There are just not enough tennis balls on the PLANET to satisfy this group!

I actually have a dog that will bring the ball back, and we all know how rare that is. Gunner loves to play fetch and he brings the ball back and kinda rolls it at me. If I am not fast enough, and face it, I am NOT fast enough, one of the other dogs will grab the ball and keep it.

I have to have enough balls for Roxy to have one in her mouth, and BB needs one, and Cassy needs one and Sunny likes to have one , too. I bought the doggies 9 new tennis balls for Christmas and all was good for a few days.

Now it is not even New Year's and almost all of the tennis balls have been destroyed.

Gee, I guess dogs aren't that different from kids.

Packs don't have Vice Presidents

This is something that I learned from Cesar's book. I thought that packs had a pecking order from the alpha dog down to the weakness member. But it is more of a family organization then a corporate one. The is the top dog and sometimes a mated pair of dogs are the leader, but after that everyone is equal. This was a big eye opener for me.

I run into trouble with dogs that are just too aggressive in their play. I can usually solve the problem by controlling the mix - I figure out who can play nicely with who, and then I just separate the dog groups. Or if a dog is still too rough, they get a time out. This has served me pretty well and I determined long ago that time out work so much better on dogs than my kids.

I decided to try out Cesar's theories on dog behavior - if I insist that I am the top dog then all the dogs in the play yard automatically become equals. So for the past two weeks, whenever I had a mounter, or a herder, or any dog that growled while playing, I put them on a lease and walked them around, I had them sit for me, and for a couple of them I laid them down on the ground and held my hand over their necks until they relaxed.

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, at least that is what Cesar says...I say you might have very good luck with your dog.

I noticed that as soon as I let the dog off the lead or up, he was ready to play and at a much more acceptable level. It was freaky how well it worked. Only for some of the dogs, herders in particular, did I have to do it over and over again. Testing the limits, is what I call it when my daughter tries to see if see can get away with something - this time.

I tried with two of my problem dogs, they can't play with anyone else they are becoming a menace in general. I thought I had done some good with the first short session on the lease, but they were even more aggressive during the next playtime. I told their owner to go get some professional help training their dogs - they are a dog bite just waiting to happen.

Hey, I am not the Dog Whisperer after all, just the babysitter.

Dominance, Submission, and Discipline

Sorry folks, this is a PG blog and that only refers to your relationship with your dog. I was thinking about Cesar Milan's book again. He talks endlessly about dominance, submission, and discipline in how to treat your dog. He admits that these terms get him in trouble with modern American society. We think of all these terms in a negative connotation. We don't want to dominate our dogs we want to love them.

(We don't want to discipline our kids either, we want to be their friends.)

Well, this doesn't work well with dogs because dog are born with a innate sense of how a pack should be run. To dogs, these words are not bad, they are how the world works and works well for them.

(And you all, can tell me how that friendship thing is working with your kids. I was not surprised to hear that Cesar gets letters saying that they tried his way with great success with the dogs, so they are trying it out with the kids.)

Dogs want a pack with a strong leader. If you won't be the leader the dog feel obligated to take on the job. In his mind, someone has to do it. Now, you dog innately knows his place in a pack. Deep down he knows if he is leader-material or if he is not. So if you are abdicating your spot at the top and letting your dog take it, you may have promoted him beyond his temperament. I am sure you have worked that kind of manager. He has the job, but not the skills to handle it. You have created a boat load of stress for your poor dog.

You need to be the top dog and let your dog be just a dog in a pack. That is where he will be the most happy.

Coming up: Why there are no 'coup de etat' in the dog world, and How to be the Top Dog in your pack, Packs don't have Vice Presidents

It's all good again.

Enough of the snow has melted for Digger to find his tennis balls and all is right with the world again. Well, his world anyway. With Digger flying across the play yard over and over again, the dogs can now play together. Moe and Bear have settled their differences, with a bit of help from me, and are having a great time playing keep away from each other. As long as Bear stops darting in and taking Digger's ball, we are all good. Except for me, there is still enough snow to turn that tennis ball into a slobber-slush-ball and my gloves are starting to ice up. But that is where Roo comes in, he only wants to be loved. I give him a big rub down every time I throw that slobber-slush-ball. That way I am staying one step ahead of frostbite.

