NEWBIES!

I have a couple of brand new clients this week, Cole and Indie.

Being the new kid is always a little stressful around here. When you are the new dog, everyone wants to meet you, right away, and all at once. No cocktail party ever had the intensity of greeting that the play yard can muster up. That is a lot of butt sniffing for any dog to endure. Cole had it evener harder than usual. First, whenever a dog arrives they are always the new kid to the rest of the group, even if they have been here eleventy billion times. Cole was not only the new kid, this was his first visit to the ranch plus the first time he had ever been boarded, any where. Tough day for the little guy.

What made it worse was that he got stuck as the new kid from Sunday to Tuesday night. Everyone else is here for the long haul and it wasn't until Tuesday after dinner that someone else, Indie, got to take the title of new kid.

Cole very much enjoyed passing the title on and joined in the group in an overly enthusiastic welcome to Indie.

Now that the meet and greet sniffing is over, the newbies have banded together and are having a blast.

Missed Opportunity

I was psyched about having Pepper, Max and Amica here for the holiday weekend. Three standard poodles; one black, two gray. It was going to be a blur of curls.

Amica's mom had to cancel her trip due to the birth of a new great grand baby. Best reason ever to have to cancel a vacation.

I guess it was just as well. I can't find the charger for the digital camera.

It's ALIVE!

I was right the computer was dying. Since, for once, I did backup all of my data, it wasn't the hard drive that failed. It was dust clogging up the fan on the CPU and the copmuter shut down to save itself.

We were on the right track when we opened up the box and started vacuuming. Only when we pulled the big chip off, we bent some pins stuffing it back in. Maybe I have forgotten everything I ever knew when I worked as a computer nerd way back when in Chicago.

There is some good from all of this. One, I got a lot more done around the house without blogs to read and write. Two, we didn't bounce any checks - my checkbook is an excel spread sheet. Three, we found a great computer guy in town. Call me for his name and number when your computer goes belly up.

And Still More Pictures to Sort Through

I have made it as far as April 11th, 2007 and I have gotten the blog folder down to 5.97GB from 6.6.

Well, it is a start.

I was wrong yesterday. I really don't remember as many names as I thought. Nor do I take the same picture of the same dog.

Those noses are not the same. One is Molly, who is currently with me, and the other, I have NO IDEA. I may have to go and read my old blogs.

My Computer Acts Like It Is Going To Die Any Day Now

So I decided to take my own advice and BACKUP my files.

So, I cleaned up My Documents and put all the loose files in the folders they belonged in. Then I did the same for My Pictures. Yikes, I can't back up My Pictures because it is over 10 GB. The backup DVD only holds 4.4 gigabytes.

Man, that is a lot of pictures.

Oh gee! 6.6 GB of those picture are in the 'blog' folder.

Man, that is a lot of DOG pictures.


I believe some editing will be required. And as I start cleaning out 3 years of dog photos, I have learned a few facts. One, I take far too many pictures of dog's butts, dog backs, and dog legs. Two, that I have a preponderance of photos that show only the ground. Three, that I can still recognize and name dogs going back to 2005. Wow. And finally, and something I didn't know. I keep taking the same photo of the same dog - over and over again.

Carry Not Fetch

Frisbee Dog!

I finally got a frisbee dog! I was stoked when I spotted the frisbee in Phanny possessions. Finally, a Frisbee Dog.


Nope.

She is more into Carry, than Catch.

Phanton, Really, That's Your Name?

When I read 'Phantom' on the calendar, I pictured a really big, really black dog. Actually, no, the first thing I pictured was a guy in a skin tight purple suit that lived in a skull shaped cave.

What I got was this tiny little thing. Isn't she just the cutest? I really had a hard time with the name it just didn't fit. Just yesterday, my husband tells me, "By the way, did I tell you that her family calls her Fanny?"

"Well, no you didn't."

And I like that name SO much better. Phanny it is from now on!

I need more photos...I'll try to get them on the next playtime!

I'd Like My Usual Room, Please!

I try to put dogs in the same kennels each time they come. It doesn't always work out, but for the most part dogs have a 'usual room'. I thought that it made them feel more secure that they had a room of their own here. Maybe a bit too secure.

