Full Speed Adler!

Being a big dog, it's hard for Adler to slow down once she gets running. This was evidenced recently at my mom's house. Excited to see my dad, she was running up and down my mom's hallway and couldn't stop on her slippery wood floors. She crashed into my mom's metal trash can and then went headfirst through my mom's screen door. Good thing, Linda had a sense of humor about it because I wasn't laughing especially after seeing the damage. My mom had a big dent in her trash can that Tom had to pound out and now we have to make a visit to Home Depot to get a new screen for her.

But this wasn't the only thing that she did that day. When we were all saying goodbye and standing at the door. She jumped up on my dad unexpectedly knocking him backwards and into my mom's curtains on the side of her door which were promptly pulled down. Seriously, this was a comedy of errors. I'm still laughing out loud at the antics caused by my dad and my dog.

Guess, we'll be going back there soon to make some repairs!

Time Away from Adler

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but we were on vacation in Cape Cod...this time without Adler. Tom and I try to bring Adler with us everywhere we can even on vacations if it's a pet friendly place. But, when we have to fly somewhere that's when either family helps out or she gets to go to the kennel.

Tom and I are pretty picky about leaving her at a kennel and I still don't really like it, but the only consolation is that this is where she was born. Her breeder runs the Barrington Kennel and so whenever we drop her off there there's always more than a few Berners around. So despite the hour drive from our place, we still do it because we know she is one of theirs and will take care of her like one of their own. Of course too, I always insist we pay extra for individualized playtime for her and the frosty paws treat and cookies at the end of the day!

Anyway, after just a day or so, even though I was enjoying my vacation, I was secretly counting the days til we could pick her up. Must've been all those other dogs roaming around Cape Cod that made me think of her more often than not this vacation or maybe it was just the hormones! If I'm like this with my dog, how am I going to be with my kid?!!

How Adler Got Her Name

The short answer to this is Tom picked it, which gives me the right to name all of our children since he got to name the dog.

But in all seriousness, she wasn’t named after the famous Chicago Adler Planetarium as most people in our neighborhood believe. She was named for the famous Chicago architect Dankmar Adler at the suggestion of my architect husband.

Anyone who knows the history of Chicago and even has read Devil in the White City is familiar with the famous firm of Adler and Sullivan who helped construct Chicago’s World’s Fair as well as the Auditorium Theater and many other Chicago historical hot spots. Dankmar Adler was also instrumental in rebuilding Chicago after the Chicago Fire and helped to train one of the United States' most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright

Of course, I too thought Adler was a good name and one that had some significance. But, when we first discussed getting a dog, we thought it would be a male dog and therefore very appropriate to name it Adler, but given that Bernese Mountain Dog males can get up to 125 lbs., we thought we were better off with a female in our condo in the city. Even so, we decided to name a female dog Adler too. Of course our Adler has a variety of nicknames too, but my favorite and the one I use most often is Addie. I guess she likes it too since she responds to it!

Adler Runs Away

Not too worry, she's back thanks to Tom who found her in the middle of a somewhat busy street. She ran - not because she wanted to get away from Tom and I or she didn't like what she was being fed, but because we took her back to Eckhart Park where last time she got nipped three times by a dog named, Benny.

We were at the park no longer than two minutes, when the dog found her again and started chasing her. I've never seen Adler run that fast and this time she wasn't stopping. She never looked back - just kept running all the way into the street and then into an intersection. I think she would have run all the way home, but as a bigger dog she runs out of steam quickly.

Tom found in her in the middle of an intersection when he caught up with her. She was paying attention to some guy who was stopped in his car with the window rolled down talking to her. He stayed with her til Tom got there.

She's back safe and sound, but needless to say we will never take her to that park again.

Adler's Fans

Now, I know that there are many of you out there reading Adler's blog. And, I know this because many of you either comment about what you've read or email me separately about it. Now people, to really make this a true blog, you have to post your comments within the blog.

It's easy to do, all you have to do is click on comments under the post. Write your comments. Click on Anonymous if you don't want to sign up through Blogger.com and then hit publish. It's much shorter and faster than sending me an email. Plus, what fun is it if only I can read your cool comments.

So start commenting...on the blog that is! Adler wants to hear from you!!