It is no fun when BB goes home...

I had a great day yesterday. We had a snow storm and the dogs had a blast playing in the snow. They were a pretty good group of dogs after they settled in. Digger just wants to play ball and he brings the ball back every time, unless BB steals it. BB was keeping Moe and Little Bear running at top speed. That kept Little Bear from attempting to herd the other dogs. I didn't understand why the other dogs seemed to hate Little Bear, but then I saw him bite Roo on the tail. That would definitely put me off.

But all was good and happy and fun to watch. I took a bunch of pictures, I'll have to post them later.

Then BB went home and everything went to hell. Moe and Roo have to be separated from Digger and Little Bear. Without BB, there is no playing only growling and tush nipping. Digger can't find any tennis balls in the deep snow so he is just lost and Daisy, a puppy, can't get the big dogs to play with her. So both sets of siblings end up standing at the gate barking at each other and no one gets any exercise, except me. I get a pretty good work out jumping up and down just trying not to freeze over.

There is actually someone who spends more time with dogs than me!

I picked up Cesar's Way, a book by the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan.

I can't tell you how great it feels to find someone who is crazier about dogs than myself.

Cesar stresses that the best thing for our dogs is to let them be just a dog amongst other dogs. A pack existence is what our dogs were designed for and long for. Most of my dogs are a single dog in a house full of people. They haven't been with other dogs since they were puppies.

Owners often tell me that their dog is better behaved after staying at my kennel. Since I know I didn't do any training on the dog, I alway figured it was just because the dog was worn out. But after reading this book, I think Cesar might be right; getting to be just a dog, with a bunch of other dogs, and finding that there are people who think just like you, must be heaven.

I know it did me a world of good to know I am not alone either - Thank you, Cesar!

Maybe it sounded funny at the beginning...

But this dog's name is Dufus and she is far too cute to have such a name. She needs an old fashioned, girly type name like Sally or Sadie, MaryLou, or Dolly.

I feel a little silly and a bit mean when I call, "Dufus!" across the play yard.

It reminds me of a friend who married a guy with a dog named Brown Dog. She said she felt every time she called the dog, it was like she had forgotten the dog's name.

"Hey, you, the one with the fur!"
"No, the BROWN one!"
"Come!"

PUPPY!

Look at those eyes, they look green to me. Isn’t he just the cutest thing? I don’t even need to write something funny about George, just post more pictures of the cutie pie.

Hey, that's my ball!

This is Murphy and that is his ball. Oh, joy! He finally got it back from Roxy. I didn’t think that was going to work out, but all is well and I didn’t have to risk a forearm prying a ball out of Roxy’s mouth.

Happiness on Four Feet

This is one happy dog. Happy doesn’t really cut it for Katy…she is exuberant, joyful, giddy, nutso, bonkers…if you could bottle this dog, no one would need prozac ever again. This dog makes you happy just watching her. And she is just so darn cute on top of all that joy. I love the one flop ear.

Sorry about the lousy focus but between the subject’s speed, and the subject’s spit on the lens, I was lucky I got anything at all.

Her owner called her a Long Hair German Shepherd which is a new one on me. But that is why I record the dog shows – just to see all the weird breeds that never show up on my doorstep.

Scottie

Check out the stripe on his face. It looks like he flinched when the angels were pinstriping him.

I had a heck of a time getting this photo; he flinches at the camera, too. Katy, however, shows no fear – she licked the lens, twice.

and the award for Scaring Erica Brainless goes to....

Eunice!

Congratulations, Eunice, you managed to stop my heart. Eunice is just not herself this week. As you might remember Eunice does not think she is a dog and when she first came here, she didn't think she was a 'dog-person' either.

The dogs seems to grow on Eunice. Every stay she would stay out with the other dogs for longer and longer amounts of time and even started to play with them. I knew she would never be a dog, but a 'dog-person' I could settle for. When Eunice is DONE, she goes and stands by her kennel door to be let back in. She plays for awhile, but like my grandma, when she is done with the kids, she is just DONE.

