My Videos of African Wild Dogs

          I thought I would share some videos I took of the African Wild Dogs at one of my recent trips to Brookfield Zoo. Occasionally the keepers will hang a butchered pig up in their habitat, this is the best time to see them active and interacting with one another.

          African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) is known by various names - African Hunting Dog, Cape Hunting Dog, African Painted Dog, Painted Wolf, Painted Hunting Dog, Spotted Dog, and Ornate Wolf.

Fussy whooped it up at the block party.

          Over the Labor Day weekend there was a block party I took Fussy to. Fussy though the idea of being able to run around in the street was very awesome. Fussy's strutting around attracted the attention of all the little kids and the flocked over to pet her and Fussy's buddy Beethoven.

          Fussy enjoyed all the petting, but she had hoped that at least one of the kids would have had food. What can I say....she travels on her stomach. After kids went back to playing it was time for Fussy to hit the tables and see if anyone wanted to share some of the tasty food with her. Sadly for Fussy all she got from everyone was a petting.

"Fussy quit begging food from people."

          Then it was time to once again zoom around! Fussy had a ball running this way and that. At one point we found ourselves in the path the kids were traveling with their bikes. Fussy wanted to follow along, who am I to squash her little dreams so follow along we went. The one thing I wouldn't let her do was jump the curbs, she kept trying to jump off and over them but each time I stopped her, I couldn't let her flip her wheelchair on the curbs. We walked this way and that way....Fussy was rolling everywhere, even the basketball game was no deterrent to her.

           The weather that day wasn't to bad thankfully, up to that point it had be hot and very muggy. I had worried if it was going to be cool enough for the dogs but it worked out fine, we even had a decent breeze blow through every now and again. When the dogs weren't wondering around we had them lay down on two big fluffy dog beds. Throughout the day the kids kept coming by to pet the dogs before they took off to go back playing. Everyone had a very nice day.

Fussy Puts On Her Wheelchair & Heads To The Forest

Annnnd she's off!!

          On Thursday, we took Fussy once again to the Fullersburg Woods but this time in her wheelchair. The last time we went she could still walk on her own, nowadays she can't go any where without support. It must have been perfect timing when we went as the weather was optimal for walking outside. The trail for the most part was fairly empty, but we did pass people (mostly bikers) every now and again. The wildlife was even out and about making the walk even more fun and enjoyable. And to top it all off the vegetation was so green and lush with flowers blooming throughout the way.

Fussy was so excited she was running everywhere.

My baby niece went with us.

Pretty much the whole trip all we saw of Fussy was her tail wagging butt.

Every view was lovely.

Run!

"Hey Fussy! Did you have a good time?"

African Wild Dogs On My Recent Trip To Brookfield Zoo

Click to enlarge my photo I took at the Brookfield Zoo

          One of my favorite places to visit is the Brookfield Zoo, we've been going there since I could remember. I have loads of awesome memories of this zoo. Most of them start with the typical old person saying "When I was a kid...", gaw that makes me feel old even though I'm not truly. It is sorta weird seeing how things have changed from when you were a kid to now. Anyway despite and in some cases because of those changes I had a great day at the zoo this Thursday.

          My sister has bought a family pass this year to the zoo so lucky me I'll get to tag along from time to time. Provided my camera behaves its self and can take some decent photos or videos I'll be posting some of it here for everyone to enjoy.

          Check out this video (with no sound) I made of the African Wild Dogs playing. The thing hanging from the chain is a slab of pork, just FYI.

Fussy the Dog's Grand Day Out!

Hurry, let's go there is no time to waste!

          On September 13^th we took Fussy out for more of her birthday celebration to Fullersburg Woods and Graue Mill. Turning 13 years old is a big deal when you are a dog. Fussy loves going to forest preserves and it had been quite a long time since she had been to these two particular places.

          Because of Fussy's arthritis in her hock and a little bit of a hip issue I like to keep her in shape by taking her for a walk around our neighborhood. The only problem with that is the scenery gets old and boring for not only me but for Fussy as well. I was a bit concerned about how well she would be able to walk on a forest preserve path, most places have rugged dirt paths. Fullersburg Woods and Graue Mill were picked for their nicely packed trails and paved paths, not to mention that Fullersburg has a restroom with modern pluming for us humans.

You humans stop to much for photos. Let's keep going!

