Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

On the very first day Lucy was with us..... we had a moment.........it's probably the reason she and Gummie are such good pals.
We all went upstairs..........except Lucy, who was stuck at the bottom, shaking. I don't think she had ever seen stairs before and it was too intimidating for her. Daughter,Leslie, picked her up and carried her........... and we all had some lovey dovey time.
Thinking she would be ok going back down we all headed to the kitchen...... noticed Lucy was missing. She was at the top of the stair........nervous but not shaking.....I tried to talk her through it, but nothing was working. Gummie came bounding up with his exuberant little self.......and I guess he knew just what to do.
He went up to her and they touched noses....then he went down one step, .....turned back to look at her and waited.............she slowly came down one step. He touched her nose again and went down 3 or 4 steps, turned, looked at her and waited. She crept down to him ever so cautiously and then they both started wagging.... big time. It was a piece of cake after that.....and these days she is the quickest up and down.
Good times.
e

Saturday, June 25, 2011

TENNIS, ANYONE?

Lucy is adjusting to life in a home......doesn't sound too hard but think about it ......she has lived her 3 years in a kennel. Guess what she has had the hardest time with..........TV. At first she barked at anything ................then narrowed it to animals and/or people that moved, but after a few days it mostly went away..................yesterday there was no barking at all.
Sometimes when I go downstairs and know I'll only be down there a few minutes I close the boys (and girl) in my bedroom....mainly so that Brogie won't make a useless trip..... they all follow me wherever I go.........and a 12 year old cavalier doesn't need to make 20 trips a day up and down the stairs. So that's what I did this afternoon.
I was probably down there 15 minutes when I heard Lucy and Gummie raising the roof. I found them at the foot of the bed.....eyes glued to the TV...Wimbledon ...ladies tennis match with Serena Williams and somebody. Both ladies GRUNT when they hit the ball........both dogs BARK every time the ladies GRUNT. When the ladies went to their chairs between games..........the dogs laid back down...but as soon as they heard the next grunt they jumped up ......and got right back into the match.
I started to change the channel but decided to let them work this out.......and thankfully, it was near the end of the match, because they did NOT give it up.
Tennis? Who knew!
e

Monday, June 20, 2011

TRUCKLOAD OF CUTE


Sunday morning a big, shiny black truck(one of those with a big backseat and all the goodies of a luxury car) pulled into my front yard. At the wheel, Steve Crumley, and in the passenger seat, Holly Crumley.....and although they are an attractive duo...........it was their cargo that made this a truckload of CUTENESS.
I have never met any of their three sons........but at least one of them must be a handsome dude. Three year old Bailey Crumley and two year old Jackson Crumley were in the backseat in their car seats.......they were at the end of a very long trip and yet...... soooo sweet and happy. Jackson has blond hair and a smile that he flashes at will......it melts your heart. Bailey has that same blond hair and is a talker........love it.......she showed me her freshly painted finger nails AND toe nails.......and said she was ready to go to the beach because she had been in the truck FOREVER.
As if that is not enough cuteness.......there was another passenger........who had, in fact, ridden all the way in Holly's lap.
LUCY is a three year old blenheim who just finished nursing her puppies...........she is a daughter of our beloved BROGIE...............and we are her new foster parents. She pushed the cuteness gauge into redline territory.
Her coat is blown and she's hanging pretty low..........but when you look at her little face......OMG.
She even has freckles on her face just like Brogie. I was immediately smitten (I love that word, my mama used to use it all the time).
We have had three days with her.............so far her favorite is Gummie. Although she is the smallest, I have the feeling she may end up ruling the roost. Only time will tell.....and I plan to enjoy all the time we have with Miss Lucy.
e