Not this stay. Eunice has been playing with or ignoring the dogs kinda randomly and she has taken to being the last dog put away. This is definitely a new development and how she managed to scare me. It was bedtime and so the play yard is pitch black. I get everyone put away, but no Eunice. I call, no Eunice. I search, no Eunice. This is where my ability to jump to the worse case scenario comes in....she escaped, she's lost, she got hurt, she got kidnapped, she got killed, she got killed and eaten. It is truly amazing how far and how fast I can jump to conclusions.

Picture the chicken with it head cut off approach only with snow boots.

There she was standing perfectly still in the far corner of the yard and looking at the neighbor's house. I had to grab her collar and walk her back to her run. Very weird, but it has become the routine. Eunice doesn't come when I call and I always have to lead her back to the runs. She just doesn't want to go back to her kennel.

I think she is mad about this long stay. I bet she can't stay mad at her owner though. My dogs try to give me the cold shoulder when I have been gone too long, but their tails are alway happy to see me.

Too Smart for Her Own Good

That must be it. Roxy is just so darn smart, she has come full circle to stupid.

Sometimes I have to divide my doggies. When dogs don't get along, I shut the gate that separates the play yard into two areas. Only problem is that I can only be on one side at a time.

Roxy, being a rather smart dog, figured out that she could stuff a tennis ball under the gate and I would be able to pick it up a throw it for her. She brings the ball back, shoves is under, I throw the ball over the fence - repeat, repeat, repeat.

Only problem is that Roxy shoves her ball under the fence even when I am on her side.

What's in a name?

I mess up people names all the time. I have never been able to remember names and I am famous for trading people's names with those of their friends. UGH. But I can remember dog's names. Why, I just don't know, are they somehow stored in different part of my brain? When I was selling real estate, correction TRYING to sell real estate, I could always remember the dog's name but never his owners - the ones actually buying or selling a house. This was my first clue that I had somehow ended up in the wrong business. My bank balance, or lack there of, was another.

I think I made the right career move this time.

Well, maybe. I seem to be mangling even the dog names this week. I kept calling Goofy, Gunny. Goofy is huge and fluffy, Gunny is a Rott and just huge. I called Remington, Maggie, but that is a little more forgivable, those two are identical. And then there is Shilo.

Pronounced SHY - LO, not SIGH - LO.
"Oh, honey, did I just call you a barn? So sorry."

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Because, snow is just Mother Nature's way of telling you that you don't have to scoop the poop.

Labrador-Rottweiler MIX?

No, Buddy is more of a SPLICE than a MIX.
He has a Labrador head and a Rottweiler body.

Modern Medicine vs Animal Husbandry

I have been subjected to a number of medical test this week as the doctors try to figure out what is wrong with my stomach. So far every test has come back - negative, normal, just fine, or nothing wrong.

If I wasn't just SICK AS A DOG, I'd be as HEALTHY AS A HORSE.

The Yawning Dog Ranch Guide to Vacation Planning

There must be something in human nature that causes people with 3 week vacations to forget about the dog until the last minute, whereas those people only going away for an overnight will call 6 months in advance.

I just turned away a 3 week stay at my kennel because the middle week of a cruise is Thanksgiving week. Not the best advanced planning that I have witnessed.

Having to say 'Sorry, no room at the inn.' to people has led me to some very important lessons.

Don't Travel For Holiday's
I have tried to follow this rule all my life, and now I have the perfect excuse,"I just can't. The kennel is full and I have to stay home."

Move Your Holiday's
My mother invented this rule. We once had Christmas - tree, stocking, gifts and all - at Thanksgiving because my older sister was pregnant and due just before the actual Christmas. It was fun to roll the two holidays together, turkey on Thursday and a Christmas ham on Saturday. This also created the longest, most restful Christmas break that I ever experienced. I resurrected this rule to have Thanksgiving the Saturday before with my parents and the REAL Thanksgiving with my husband's family. Try this yourself, it could save a marriage.

Know When to Go
This is something I didn't know until I started my kennel. These are the empty weekends at my kennel. The ONLY empty weekends my kennel. And if my place is empty, everyone is staying home. So, GO, Travel! Get while the getting is good! You should have the roads, airports, hotels...everything all to yourself.

