"Daisy, do you remember KNOCKED SILLY!"

I guess not. Daisy is right back to 'liking big dogs' just like her owner said. I, however, am still a bit paranoid about her running with the big dogs so I keep trying to remind her.

"Daisy, do you remember KNOCKED SILLY!"
"These are the dogs that KNOCKED YOU SILLY!"
"Really, Daisy, KNOCKED SILLY - not ringing a bell for you!"

"Nope!"



THE LEAP!




PLAYING WITH THE BIG DOGS!

Winning Over the Shy Ones

I love to watch a timid dog get over their fears and just get to be a dog amongst dogs. I had three different newbie go through this transformation this weekend.


The first was Shelby. She wouldn't come out for the first 24 hours - I don't think she even tried the outside portion of her run for a long time. I put the big dogs away and let her out with only Daisy for her first playtime. I wish I had the camera for that first meeting.


(isn't that the way it always goes - forget the camera and miss the best stuff)

Shebly did so good with that first meet and greet that I tried her out with the whole gang for the next playtime. Brave little trouper, she stood for all those big dogs checking her out. I was so proud. By the third playtime, she was chasing Daisy more than Daisy would like and starting to run with the big kids whenever I rescued Daisy onto my lap.

I think a weekend with me and a bunch of other dogs was the best thing that could have happened to Shelby.


As for the other two, that would be CoCo and Tuff, who is clearly not that tough. Once again, I blew my chance to get them on film. I wasn't expecting them to join the crowd. They had both stubbornly refused to come out for days now. Then at lunch on Sunday, out they came and it did take long for them to untuck their tails and start having fun. Shelby and Tuff were a particularly good match and Daisy was particularly happy about that.

Sophie is Crazy About Two Things...

...Getting petted and Daisy!

I can handle the petting, but there is no way I am going to let her chase Daisy around.

Littlest Dog, Biggest Scare!

Daisy got herself run over by the big and crazy dogs the other day.

Daisy has been here almost a week and we have our routine down. She hangs out by her kennel while I let the other dogs out. When I am done, I take a careful look around before I move so that I don't step on her. She spends playtime is the general vicinity of my ankles. I turned around Monday, and she was lying on the ground, belly up and letting the big dogs sniff her. That was so not like her, that I just ran over and snatched her up. It was an instantaneous reaction, that something was wrong with Daisy, that dog is always in motion.

I lock myself and her in her run and immediately started calling the vet - no answer. I start to check her out, no bites, no spots that hurt her - so far so good.

(What did those big idiots do to her, step on her, kick her, bowl her over!)

I call the vet again - no answer. I try to put her down and she can't seem to walk. It is like she can't move her right side. So I am thinking that the dog had a stroke.

(Can dogs have a stroke?!!)

Still no answer at the vet, and no machine that gives out his home number. I call up to my house and have my husband come down, bring the phone book

(I must be calling the wrong number)
(Nope, I have the vet's number memorized correctly)

and please put the other dogs away. I call my friend, she has dogs and she might know the vet's home number - no answer. I call the county animal shelter and they tell me to get the number off the machine - no machine, I say. My husband says to look him up in the phone book. Good idea, there he is - only I get his machine.

My husband points out that Daisy is moving around now. I am still planning on racing her to a vet. So I put her in her bed and have my husband take her up to the house. I have to deal with feeding a couple of dogs before I dash. I try the vet's number one more time on my way back to the house and they are there. The vet's assistant is telling me that dogs can get "knocked silly". They become disoriented and can't move right. He told me if this goes away gradually and the dog should be completely normal is just a few minutes. "If the dogs acts like it never happened, then they are probably fine."

Like It Never Happened

That is what I saw when I got inside the house. Daisy was up on her hind legs jumping up and down. My husband told be that when he put her bed down she immediately made a complete patrol of the down stairs. I kept Daisy with me in the house for the next 3 hours, just to be sure.

But the vet's assistant was right, it was like it never happened. Daisy is still not afraid of the big dogs, however I can do enough worrying for the both of us. I no longer let her down on the ground in the play yard, it is my lap or her run for Daisy.

So Many new Friends...

..To Smell!

The Big, The Little, The Downright Crazy

I have quite the mix this weekend.

The Little
I have Daisy who is about two and half pounds of all bark. It truly is an amazing amount of noise that comes out of something so small.

The Big
With a name like 'Muffin', I was expecting a dog about the size of Daisy. He is just a really big 'Muffin'. He makes up for Daisy, since he doesn't bark at all. Muffin is the fluffy one of my set of blonds, Shane and Henry are the other two and Beau is our other little one.

The Crazy
This would be Lucinda, who is all energy, no steering, little manners, and can't seem to remember exactly who she is playing with.

This is only a test

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I just found this post. I had a friend over who wanted to know how to get photos into her blog. I dumped these pictures from last weekend and forgot about deleting the post. The photos are pretty good so I guess I will just leave it.

A Reversal of Roles for Shilo

Shilo is a Chaser not a Chasee, as a rule.

He is a large yellow Lab with tons of energy, power, stamina and not much on manners or steering. When he shows up he loves to chase and chase and chase another dog until I have to run interference to give the chasee a break. Sometimes he can find a match for his energy, like BB and all is good. Mostly, he just wears out and annoys a series of dogs before he gets a bit tired.

