Tuesday - Visitors

 Before people are on us for breaking Covid rules and having peeps over, we would like to say, we have been self-isolating for 2 weeks with only a few trips out for necessities so we could see people. (Now that this is over, Lady is back to 2 days a week at work). On Saturday, Grammie and the Big Guy came over for lunch. Grammie is one of our very favourite people so we went crazy.

Then on Sunday, even though we are entered a red zone (meaning things are locking down again and we aren't to have visitors), Uncle Chris and Emma came. We were not breaking the rules because people who live alone are able to have one house they bubble with, and we are it.

It was nice to have people over as it may be Christmas before we can all take the precautions needed to get together safely. 

 

Mischief Monday - Invasion of Rugrats - by Lee

It was a crazy weekend at our house. For about 24 hours we had 2 human children here. Our human cousins, Maggie (aged 5) and Troy (aged 3). Having kids over is exhausting.

I use to be very, very afraid of kids would and I would bark for hours if one was in my house. But as I mellow or get use to them or the drugs work, I am far more tolerant. The kids will say I bark all the time, but I hardly barked at all. I barked like 3 times. Now the kids on the other hand, they were fearful of us. They have cats. They don't spend a lot of time with big dogs. They do not like barking. It makes them cry. Which may at times result in more barking.

Also, Uncle Chris and cousin Emma came over for most of the time, so it was a full house. Lady says she meant to get more pictures, but it was just too busy. She says kids keep you very busy, especially when you are not use to them.

Phod enjoyed watching them dance to the TV. Earlier in the day, I enjoyed sharing popcorn with them.

Because Uncle Chris was also over, the kids slept on a mattress in my room. There is no photographic evidence, but I did sleep in bed with them. Man noticed in the wee hours of the morning and woke up Lady to tell her. (She was thrilled about that . . . not!)

In the morning, the kids were afraid I was going to bark and thought my yawn was too loud. I only started to bark when they covered their years and whined. I thought they wanted to play. 

At any rate, I was an angel this weekend, and all the mischief was caused by the rug rats. I really want to love them more and I hope as they get a little older they will be less fearful of me.

The thrilled for once the mischief wasn't mine Hailey Bug

Mischief Monday - Life with 4 dogs

The team (aka Tendra and Barley) left Saturday morning. This means for a whole week, 4 big dogs lived in our house. It went really well, with only a little mischief (besides the Lady not taking enough pictures lol!)

Mischief 1:

Grammie trusted Lee outside on her tie up, not tied to anything. Lee was very good fro the first bit and then she ran over to the neighbours and tried to hide beside their garage. Apparently she can't hear her Grammie calling her name, even when Grammie is 1 foot away from her!

Mischief 2:

Barley's history with cats is unknown. He is very interested in the cats but in a gentle way. This would be fine except once he gets interested, the 2 female dogs get interested and the energy became a little aggressive and the pups start getting a little rough. Given that the cats are 19 and not as fast as they use to, we decide to keep the cats locked up in the laundry room. The cats were fine (although when the team left Saturday did walk around and meow for an hour, and joined us in bed the first night).

Mischief 3:

When Grammie came back from spending a couple days with Aunt C and Maggie, Hailey became very possessive of her. She didn't want Tendra or Barley to go near her. Of course, they were over the moon to see her and very excited. This led to a not very relaxing Friday evening:)

Why did 4 big dogs do so well?

1) We have a lot of space (about 4200 square feet) so everyone has space.

2) Exercise - Lee and Phod got their daily walks and outings, plus, the Big Guy (aka my dad) was home most of the days and took the pups out (Lee on leash or tied up) to play ball 3-5 times a day. Therefore they were always tired.

It is a good thing that it went so well, because I think now that Maggie is around, we are going to see a lot more of the team! And I will try and take more pictures next time!

A busy weekend

I had a very busy weekend.

Friday, I stayed in town late to go out with a friend. I got home around 10:30 pm.