Mark your calendars...
The last 3 weeks of January
Everyone is fat, tired, broke and holed up at home.
All but the Valentine's Weekend in February
Too cold, still broke, still holed up at home.
March or April, the middle two weeks of which ever month does not have Easter
Caution, some people have already gotten their tax refunds back, so some vacations due occur at this time.
May, feel free to travel anytime except for Memorial Day
Everyone is too busy with end of the school year programs, graduations, and packing for their June trips. I especially recommend Las Vegas for Mother's Day. The weather is perfect and the town is just empty. I guess taking mom to Sin City to celebrate has not really caught on.
Stay home June, July and August, if humanly possible
The entire country piles in the car and goes to another part of the country. No one is home, they are all on the road.
September, skip Labor Day
But the rest of the month is good. Everyone is either recovering from an August trip or the kids are back in school.
October
Excellent for travel, since the kids are stuck at home plus the weather usually cooperates in October.
November, the week and weekend prior to Thanksgiving
I have had 3 days straight with no dogs and only 3 bookings for this weekend.
December the weekend after Thanksgiving up to Christmas week
The weather is better, the airports are not mob scenes and the cities look their absolute best already dressed up for Christmas.

And best of all, when you call for dog reservations at these times, I will be able to say, "no problem!"

A Day Off?

Today, I am off to lecture my husband's engineering class on resume writing and interviewing. Normally, I would be thrilled with a chance to teach, but this particular class meets at 6:45 in the MORNING. ugg.

My husband tried to sell the idea by pointing out that he would take my morning doggie-duty.

A very kind offer, but if he is going to get up with the dogs I want a reward of staying in bed, not getting up even earlier and driving into town.

But, I have accepted and off I go to make sure these engineers know how to get a job.


Only thing, my husband gets to sleep in anyway - turns out the kennel is empty. I haven't had a day with no dogs since January and I don't even get to enjoy sleeping in. ugg.

Winter's Here!

Well, at least it is here for this week. It was 70 degrees last Thursday and in the 30's on Saturday. Those kinds of weather changes can give you whiplash.

I just have to remember to watch out for too much doggie love - this is the time of year for dog spit-induced frostbite.

Have you survived The High Holy Day of Refined Sugar?

We had an all day candy based frenzy around here. Except for me, who is diligently trying to stay on a no sugar diet. Let just say that I went as Grumpy for Halloween.

Now, you don't have to stay out of the kid's candy but do keep Fido out of it. Chocolate is not poisonous to dogs - it just ups their heartrate and blood pressure. For some smaller dogs that is enough to give them a heart attack. Not my dogs, though. Vector once ate 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the night and we only found out when she didn't eat her breakfast in the morning.


Be careful and go ahead keep all the chocolate for yourself - you are just doing it to protect the doggies.

Happy Howl-ween!

Yes, even I have dressed my dogs up for Halloween. It was my daughter's first Trick or Treating and she went as a vampire. So I made black bat wings for my two black labs. I must say they did look great, but because you can actually go Trick or Treating in the dark in Utah, no one really saw them.

This year I have a Queen and a Ninja to escort around the subdivision. The dogs will be home hogging the couch.

Pumpkin Chucking!

I spent the day down in Moab witnessing the First Annual Pumpkin Chucking Competition. Open to both sling shots and trebuchets.

Now, this is not normally a sport I follow, but my husband has his engineering students building catapults this semester. CEU set down 5 teams, 4 trebuchets and a sling shot. The pumpkin flying was amazing to watch as was the trebuchets self destructing. It is the height of engineering skills to be able to throw a pumpkin, wreck your catapult, and then rebuild it in time to throw again. I was truly impressed.

As you probably know, Moab is a dog kinda town. And this event was no different almost as many dogs as kids. I was a little worried about the 'pumpkin chucking' turning into 'pumpkin fetch'. Does having a dog retrieve your tossed pumpkin affect your overall distance score? I didn't get a chance to ask the judges about that. I can report that indeed many pumpkins were injured, but no dogs were lost. Though I did see a Corgie dining on pumpkin guts.

Oh, yeah, they have to been some of my dogs.