          We got ourselves and Fussy packed into the car and off we went! Fussy knew that car ride meant something exciting was happening and she also knows that when we pack stuff for a trip it is to some place really good. She was so excited on the trip up there I thought for sure she would be to tired to walk far once there.

No time to sit and enjoy the view humans, we gotta keep going.

If you are going to stop and take pictures I'll run in circles while I wait for you.

          Time to disembark the vehicle and head off into the woods. I loaded up my little back pack with some supplies that Fussy and ourselves might need while on the trail. I pulled out the water and offered it to Fussy, she glanced at it, turned her back to it and proceed to pull on the leash. In Fussy language that was "Forget your water human, let's get going!" It was great to know that she was feeling very spry and alert for this walk. Not only was her mind feeling rejuvenated by the sight of the woods so was her body. Our walks at home aren't for very long trips because after awhile Fussy's back end gets wobbly, but I could see that wasn't going to happen on this walk, at least no time soon.

There was no stopping her!

 

          So the walk began. For pretty much all of the walk all we saw (and could take pictures of) was Fussy's fuzzy rear end! She was smiles the whole trip, it was awesome seeing her enjoy herself. 

Nope, still no stopping her.

          We were a little far from the car that had our water so we stopped at a water pump so Fussy could get a drink. This pump was slightly different then the ones I've used in the past. Instead of the water just shooting out to the faucet up at the top the water first emerges into a little drinking bowl which then heads down a pipe and shoots out at the bottom. It took a bit of hand pumping before the water started to flow and a little encouragement before Fussy attempt to drink. At the bottom of the pipe that the water was flowing out before head back down into the earth had small leak that dripped out the bottom of the elbow of the pipe. Fussy started to drink from the flowing water but craned her head to the bottom to the elbow of pipe to lap up the drips of water. She is so silly! We laughed our butts off over her antics before hitting the dusty trail.

          This time for this trip we decided to not walk all the way over from Fullersburg Woods to Graue Mill, so we headed back to the car. Sadly this time of year all the waterfowl seems to have been elsewhere instead of on the creek that runs along Fullersburg Woods and Graue Mill.

          We headed on over to the mill to watch the water wheel turning. The spray of water coming off it was great to feel on our faces after such a long hike. I placed Fussy up on the wall next to the wheel for a little photo shoot.

          After some walking around the outside of the mill we headed off down the paved pathway. However, it wasn't long after that we finally decided to stop Fussy as we could see that her body was starting to get tired. Like a kid, she did her best to try to tell us that she wasn't tired and wanted to keep walking. On the walk back to the car I could see that we made the right decision to head back. Back at the car Fussy sat in the grass, rested a bit, and drank some water. It had been a spectacular day but like all good things they must come to an end, so off we headed for home.

          Back home for a well deserved meal Fussy eat and promptly fell asleep. She slept a good long time and even did some running in her sleep. I think the chances were very good that she had been dreaming of her trip and was back running along its trails.

No really, I can keep walking! Well....this grass is comfortable.

Cookie Walk ... mmm coookiees!

          I found out that downtown Oak Park was having a cookie walk this December. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what the heck a cookie walk could be. But it really is a fun idea, here let me explain. You buy a special cookie tin and then you walk around to all the participating boutiques and little shops in the area and collect your cookies. It is a really cool idea to get people in the shops and to buy locally. Many of the goodies are made right there in the local pastry shops. Yum!!

Fussy waiting while I went into the shop collecting cookies.

          We decided to take Fussy on our cookie walk. She was so stoked, until we had to wait in line for our tin. She couldn't figure out what we were waiting for, she wanted to go, go, go. Fussy was a huge hit with all the kids walking around down there. I was so proud of Fussy as she was on her very best behavior, she minded her manner and didn't bark back at dogs who barked at her.



"Let's GO!!!"


          Poor Fussy she wanted to follow me into all the shops, but there was one shop she could. There was one fancy pet shop with homemade doggie biscuits and other neat items. The shop even had a bowl of water that Fussy was happy to find. Not only did we collect our cookie from that shop they even handed Fussy some dog cookies. Fussy was so thrilled!

Our big cookie haul.

          It had been quite some time since the last time I actually walked around in downtown Oak Park. This cookie walk was a great way to check out what was down there. I have to say I did find some shops that I would love to go back and give a proper visit to. One of them being that aroma filled popcorn shop .... mmmm, it had my nose working over time. We had such a great time walking through the shops, greeting lots of people, collecting fancy cookies, and just enjoying the whole holiday atmosphere. It was so much fun I would love to do it again next year.

