Three Dogs Blog

Usually Nix plays catch only when the border collies are not around.  They are smarter, tougher, and faster than her and she knows it.  But in this case, she gets the ring.

7:0o ish Am

And of course that means it was a three dog night.  But the beasts let me sleep until 5:30 which was kind of them.  Watching three active dogs when you’re by yourself is a bit tough….I don’t recommend it if watching dogs is not your primary planned activity for the day.  I am going to send them downstairs and tell them I’m going to work and hide up in my office.  That should work as along as I don’t move!

At the moment, Sasha is curled beside me, and Nix and Cricket are playing alligator by the bed.  As long as they stay on the floor and the game doesn’t flow up to the mattress and back down, or move to the stairs, I can leave them to it.  Sasha is the quiet one who follows me around so far this weekend.  Although she is herd-mother, and so her back is to me and she is watching the alligators.  In envy?  Before Cricket, she would have been playing with the Nix and now she is somewhat sedentary.  Or, if it’s not that she’s a bit jealous,  is her careful stare designed to protect me?  Who knows, but whatever she is doing, she is doing it with border-collie intensity.

They’ve gone downstairs and are barking at something.  Sash went to go investigate.  I best follow.

9:30 AM

The hang upstairs ruse worked for finishing my story edits for an anthology I hope to be in.  It did not work for a morning nap.  After much whining on the littlest border collie’s part, I drug myself downstairs and let them race up and down the fence line.  This is a dog thing - my old dog, Max, used to do that all day (around a 5 acre fence).   And now I’m back at work, this time on presentation prep.

7:15 PM

Everyone’s fed.  I finished my PowerPoint (endless frustration getting the dumb program to play and embed a YouTube video on three computers, but I prevailed!)  Then playing outside with beasts.  Then I snuck off to go shopping, and made up for abandoning them by bringing some cooked chicken home for their dinner.  Now they are back to being alligators on the stairs.  I can’t figure out how to take all three of them to the dog park, so we may do one at a time walks.

Best go.

8:15

Crickey was scared to death of a loud pile of kids three houses down, but I didn’t lose her.  She almost slipped her collar!  Sasha acted all casual until she got within a few feet of the nice neighbor man we talk to almost daily and then she went barky-mad.  Nix walked about and greeted everyone with her tail up and her head up…looking as pretty as she knows she is.

We love the dog park at Marymoor.  It’s just a walk down the hill for us, so I took a friend and we chatted girl talk all the way — Nix was wonderful.  The picture of her here is the last moment she was dry until we were nearly home.  Since this weekend is slammed, that is my pretend long Sunday walk with her.  I figure she doesn’t know what day it is anyway. 

Since my friend sells network equipment, we had a great time talking about everything from rearing teens to the performance of various CEO’s of hardware companies and my experiences down at the FiRE conference a few weeks ago.  And of course, we also discussed what a lovely dog the Nix is.

Summertime in the NW - and a month early!  Can’t beat that with a stick:>)  We are on countdown here.  Five and a half more days of school!  WhooHoo!!!  Katie has been working double time to finish up year end projects, meet her committments in track and the school musical, and just stay alive.  This collage is a web page from a personal website she’s building as her tech project at school.  There’s a home page, a number of tabs (hobbies, pets, rice, forest ridge, Three Dogs Blog, etc) and this is the entry to the Pets tab.  I think she did a really nice job with it, especially the way that Cricket’s ears fit into the star!

Otherwise, it is HOT.  I mean like 90 degrees and melting hot.  The dogs are panting with no exertion.  All the fans are out and busy moving around hot air.  The plants in the yard and in baskets have just exploded over the last week what with regular watering and the heat.  One has to walk carefully around the house to avoid the bodies sprawled across the cool tile and wood floors.

We’re having the house painted in a couple of weeks which means moving plants and “stuff” away from the house.  We broke down the dog run this weekend but there remains much to shift around.  I am hoping it cools down a bit this weekend so we can muddle through the rest.  And then Katie and I will be off to Kansas for a week.  Brenda to Tennesee to speak at a conference.  And the dogs go to the doggy spa, Cascade Kennel, in Woodinville.  Where they will be wined and dined and played with, have some basic training reinforced, get groomed, and generally have some down time.  Not sure what the Crickster will think about that.  New experience for the pup!