Last time Buddy was here, the first kennel wasn't open for him to have his regular room. So I stuffed him in two doors down without giving it any thought. When I tried to grab his collar and steer him away from kennel number 1 to kennel number 3, he made a pass at taking a chunk out of my hand. I wouldn't have been more surprised if he had stood on his hind legs and did a River Dance. This is the calmest, nicest dog in the world. Okay, so he is serious about his room, but otherwise really nice.

Needless to say, BB got kicked out of kennel number 1 when Buddy showed up yesterday. See, I can be taught.

Lacks Impusle Control

Diesel should come with that as a warning label. He was fine here a couple of weeks ago when he had a equally young, dumb and energetic dog, Terry, to play with. On one hand, they did look like they were killing each other. On the other hand, they did thoroughly wear each other out.

I don't always luck out and get a matched set like that. Diesel came again this week and I had no one for him to wrestle with; little dogs and old dogs.

Not only does Diesel not take 'NO!' for an answer to "Play with me!", he doesn't even realize that the other dogs don't want to play with him. When Pug, the pug, was threatening to take a chunk out of him, Diesel still thought it was great fun.

Well, at least, he has a good time - no matter what.

Over Thinking the Problem

2 am - 1 pm

This is what was written on the dog's medicine bottle. Honest to God, the first time I saw that I thought, "You want me to give this dog a pill at 2 AM! I am so not doing that!"

It took about 15 minutes for me to translate, correctly, that the dog gets two pills in the morning and one at night. Oh, yeah, I can handle that.

Sometimes I just trying to make my life harder than it needs to be.

I Almosted Didn't See You There!

Talk about camouflage, if my dog hadn't gone gray, I never would have spotted her. I guess she is tired of sharing the couch with the new baby and had staked a new claim in the living room.

Notice that is not good enough to just be on the furniture, you have to have a pillow as well.

And you people think your dogs are spoiled!

Keeping an Eye on the Competition

Today's Salt Lake Tribune had a article about a new luxury pet hotel. I am headed up past Point of the Mountain, tomorrow, so maybe I will go and see this pet palace for myself.

They are offering personal TV's, phone booths so you can chat with your dog, supervised playtime, special treats and a vet on site.

I thought about installing a TV down in the kennel, that way I could deduct my cable bill. I don't let you chat with your dog, but I am happy to chat endlessly with you about your dog. I would love a vet on site, but we will all have to settle for my panicked phone calls to Dr. Thayn.

I am dying to see the facilities, but I can tell you that my dogs probably never will. As a rule, I balk at paying more for my dog's lodging than my own. Basic dog care starts at $29 and 'suite' for your dog is $39. They also charge for extra playtime $9, and $3 for an 'ice cream' snack. They also charge $2 for administering pet medicine. Gee, here I am cramming pills down a Doberman's throat for nothing.

Oh NO! Someone Else I Have to Share MY Couch With!

One Good Looking Beagle

Copper is just as loud as Scooter, but he really has the prettiest markings I have ever seen on a Beagle.

I see how his owners got the name, he is really more of a shiny copper than orange or brown. He also is sporting the blackest black and the whitest white markings. Well, he will until he hangs out in my play yard for much longer - that will turn any dog into a dusty shade of beige.

I really like his extra white marking down his neck and back, another 'never seen that before'.

Maybe he isn't all Beagle...his wheel base does seem a bit too long and his legs are spotted. His voice , however, is ALL Beagle.

Remind me to never have two Beagles at the kennel at the same time.

Oh, That Explains It

I have often looked at Kaizon and asked the age old question that plagues the dog world, "What are you made up of?"

His owners cleared up the mystery when they pointed at X, a pug, and said that was half of Kaizon. The other half is Heeler. It seemed so obvious once I looked at X and Kaizon. Kaizon got the fur, the markings and the color of a pug with a pointy nose and pointy ears of a Heeler.

Ike and What's-His-Name?

I haven't completely lost my mind, just my memory. The Lab puppy is Ike. The Great Pyrenees is the one I can't come up with a name for. I will have to dig out the old calendar pages - this is driving me nuts. He is the only Great Pyrenees that we have.

And Ike tried to wear him out. I think he succeeded.

And This is Why You Have to Blog on a Timely Basis

Cute dog pictures dumped onto my computer on June 23. I no longer have any idea what the dogs names are.

