Getting the Right Dog to Arrive Makes All the Difference

I was having a lousy week.

The dogs aren't playing together well. When everything jives around here, this job is a joy. When the dogs aren't having a good time, I clench up about it.

Diesel has been here awhile now and was honestly getting bored. When Khiya arrived the other day, I thought I had a good play team. Not so much. Khiya acts all excited to play with Diesel, but her enthusiasm fades in under a minute. Diesel is still suffering from his inability to read the body language of other dogs. (I was wondering if it was because he must have been taken away from his litter early.) The growls, the showing of teeth, even snapping doesn't register with him as anything more than, "Let's play MORE!"

Really, he is that oblivious.

So I had my hands full, with keeping these two apart and still try to get them to get some exercise.

Then came Dusty. He is new, small, skittish and is to be no where near either Khiya or Diesel.

Ugh!

And today came Smokey and saved my week. Smokey might be freaked out by people but dogs love him. Diesel just keeps trying to mount him and Smokey just stands there and takes it. Smokey is also big enough that there is no fear of Diesel smooshing him. Diesel was attempting to mount a Boston Terrier over the weekend, but that is another post. When Smokey breaks free of Diesel's affection, then Khiya joins the group for a lap around the play yard. Dusty is being happily ignored by the big dogs and is settling into the Ranch just fine.

And I have big sigh of relief.

Fetch is Working but it is Blinding!

I got some new tennis balls out, after the fiasco of losing one into the snow on the roof on only the second toss. Two Ball Fetch, this is fetch for those dogs that don't get the GIVE BACK part of Fetch. You just have to keep the balls moving. For the most part, you can get them to drop the old ball at your feet when they dash to get the newly thrown one. You do get the occasional, take the old one with you. That just makes it a game of Fetch for me as well.

One major draw back, bright, clean, new yellow tennis balls are blinding on new, fresh, clean snow.

Love Bug!

What I lack in being a playmate, I make up for in doggie loving. Khiya has forgiven me, my inability to run and play by trying to love me to death.

I usually love to love on my doggies, but with Khiya, love involves full body contact. She has squirmed and wiggled and rubbed me down thoroughly. It includes a number of passes between my knees as well. And yes, it would be obscene if she weren't just so darn cute.


This leads me to a new problem. I had already been losing the battle against black dog fur in the living room before I imported a white dog fur battalion from the play yard. I will certainly have to surrender to the enemy if the Dyson ever dies.

And Then There was One

That is it. I have one dog in the kennel for the whole week. It is really a shame, Khiya is a big player and I just am not.

We have been trying fetch, but it isn't working very well. I launched the only tennis ball I found into the snow on the roof of the kennel. Then I chipped a rope toy out of the snow only to discover that Khiya likes to run and fetch, but not big on the give back again. Well, it was fun while it lasted.