Getting Along Much Better This Weekend

I have a threesome of big and bouncy, BB, Amica, and Booker. They are a good match for personality, speed, agility and even color. That is a bit of problem, I almost fed Booker, BB's food. And it is hard to tell who you are yelling at when they speed by.

Booker is still playing too rough, but the girls are more than willing to put him in his place. I think they are going to be a good influence on him.

Booker's owner sent a squirt bottle of water for me to use on him, when he acts up. Funny, I just bought myself one last week to try on the nuisance barkers. The lady that runs the animal shelter recommended it. I still think it seems a bit mean, which probably explains why the bottle is still in its bag in the back of my husband's car. Now, I don't have any problem dumping an entire bucket of water on dogs that are fence fighting, but squirting them still seems too harsh. I haven't even tried it on Booker, I keep forgetting his bottle in the kennel.

Or, maybe, it is just that I love them all the more when they are terrible.

Something is Up...

With Amica and Teenso. Teenso won't go in the kennel unless she is the first one in the kennel. I am having enough problems with dogs going into the wrong kennels. I don't need the hassle of having to get them to load up in order.

An Excess of Poodles

Almost as hazardous as a "Testosterone Poisoning". I had a great number of dogs over New Year's, eleven all together (if I remember right) and that is usually enough of a handful. But, no, I had to have 6 poodles in that mix - 3 standard and 3 teacup.

Teenso, the teacup sized one, seemed to actually be aware of her diminutive size, for once, and avioded the free for all with the big dogs. The other two little ones decided to stay in their runs and not run the risk of being stepped on by their big brothers and sisters.

The big ones didn't seem to possess a ounce of self restriant. Not really a poodle characteristic, anyway.

Dago and Amica spent their holiday picking on their cousin dog, Tucio. He had pretty much had it with a double dose of poodle when Chico arrived. A fluffy black match to Dago's fluffy white coat. Three poodles is too much of a good thing and I let Tucio hang out with the little dogs on the back side of the play yard to get a break.

Three poodles is almost too much for the poodles involved. Amica quickly excused herself from the intense play between Chico and Dago. She was let through the gate to hassle Tucio a bit.

It turns out that Chico likes to play with Dago in the same way that Dago likes to play with Tucio. Which is "I win all the time" play. Turns out that Dago doesn't much like to be the mountee.

"You can dish it out, but You can't take it" is a common problem with dogs. Poodles just might have it a bit worse than the average dog.

Big Dog, Little Dog

I no longer believe that people either love little dogs or big dogs. I have too many families made up of the wildest ranges of sizes. Gunny and Chewy - Rottwieller and Shitzu. Amica and Teenso - Standard and Teacup Poodles. But Dago and Giambi have to be the largest range - Extra Large Standard Poodle and Yorky.

What I have now learned about sibling dogs that vary this much in size...
It is very hard to keep both a really big dog and a really little dog inside the same kennel at the same time if they really want to get out. Big and little dogs require entirely different techniques for blocking an escape.

Dago and Giambi really have a routine going. Whenever I put Dago away, Giambi walks right out under his brother's legs without me ever seeing him.

Tug-O-War!

Herders and Worriers

With Cloe and Sassy, I got one of each.

Canine Mathematics:
Worrier + Herder(Runners + Players) = Barking

Lots of barking.

Whenever a Herder seeing anything running that they are not steering, it is just WRONG. Their point of view is that, "Be it sheep, kids, or other dogs, nothing should be running anywhere that I am not telling it where to go." Just think of them as canine control freaks. Cleo is a Herder and having BB, Hank, Boudin, Meg, and Amica racing around the play yard without Cloe's permission is just too much for her to take.

She is the little black dog voicing her displeasure at all this unsupervised running in the video.





Her brother, Sassy, is a Worrier. Their logic runs more toward, "With all this rough housing, someone is going to get hurt and it might be me - so it all must stop! Now!"

Chock Full of Dogs

Amica and Teenso




















Bella and Kodi


























































Tucio and Vido



























Chaser and Bella




































Flash and Ritz

































Flip and Yanni


















and Max.



I have 6 sets of 2 dogs and only one kennel with one dog, Max. He is scheduled to go home today and be replaced with a threesome tomorrow, so on average they are a double also.

I have never had this many double dogs at once and the strain is showing. I really can't get the name combos together, correctly anymore. I just have no idea who I am trying to call, what is going to come out of my mouth and which of any dog I will get. I am also having trouble remembering which set goes in which kennel. Alway great fun in trying to get a dog to come back out of a run that he doesn't belong in.

Everybody loves those little blue raquetballs.

Lucky in particular loves and carries one with him, always.

This is BB waiting to Lucky to release the ball so she can steal it. Amica is just taking advantage of BB's focus on Lucky.

This is what happens if I get my hands of the little blue orb. If Amica gets it, she will drop it and I will attempt to get it before BB or Lucky gets it. If I fail or one of them gets it first, the game slows down considerably.

Now it is Lucky's turn to watch the ball and not have it.

My problem is that this is only ball I can find in the kennel. I will have to walk around the outside of the fence and see if all the other racquetballs have just escaped.

Mica has a New Sparing Partner

Patches!

Everything is going well with Patches and Mica play together until BB joins in. That is when Patches acts like she is under attack and she starts to show her teeth. Flashing your pearly whites at dogs that are just playing gets you a timeout at my ranch. So I am trying to keep BB busy chasing her toys so that Patch can try to wear out Mica.

Looks like Patches is the one running out of steam.

The TWO-STEP as Done on My Ranch

When I have a dog that has no one to play with but me; we play the TWO-STEP, LUNGE. This works particularly well with BB who always has a toy in her mouth and no real desire to share that toy. I take two fast steps and lunge for the toy. BB spins off and does a quick lap around the kennel only to come back to me for another two steps and a lunge.

This works well for me since I am old and tired and works for BB since she is young and fast. We both get a workout.

I noticed Dusty playing TWO STEP with Amica this morning. Dusty takes a couple a steps toward Mica and Mica is off at top speed, only to circle back around for another session. Dusty is also old and slow and has a bad knee. She would rather do a stand up wrestling match, but if Mica wants to run, Dusty is happy to oblige her.

This group is driving me nuts

I don't know what the problem is but this group is not gelling like I would like.

First, I had to separate the little dogs from the big dogs and stick the puppy in with the big guys. The little ones were showing their teeth every time the puppy tried to play with them and I can't have that. I also can't make a these little guys play to save my life.

So, I try Jack out with the big guys. This should work like a dream, but NO, they won't have anything to do with him. This reminds me of trying to follow my big brother around the neighborhood when he was playing with his friends. I have never seen a dog try to ditch another dog, but that is what is happening with BB, Patches, Gunny, Amica and the puppy, Jack.

And even Patches, BB, Amica, and Gunny are not really playing together. I just don't get this group, they should be wearing each other out, not annoying the bejeepers out of me.

Same Dog, Different Outfits

Amica is the standard poodle with the fancy haircut and Kacey is the saggy dog extraordinaire.


These two though very different looking are exactly the same dog. Under all that fur and all that lack of fur, lurks the very same extra bouncy dog. These two have been racing and wrestling all over the play yard at top speed. You should see the hang time they have with their jumps. They flip and leap over each other like it was nothing. I spend my time just trying to dodge their leaps.

Lacey is headed home today and BB is on her way later today - I can't wait to see BB and Amica in action.