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.