Not this weekend, the group dynamic was particularly weird and Shilo was the Chasee, big time.

It seems unusual to me to suddenly have an empty kennel during the week, but that is pretty normal for the fall. It was just such a crazy summer that is seems very suddenly empty all the time. So this week, I had only one dog for a day, and then 2 dogs for a day, and then a full kennel all at once on Friday. Friday's 11am playtime was only two dogs. Friday's 2pm playtime was 9 dogs. At lunchtime, Chaser and Bella, Daisy and Lady, Roxie, and finally Shilo arrived. This is also pretty unusual. Drop off are pretty random, dogs don't all arrive within the same hour. Usually, each playtime on a Friday will introduce a newbie into the pack, not 7 new dogs all at once. And not usually, 7 loud, bouncy, over excited new dogs at once. They were acting like maniacs in the kennel building - jumping, barking, and fence fighting between the two boxers.

I figured if this group didn't knock me down, kill me and eat me, I would live to be a little old lady dog sitter.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about, they all got along fabulously. I almost couldn't believe it.

I know that Shilo couldn't believe it. See Shilo was the last of the new dogs to arrive, and though none of them had been out in the yard together, he was declared NEWEST and was the center of attention. He spent that playtime and dinner's and bedtime's playtime being chased by at least 4 dogs. I don't think he really liked it anymore than the dogs he chases around do.

I so wish I had gotten this on film. I finally remembered my camera for the 11am playtime on Saturday. Only Ellie arrived bright and early on Saturday and messed with my group. She was now the newest and Shilo was all over her. Shilo and Ellie are a good match, but not with the other four still interested in chasing Shilo. I had to give Ellie and Shilo a bit of alone time and I did get footage of that.

This is Daisy

She is cute as a button and very hard to get a photo of.

Goofy is at it again

Stalking a little dog. Daisy has about had it and I fear for Goofy's nose, if she ever decided to do anything about it.


When I tried separating the dogs, I stuck Daisy with Davey and Harley. My thought was that this combo would get along, that Harley and Davey need a break from Terry, and that Daisy needs a break from Goofy. Great theory, not so good in real life. Harley decide to stalk Daisy since Goofy wasn't.

Funny thing came from this double tailing to Daisy. Goofy actually was interested in Harley, a dog clearly bigger than a loaf of bread. I couldn't believe it.

Terry just plays with everyone

Terry and Moe

Terry and Harley

Terry and Shadow

He even gave Daisy a try. The only dogs he does play with are Goofy and Roo - they don't play.

And when he plays with Davey there is just too much growling for me to stop and take the picture, I too busy running interference.

Since I couldn't get pictures of them in action....

I will just have to find pictures of them that are in focus.

Daisy, much quieter with a tennis ball in her mouth. I have to remember that.


Davey, he looks like the first dog I ever baby sat. Her name was Molly and she was owned by my neighbors back in Chicago when I was a kid. I never thought my job as house and pet sitter in high school would become my career.

This is Roo. This is not how he normally looks. He is usually much furrier. This must be his summer cut. I keep telling people, "If you can't put your tomatoes out until after Memorial Day in Utah, don't shave the dog until then!" It has been snowing, sleeting, and generally back to winter this weekend and I have 4 dogs with their summer cuts just freezing.

This is Moe. I know you can barely see her, but this is her favorite spot. She has claimed a toy and is hiding it and herself from everybody else. This is Moe's hobby, toy hoarding and hiding.

This is Shadow. He is a love bug. I have to get the story on his name from his owners. Most Shadows are black dogs, but I do have one other that is a beagle. She got her name because she was a little boy's 'shadow' when they first got her.

And Harley, always the MOUNTER, never the MOUNTEE, and lets all try to remember that!

Daisy, Daisy

Again with the duplicate names...the owners are just trying to drive me crazy, right?


The other problem is that I think dogs only here the ending sound of their names. So Terry, Davey, Harley, Daisy & Daisy, and even Goofy tend to come when I call any of them. This is not helpful when I am try to get them to un-clump.

"Mingle, Mingle, No Clumping Allowed!"

Don't laugh, they must understand me - it works.

"Daisy, you are a DOG."

I don't know what kind of conversations you have at work, but I have ones that go like this.

"Daisy, you are a DOG."
"Daisy, they are all DOGS."
"Daisy, be a DOG - you will be happier as a DOG."

"Come on, Daisy, smell his butt!"
"Get it over with, just do it!"
"Smell his butt!"
"BE A DOG!"

I thought I had the perfect situation, three little dogs all equally skittish and unsocialized, Daisy, Scruffy and Kaizon. This should work like a dream. They will figure out how to play together and then they will be able to play with any dog. Daisy was just not buying into my plan. Finally, yesterday morning she did it. She stuck up behind Scruffy and Kaizon and did the most polite thing a dog can do - she smelled a butt. The second lesson in doggie etiquette is to stand there and return the favor. She wasn't quite ready for that level of civility but she did walk away slowly acting like she didn't notice Scruffy 'back there'. A huge improvement over squealing and running that she was doing. They were playing together in no time.

I figured with one more day, I could have gotten Kaizon in on the playtime, but Daisy went home last night. Too bad.

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.