Everything Just Seems So Much Easier...

Now that my knees both point in the same direction. (Let's just agree that pregnancy is meant for the young.)


The kennel has returned to it original location. Sometime in March, it started sneaking further and further away from the house. By June, I had a 5 mile hike out to the dogs.

Someone turned the thermostat down. Summer is some how about 20 degrees cooler.

And surprise, I have feet again. The dogs will be so happy. I can't tell you how many toes I stepped on in the past 3 months.

Just Because We Can Never Have A Dull Moment

As most of you have seen, I was hugely pregnant last week when my doctor told me that nothing was progressing. That would be baby doctor speak for "Yes, honey, you are looking at spending July the size of a whale."

I had just come to accept my fate of a couple, three week more of waddling and sweating, when my water broke at 8pm that night.

I was damp but not in pain so I was herding the kids and their bags out to the car when my son announced, "Mom, there is a dog out of the kennel!"

Oh, that can't be one of mine - it has to be one of Helper's Roaming Dogs, right?

Nope, it was Endo. Turns out that Endo can both open a gate latch and climb a 6 foot fence. Talented dog, I must say. Forunately for me, he is an escaper and not a run away-er. He just waited by the gate for me to let him back in. I tucked him in, chained his gate extra-closed and we all headed off to the hospital.

Baby showed up at 1 am that night. Yup, born on the Fourth of July!

We do love our birthday holidays around here.

Yawn-ICA

Yeah, that would be me. I just was picking up my messages and when replaying to catch a phone number I finally registered that I had been addressed as "Yawn-ica".

Yup, that would be me.

Hey, It Wasn't Me that Kicked That Poodle!

I had Teenso up on my lap yesterday afternoon, or what is left of my lap, anyway. She seemed a little put out by the lack of accommodations, but she was making the best of it. That is until the baby kicked, Teenso shot me a dirt looked and jumped down in a huff.

There is some really weird stuff out on the net

I have to admit that I spend far more time reading other people's blogs than working on my own. Especially lately. Having something to occupy my mind while my over-sized and over-tired body takes a break, has led to a number of new blogs for me to read.

This was posted to a blog named 'SnipSnip' and I think it is about the oddest thing I have seen in a long time.

If you would like to visit the rest of the hair-zoo, try here. Mouse over each girl and click for a bigger image.

After All the Rain, Comes All the Running

I Have Never Seen a Black Boxer

Isn't he just the cutest.

Some Dogs Just Know How to Have Fun

Yawning Dogs!

I think Sonny was yawning more than me, and that is really saying something.

Last Week

We are freezing today, but last week we had our first real days of summer.


Bella and Jinx have the right idea about spending playtime lounging in the shade of the apple tree.

I lost my huge peach tree last summer. That tree had to be at least 20 years old and it shaded most of the dog runs and half of the smaller play yard. I currently have a twig of tree trying to replace it. I guess I should have planted new trees five years ago when I started this business, but who expects a decades old tree to get killed off in one season by bugs. Damn those Snot-Hole Borers. They took out the best peach tree and did a number on my Italian plum last season. I am hoping the cold winter and delayed spring is hitting them hard, 'cause bug poisons don't touch them.

I want to get some roofs up over the outdoor runs so the dogs have more shade this summer. I should have done it last fall, it sure would have been nice not to have to shovel snow out of the runs all winter.

Laney-Girl

I have lost another good doggie. It seems that Laney lost a fight with a cat this week.

My mom always says that bad news comes in threes. I hope she is wrong.

This is Smuckers

I remember asking her owner how she came to be named after jelly, but I can’t recall their answer. Her family calls her, Mucky. I kept finding myself calling her ‘Smuck’, which isn’t really that nice of a name. She really is a lovely boxer and doesn’t deserve to be called ‘smuck’, ’shlemiel’, ‘shmoe’ or any of the other Yiddish words I know. Thank goodness no one in Utah, other than me, seems to know what I am saying anyway.

I was trying very hard to get a picture of Smuckers for this post only to discover that she doesn’t like to be photographed. I am many shots of the back of her head and a number of her left ear. Her little sister, Prudence, seems to love the camera.

