sound is benign, off course. But Sabo found it incredibly interesting. He got up, came over to the computer, and cocked his ears quizically back and forth. This is the first time he's ever responded to the radio/tv/computer/etc.

Speaking of protests and dogs... just like The Missile, Sabo is never going to any protest where there's even a chance of attack or violence. I consider my responsibility as a dog guardian more important than my activism. Sabo might be The Revolutionary Dog... but his part of the 'revolution' (LOL) will be out-of-harms-way.

Shortly after midnight today Sabo went nuts again. Yep... once again he defended the Sabotat from a possum. This was a different, smaller, possum... and it was on top of a fence post, up on the terraces on the 'other' side. Here the fence and grade had been lowered 3-4 ft when the mini-hill was terraced. So the possum was about three ft above the fence line, and about 10 feet above ground.


This possum wasn't going anywhere... even when I poked him with a long stick. So I took Sabo inside with me. I was worried that Sabo was going to keep going nuts inside... but he didn't. Except for about two pro-forma yaps, he just curled up in his nest and went to sleep.

It wasn't a fluke. They were using the Sound Cannon (LRAD) in Ferguson, Mo again last night... and once again, Sabo was fascinated at how it sounds filtered through the interwebs.

Speaking of sounds... about a half an hour ago, there was a whole lotta commotion in a nearby yard. It sure sounded like a knock-down-drag-out cat -vs- opossum fight. It ended up sounding like the opossum lost. According to Wikipedia, a juvenile opossum, like the one Sabo just kept out of the yard, would make those 'hissing sounds' that abruptly stopped. And I learned something new... we got 'opossums' here in North America. The Australian version of these disgusting often-rabid marsupials are 'possums'.

ETA: Just heard that 'hissing' sound again, so it seems Sabo's little pouched nemesis survived.

Well, Sabo's infatuation with the LRAD is over. He barely looked up when that sound started coming through the interwebs last night, and then immediately went back to napping.

Unfortunately, his interest in eating my shorts had returned. Sometime over night, when I slept, Sabo chewed a hole in a pair of my short pants. Just like last time, this happened right next to me on the floor. This was, not coincidentally I assume, the same pair of shorts he was attempting to carry out the back door a few months ago... and one of those he picked out for me at Kohls several months ago too.

Sabo hasn't shown any interest in chewing any other clothes except these two pairs of shorts... and only those three times. He hasn't shown any interest in playing with rags as toys either... so I still don't know what to make of this.

Sabo... so, so, so, so close to being a good dog, which I'm sure he really, really, really, really, wants to be. And he will... as long as I don't let him down. : Sabo !!!1!

It wasn't an official Sabo Big Weekend but Sabo had a pretty big day yesterday.

In the morning we went to the local Sabo'hood dog park. Then in the afternoon, Sabos' God-father rolled into town, and then we went on an great hike in Owl canyon. Part of which was 'new mileage' for all three of us... IIRC the only stretch of a main canyon floor of any of the three classic Canyon Parks near the Sabo'hood I didn't explore as a kid. I'll repeat... these urban canyon parks are the oft-forgotten gems here in San Diego, including the beaches, bay, Balboa Park, etc.

Then Sabo & me went to obedience school... which Sabo loves. How could he not... it's a solid hour of getting dog treats. Then we met up again with B, and hiked Sunset Cliffs... for sunset (actually for the overcast time of sunset). Then later at night... well I just can't explain it, but somehow Sabo got off the leash around 11PM, and had a blast running free all over the beach in Missile Beach. (We used to call this 'Midnight Missile Reconnaissance').


This morning we had another brief electrical storm blow through... we only got sprinkles (sadly) and the thunder was distant. I kept Sabo inside and close to me... but he barely noticed and wasn't scared this time. I hugged him anyways... Sabo !!!1!

Today is Sabo & me's Taco (aka six month) Anniversary !!!1!

To celebrate, we shared a plate of tacos (very light cheese on Sabo's). Sabo, who is a mellow soul, is obviously very content and happy in his new home. And I'm so very happy Sabo is sharing my life. Next up... our Hot Dog (aka paper, or one year) Anniversary.

Here's to many more Anniversaries !!!1!

The college football season starts today: FCS Abeline Christian @ Georgia State, 4:00 PM PDT on ESPNU. This is Georgia States second year as a FBS program, and first year their eligible to go a bowl... or the new playoffs! Of course, last year they went 0-12, including two losses to FCS teams.

They are, however, one of eight FBS teams to share an NFL stadiums...


But Sabo don't care about no Georgia State. Sabo-doggy (and Sabo Tabbies) colors are Red & Black, and being a Dago Dog, his FBS team is the Aztecs. Things have been looking up for Sabo's Aztecs lately, having been to bowl games the last four years... after four bowls in forty.

Sabo's Aztecs, who also share an NFL stadium, open their season there -vs- FCS Northern Arizona on Saturday...


As for my Golden Bears... well things haven't been going that well lately. Last year they were 1-11, with there only win coming over FCS Portland State. Well, nowhere to go but up. Anyways, as a public service, these are the channels having MLB, FBS, or NFL games on. Even though I don't have DirecTV, I included it because all bars have DirecTV... because that's the only way to get the NFL package...

Of course. In fact, at The Beach the day after the other Labor Day is a holiday too: Local Summer. Labor Day is the traditional end of the tourist season, but not summer itself. A little known fact, outside of SoCal, is that late summer is the absolute best weather. And after spending the whole summer enduring the rude obnoxious idiocy of the transient Zonies... we finally get our own damn beach back for about the last three weeks of summer.

Also notice I didn't say the fake Labor Day. Sure the real true Labor Day will always be the most wonderful day of the year... Mayday. But it's OK to have two days that aren't a Boss Day. In fact, we're organizing to make every day a Labor Day... with Sabo-doggy as our new unofficial mascot !!!1!

So what will Sabo be doing for this four-day weekend? Well we're going to spend six days/five nights at the beach shack. Sabo's going to another college... my non-football playing Alma Matter, University of California, San Diego. And we're going to make another attempt at this...

Again, Sabo's Big Weekend didn't go as planned. We didn't complete the swim around the bay, or make it to UCSD. Thankfully, nothing like fireworks drama this time.

I haven't made enough progress on the mother of all garage cleaning to finish by the end of summer, as I promised. So I had to scale back the time we spent at the beach shack, I scaled back the days on our upcoming summer vacation (by leaving out Vegas), and hired my friend C to give me a hand.

The swim-around-the-bay really was planned to be the greatest Sabo Big Weekend ever. But alas, it has pretty much turned into an ongoing intermittent project... but I promised Sabo we'll complete that oddessy before the end of the summer.

In the meantime however, this week Sabo had a doggy door installed in my bedroom, and the sliding glass window in the TV room was 'pegged' with a Sabo sized flap cut into the screen... giving Sabo two secure entrances from the Sabotat. In addition, the other two doors into the house were upgraded by installing security screen doors. The cumulitive effect of these security upgrades is to give Sabo the complete, 24 hour, run of both the Sabotat and the house !!!1!

In addition, and even though it was a holiday yesterday (Local Summer), Sabo attended his first grade graduation class at obedience school. We have the next two Tuesdays off for our summer vacation... and then it's back to school for second grade. And speaking of our summer vacation...