An Intro

No, I didn’t get another dog. I need another dog like I need another dog.

The term “the girls” can now encompass the additional 2 girls. Well, I suppose since we moved in here, we are the additional girls, but you get the drift. Yes, that’s right. We are 4 bitch household. You know what they say, never get 2 girls. As you have seen, my two get on horribly.

What horrors await when you square 2 bitches?

Lots of space issues


Really. They hate each other.


Myka is under constant stress


Spice now has an ulcer


Kate wants to run away


Bella want to see a therapist


They are miserable - see?

Every. Single. Time.

I don’t know why Bella does this at all, let alone every time she is in a body of water. She does not drink like a normal dog. She scoops while she’s laying down. Like a fishing pelican.

That leads to the tickle in the back of the throat.


Which leads to the choke whince


Which leads to the Hail Mary inhale


Which leads to…..GAAACCKK!


Every…


…time


What gives? This is a smart dog we’re talking about here. I mean, Kate I could see, but Belly? Weird.

You’re totally blogging this, aren’t you?


Yes, dear dog. Yes, I am.

Mr. Perfect

Yes, I said “Mr.”

‘Cause the Miss was not perfect this weekend. No special ribbon for her. Only 7 out of 8 Q’s. My 88th percentile dog. Thinking perhaps time to rehome.

I kid, of course. Kinda. Little bit.

Mr. Rumili had an A+ weekend. All Q’s. A smattering of good placements, too, if I recall correctly.


Oh sure, he’s an Aussie, but he’s A Good Boy Aussie. Not Crazy Barking Aussie. Not Scruff Grabbing Aussie that pisses off Belly. Really great weaves, too. Better than Belly. Thinking Rumili may be BC with unfortunate tail accident.


Such Mad Skillz that he uses judge as obstacle


No girl pictures this weeknd. I think there are some to buy, so maybe Belly In Action in a few days.

Kate is really super tired of agility talk.


Really over it


I had a talk with Bellicious about her sucky weaves and A-frame rest stop. She very intently watched the fan behind me. Don’t think she was listening.

Bella v. Squirrel

Rainy day at ghetto DP means no running, no ball throwing. No running, no ball leaves ample time to, you know, act like a dog. The squirrels at said DP, however, do not act like squirrels. They have grown up surrounded by dogs that are surrounded by fences. They don’t run. They spectate.

Bella tries to spectate, too. Beat them at their own game.


See the lump on the rock – upper left-hand corner? Yeah? Bella sees too.


She really tries to keep it together. Show him he’s not the boss of her…


Doesn’t last, though


Hard to keep your cool while being taunted by food stuffs


Why isn’t this working? You think you could you put down the camera and come throw me over the fence?


Kate, in perfect Kate fashion, noticed a dead squirrel on the other side of the fence


I didn’t have the heart to tell her


Not one of the four times she noticed it, stalked it, got bored, walked away, noticed it again…


What she lacks in brainpower, she makes up with cute


There was a guy running with a bird dog of some type. His dog snagged the deal squirrel on the trail that Kate had been stalking. He stopped in a panic when he realized what was in his dogs mouth. Although, you could hear the pride in his voice when put it together. “You got him, boy, didn’t you?” HAHA. Yeah, headline, GREAT HUNTER CATCHES DEAD RODENT. You totally know he told all his friends about it, too.

Hey, at least I don’t do dumb.

No Interwebs Sucks!

Sorry, folks. We have been out and about, but I have been lazy about pic taking. Not lazy so much, but not feeling the worth considering I have no internet at home yet. No webs, no posties. But today, I am at former house baby sitting repair guy here to fix the dry wall the movers jacked up. So, Yay! For webs and cable TV!

We have a new-new DP now as the old new one is being worked on. (Of course, 4 days after we move, they split it in half…*sigh*)



Bella is obviously out of practice with the posing


Not helping at all


And when I get a cute shot, we have random eye boogers…!


Kate is enjoying the footing. Although, still healing after an old DP trip


She is also not quite used to polite dogs. Not trusting that the Lab chasing her own ball is not out to get her. Haha


Funny how when you want to be ignored and you are it is just as uncomfortable as not being ignored.

Kate logic.

