Tuesday, February 24, 2009

They Got Even

This blog has been primarily for Frick and Frack, also known in our house as Dumb and Dumber after the Collie weekend, and all of their misadventures. Well, that doesn't mean that the older kids have ceased to live it up. Hence today's entry.

Last night, I think even the dogs realized it was Monday. Or they have cabin fever...not sure which. They decided to take out all of their frustrations on us all at once.

We usually let the big kids out first when we get home from work at night, so they can have the run of upstairs while we let the pups run under supervision. So, the order is: Phantom, Ruby and Duchess go first. Then Emmy and Dream, followed by Frick and Frack. Finally the puppies are let out, and Frick and Frack are asked to babysit in the house while we change clothes and do whatever is needed in the office, before we go make dinner. Usually this arrangement works out pretty well, other than some pretty rowdy puppy play once in awhile.

Segue to last night. The first two groups were let out and then let upstairs to run off some excess energy while puppies were let out. Well, evidently they weren't too happy with having to wait for mom and dad to come back upstairs. So, they decided to create their own entertainment. They broke into the dremel case and found the package containing the extra barrels. Well, they decided that carrying the package and throwing it through the house wasn't fun enough, so they finished tearing it open and strung all the barrels out on the floor.

My, what tasty goodies these are!! Yup, you guessed it....they had sandpaper chewies!! By this time, I get back upstairs and see them all chewing on something. I yell, "Drop it" and "It's MINE", and they scatter. When the Big Dog barks, they ALL run.

I didn't think at the time to count how many barrels I found on the floor, but I'm pretty sure they were all accounted for. They all got a stern talking to, and needless to say, it was VERY quiet in the house for quite awhile last night....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Adventures of Frick and Frack - They Have A New Nickname!

I must preface this episode by saying that Lace, the Smooth Collie, was a saint all weekend and did nothing to instigate any of the antics described below.

We had several houseguests this last weekend for the dog show, like we do every year. This year, I think we strained the seams of the house, as we had 8 humans and 19 dogs under the same roof. The great thing is that everydog got along well and rotation was the word of the day. The breed list went something like this: 1 Pomeranian, 1 Smooth Collie, 2 Pembrokes, and 15 Cardigans (four 4 month olds, four 8 month olds, and 7 adults). At times it looked like a 3 ring circus, which is pretty much what it was, and it was REALLY fun seeing how our kids, who don't regularly interact with Collies and Poms except when they go visit Aunt Cindy, handled having them on their turf.

Phantom and Ransom thought Lace was all that, AND a bag of chips. They both thought they could breed her, even though she wasn't in season. Phantom spent most of the weekend following Lace and listening to her grumble about him. The few times she turned around to give him a piece of her mind, he thought it was foreplay, and she would grumble some more and walk away. And the humor only got better!!!

Ransom for his part, loved Lace as well. This poor girl!! He also tried to breed her, but when she would turn around, he would jump and push his front feet off her side, and then run in front of her, throw himself on his back, belly up, with the look of, "Don't Eat Me!" Lace completely ignored him, would step over or around him, and keep walking. Ransom would then jump up, run to get two steps in front of her, and throw himself on the floor in front of her again. He repeated this every time she was pacing in the living room, which was often. Comedy had arrived.

Bear on the other hand, took one look at Lace, and thought he was in trouble. His eyebrows went to the top of his head, eyes the size of dinner plates, and stayed at least 3 feet away from her with the look of, "OMG!! IT'S YOU!!!" I'm not sure what he did at Cindy's to merit the looks he gave Lace, but it must've been good. He did everything he could to stay away from her all weekend. Lace saw this as a way to get even, and provide herself with a little humor, Collie style. Every time she would see Bear on the couch behaving himself or laying on the floor with a bone, she would saunter over towards him. Most of the time he never saw her until she was within a foot of him, which I'm not sure how one misses a blue merle Smooth Collie walking in a sea of Corgis. He would then practically kill himself to get away from her, to include trying to climb up the back of the couch. Lace would then just sit down and watch him squirm. Eventually she would get tired of the whole thing and wander off, only to have Ransom pull his antics, or Phantom try to get her to be his girlfriend.

