meet Cujo...

Pretty ferocious huh!?!
Yep this is what we have to encounter in the name of trying to get healthy.
You see back in the spring Jim & I both found out that our cholesterol is a little on the high side. Not through the roof but high enough that we need to do something about it. So we are working at it and one of the things that we are doing is going for a 40 min - 1 hr walk in the evenings after dinner. (If you have any tips about lowering cholesterol please let me know, we would love to know.)
Needless to say we don't really like walking down the side of the highway, but we did find a nice little side road just a bit up the highway to walk down. Only problem is there are some pretty mean obstacles.
The first obstacle is a black lab he would charge at us barking, the owners always seem to be there in a flash & then it's okay. One day a kid riding by on a golf cart said "don't worry about him, just yell NO BO! at him and he'll leave you alone. But you have to yell". Hmmm.... we weren't sure what to think but it was worth a try (this happens EVERY time we walk). So the next time we're walking here comes the dog and Jim says "now Bo, hush", he didn't yell just said it real gruff. Ya know what? You could almost see Bo shake his head (as if to say hmmm I didn't remember them, but he knows my name) & then he walks away! It has worked like a charm every since. :o)
Our second obstacle is a boxer about 5 houses down from the lab. This dog is pure EVIL!!!! I Love dogs and normally never wish them harm, but if this dog mysteriously disappeared.... anyway. This dog crosses yards, intersections, roads all in the attempt of scaring the cra.. out of us or maybe really trying to take a plug out of us. We have found nothing to solve this problem, we do however literally carry a big stick and walk very very softly when we pass this road.
And our third possible obstacle was Cujo! This dog is friggin HUGE! I can't begin to explain how HUGE he feels when you are next to him. The first time we had walked that far down the road he very slowly, very purposely came out to the middle of the road, approached us & stopped us. You could have knocked us over with a feather, we were sooo scared (think about the other dogs we had already gone through). We very carefully held out our hands and said hi. Then we slowly, carefully & with the greatest of respect began to pet him. He seemed to be cool with this, when we began to walk away he took his body and pushed against Jim's legs as if to say "not yet buddy, you haven't talked to me long enough". After a bit more petting & talking he would finally let us pass. :o) This became the routine whenever we would venture that far down the road.
When the temp rose to 80 and above we put walking on hold. This week the temperature has been much milder so we began walking again. On the first night when it was time to make the decision (the bulls or Cujo) it was no contest, we had missed Cujo and were ready to see him.
This time when we got to his house his family was outside. I couldn't help it, I had to meet the owners of this cool dog. You may already know what kind of dog he is but I didn't, turns out he's a Great Pyrenees. And well his name isn't Cujo (although I still like that, hehe).
So let me have the pleasure of officially introducing you to McGraw....


Oh yeah, see how mean he is ? The guys give his head a little tickle and you are rewarded with a big ol grin! :o)



Can you get any idea of how incredibly huge this dog is? His owner does admit that he's very territorial when another dog comes around. Seems he doesn't like the boxer down on the corner (imagine that), he would kind of like to eat him (hehe, ok ok not nice but if he acted like he was going to bite your bumm you would feel the same way).
He was so glad to see us and to have to extra attention that instead of pushing against Jim for more attention he high fived him! So cool we didn't even know he could do that. :o)
His mommy said we might not see him for a few day. He's going to have a hair cut, this doesn't make him happy. She said he usually spends about 3 days pouting & hiding in the garage after a hair cut. Poor baby. :o(



He's such a good dog, really just a big ol teddy bear (unless you're a nasty boxer, hehe). Isn't he handsome!