I was driving home the other day and spotted two dogs hanging out the back windows of the car in front of me. My favorite game, Do I Know That Dog. You might think I know every dog in Carbon County but most of the time I don't know the dogs I spot while driving. These two had me stumped a boxer and a yellow lab, that was a pretty unique combo. I couldn't remember a set of sibling dogs with a boxer and a lab of any shade. I guess those are not one of my dogs after all.

Then they passed my driveway and the two went nuts in the back seat. Oh, yeah, those have to be one of mine. Yes, of course, Daisy and Maggie. They aren't siblings - they are 'cousin dogs'. Daisy's sibling is Lady and as the resident Shitzu, she must be riding shotgun. Grandpa must have all the grand dogs out for a drive.

The Westies Are Coming! Defend Your Flank!

Ah, what a cute westie. You can check out all the new westie designs by clicking here.

If Sharon can just make one of a westie jumping up and biting someone on the butt, I have just the owner to buy that one for.

PowerFUR

My daughter was trying to write 'powerful' but got 'powerfur' instead. My husband told her, "PowerFUR is what Inertia has."

You just can't get rid of that dog's fur - it's everywhere, it's everywhere.

Birthday Parties

I just survived a small herd of seven and eight year old girls here for my daughters birthday. (I people tell me they can't understand how I can be surrounded by dogs all day.)

I was reminded that I never did throw a birthday party for my dogs. I had it all figured out, we would invite all of their doggie buddies over and have a cat shaped pinata full of milk bones , plus a bone shaped cake for the humans.

My 'girls' are now 11 years old - I have really procrastinated on that party. Maybe next August, I can pull it off. They won't be too old for a pinata, right?

Oy, it is going to be a long weekend.

Let's see...

Goofy can't be with Sam. Goofy is in love with Sam and Sam is vehemently against this idea. I don't want to have to explain how a Westie ate all 120 pounds of Goofy to Goof's owner.

Sam cannot play with Beau. They are both Westies but I believe that Sam was showing too much attention to McKinzie and Beau tried to defend her honor. McKinzie high tailed back to her kennel and I had to break up the boys growling at each other. We are not going to have a rematch. I even had to move Beau and McKinzie to another kennel because the boy decided to to take the match indoors and through the fence.

This is why the play yard has two parts. BB, Emma, Sam over there. Goofy, Miss Daisy, Beau and McKinze over here.

Of course, Goofy and Sam have to meet at the gate and bark at each other.


It is going to be a long and LOUD weekend.

The neighbor dog has a fan club.

The house next door just sold and I was delighted to find out that they have kids that can play with mine. I was estatic to find out that they also had a dog, a Jack Russell named Jackie.

Jackie likes to come down to the fence and check out the kennel dogs. She runs back and forth from the top of the play yard to the bottom. My doggies just have to follow along. I don't think the running is wearing out Jackie too much, but it is a workout for some of my dogs. Thanks, Jackie.

Puppy PINNED!

Match goes to Remy.

I think this hold is actually illegal in Utah.

This is the place for No Holds Barred Puppy Wrestling.

Running with the Big Dogs

I just don't get puppies often enough. Terry has made friends and wrestling partners out of all the dogs at the ranch this weekend. It is weekends like this that I know why I do what I do.

This is how most of my shots turn out.

I get many photos with dog parts in them instead of dogs. It seems that where my camera is pointing and where I think my camera is pointing are two radically different things.

Great shot of my shadow, don't ya think?

Smile for the Camera!

Terry, look this way - Nope.











Oh good, action shot - Make that, half of an action shot.














Dang, he was just looking at me.












Is everything more interesting than me?














So close, yet still not in the frame.














He is sitting still, I should be able to get the picture.













Left, Right, anything but looking at the camera.














Oh, there you are.














I'd like to be able to say that I took all these extra photos just to make this post, but this is only about a third of the shots it took to get just 2 of Terry's face. This is the first time his mom has left him and I just had to post some pictures so she wouldn't worry.

Why am I not surprised that his name is RED

I have a friend who has been paying her beautician to get this exact color for the past 20 years or so.

If you have ever wondered why your dogs sleeps for two days after spending a weekend at the ranch...

here's your answer. This is what they do, non-stop, everytime they go out to play.

