The Magic of Snow!

I really wish I had my camera with me today. The five dogs that I have had all week have just not been getting it together. They chase each other for the first few seconds, but after that they just wander around not playing much.


Not today, the snow was falling and it turned them all back into puppies. That was a very fun play time.

So that is why nothing is getting done around here!

To be honest, I haven't been blogging because for the past month I have just been too tired to think straight let along try to be funny and think straight at the same time.

As most of you know, my health for the past couple of years has been an ongoing case of "So what is wrong this time."

I spent this summer dealing with thyroid problem that was so bad that they took my mind off my stomach problem. So when I started sleeping really poorly back in November, I blamed it on that. I was wrong. This newest train wreck is being driven by a baby. Not the project I had planned for 2008 at all.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! That pretty much sums up my week!

Baby is due in July, maybe I will be over the shock by then.

I can laugh , now, they have all gone home.

Really, if I wanted that much grief for Thanksgiving, I could have invited a bunch of relatives.

The kennel is deliciously empty and quiet for a couple of days. I just have Chaser and Bella, Chance and Scruffy and Kaizon. Chaser and Bella are a bit much for Scruffy and Kaizon, but I have still not convinced Kaizon that she is actually a dog and that she should like being with other dogs.

I thought last weekend was bad...

but this Thanksgiving has been the worse.


Last weekend that dogs just never jelled. They never seemed to get it together and really has some fun. I kept thinking that the right dog would pull the group together. Sophie showed up and my hopes were all riding on her. No luck, they mostly just wandered around and ignored each other. I am getting a crash course in the psychology of group dynamics. The right dog can make a playtime, removing a dog can improve play time, but sometimes you just can't get them to play at all.


This weekend is is less worrying about them not having fun and more of keeping them from killing each other. Every single dog I have this LONG weekend is a regular. Every single one of them has lost their minds.

I have Tessie and with Tessie you never get a quiet weekend. She is quite the barker, in the kennel she is bad, but out to play she is worse. She barks non stop at all the dogs to get them to play with her. I keep trying to point out that this is not working for her, but she hasn't changed her approach.

I have Sunny, a collie, who is herding all the dogs. Sunny also barks in the kennel and even more when out to play. Sunny needs an authority figure. I work on him every time he comes. I pull out everything I have learned from the Dog Whisperer's show and his books. I can usually get Sunny to tone it down but this time he is just not stopping at the nipping at other dogs. He has actually managed to piss BB off so bad that she has snapped at him more than once. He has not gotten the message.

I will try again to talk to his Dad about how he walks his dog and how the humans need to be the pack leader and not Sunny. Sunny is a severe dog bite waiting to happen. He is going to happily chomp on the wrong tail or flank and he is going to catch hell for it.

As for the rest of them, they all left their manners at home. Chaser and Bella were teasing Jake far too much last weekend and now they are doing it to Smokey Bill. Patches likes to play with everyone, but as soon as it gets to rough on her, her teeth come out and the growling starts. I just never let her play with anyone for too long. Sweetie is just a nervous wreck and she is fully capable of avoiding all the other dogs, normally. This group just can't leave her alone.

Which brings me to Kodi and Bella, two of the biggest dogs and yet the frightenest. These guys bark a big fight inside their run, but then just spend playtime avoiding all the other dogs. They have been coming for years, this is their routine. Bark like killers until let out and then tuck tail and go hang out by the rose bush.

Not this weekend, I don't know what changed but it changed for the worse. They still bark like killers in their run, but now when I let them out Kodi growls at whatever dog he comes to first and Bella puts her whole mouth on the neck of whatever dog she comes to first. As you might guess, Kodi and Bella now have one side of the play yard all to themselves.

One more weekend like this and I quit!

I Have Never Seen BB Hold So Still

She was on point and every muscle was coiled spring. There was a look in her eye and it clearly was not love for my neighbors kitten. I have never seen this pose before. She even had her hackles up. Which for BB, the fur-less wonder, is more of velvet brushed the wrong way. You can only see it as a difference in her normal shade of black.

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Anniversary!

I opened the Ranch for business in time for Thanksgiving 2002. This is my 5 year anniversary!

"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!

Remember I How I Said That Daisy Never Stops Moving?

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 One Smart Dog!

I had segregated the dogs into big and rambuceous verses small and step-on-able.

Sophie figured out how she could continue to play fetch with me on the wrong side of the gate.


Good Girl!

Narcoleptic's High Holy Day

I hope y'all enjoyed your extra hours of sleep last night.

I don't actually get to celebrate my holiday anymore, the dogs never reset their clocks.


Only 364 days until next year...am I the only one counting?

Dogs aren't the only Wild Life around Here

There were a total of 9 does, and one buck in my bottom pasture. The dogs don't even phase them. The buck was either a 4-point or an 8-pointer. I know you count one way here in Utah and another way back in Illinois, I just can't remember which. He had a total of 8 points.


UPDATE:
I took these pictures at 3:30. When I went back down around 5:30pm the deer were still in my bottom pasture. I had seen 5 of the does cross the stream and head toward the bluff. They were on the benches above the stream when I went back into the house. While I was gone those 5 must have returned to the orchard along with the buck and the other 4 that never left. That is until my phone ringing startled the buck. They aren't bothered by the dogs, or by me, but the phone spooked them.

And of course, it was a another recording calling me to tell me not to vote for Referendum 1. Oh Please! If we could just have all the money spent on getting me to vote for it plus all the money spent trying to get me to vote against it and give it all to the public schools - we'd have the highest per student money in the country.

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.

Roxy is Our Resident Wild Thing!

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.

What I Really Need is More Dogs Like Muffin

Muffin is a sweetheart. He doesn't bark. He doesn't pick fights. Not big into running, chasing or digging. He does, however, want to be loved and there is a lot of him to love on. I'd love to have a kennel full of 'Muffin's but I don't have enough hands to pet them all.

So Many new Friends...

..To Smell!

Baily and Dusty

Too much fun!

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 was a Crazy Week

I had this many dogs coming between Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon. As you might know I only have 7 runs, so this was a week of much kennel flipping. I managed to pull it off with only one session of a dog hanging outside for a couple of hours.