"My cookies!"

And yes, Fussy in the end did get to share in the cookies that had doggie safe ingredients.

I love happy endings!

My Starved Rock Trip

          Well yesterday I went on a much needed one day vacation to Starved Rock. Wow, the last time I believe I was there was back in grade school. A lot of things had changed since then (I am referring to the place and myself).

          It is not a place for those who can not get up and down many stairs, with many being steep and some with a rather long drop. There are not very many flat surfaces most of it is a lot of up and down with sandy path ways that are riddled with tree roots. Even though stairs are used they are not used throughout. The terrain and tree roots have made faux stairs that only people who are agile can negotiate.

         The injury I sustained to both my knees years ago gave me some issues with the obstacles but I was able to manage, although not gracefully I am sad to report.

          Surprisingly the problem I did have that proved to be the hardest and most scary for me was making it back up all the man-made steep stairs back to the top. I am very embarrassed to say I am not as fit as I was back in my twenties. My heart was beating very fast and hard, every few steps I would have to stop and rest a bit. If it wasn't for those dang stairs I could have kept on going. My dog Fussy she came with us and she to had a problem getting back up the stairs as well.

          Despite having problems getting back out of the trail we did have a very good time and the views were beautiful. Little squirrels and chipmunks where scurrying every where throughout the forest and acorns and leafs rained down from above. I don't have any idea how we made it out without being hit by any of the falling acorns. A few times they rained down so heavy and hard I knew that if we got hit by one of these tiny missiles it was going to leave a bruise. Some of the path was where made up of wood planks and when the acorns would hit they exploded with bits of acorn shrapnel.

          Fussy (she is that little speck in the picture above) she had a great time. She hadn't the faintest idea where we were or where we were going but she was determined to lead. She pulled the whole way with a huge smile on her muzzle. Even when she was getting tired she was determined to keep on truckin'. We had to keep her in check because she was just so delirious with excitement she would have just tumbled right off a drop offs. As it was she kept tripping an falling over when ever she wasn't paying attention or stealing a peek back at us. (Don't worry she never got hurt, if she had we would have stopped immediately and gotten her out.)

          At one point we stopped at one of the maps to see where we were and to figure out which fork in the road we should take. After we figured out which way to go we started up the stairs then we came to another fork and neither one of us could remember which path we needed so I waited with Fussy while my sister ran back to the map.

          As I am wait Fussy decides she is tired of waited for us and figures she need to make decision. So she picked the stairs and stared up before I could stop her. From down by the map my sister yells up that we need to head right. I look over at Fussy and tell her "Sorry sweetie you picked the wrong path, come on down." Fussy was insistent that the direction she picked was correct. After a bit of coxing I had her come back down and off we went on the right hand path.

            We reached a flight of stairs headed down. My sister and Fussy reach the bottom and my sister turns to me (I am still half way up the staircase) and she tells me that it is a dead end. Fussy was right, we took the wrong path. So I tell Fussy to come back up the stairs however she was really insistent that she needed to keep going down this wrong path. No matter what we did she wouldn't listen. So we gave up and followed her. She was right again! Poor thing, she needed to take a potty break. LOL! Dogs must get so frustrated trying to communicate with us humans.

          Where we ended up was the only place that had a muddy ground with a tiny stagnant stream. Up until this point Fussy with here long Springer coat had stayed fairly clean. She mostly had seeds, leafs, and bits of twigs in her coat. Just by her walking on the muddy ground her feet were black and then she started falling over. Plop! Right in the mud. We walked over to the stream and sure enough, PLOP! Fussy fell in, luckily it was only a few inches deep. After she collected her self you could see the little light bulb go off in her head. Water! Before we could stop her she took a swig out to the stream. We both screamed, "No!" Well needless to say we broke out the water bottles and dish for her to drink out of.

          I wish I could have taken more photos but between enjoying the scenery and keeping the deliriously happy Fussy in check I didn't have the time. Besides most of landscape wouldn't have translated very well into a photo.

         Today me and Fussy are still pooped, I know my mussels are very sore and from the looks of her she is to. I guess it is pain pills for the two of us for a while. All in all it was a good day and a great change of pace for the both of us.