The Doogles - 20/09: Batman and a red Rosette

[Emma & Kay]

Thanks Nezza. I'm glad you like the pictures on mass, because I don't have the willpower to post just the best shots.

Deb, Tizer is tiny...Little appeTizer. I really can't handle him! He's just too small. Kay was raised with two cats. One was born and raised around dogs, and thought he was a dog (he'd meow along to the harmonica when we got Tippi singin'), and would play like a dog. Sadly he passed away a few years ago, when Kay was about 3 months old. Whereas the cat we still have is the 'Top Dog' and all of the dogs, even dogs we're just boarding for a while, know that any wrong move toward the cat is unacceptable.

I think they must know she's blind and more vulnerable, because when she started losing her sight, the dogs all changed their attitude toward her. It was really interesting to see how they changed when she lost her sight. She's used Kayenne as a step to get onto the couch a few times. We try not to let her, because it's not fair for the dogs, but it's the fact she can do it without getting eaten that's the point.

The cats in the street are fair game, and we encourage Kayenne to chase the neighbours' cats when they come into our garden to terrorize our chickens and rabbits. So long as the dogs know that the sheer white cats that paw at the rabbits cages aren't on the same level as the pitch black cat that occasionally uses them as a step to get onto the couch, it's all good.

It snowed yesterday. Of course there are pictures.

Star became a master at camouflage.

Then she flew.

Barney was elated to be let out of the Funny Farm.

And Gizmo is just Gizmo.

Star shook...

Half-way around our walking route, there's a house. The person that lives there has about three dogs. She leaves them to go in and out as they please, and she always has. It's a bit dodgy because they live on a pretty well-used road, and I know there are at least four dog reactive/aggressive dogs that walk the same route I do, but I've never had a big problem with her dogs. They're pretty friendly/well behaved. I dragged one of them out of the road a few years ago... She still doesn't get that it would be her fault if her dog caused a road accident, or hurt someone elses dog, or even got himself hurt by someone elses dog that was leashed...But oh well, really. There's only so many ways you can say "Your dog almost got hit by a car, again."

And now here are just some of the usual pictures. No captions.






Barney and Gizmo don't usually 'play' when we're walking, but they stopped and 'wrestled' for about fifteen minutes.

[kian]

Snow day, how fun! Wonderful pictures, they are so happy. Mine will be just as thrilled when it finally snows here.

I don't get it when people let thier dogs run and not to protect them. The Navajos here have a belief that it is okay to let dogs run and if they get hit, it's because the dog did that on purpose to protect the driver from something bad that is suppose to happen. It frustrates us!! Thank goodness not all of them believe that and have secured thier dogs to protect them.

[BraveTyphlosion]

What I would kill for some nice green grass and not the miserable cold up here where I live right now xD I bet your Dobie loves the climate up there :3 Poor Teddy doesn't like the cold and makes his "feel sorry for me" sheep sound when I take him for a walk. I even put two coats on him at the same time but he doesn't understand that stopping and sitting down in the snow will not make him any warmer.

The ear flop is very sweet, Teddys ears do that aaaallll the time. Sometimes he has both ears flopped over like that. Kay is sooooo gorgeous I just want to give her kisses on her big dobie head.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Emma, I've taken far too long to view your lovely new photos! I loved them all. You do capture some great, candid shots of them at play. The running ones were adorable.

You have more snow there than we have here!!! However, as I say that, a huge storm is approaching and it shouldn't be that way much longer. Do you even still have the snow?

The dogs love the snow!!! Oliver is always so excited with the first "real" snow of the season. We've had it in fits and starts, but nothing that lasts yet, thank goodness.

I also enjoying hearing about the Cat. It's funny how they know which Cat is alright, and which isn't. I'm sure if my dogs had been raised around cats, they would have been fine with them, except Emma perhaps. She didn't even like JRT's.

Lastly, I didn't know you had "appeTIZERs" in the UK as you didn't really when I was there last...so I assumed his name was after the beverage. I learn all about the new British culture through Corrie Street.

[Emma & Kay]

I've been (barely) lurking again... 2013 is proving to be a busy year! I hope you're all well.

Seeing as I have no status update on the doggies, here are a few photos from earlier this week. We had a lot of snow this year, and it left my area on Saturday night, just before it got really annoying, after we got some heaven rain.

[Emma & Kay]

Boy, the Daily Puppy sure has been quiet this year.

I still check out the front page regularly, but the forums got pushed to the back for a while, and I just wanted to pop in and say "hey". I don't really have anything to say about the "dogs that aren't Kay". My sister is planning to move away to a farm on an apprenticeship for a year, which means Tizer and Tiffany will be going.

The rest of the doglets are doing great. Star's had an ongoing issue with one of her front claws, but it was solved when she RIPPED IT OUT while on a walk. I was cringing for the entire walk, and she didn't even flinch when it happened.

Kay's 31 months old now. She's grown up so nicely. I'm so proud of her as an individual dog. I brought Tippi and Star up well, but Kay was so much harder, and I had so many different problem behaviours popping up with her that I didn't think I'd be able to get her to a comfortable point, and it's been smooth sailing from my "epiphany moment" in January (2013), to now. Working line dogs are definitely harder, but maybe more rewarding in accomplishment's sense.

When I got her, I said I wanted a challenging dog, and that's what I got. She's fantastic; I'm so, so proud of her. I've never done so much with a dog before. Kay's just got so much drive. It would have been a crime if I'd stuck with the basics.











(That is what happens when I try to edit, heh.)


We've kept up the obedience and taken it to other levels. I don't know if it's worth trying to get her CGC (CGN) certified or not. Another thing we both enjoy is trick training. She's got so many pointless tricks under her collar now. Her true calling is obedience, though. It's a shame there are no Schutzhund clubs in the area, or even decent obedience clubs that we could attend.

I hope you're all well and having a good year. It's gone so quickly!