Watching Kiera and Graidy playing with each other this morning, I’m more keenly aware than usual of the benefits of having two dogs.
I’ve just come back from a visit to my mother’s. She has one dog, Zoe; a beautiful, 4 yr old German Shepherd, who’s a ball nut.
Because Zoe is a high energy dog, and doesn’t have another dog to help tire her out, she is constantly looking for someone to throw her ball. My mother does her … Read More
Cait and I went Trick-or-Treating with friends last night, and, for the first time in decades, I experienced Halloween as I remembered it as a kid.
For a time, when I was young, we lived in a great neighborhood where everyone knew each other and the kids all played in one big pack. In that neighborhood, Halloween was celebrated with as much fanfare as Christmas. Everyone decorated their houses. Costumes were thought out and planned in advance. Halloween night had … Read More
Like dogs, I find that people fall into two main categories–those who look down and those who look up. By down I mean looking at what’s in front of us–the earthly things. By up I mean looking at what’s up in the sky–the vision of things happening overhead.
Like Graidy, who, as part bird dog, instinctively looks up to find movement (as contrasted by Kiera, my herder, who instinctively looks down and around for movement) I’ve always been drawn to … Read More
How it is possible that I’ve wound up with three very opinionated animals?
Andrew tells me to go look in the mirror.
Ha ha, I tell him in return.
Really, it must be something in the drinking water. Because, truth be told, everyone in this household has something to say.
Graidy, my BC mix, says, while balancing on the back of the couch, circus-dog style, There’s somebody going by out front! Sound the alarm! Where’s Kiera?! Kiera, come on, let’s … Read More
As I try to make my way from one place in the house to another, I now have three animals (instead of the usual two) swirling about my feet. I am reminded of Pig-Pen’s dust clouds (of Charlie Brown fame). Only, while Pig-Pen could move nonchalantly along, unimpeded by his clouds, I must take every step with care so as not to trip over my living eddies.
I’ve learned to shuffle my feet since Finnegan has arrived, because he likes … Read More
When Caitlin was little, she liked using me as her jungle-gym. She still loves to sit on my lap and cuddle, but lately I’ve been telling her she’s getting too big, and the weight of her is starting to hurt my legs. I make her sit next to me instead.
When Kiera was little, she liked to lean against me and use my feet as her personal headrest. As she’s grown, she’s gotten into the habit of lying on my … Read More
One morning, as I watched Kiera and Graidy zooming around the backyard together, it struck me how much of Kiera’s play was really herding behavior. Graidy would float around the yard like a piece of newspaper blowing in the wind– fluttering this way and that, skipping and hopping, twisting and twirling. Kiera would conserve her energy as long as Graidy stayed within a certain range. She’d stay in a semi-crouch position with neck stretched out and down, watching. Once he’d … Read More