Ah yes, the pup that Cricket is kissing on the top left of the picture is Velo, a Hob Nob cousin:>)

The Crickster was spayed on Wed, May 20th.  Her growth plates are closed but she suffers from two serious ailments - CAL compounded with FAAF.  There is no known treatment and I fear the worst.  Okay - CAL = Cute as Hell and FAAF = Fit as a Fiddle.  She learned after the first night that if she left her belly alone she wouldn’t have to be in the dreaded “Cone”.  She forgot after 24 hours that she had surgery.  Here she is five days out and begging to go back to the AFrame.  Which has been a regular whine since day two.  I resisted setting up the jumps and tunnel in the good weather knowing what the result would be.  A few more days!  In the meantime we’re training on boring things like circle work and control and taking nice walks - all of which are never enough.  The weather is glorious though and much weeding is being accomplished - in spite of the two border collies who insist their assistance is required.

The dogs and I spent a fabulous afternoon with friends in the country yesterday.  It was hot!  We played in the rotating sprinkler and the girls discovered the seasonal pond, much to the dismay of the temporarily displaced ducks.  Wak Wak!  There was much racing about and exploring, chasing of Frisbees, cavorting in the water as the afternoon sun just glistened.  Sigh.  Much happiness and relaxation was had by all.  AND the girls slept like little toasted oats all the way home:)  I imagine they wore out Brawnwyn, their corgi buddy, who is not used to cavorting and running about with the tribe.  She held her own very well, though, and kept everyone in line:>)

There are some pretty strict criteria to get to sleep with the moms.  First, the dog has to be absolutely crate trained and house trained.  Second, the pup must be absolutely trustworthy.  This varies by dog.  Everydog gets night-night snuggles after going night-night potty and being admitted into the inner sanctum.  Pups who have not yet achieved absolute trust status get scooped up and moved to their crates before the lights go out.  It’s a big deal to the pup to get to sleep in the big bed with everybody else!  Little Crick would race up the stairs and dive into the dog bed on the floor at the end of the bed, curl into a ball, and just SQUEEZE her eyes tight.  You could hear her thinking, “oh please oh please don’t notice me so I can sleep outside of my crate with everybody else”.  She had some of the stiffest criteria - must be trusted not to consume the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, must be trusted not to open the dresser drawers and pull out socks and eat them, must be trusted not to sneak into the closet and steal shoes, must be trusted, trusted, tusted.  It is a right of passage.  Each pup comes of age at a different chronology.  Generally between 9 months and a year.  They are all there now and each has her own spot and preferences.  Which will all change as the weather warms - then we’ll be tiptoeing across the floor trying not to step on sprawled bodies in the middle of the night!

 One of the joys of owning a Hob Nob dog (the Crickster) is that she came complete with an entire extended family of Hob Nob border collie owners.  We are spread across the country and to other countries:>)  There is a Yahoo list restricted to HN family in which new and old HNobbers exchange stories, training tips, border collie insights, health information, and celebrate HN accomplishments - of which there are hundreds!  Whether it is Channan and Geri making up half the USA World Team or Kim taking Nationals or herding champions or obedience - every weekend there is a layer of new titles and accomplishments - new learnings as well.  Triumph and struggles are shared and whether your goal is to get a solid recall or housebreak the pup, you are supported with some of the brightest, most accomplished dog trainers and handlers in the world.  When Jan accepts you for a puppy, you are admitted to the list and enter a virtual “waiting room” of others who are desperately waiting to find out which pup will be theirs as we all enjoy the photos and videos as the little monsters mature.  Then the pups go home.  And then the serious questions start to arise!  What should I feed my puppy?  My puppy won’t tug!  My puppy seems afraid of strangers - is that normal?  and so it goes.  Experienced help the inexperienced along the beginning of the ride and through the life and various cycles.  For those with older pups, the questions are more like - “how do I get contacts like Bezel!” and “should I put a line on to start sheep work?”.  Yesterday, a Hob Nobber asked - “Do you let your dogs sleep with you?”  LOL  We had to move from a queen to a king sized bed when Cricket arrived.  And yes, that is a purple-spotted octopus on the bed:>)  And yes, Nixie always thinks she should have the pillows!

The three dogs spent their post-dinner evening cavorting in the backyard.  Much chasing and racing as if they could beat the sun in setting.  I seized one moment and stepped out with the camera to take a shot or two.  Burst mode.  30 seconds later I returned to the house with 66 pictures to sort through.  Sigh.  In the process of downloading the photos, IE crashed again.  Sigh.  I seized the moment and downloaded the 64-bit version of IE 8.0.  All seemed well until I went to adjust my mouse to scroll better as I tried to edit the photos.  The computer would no longer recognize my mouse.  Didn’t see bluetooth.  I was physically pushing the mouse across the pad to try and get it to move.  I seized the moment when Brenda appeared and whined.  She helped.  Downloaded 64-bit drivers for the keyboard and mouse.  At least usable again.  But no scroll.  Two hours ago everything was basically fine if not as stable as I would wish.  Now the environment is marginally fine and feels tenuous at best.  And IE is still crashing.  I hope you like these photos!I, of course, think they are adorable!