Packing Break

It is really nice to have time to move. To not have to pick up everything you own in one day. However, it also feels like I have been carrying stuff for a month. I am ready for it to be done. I’m sure they are too.

So, yesterday I took a break from all the packing, lifting, shuffling of goods to actually run the girls. I think they have been wondering what the hell they did to deserve the copious amounts of neighborhood walks and severe lack of ball throwing of late.

Kate was on a roll. Lots of actual ball getting yesterday.


Not bad for the girl who is referred to by other park goers as The One Who Never Gets The Ball


Some People just shorten it to The One Who Misses


I suppose, if I’m being honest, they do have a point


Then I yelled at Bella for something. Remember Bella?


And Kate thought she was in trouble. If you ever want to learn about dog body language and calming signals you only need spend and hour or so with Miss Kate.

She put herself in a time out. Which is weird because I am so not a time out person.


Then she sits there looking at me waiting for me to undo what I never did in the first place

Can I go now?


Yes, off with yourself. Go stalk squirrels.


It’s a shame that the only time she looks remotely Border Collie-ish is when she hunting. Boo for sheep-loser dogs!

She is a pretty little thing, though, right?


And totally unrelated to Kate punishing herself…

This pic sums them up so well. Bella is firmly planted and still. Kate is on her tippy-toes ever so slightly leaning, leaning, leaning. I bet if I waited long enough she would just fall over.


The end!

New Running Digs

Took a drive over Sunday morning to check out what will be our new regular dog park in 2 weeks. I am thrilled to report that there will be no more iDirt! Woot! I’m sure Kate’s feeties are thrilled as well.

The new park is the faux grass, but not the longer kind that’s supposed to look like a lawn. It’s shorter, like, sports turf stuff. Not crazy slippery like the longer stuff. Looks like green carpet.

Kate was loving the cush


Good gripping


Squishy toes


Much softer landings


Bell was digging the feel so much she couldn’t keep her eyes open

All in all, a successful reconnaissance mission. Nice park. Good group of dogs. Bit of a relief, actually. Testing dog parks is like testing hairdressers. There never seems to be any in-between, right?

Although, I have to tell you, it will be tough to look at this surface everyday and resist the urge to bring a vacuum cleaner!


And, we will bid a fond farewell to Fashion Feets!

Bella's BFF

Bella generally doesn't care about other dogs. If she's not busy, she'll say Hi, do the obligatory butt sniffing, etc., but it usually ends there. If she is "on the clock" she will completely ignore other dogs. Unless that other dog is Max.

This is Max.

The girls have known him since he was a pup. Originally from a BYB, the first owners brought him to Now Owners DIL's work looking to find him another home. Now Owner was told there was a 10 month old collie looking for a place to hang his hat. Make that a 10 week old Border Collie and HolyCrapWhatHaveWeGottenInto! But, they do find a way to worm themselves into your heart. You can't help being impressed with these dogs. You thought you wanted a relaxed dog to stroll around the block with and now you find yourself standing out in the rain for 2 hours throwing a ball and discussing when would be a good time to add another Border Collie to your house. :-)

Poor Max has been struggling with some dermatological issues. About 6 months ago he was nearly all bald. Even though he is on the mend, he still looks pretty silly. The patch of hair making the quickest recovery is the it on his shoulders. He looks like someone taped a toupee on his back.

Border Collie stare not so effective when you look like a Muppet.

From a distance he can pull off the I'm Just A Smooth Coated Dog thing

But the tail and pathetic bum feathers give it away

Everyone that has met Bella and Kate in person after knowing them only online always comment that they thought they would be much bigger. I now have proof of their wee-ness.

Haha! I don't call him Ginormous for nothin'!

Brown In Black And White

Bella totally should have been an actress. Her range, considering her having the mental capacity of a toddler, is pretty impressive.

The Annoyed Neighbor


The Writer Who Never Actually Writes, Just Thinks About Writing


The Vixen. Or, perhaps at her age…Cougar


The Mall Cop


She can pine


Handle dialog


Argue


And Kick Ass


Kate? Not so much. Just three roles for her.

