This must have been Barclay’s idea of a perfect morning. First off there was snow…
And then he chased Alki a bit, which annoys her plenty…
Then he found a fresh molehill to dig up.
Then he snuck into the pen and chased the goats and tried to get Houdini to play. Then he chased the rooster. Then I took him inside and he sat next to me on the couch and laid his head on my chest and fell asleep. It’s that last part that always makes me forgive all the other stuff 🙂
Isn’t that how it is? You’re minding your own business, feel a big yawn coming on, then some idiot comes along and snaps your picture – mid yawn, eyes closed. Oh well, I hate the way I look in pictures too! (that’s Alki, BTW – her choppers aren’t as white as they used to be)
Here’s a funny chicken story for today – wish I had got pictures. Barclay went outside and the chickens were in the yard, so I watched him from the window, hoping he wouldn’t chase them. Instead he came up to one of the friendlier hens, got nose to nose with her, then barked and turned around and stuck his wagging tail in her face, wanting her to chase him and play with him – man that boy needs another puppy to play with!! The chicken didn’t know what to do! You should have seen the shocked look on her face!
Yesterday Barclay went to the indoor dog park in Hazel Dell. He has a great time there playing with the boston terriers, and there was a beagle/terrier mix there that he got on great with. A shepherd and a pit bull showed up just before we left, and the shepherd fussed at him a little, and he didn’t know how to take it, it kind of shut him down. But it was time to go anyway. I’m sure he’ll have forgotten it next time we go. He loves playing with the other dogs. It’s great to watch him just being a dog!
Then this morning (after the chicken incident) we went to a herding lesson. At first he kept wanting to bite the sheep on the back legs, and the teacher was joking maybe he needed to work cows! He was a white heeler, instead of a blue heeler 🙂 But then she got a little more action with the rake and he started to get it. I think he did really good for having had a month off thanks to the weather and then the holiday. And he always has so much fun doing it, and then sleeps the rest of the day!
The best part of today was when he wandered into the chicken pen and Dave called him from the backdoor, and Barclay came running! Then at herding practice I called him away from the sheep and he dropped what he was doing and came running. Then he did it again this afternoon when Dave called him into the house! We taught him to come as a puppy, then he ‘forgot how’ as an independant teenager, but now it’s finally coming back to him. Nothing in the world feels as good as calling your dog and seeing him running towards you!
Rain, rain…mud, mud…dig, dig…happy happy!We are near the bottom of a hill, and the water from above us drains down into our pasture. I don’t mind, it’s important for the water to have someplace to go, especially with so many wetlands being destroyed.
And it provides habitat for visitors like this – a flock of canada geese who dropped by to enjoy the field. They fly over every day. There is a pond to the south east, and another to the north west, so we are in the flight path morning and evening, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen them stop.
When I was little I loved my Grandma’s wind up polar bear. I was only allowed to play with him gently, under supervision, and he was pretty threadbare back then even. A few years ago when my aunt passed away, we were cleaning up the house and discovered the polar bear still in Grandma’s dresser drawer where she had always kept it. No one had moved anything since she passed away almost 20 years before! I took him home and put him on a shelf in the front room
Yesterday Barclay had been naughty and running around the loveseat to hide from us, so I pushed the loveseat up against the shelves so he couldn’t get behind it. Later he noticed he could climb on the loveseat and reach the shelves, and the first thing he picked was the bear!
I’ll be so glad when Barclay gets done with his destructive-puppy phase.
Caught Alki and Barclay taking a nap on the couch. It’s not odd to have dogs on the couch, but it is odd to see them sharing it 🙂 That’s Barclay closest to the camera, and Alki farther back.
Alki might be almost 14, but she’s still got some play in her. She likes to play footsie, where you try to grab her front feet and she bounces away then comes back for more, then she gets a good scratch 🙂
Steff Does Stuff! 