I think Smuckers liked coming here just to get a break from her kid sister. Prudence gets to run with all the other bouncy dogs and Smuckers gets to hang with me. Us old ladies need to stick together. Whenever Smuckers would come around for some loving, I would have to work fast. Prudence likes to butt in and demand all the love for herself. And if Pru stops running and pays attention to me, so does Sonny, BB, Bailey, and Poky. That is just too much dog for even I to love all at once. Especially, since they are want to get on my lap. At seven months pregnant, there just isn’t that much lap to go around anyway.

We had a very cold and rainy day on Wednesday. We even got some hail. The dogs had been stuck in the kennel for most of the day, when the sun decided to show up for dinner playtime. I was letting everyone have an extra long playtime to make up for such a crummy day. I had been snapping pictures with the good intentions of trying to blog again when I gave up on the camera. My ability to get a dog in a frame seems to be even weaker than before. So I was just enjoying the dogs doing what they do best, hauling around the play yard at top speed. I was standing by the inner gate, trying to stay out of the way, when I heard and saw Smuckers fall.

Did she trip?! Dogs don’t trip.

Did someone run into her?! No one was anywhere near her.

I rush over and kneel down next to her. I want to keep the other dogs away incase she is hurt. Normally, if I get down on the ground, dogs overwhelm me: licking, or knocking me over. I should have realized when I wasn’t shoving dogs out of my face, that something was really wrong. Her legs were out straight and stiff so the first thing I think of is that she is having a seizure. My dog, Sam, had those. I am three steps ahead in my mind…finish the seizure, put the rest of the dogs away, and put her in the car and take her to the vet. I am holding her shoulder and telling her that everything is going to be fine, ‘cause I have a plan, when her breathing slowed and stopped. It seemed like a long time, but it was probably less than a minute.

My husband figures it was either a heart attack or stroke to happen so fast. We both decided that going that quickly while having a great time with your buddies would be the way we’d like to go.

Maybe I have led a sheltered life, but at 43, I have never been present when someone died. The last thing I said to her was, “Oh no, Smuck, don’t go.” It was really simple and peaceful, she was here and then she wasn’t.

Usually, I get to hear about the death of one of my doggies when their owners call to cancel on reservations or when they see me in the grocery store. I don’t usually have to be the one to tell their moms.

I guess I have to expect that after 5 years, I would lose some of my clients. It is just as hard with Smuckers as with the first dog I lost, Snoopy. The biggest black lab you ever saw.

We buried Smuckers under my favorite pear tree. My kids and my dogs saw her off. My son wants to light a candle for her at mass this weekend. I told him, that I doubt Smuckers was a practicing Catholic, but I think it would still be okay. St. Frances would be proud.

This last photo taken about 5 minutes before she died.

I Sometimes Have to Wonder if Owners Think Through Their Dog's Names

If this dog's name doesn't cause someone in Helper to take a pock shot at me, nothing will.

Shouting 'DAGO!' across the play yard just can't be good for my health.

And I though yelling 'BOOZER!', 'BOURBON!', 'WISKEY!' and 'DUFUS!' was embarassing.

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.

Tummy Troubles

I thought my tummy troubles were over when the snow finally melted away and I could open the play yard gate all the way. There was a point in February when I thought that if we got any more snow, I wouldn't be able to squeeze past the gate.

Now, my tummy isn't giving me a hard time trying to get in - it is letting the dogs out. I can't seem to step into a run without letting a dog out anymore.

I had been trying to find a button that flew off my coat and across my dining room a couple of weeks ago. No luck so far, it might have headed down an air vent or under the china hutch never to be seen again. Getting down on the floor and looking for it was asking too much of me so I asked the kids. Unfortunately, my children's observational abilities are severely lacking. They couldn't find an elephant if I said I lost it in the dining room. I have decided to stop worrying about in since I can't button the jacket anyways.

Sorry to Break Up the Party

I thought I disturbed the deer's fun last night when I headed out to put the doggies away. I spotted 4 deer on the far side of the horse pasture, and they definitely spotted me. I was trying to sneak quietly away when I spotted a huge deer in the back yard, about 20 feet away from me. It is nice to see how much weight they have put back on after such a long hard winter.

I did my doggie duty and was headed back to the house when I walked right into the big get together. There was one deer standing in front of my steps, two or more on the far side of my car and at least 6 eating the grass on the side of the driveway. Man, it all shook loose when they heard me. Reminded me of how fast a house can empty of teenagers when mom comes home a bit too early.

