Arizona Adventure: Get the Moe*

*When I tell Conker to get something, I normally shorten the name or say it stupidly.  In the ground-critter's case, it was called a moe instead of mole, I don't think it was actually a mole though.

One of the adventures Conker and I had in Buckeye Arizona took place on the portion of undestroyed undeveloped desert between the large complex of neighborhoods and the busy I-10.  The adventure was incredibly fun and stimulating for Conker, because it involved a potential snack.


I spied a small critter sitting atop a hole in the ground not too far from our current position.  I think it was a ground squirrel, but due to the population of moles at the dog park I decided to call it one since Conker understood that a mole meant an opportunity to dig.  I turn, look at Conker and say, "Lets git d' moe!" in a stupid voice. Conker's ears perk at the words, especially the last, and he waits for me to point out the moe's location.  Dead ahead, I motion with my arm.  His gaze follows and Conker spots the moe as it flashes into it's den.

That brief glance was enough.  He was at the end of the leash in a split second, pulling hard to reach the hidden critter.  As we neared it's den I could see Conker grow more and more excited.  He promptly stuck his nose into the den and inhaled deeply when he was close enough so to do.

Conker did not need to be told what to do.  He began to scratch at the entrance to the den, first making smaller gouges in the soft earth then progressively harder and deeper scratches.  Soon he was digging full-force in an attempt to unearth the moe.

"Where's the moe?"  I ask in an excited tone. Conker shoves his muzzle into the hole up to his eyes.  I can hear him sniffing hard, searching in the darkness for the small snack.  "Git dat moe Conker!"  I cheer as he resumes digging.  A small pile of dirt had begun to appear between his legs.

After a short while Conker started to get discouraged.  The moe had not shown itself and he appeared to be getting bored of digging.  "You haven't found the moe yet!"  I say as Conker examines the exterior of the somewhat-collapsed den, his small black nose working hard to find a fresh scent.

That was enough to get him started again.  He attacked the entrance with a newfound fury, digging quickly and sloppily in hopes of finding the critter quick.  "Git it! Git it, Conker!"  I say, egging him on as soft dirt flies in all directions.  Then, as if he willed it, the moe appeared, but it was in the wrong hole!

Conker chagred the ground-thing but didn't seem to notice the rather difficult bush in his way.  No matter, he's a Shiba! That bush will bend to his will if he wishes it so.
And that's what it did. Conker shoved his way through the bush and almost got the moe but it dashed back into the hidden den entrance beneath the bush's roots.

 Conker returned to the first entrance and continued excavation.  He dug faster and harder and began to bury my feet with the interior of the moe's den.  He was determined to catch it now that it had the gall to openly mock him like that. "You gonna let it escape, Conker?  Git d' moe!  Git it!"  I say.

The entrance was no longer a muzzle-sized hole in the ground.  It was a crater big enough for Conker to fit most of his front half into.  He paused to shove his face in deep and inhale many times, his nose searching for the moe that had probably escaped through a different tunnel by now.

Despite his apparent defeat, Conker continued to dig.  He cleared out a hole slightly larger than a cubic foot and made a heap of dirt several inches high and two feet wide.  If he wanted he could have curled up into the hole.
But no moe appeared.  It was lucky, this time, that Conker is not that great of a digger.

Over the course of the rest of the week, every time we would go out into the undeveloped desert, Conker would go back to the hole and snuff around for the moe.  It was never there, and had probably wised up and moved to a new location where Conker could not harass it by destroying it's front door.

Back in Oregon!

Both drives were uneventful.  Both times we stopped at my Mom's friend's house somewhere in central California (Turlock) and both times I gave the resident dog, Pepper, an adorable Lab-Springer? mix a bully stick in return for letting Conker stay in her house. 

As you may have read, my point-and-shoot died and I have been using Mom's camera which while it is functional, I do not like it's huge lack of options so the picture quality has dropped. The dang thing also rearranged the order of pictures.

Anyways... Here are some pictures of the trip.

Conker being "comfortable" in the car on the ride down.  It's quite hard to get pictures of Conker while in the car since I am normally driving, and I hate the flash so I never use it.

Conker was put in the backyard (much to his displeasure, it was 65 out a lot of the time) due to him being a beggar when food was present.  He also decided to be a douche and boycotted doing his stuff on the rocks so I had to walk him around for an hour or more so he could find a suitable spot to deposit his... goodies... instead of doing it in the yard.

On several of our frequent daily walks we ditched the sidewalks and crushed pebble pathways that twisted through urbania to explore the stretch of unfenced desert between the housing development and the I-10.  These adventures would have been off-leash if it were not for the proximity of the interstate to the development, as you can see in the background of the above image, so I kept Conker leashed in order to prevent him from becoming a Shiba-splat on the asphalt. 
On one of these excursions Conker excavated a ground squirrel or other rodent-type critter's home.

Conker was bored a lot of the time since us humans were often doing other things that did not involve him.  He at one point ignored me completely in favor of laying in the cool shade (since it was, you know, a boiling 70 degrees that day) near the sculpture thing I made for my Grandparent's 50th anniversary. 
And much to my surprise, he only barked at golfers once despite them and their carts being very visible from the backyard.

This post would not be complete without a picture of at least one of Conker's meals.

So here it is. Christmas food was some Honest Kitchen topped off with raw turkey fat, gizzard and heart.  Christmas also marks the day I began raw/home-cooking/alternatives to kibble-feeding Conker.
But that was not enough for the crafty Shiba!   He jumped up onto the table and took a whole turkey leg and made a mess of it on the carpet.  And since he'd touched most of it, he was allowed to keep it after I removed the bone and weird stringy things.

We dinked around in the backyard with Conker's only real Christmas present from me quite a bit.  It's now his new favorite toy since it can do everything. (Kudos if you can guess what it is.)

We met Taro, who is the cutest little dude I have ever seen ever, and his friends Rinji and Mika at a spiffy place called Arizona Dog Sports where the Shibas ignored each other and the humans for most of the time.  Despite Conker being a butthead, it was a lot of fun and I was able to get him to go over a few jumps and through a tunnel which was surprising for me.

We went on a 7 mile hike in the White Tank Mountains the day before we left AZ.  It was a load of fun since it was a real hike with rocks and scrambling and stabbings by cactus (which will be further written about later) and I wish we could have gotten in about three more of these but that just didn't happen.
Conker really enjoyed this and thankfully didn't throw out either of his knees on the rocks.

Conker was not pleased to be in the car again on the way back.  He was good about it though, and slept most of the way and was generally a good dog.

Funny thing.  My Grandparents like Conker so much (despite me telling them that he was not his full self at their house) that they wanted to keep him!  They want to get a dog soon and offered Conker a new home but declined the counter-offer when they heard that he's not only expensive but I am part of the deal if he were to stay.

And that's it for the Arizona trip!  Largely boring with a few good parts.