This is not BB's only adoring fan.

You can be a fan of BB on the Dogster site. See, my clients are famous without me.

Click here to go to her very own website, Wonderdog BB

Stop by and give her a bone. Electronic love from BB is much safer that the 'flying leaps of love' that I get from her.

Truth be told, BB is one of my favorites. She shows up and makes all the dogs play. Everyone has a great time and they all get throughly worn out. Which is why she is stopping by again today, her owners need a worn out BB so that they can get some work done.

BB is convinced that the humans come home solely to play and play non-stop with her. Even the other dogs can't keep up with BB, so lets try to give the poor humans a break.

Don't I know you from somewhere?

Harley's owner asked me that and it turns out we used to be neighbors. His boxer Harley was fond of escaping his yard and coming over to hang out with my dogs.


There is a draw back to the fenceless, electronic containment system for dogs - one the vendors don't mention - all runaway dogs come to your house. However it did help me meet a number of my neighbors as I was returning their dogs.

Harley had a similiar system that he was willing to run through the beeps and the shock to get out of his yard, but not willing to subject himself to the same to go back home. So he hung out at my place. I had not seen him since we sold our house and moved back in 1997. I just have to get him together with my girls and see if they remember a buddy from when they were still puppies. Now that all three of them are old and going gray.

Stupid Human Tricks

Hey, I can do that too!

Talk about a useless skill to have been born with. The most it ever got me was a marriage proposal from a total stranger at a party back in college.

Who needs the WWF when you can watch Doggie Wrestling five times a day?

Dog Art, it is not just poker games anymore...

I was checking out an auction of sketches from Project Runway. (I know it is not the healthiest of obsessions, but the show ends in two weeks and I should have a complete recovery.) Well, there is a sketch from the Dog Challenge done by Robert Best. This guy can really sketch and he not only sketched his outfit, he put the dog in the sketch. It is more a peice of art than I would have expected from a design sketch. I know it would look fantastic in my daughter's very pink, very girly bedroom. Besides, Robert is a designer for Barbie, which in my daughter's eyes makes him a REAL artist. But the bidding is already at $85 and there is 5 days to go.
(that puts it out of my budget for art at this time)

What is funny about all this is that she came home from a friends house with this drawing of a girl and a dog. It may not be done by a fashion fashion designer (well not yet anyway) but it should look good in her room.

The Westminster STUFFED Dog Show

We have enough stuffed animal dogs to start our own kennel club. Though I have to say that it might have to be more of a fashion show than for breed or obedience.

That photo of Snoopy and his princess crown got me thinking about all the dressing up of stuffed animals that my kids do. I wish I had taken more photos of Snoopy's fabulous ensembles. My daughter would have her first 'collection' documented.

This dog get more changes of clothes than Barbie.

"That's PRINCESS SNOOPY to you!"

My daughter's Snoopy may just be the best dressed stuffed animal in all of Utah!

We had a road trip to pick up glasses from Costco yesterday. At McDonald's for lunch, my daughter got that Ariel 'Little Mermaid' crown that Snoopy is sporting. That crown was designed for someone with a smaller head.

This Happy Meal Toy was clearly not living up to the unrealistic yet surprisingly detailed expectations of a seven year old.

A bit of quick thinking, and deep seated fear of a meltdown on the first stop of the day, led Mom to say, "It might not fit you, but I am sure it will look stunning on Snoopy."

Phew, dodged that bullet...but I did have to promise to take a picture of our newest princess.

This is 'Blue Dog'

Blue Dog is the probably the most precious thing in the whole house after the kids and the real dogs. It the one thing I would have to run back into a burning house to retrieve.

Blue Dog started as a joke from my older brother. I sent my business cards out with the Christmas cards in 2002. My logo is a blue dog. Our 'Blue Dog' showed up in the Christmas package from Seattle that year. My daughter was 4 and my son 2 that year and he just latched onto that stuff animal.

This toy was promptly dubbed 'Blue Dog'. My kids are not creative on the naming thing, we also have a 'Pink Bear' and 'Mr. Fish'. My son still calls this place The Blue Dog Ranch.


