Mingle, Mingle!

It is not normal for me to get this many dogs in one shot. It is a pretty big play yard and the dogs don't usually clump together like this.

Clumping makes me nervous, so mingle, mingle.


Gee, we really did have a crowd for Easter.

Who Knew, Ruger is a Love Bug!

When the kennel finally cleared out on Monday, I only had 4 dogs left. I decided I could finally sit down in the shade without getting mobbed. Since Ruger's buddies, Flip and Yanni, went home, he decided to play with me.

Turns out Ruger is a Love Bug, as in bug until all the good spots are scratched and then start over. He even licked the side of my face, I haven't had a German Shepard that was a licker before. Being licked by Ruger puts you is definitive danger of drowning. When he licked the side of my face, he licked the WHOLE side of my face. He is one big dog and that is one big tongue.

I thought he was just done with the loving and licking when he wandered off, but he came back with a tennis ball. We proceeded to have a great game of fetch, complete with having the ball dropped in my lap. That was the most pleasant and relaxing play time I have had in a long time.

Then Lassie showed up and the barking and chasing started up again.

I knew the peace and quiet wouldn't last.

Ruger is getting the hang of the place

When he first arrived, I was a bit worried. I had never seen a bigger German Shepard. This dog is huge, the owners were right to wonder if he could get through my dog doors. He can but, it is a tight fit.

When he first came out, I was watching him pretty closely to see if he would be aggressive to any of the other dogs. No worries, instead of aggression in him, I had to worry about the other dogs intimidating Ruger. He was pretty skittish that first playtime, so I ran interference. I would call off Sunny, or Flip whenever they approached Ruger.

By the end of the second playtime, Ruger had untucked his tail and was playing with Yanni. Yes, he picked the smallest dog of the lot to start out with. I wish I had a picture of them playing together.

I tried to get that photo this morning, but instead of playing, Ruger has decided that he can dominate Yanni and Yanni is not interested in that particular game. I guess Ruger has gotten his confidence back because he has moved on from Yanni to Sunny and Flip.

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.

Newbies!

That is Sassy looking at the camera and Cleo having a meet and greet with Yanni.

And Then Came Murphy...

Who was actually willing to play with the other dogs.

I thought I had found my solution. With the arrival of a new dog, there is alway lots of meets and greets and the dogs find that endlessly entertaining. After exchanging smells with the new kid, everyone seemed to be able to find something to occupy them.

Yanni was now busy trying to hump Murphy, so Harley was happy being left alone. Flip and Lucky were still happy chasing balls. With Murphy, Izzy now had a new dog to try to get to play with.

That first playtime went better than any other one this weekend.

These Boys Just Can't Get It Together

They are driving me crazy, they cannot figure out how to play together and together they are having a lousy time at the ranch this weekend.













First is Bo, he is old and not socialized. He doesn't want any dog to smell him nor does he want to smell them. He just wants me to pet him nonstop until another dog comes up to me and then he growls at them. This got old two days ago. Today, he decided to try to interact with another dog. he tried to mount Harley - wrong move on the wrong dog, so much for improving his social graces.













Then there is Harley, he is old but usually playful. This time he is only getting the attention of Yanni who is small and annoying. Yanni only wants mount Harley. Of this Harley has only a limited tolerance. The fact that Harley doesn't want this, and that he has sitches across is back so Yanni is actually hurting him, is complete lost on Yanni. Yannis also oblivoius to the fact that a ticked off Harley can eat him in one bite.













Next is Lucky and Flip, they just want to play ball. They are even willing to bring it back to some where in the general vicinity of me. Great, we will play ball, we will pet Bo and Harley between throws and all will be good.














Nope, I forgot about Izzy. He just wants to run and wrestle. To have a decent game of 'run and wrestle', you need two dogs or more. Izzy doesn't have a partner. So he has taken to stealing the ball from Flip and Lucky or to just harass them as they bring the ball back. I don't think he realizes that interfering with Lucky and a tennis ball is a capital offense in Lucky's eyes.

So I have spent my days throwing dust and spit covered balls, keeping Yanni off Harley's back, kept Bo from even trying to get on Harley's back and trying to keep Izzy from losing his mind from lack of quality play time. I am so tired.