Paranoid Schizophrenic


Blind Dog


Amish Dog Whose Soul Has Just Been Stolen By Camera

Mummy Feets, It Is

I have decided to go the vet wrap route for now. We have done this before and it works well provided I wrap well. We will be moving in a few weeks and our current DP, complete with feet destroying gravel, will no longer be our regular stop. Our new DP comes with fake grass. Looks great, but I am thinking future posts may be about elbow surgery rather than sore feeties – that stuff can be slippery!

So, Kate has been sporting her Mummy Feets


They make her float


And do weird things with her face


But, at least I don’t have to do that panic face where you pull the corners of your mouth back, clench your teeth and inhale sharply every time she does this…

Still Alive!

We're still here. Still alive. Last week was not our greatest. Bella split a nail, Kate shredded her feeties again, and I had a cold from hell. I was not really in the mood to tote camera around with head full of snot to photograph two gimpy dogs. And now that we are all on the mend, it's like 500° outside. Went to the DP on Tuesday. So hot we were the only fools there. I thought I would try just using the little bucket as the large bucket requires hosing off when we get home and I was trying to avoid having to lean over. It's not cool when it feels like your brain is trying to escape through your nasal passages. The girls weren't buying it



Not so refreshing



Calling me names, I think



So, like all good dog parents, I ignored them. Let them get their run on for a bit. Perhaps they'll forget that they're melting

And, BTW, I love Kate's face here. it kills me that she looks so relaxed and casual. Like she didn't just fling herself in the air at a totally inappropriate time. Haha

Oh, look at that, the ball is way over there. Huh




Close your mouth, Kate!




However, when they started looking all parched and disheveled...



…and I was getting weird looks from the passer-by normal people that just walk their dogs in the shade when it's 500° I decided to bust out the Big Tub

Wet dog = Happy dog


Really happy dog


Like best-day-of-my-life-I'm-never-leaving-this-tub happy

And, does anyone have any suggestions for Kate's feeties? I swear her pads are like toilet paper. We seem to go through this every year when it starts getting warm. Which means they are, more often than not, wet. Boots either don't stay on or end up rubbing the crap out of some other part of her foot. She is just such a hard runner. Sigh.

More Props To The East Bay!

The South Bay (where San Jose is located for you not-so-local types) is so not dog friendly. In order to run your dogs on grass instead of a gravel dog park, you must be willing to break the law. One must resort to school yards, abandoned housing, city or county owned land that has little traffic and the occasional office park on a weekend.

Not the East Bay. They love dogs. They allow off leash fun in damn-near every regional park. If the path is not paved, pups need not be shackled. Today we headed to the Sunol Regional Wilderness. Total Sound of Music backdrop. It was fantastical.

Sunny and 68°.

A cute little brook. Totally babbling, too, BTW.

And Bella's most favorite thing on the planet

Well, OK, it's not so much the cow, but what comes out of the cow. And this I have to share water with?!

Is this not a look of total content?

Little Miss Shit Lips.

For those of you that know her IRL, keep this post in mind next time she's licking your face.

Once they got their first serving of Field Fudge, I was totally out of the picture for them. The hunt was on.

Do you have any over there? I got nothing over here.

Look at how polite Bell is. Nicely waiting her turn.

Hmm, did Bella find poop over there?

I'm on a hill and I found some poop. I love today!And lastly, Bella On Rock. 'Cause, if you ignore me because you are overtaken with excrement excitement I make you stand on things. That's just the way it works.

Kate As A Dog

These are not spectacular photos. Nothing to write home about. I do love them, though, as they are those rare occasions when I happen to catch Kate just being. Not worrying, not anticipating, not waiting, not expecting. Just being. Being a relaxed normal dog.

Her soft little eyes

Her pointy satisfaction

Attentive, but not manically so

She often looks a little coyote-ish when in a normal mood
Bella has her Wild Thing moments, too, but they are completely softened by the fact that she looks edible. My little chocolate bunny. Could you not just totally bite her head off?

I do have to cherish these times rather quickly, though, 'cause, you know, right around the corner...

Some Salad

Kate, stop eating the grass

Kate! Knock it off

KATE! WTH?!

Why are you yelling at me, Lady?

I think I'll try shunning you. Here I go. Shun.

Kate, don't be silly. Don't make me use The Word.

Fine.

Kitties!

Emoticons By Bella

:-O

:-)

:@

>:-(

:-{

:-|

:-(
:-P