Blue Dog goes everywhere with us. He has been on car trips and on more airplanes that any other dog I know. He never travels in the checked luggage and is never left in the car overnight.

I live in fear of losing Blue Dog. I have been checking eBay for his litter mates for 4 years. No luck so far, yet I am sure Pottery Barn made more than one Blue Dog. I keep picturing thousands of mom's searching for the elusive back-up Blue Dog for their kid just like me.


By the way, Blue Dog is sporting a fabulous open weave, dinosaur print, long john onesies that both of my kids worn as babies. I have it in red also, well the stuffed dogs do.

They don't seem to be bothered about wearing the same outfit.

As long as it looks good on you, size doesn't matter! Right?






I still think it is weird that Dobermans and Dachshunds have the exact same markings.













It is like those American Girl Doll outfits that you can but one for the doll and one for the kid.

















It even looks the same from the back.


If you really love the look...it also comes in Rottweiler and Chihauhau.

I just love the fall

With the shortening of the days, I get to watch the sunrise (spectacular yesterday - hot pink clouds that changed to blaze orange) and get to see the milkway at night (except for Wednesday, it was way too windy and cold, so I made my husband put the dogs to bed.)

I am just waiting for all the popular trees to turn golden yellow. We really have the prettiest falls I have ever seen.

But along with all this beauty comes my least favorite part of fall - my kids brought home the very first grade school disease of the week. (Now, where did I leave that box of tissues?)

Doggie Heaven

I got some bad news this week when I ran into some old clients; two of my regular doggie clients have died this summer. We lost Ender and Maxwell, who I liked to call Maxwell Smart.

I have a growing collection of clothes pins with the names of dogs that have died. I miss them all but I am sure they are having a great time in doggie heaven. I am quite sure that in dog heaven everyone gets their own couch, the tennis balls all taste like filet mignon, and the squirrels are all fat and slow.

Whenever we finally show up, they will be waiting for thier tummy rubs and ear nuggies.

I have been MILLIE-ed.

I was just not prepared for that much love from a Weimaraner. No one really is.

She put her paws on my shoulders, pinning me to my chair and started to lick my whole face. I couldn't squeeze in a "No, Millie!" Well I could have, but from experience I know that telling her 'No' will cost me a french kiss. (Let me warn you - it is actually worse than you can imagine)

She licked my face, licked my hat off, licked my glasses until I couldn't see and then licked them right off my face. In the struggle to get her off me, she stepped on my glasses. I, finally, make it to my feet.

Triumph!
Not quite, I have a dog spit covered face, bent glasses, and no hat.

I tracked down my hat just as Tessie was poised to shred it. She had the back in her mouth and was stepping on the visor; the next sound I was about to hear was it turning into two dog toys.

It cost me stepping in dog poop, but I got my hat back!

TRIUMPH!
It is the same sensation of accomplishment, I get when I out smart my toddlers.

I overslept and woke up to WINTER!

I swear it was September when I went to bed. I must have been really tired.

It is a bit barky on the far end of the kennel.

Jasmine is in heat and Seven is pregnant.

We have an ugly case of dueling hormones at the ranch this week.

Second CHANCES?

I thought 'Chance' was such a unique name, until my second 'Chance' arrived within a week of the my first 'Chance'.


If this trend keeps up I am going to have to google the lyrics to Chances Are and Take A Chance On Me. So far I can only remember the refrains.

I only sing at church and the dog kennel - they are not allowed to complain at me in church and the dogs obviously have excellent hearing but are completely tone deaf.

I guess I am not the only one watching and waiting for the kids to come home from school.

Camera Shy

This is Chance. I was just trying to get a photo of her collar when I determined she is afraid of the camera.


I got these shots when she wasn't looking.

Gee, I have gone over to the dark side - Doggie Paparazzi.

Pup-arazzi!

Maybe a bit too much Project Runway for me...

...but Roxy got a new collar and it is fabulous!



High fashion for me is any clothes that don't have dog spit on them.

Dressed for the Races

It looks like Chance came dressed for our Nas-Dog races with her checkerflag collar. We just need Tessie to show up. Tessie is the Official Pace-Dog of the Yawning Dog Ranch Nas-Dog Races.