Thursday, January 21, 2016

Miracles Do Happen

It's true.  I witnessed it first-hand.  All four dogs came back in the house through the same door, at the same time.  Praise the lawd!  This is usually a half-hour process of going between the three outside doors, calling the dogs (even though one is basically deaf), trying not to let any that came in earlier escape again, trying to keep the cats from sneaking out, and begging and threatening pleading with Jack to come inside.  Oh, and Happy thinks that you can't see her if she hides her 70 pounds of whiteness behind a skinny tree. 
Guess they just love playing outside!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Lasagna

The past couple of days have been balmy in the mid-40s.  I was really hoping that the sun would stay out a little longer today while it was above freezing.  There has been snow on the ground in our shady backyard since probably Thanksgiving.  With three large dogs and one snack-sized pup, I wouldn't recommend eating the snow.  In fact, there is quite the poo-lasagna building layer upon layer in the snow.  I've tried chiseling the glaciers of poop, but just manage to spread it further if it moves at all.  More snow is in the forecast for Friday - yea.
Poop Parade

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Old Dog - New Tricks

Our new/old dog has some serious trouble trusting his people.  His recall skills are worse than non-existent.  When we have let him off leash, he just takes off.  If he even stops when we call him, it is just to look back at us, squint, and clearly say "no thanks" and continue on his merry way.  He has gained the nickname "Jackass" for this stunt.

Last weekend, we took "Jackass" and his youngest sister for a hike.  There were very few people out, even less dogs, and it was already getting late in the day.  We decided that we would try this off-leash thing one more time.  This time, I was prepared with a pocketful of gold-star treats.  Before he was untethered, I gave him a little treat.  Made quite a production over it, too.  Off came the leash and another treat was rewarded, accompanied by lots of treatbag crinkle.  For the next few miles, anytime "Jackass" started to get too far away, out came the treats and he came running back to us.  At one point, he was already a little distance away before a couple and their large dog crested the hill in front of us.  I called for Jack and he stopped.  He looked back at me, then back to the oncoming dog, then back to me.  Crinkle, crinkle!  That did it.  Jack came running back for his dessert and received a ton of praise.  Who knew that you could actually teach an old dog a new trick?!?



A couple of happy dogs - and humans!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Night of Epicness

Epicness started at 2:30 this morning.  That was when one unnamed dog started in with lovely sounds of puking.  Apparently he just ate too much.  Two hours later, the epicness continued.  Unnamed dog number two needed to number two.  Unfortunately, the cats had conspired and knocked over the laundry hamper, trapping him on one side of the bed.  We woke up to the sound of his Alzheimer-ish footsteps in the corner of the room, followed shortly by the aroma of poo.  "Dear Jesus..."  Epicness culminated in the form of kitty hork a little while later, courtesy of Sir George Boogers.

Guess we might as well get up and take some pups hiking.  Hope that we aren't encouraging Round 2 for tonight.
Foreshadowing

Friday, January 8, 2016

Effervescence

Do all old dogs burp a lot?  Not sure, but Andy sure does.  Not only does he burp like a man, but he will wake up from a dead sleep (we are never sure if he is sleeping or taking the big sleep) just to sit up and burp.  Good thing he's cute.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Happy (Uneventful) New Year!

Hope that your new year is full of dog mis-adventures!  We kicked off 2016 relatively uneventfully, thankfully.  Three years ago, when we first started dating, that wasn't the case.  With champagne glasses in hand, we were all set to cheer in the new year and our newfound love.  Then, came the undisguisable sound of dog hork.  At the exact stroke of midnight, Sky was purging the contents of her belly, which just so happened to be an entire row of homemade cinnamon rolls that she helped herself to earlier in the day.  Wishing you less barf, more bark!
Always an adventure with Sky the Horker