I have worked it out!

Sally, Cai, and Tinkerbell on one side.
Blocker, Buttons and Tessie on the other.

Everyone seems to be getting along.
Sally can take whatever Tink dishes out.
Call me impressed.

I am finally getting to clean the concrete mess up.
There was no way I was going to bend down and pick stuff up around Tink.

Not a Good Day at the Ranch

I hate days like these. I really dread going down the kennel to let the dogs out. It is just no fun this week. Everyone has been here a bit too long. Sally is going on her second week, as is Cai. Tinkerbell still hasn't gotten the hang of playing well with others. She makes all the right moves to get a dog to play with her, but then she quickly drops the charm and lunges at them. Good start, bad follow through. Cai and Sally and even Blocker have all started growling while playing, so my nerves are shot, reacting to everyone like a fight is about to break out. I end up cutting play time short, whenever it stops looking and sounding like play time and that is probably making matters worse.

Making the mix work even worse, over the weekend, was Tobit. She is a little thing, but usually she is right in the middle of everything, trying to control the other dogs. That would be the Heeler in her, trying to be in charge. This time, she was the new kid and she didn't take well to the position. I even had to keep her by herself for the first day. When she did finally play with the others, she was butting in whenever two of them were wrestling, barking the whole time. That kind of thing just ups the energy level and makes everyone just that much more unstable. The poop didn't even get scooped for a day as I wouldn't take my eyes off them.

Tobit went home and things quieted down for about 30 minutes until Simon showed up. Simon has a one track, ball oriented mind. Everyone else wanted him to wrestle and not play fetch. This was not a match made in heaven. He started to get so nuts about his ball, that he chomped down on my hand, ball inside, as I reach back to throw it. So much for fetch. He also possesses a high pitch bark that you can feel damage your hearing. He went home today, only to be replaced with Tessie.

I couldn't have picked a worser combination. I love Tessie to bits, but her constant barking and jump just makes my life miserable. Especially, when I have a kennel full of newbies that have never been around her. She has Tinkerbell wound so tight that she is all over me from the moment I let her out. Cai and Sally are also jumping all over me. I have more bruises than I want to count. They are kicking the bleep out of me each playtime.

I am holding out hope for Wednesday when Smokey arrives. A big dollop of big, dumb and happy might just pull this group back together.

Another Name That Just Doesn't Fit!

Too little, this time!

Tinkerbell is a Bull Mastif. Now, you could go for the irony angle, funny to name something that is going to be so big and so lumbering after something so tiny, and dainty that it can fly. But, I believe this falls under the same force of dog naming that brought me, Snoopy, Tiffany, Britney, and Pepper Ann.

They let the kids name the dog.

Sorry That I Forgot the Camera, Again!

First, there was Maggie trying to mount Rocky. Now, having a girl mount a boy is not really that unusual. It is more of a dominance play than anything sexual. But, in this case, we have a 120+ black lab trying to mount and equally over weight pug. I had to say to myself,"Girl, where are you going with that?!"

I knew where Rocky was going with it; happily back in his own run.

Then the boys got into it. Booker had Lucky on him, Shane mounted Lucky, and Muffin decided to join in. A four dog, dog train is really quite rare. Now, if Maggie had only tried to do to Muffin that she had tried to do to Rocky AND I had my camera...I know that $10,000 would be mine.

Big, Dumb, and Happy - My Favorite Breed of Dog

I do I ever have a load of them.

Booker, Smokey, Muffin, Lucky...they have been at it for days. I try not to freeze as I dodge their endless wrestling match. Usually, I know that playtime is winding down when the wrestling and running stop and everyone starts to just wander around on their own. Not this group, there is no stopping or even slowing for them. I am frozen through and risking shattering on impact as I have to get into the middle of the dog pile to get anyone back into a kennel.

Smokey went home and has since been replaced with Maggie and Shane. Maggie is a bit too old to handle the kids and has made that perfectly clear. She even got through to Booker to leave her alone, but Shane is putting on his puppy suit and joining in, big time.

It is both nice and odd to see Muffin playing. He has always been a bit of a loner. I think the thyroid supplements have done him a world of good.