Phoebe's Surprise

The other day, I took advantage of the nice weather and did some outside chores.  It was also a good day for the dogs to play outside.  I spent a bit of time working around the big play yard where we mutually enjoyed each other's company.
  Phoebe has always been a bit of a diva, not joining in with the pack when they are let out to play.  Now that she is a senior, she is a bit more aloof, avoiding the rough housing and mad racing about the yard.  She also likes to sleep more, finding quiet corners for her naps.
  I was installing an additional bolt on the big, wooden doors of the play yard.  All the dogs, except Phoebe, were watching me, jockeying for better positions near the wire fencing.  Phoebe was sleeping, very hard, outstretched in a shady corner away from us.  As I was finishing up with the bolt, I heard a "fwop, fwop, fwop".  Looking up, I saw a huge black vulture rising up from the ground, near where Phoebe was asleep. It must have thought Phoebe was a potential meal!  The noise of the vulture taking flight woke Phoebe up, and she had the most surprised look on her face when she saw the big bird!  One of those times I wished I had a camera!

An Afternoon Out for Treasure

  Treasure has been entered in her first show.  She's been a homebody for a few weeks so we thought it would be good for her to meet new people and experience new things before the show.  We took her to Casanel Vineyards for a fun, relaxing afternoon.  Treasure met lots of new people, a couple of other dogs and had a snack of bread crusts and cheese rinds.  She even seemed to enjoy the musician that was playing when we first arrived!

Relaxing on the Patio

Hoping there is something left to share!

Walking home

Too Smart!

  September was a very busy month for us, with all the preparations for our son's wedding.   The blog has been neglected and the dogs must have felt very neglected!  With wedding showers, rehearsal dinner plans and many, many days of rain, the collies had to spend much of the month in the kennel, with few opportunities to play in the big yards.
  Bijou especially wanted to do something different and took advantage of my distracted mind the day of the rehearsal dinner.  I forgot to lock her gate after breakfast and as is her habit, she tried the latch late in the day.  I heard quite a bit of barking but thought the dogs were upset with the squirrels, which are coming into the kennels now to get the fallen black walnuts.  Lauren was in "tattling" mode as I took the stack of dinner bowls out.  I didn't pay much attention to her, as, like usual, I was on a tight schedule and had just enough time to feed the dogs and get ready for dinner.  When I tried to open the kennel door, two things quickly registered--Bijou and Gemma were staring at me through the glass and the door was locked!  When they jumped up to grab the supply of poop bags--which were shredded and thrown about--they must have hit the door knob and turned it into the locking position.  The back door won't stay closed on windy days and I usually use the dead bolt on it.  Just to be sure, I ran around the kennel and tried the door--yep, it was locked, too.  No choice but to put the bowls down and  crawl through one of the dogs' kennel doors.  I thought Phoebe and Claire would be the least likely to hassle me as I tried this, but just to be sure, I gave them their dinners.  The other 9 pairs of eyes looking at me as I crawled through the door was a mix of surprise and delight.  The younger ones thought this was a great new game and looked at their doors, as if someone would be crawling into their kennels, too!
  The unexpected change in their routine didn't damper their appetites and once Bijou and Gemma were back in their kennel and everyone fed, I quickly got back to mother of the groom mode.  I had a funny story to tell at the wonderful rehearsal dinner and beautiful wedding!