Ah, Spring!

I have been looking forward to spring after such a long and cold winter. I imagined nice long play times with lots of running and wrestling. This winter play time shrank to about 10 minutes and sometimes only 5 and few bedtime session that lasted all of about 30 seconds. You'd be amazed how fast a dog can pee when the temps hit the single digits.

What I failed to take into account, and I do this to myself every spring, was that dogs lose their minds and their manners come March and April.

Watch yourselves and your puppies, there are more dog bites and dog fights in the spring than any other time. I find myself stopping play time early because the dogs that were having a blast for the first 10 minutes start threatening to bite each other's faces off in the second 10 minutes. It is a bit freaky to see a dog you know to be friendly and playful suddenly go Mr. Hyde on you.

Oh well, this too will pass and everything should settle down into normal dog behavior by the time May rolls around. Well, as normal as dog behavior ever gets.

Just Prior to Impact!

This is what I spent my weekend trying to stay out of the way of.

They Make an Unbeatable Tag Team

Sasha and Sierra Against the World.


So long as they have my chair to hide under.

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.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Running the kennel for the past five years has been a series of surprises. I thought, wrongly, that I couldn't be surprised anymore - than I had seen it all, and over come it all. Let's review some of my earlier shocks.


Ability to Destroy Chain Link Fencing
I was definitely surprised when a dog peeled up the chain link and decided to sleep on my shelving instead of in his kennel. I was really surprised when a huge dog pulled up and pushed herself through 5, count them, 5, kennel panels to get to the only other dog in the kennel. She didn't break into his run, she stopped in the kennel next door and took a nap.

Sometime after the run panels started to look like I crocheted them back together we replaced the light weight chain link with the 'keep the teenagers away from the power lines' gage.

Ability to Climb Chain Link Fencing
I just had no idea that dogs could climb when Maggie first scaled the corner of the play yard, ran home and sat on her back porch to be let in. (Lucky for me, they just live down the alley from me.) It is because of her that the corner of the play yard and all the runs now have welded wire panels on top.

I thought I had the climbers beat until I kept finding Chaser on my front porch. I couldn't figure out how he was getting out. His gate wasn't open. I hadn't left him out. There was no sign of having dug under the fence. After the third round of putting him back, I decided I'd better hide and watch this furry Houdini. Not only could Chaser climb the corner of his run, he could fit through the wire fencing at the top and then walk the top rail to the edge, jump down and head directly to my front door. A second layer of fencing a chunk of old rug finally contained him.

Inability to be Contained
This would be Cotton, a very large and very white Labrador. He ate a dog door. First, he pulled the frame off the wall and then he ate parts of the fiber board door. Cotton doesn't do well with containment. For all of Cotton's stays, we leave he run door open all night. Thanks to the CEU Welding Department, I now have nice metal doors for all my dog runs. I forgot about leaving Cotton's door open one night and found that Cotton managed to yank out of it frame but not to eat it.


Until now, Cotton had been my only escapee from a closed up at night kennel. Last weekend, I went down first thing in the morning only to find Boozer, the beagle, sitting in his outside run. He didn't seemed bothered by being locked out and I was planning giving my husband a very hard time about missing a dog when he did bedtime duty the night before. Only, he didn't leave Boozer out, Boozer GOT out. We don't know how he lifted the door and got under without it guillotining off a chunk of his tail. I am going to make sure he gets one of the kennel door that wasn't cut quite straight. I can barely pull those out. It is moments like this when I really want a 'kennel cam' - I still can't believe that cute little puppy is an escape artist.

That is one way to get out of Doggie Duty!

My husband has been doing much more than his share of the 'dog duty' with this winter being so very cold and me being so very pregnant.

(It also has to do with the fact that I am often asleep on the couch long before the doggies' bedtime.)

He headed down to the kennel last night only to come back really fast. That usually only happens when it is so cold, the dogs don't even want to be out. It was a lovely day yesterday, no gale force winds for once, so I was surprised to see him back so soon.

(I hadn't even had a chance to finish watching the last ten minutes of Medium, that I fell asleep for the other night)

Turns out that NONE of the dogs would come out of their kennels for him. I guess I will just have to do the bedtime shift this week. bummer.