Now, we have the Pomeranian, Tango. She also lives with the Corgis, and very much takes care of herself and lets the others know what's what. She spent the weekend with whomever was out and running around. Ransom thought she was grand fun. He tried to push her over on her side with his front feet. She told him off. He came back for more, his little bunny butt going as fast as it could. She'd chase him through the house, running as fast as her little legs could go (and boy is she fast!!), and Ransom would still circle behind her, and snap his jaws at her heels, she'd spin around, and he'd be off. I think he called this game "Spin the Pom". This would go on for at least an hour, before we felt sorry for poor Tango and put Ransom in his crate.

Cristal and Chianti got to play with Port and Merlot (aka Little Sh#t) again, and they haven't slept that good in a LONG time. The girls had an absolute blast chasing their littermates all over the house.

Needless to say we had controlled chaos at our house, but it was a lot of fun. And during this whole Collie episode, Frick and Frack received a new nickname.....Dumb and Dumber. If you could have witnessed the weekend, you would have believed it.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Adventures of Frick and Frack - Westminster Edition

So we settled in last night to watch Westminster on the big screen. The big kids were out with us and settled in across laps and pillows with their favorite chewing toys. Everyone was happy, which considering the mud bowl that is our yard prevented anyone from getting their lunchtime romp, is a miracle. I digress...

The Hound Group comes in the ring and no one notices. That is, until a Beagle starts baying. Yup, it's all over. Bear and Ransom are right up nose to nose with the tv barking their fool heads off. After much yelling and lots of squirts from the listerine squirt bottle, they settle down again. This time, however, they are watchful of those big bad doggies on tv. Then, the Borzoi starts it's down and back. Obviously it was going to come through the tv and eat everyone (NOT!). Yup, there those two go again. And when they start to bark, so does everyone else in the house.

Finally we were able to quiet everyone and the boys both started to watch again...Ransom with a bored expression, but Bear was rather interested. We told him that he needed to learn how to show like all those big dogs. He looked at us, looked at the tv, looked at us again, sighed, laid his head back onto the pillow and watched.

By the time the Herding Group was on, he was on his back, sound asleep, with his feet waving in the air. He was obviously not absorbing the lessons...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Sherilyn Made It Into The Ring

Yes folks...you read the headline correctly. Sherilyn actually ventured into the ring, and not just the "Reserve Ring" as she is so proud of mentioning. She claims to be the "Reserve Queen", and only goes in for the Reserves. Not this weekend.

We got into a little bit of a bind this weekend at the St. Joseph, MO shows. My normal handler backups, Cindy, Alec, and Meredith,all decided to stay home and conserve money for Nationals later this spring. My other backups, Linda and M'Kayla were busy in other rings showing their client dogs. So, what happens? Bear decides that he LIKES to show with Dad (good thing, right?), and goes out and wins Winner's Dog two out of the three days. Friday, Linda ekes out just enough time to help us out, but Bear isn't liking this turn of events, and becomes a little butt (bad thing). Saturday, everyone is busy. So...we have a Winner's Dog and no handler, as I am showing Phantom in Best of Breed.

Sherilyn takes Bear in the ring, trying not to puke due to her nervousness, and tries to get Bear to listen. Yeah, right. Dad and Doggy Dad are in the ring having a good time and he VERY MUCH wants to be a part of it. Bear is hearing me give Boo commands and Boo's counter-barking talking back at me and bouncing all over the ring. He kept turning around and paying attention to me instead of her.

I then hear something along the lines of, "Rus, what do I do? He won't listen to me and he keeps turning around." I tell her to wave the food under his nose (He's 7 months old and lives to eat), cinch up the collar, and the other usual handler stuff. Our friend Paul is standing right in front of her with his special, and so helpfully chimes in, "Just kick him...he'll pay attention then!" LOL We all start laughing, and Bear promptly parks his rear end right on Sherilyn's shoe.

By this time, as anyone who handles a dog on a regular basis but can remember those terrifying first few trips to the ring, time has seemingly stood positively still for the last month, but you're moving like you're late for work. Thoughts are slow in coming and reactions are very quick. Sherilyn realizes that if she turns Bear around so that he can comfortably see Dad and Boo, that maybe he'll behave. So she executes a gorgeous spin and places Bear facing us at an angle, which beautifully showed off his front. Bear plants his feet perfectly....ears up, neck arched, and all focus is on Dad. She says, "Where's dad?" Yup..it's a winner!! Bear gets picked for Best of Winners, and another handler is born.