Friday, June 17, 2011

SPUNKY

I went out to get the paper early this morning with Gummie leading the way. It was almost dawn but still pretty dark and when I got to the end of the driveway.......all of a sudden ......barking, growling, and all kinds of commotion coming from across the street. Gummie wanted to zip over there but I said no and we started back up the driveway.
Out of the dark a white fluff ball darted in front of us, trailing a lead line and barking like we were mass killers trying to attack his home. Gummie's tail went into propeller mode and I just watched all the fluffiness running circles around us.
In no time I heard shuffling footsteps coming up the drive......the proverbial "little ole lady" said....I don't think he'll hurt you. I said good morning and we had a nice little chitchat.....both dogs sniffed each other and played chase for awhile.
She was visiting her grandson who lives down the street and had arrived last night so this was only SPUNKY'S second walk in the neighborhood and he was a bit nervous, she said. She was such a nice lady and I enjoyed our talk........... it made me think a bit.
Her grandson is at least 50 years old so she is probably in her nineties. She told me she walks SPUNKY 3 or 4 times every day and he is her buddy.
If I am lucky enough to live into my nineties please let me be ambulatory.................. and please let me have a little buddy to walk.
e

Thursday, June 16, 2011

OLLIE

I have a new email friend, "d", who lives out on the west coast and has four beautiful cavaliers, one of each color. How cool is that! She sent me a great little story recently that I would like to share ........hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
e


An interesting story today. We live in a canyon area surrounded by unpopulated hillsides in the northern part of Los Angeles County. Up until this year there were very few wild furry creatures around. There was, however, a large population of coyotes that roamed the area in packs keeping rodents and the like at bay. We could hear howling at night and often saw them roaming the streets just before dawn. With the ever increasing housing developments sprouting up, those coyotes have completely disappeared. Now we have an invasion of jack rabbits, tree rats, raccoons, and opossums. All four Cavs seem quite brave with their barking and noses to the ground, but once confronted with creatures face to face they run for their lives. Jackson and Cooper bark from the door, Savannah will venture out to the yard gates, but little Ollie (Holly's black and tan) takes off for the far reaches of our yard and flushes out four footed invaders. This morning there was more noise than usual. I was at work, but my husband had to call me and recount the story. Ollie cornered the granddaddy of rats. He had it in his mouth shaking it wildly and was headed for the house when Bruce said "leave it". Being the well trained pup he is, he dropped it at Bruce's feet. It didn't move. Bruce touched it with his foot. Since it didn't move and thinking it was dead he picked it up by the 3 foot tail. Suddenly it started twitching and jerking all over the place. It was playing dead, we think. Anyway, Ollie was so proud of himself prancing around. Bruce took it to the trash can with all four dogs now trailing in a single line toward the trash cans feeling brave and adventurous now that the invader was corralled. I guess it is still in that trash can. I am afraid to look!! The exterminator comes tomorrow to do the dirty work. YUCH!!! So much for city life. I think it will be awhile before I let Ollie lick me on the face. Yeah, maybe five more minutes.
d

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

TRAINABLE


When Gummie wants something from me he talks....absolutely talks.........granted, his language is a series of grunts, groans, and whines (can whine be a noun?), but he communicates and has trained me well. Now I pretty much know what he wants by the sound he's making.
Brogie takes a different tack......he either barks at me or puts his paws on me ......and I have to guess, but with him it's usually potty time or lovey dovey time. Doesn't take a brainiac to figure him out.
Zeke is the laid back type......he only gets excited about a few things.............food, car rides, and chasing things that have a heartbeat. He is a patient little guy and only occasionally needs to get my attention...........he just growls and wags his tail, and that usually means he's got to go. About a month ago he started a new thing to get my attention and it's only when I'm sitting on the patio. He'll growl and wag and then sit in front of me.......and stare at me. After a few minutes he'll stand up, growl, wag, and stare at me. He has big eyes and he STARES for what seems like a long time...then he'll repeat the sequence. We're outside so he's free to go poop or pee..........the patio door is open part way so he is free to go inside and if he wants attention he just rubs on my legs .........................so it was a mystery to me as to what he wanted.
I guess I'm a little s l o w .............but I've never had a dog stare at me for that long. He was probably thinking he'd never be able to train me.....but you know what ........I AM TRAINABLE.
Come to find out he wanted to go inside...........but he wanted me to go with him!!!
He does it every day and even though I don't always go in when he wants me to, at least I know what he wants. Before you know it I will be under voice command and able to go outside without my leash on......just like Gummie.
e

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

CLOSE


I love soo many things about the boys and I'm including a picture of one of them........I bought three wonderful and expensive doggie beds........they deserve it. You would think they would love that...............nope, they would rather be scrunched up and uncomfortable as long as they are together. I mean how can you not love it!!!
e