They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks...

Yet, they have no problem picking up bad habits.

Tessie like to jump, up and down, up and down, all day long (I will assume all night long, as well). She has passed this hobby onto at least 3 other dogs. Luckily, none of them show her tenacity of doing it non-stop.

She also likes to empty her water dish as soon as she has had enough to drink. She has painted the far wall of my kennel with dirty water spots. She passed this one onto a Cocker Spaniel whose name I can't remember. I do remember thinking that I hoped he saved this trick for my kennel and didn't "Try this at home."

Sunny, a miniature Lassie dog, likes to stand on his crate and bark. Every other little dogs that shows up with a crate when Sunny is here, joins him on the roof top.

Shane, a really big yellow lab, likes to sing. We call his howling, 'doggy opera'. He tends to get the whole group going with it. His preferred position is butt in the kennel, head half out. I bet the acoustics of the kennel sound perfect to him. One weekend, his passed on his gift of song to a Shitzu the smallest, fluffiest coyote you ever heard. The owners were greatly amused by this. All I could think was, "Gee, I hope your neighbors find it just as funny."

But this month, the bad habit being passed on and on is peeing on thy neighbor. I used to only have this problem with Flip and Gunny. Now, Booker, Smokey and as of yesterday, Diesel, has taken this up. At least Diesel is still acting the gentleman. He only pees on his neighbor's outside run and he has been hitting the empty run next to him rather than peeing on the girls.

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.

When more than one dog is the 'New Kid'

You get pile up meet and greets,

Congo Lines,

Doggie Trains.

Size doesn't matter to dogs, but sometimes it can be a problem.

And sometimes it can work to your advantage.

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.

Chi Chi is a work in progress

She has made a lot of progress since she got here last weekend. She spent the first couple of days running from one gate to the other whimpering to be let out. She finally started to relax on the third day and tried to play with the other dogs. She needs to work on her playing. She is just too rough, shows too much teeth, and growls. The other dogs think they are under attack.

I figured with Gunny she would do fine. That Rott can take anything, but she even had him growling and snapping at her. I can run interference for Chi Chi and break up the playtime when it looks like it is getting too rough, but only the dogs can teach her some manners.

The growling and snapping is a warning to stop. When the dogs ignore her requests to play is when she is supposed to get the idea that she is in the wrong. It took two days for her to realize the gate don't open for dogs, maybe today she will have figured out playtime.

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."