Saturday morning I got up around 7. The dogs and I went for a walk (even with only one hand, I have figured out how to walk them both, we have a coupler so I can have them on one leash). We got groceries and then around 11 left to go to town. See my dad (aka the Big Guy) was in town so the plan was lunch, the afternoon at the War Museum and dinner. Then the Man headed home and I stayed in town to have hang out time with my sister (aka Aunt C). On Sunday we all headed back to our place to have a birthday lunch for Auntie K. 

As it has been winter, we haven't had too many visitors to our house. Hailey did ok. She was very, very excited at first. She jumped up a little much (Aunt C got a scratch) but with some help of a puzzle toy she settled down.

Phod, was a little excited, but was mostly just thrilled with all the pets he was getting.

As people have been asking about my arm, it is getting better. Every day is better. I can do more and more without pain. The biggest challenge remains things with weight. Carrying heavy things, lifting heavy things, remains a challenge. I am just glad how fast it is healing. I was very concerned that this could be a long recovery. 

Let's Play Ball

First, today we say goodbye to Tendra and Barley. We had a great Thanksgiving, with very little mischief, some play and for the most part 4 good dogs.

One of the thing 3/4 of the dogs love to do is play fetch. So everyday, and sometimes 2 times a day, we went out front to play. Here are just a few of the 87 million pictures I took!

Tendra

Tendra

Barley with ball 1, Zaphod with ball 2 and Tendra running to see if one of the boys will drop the ball

Phod after his ball and Tendra and Barley bring theirs back (they have learned to share)

Tendra with the ball, Barley coming up behind

Barley with a Tendra tail photo bomb! 

Barley, faster than the speed of ball! 

Barley

Tendra

Phod

We always ended with 3 very tired dogs!

Where was Hailey during all this fun? Come back Saturday and we will tell you!

Black and Brown Sunday

We have had a lot of fun playing together - it has been hard for Lady to get some pictures, but here are a few.

The black dogs are the girls - Hailey and Tendra is the lab
The brown dogs are the boys - Zaphod and Barley is the lab

Wrestling

Boy play time

Tendra supervising the play

Phod watching everyone wait for treats

Phod sunk under the table to get the treats! 

Drop by tomorrow to find out about some of the mischief we caused!

Quick Update

I get an F for pictures but will try and get some today or tomorrow.
Overall things are going great with the company! 4 dogs are a lot - it is not quiet and relaxing!
The cats need to be kept in the laundry room as if they run or move, 4 dogs chase them.
Phod has actually shown a little food aggression with Barley (another male).
I think everyone is having fun (except the cats).
I do hope they will be tired enough to sleep tonight (Lee was restless last night knowing there were dogs somewhere in her house she couldn't see).

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

A letter to our guests - by Lee and Phod

Editor's note: It is Thanksgiving in Canada this coming weekend and Grammie, the Big Guy and their 2 labs are joining us for the weekend. Should be fun!

Dear Tendra and Barley,

We are excited about your upcoming visit. Phod looks forward to meeting Tendra and we look forward to playing with Barley again.

We thought it may be helpful to send you a letter to help you prepare.

The rules in our house

Barley

We have to say we are pretty luck and Lady doesn't have too many stupid rules. We are allowed on the furniture. We are allowed to take things from the counter (the kinda yell but they don't mean it). We are allowed to chase the wildlife outside.
There are only really 2 things we can't do:
1) pee and poo on the floor. That really makes Lady mad.
2) Chase or play rough with the cats; Lady doesn't seem to understand that the cats want us to play and chase them. She gets very mad when we do this and their are consequences for it, like going into solitary.

What to pack:
Lady says we have to try and share with you. We hear Barley is really good at destroying things, so we will be putting our special things away. This is what we think you should bring:
-your kongs - we only have 2 and sharing those will be hard
-Bar's blanket. We don't really have an extra blankey he can use.
-lots and lots of rawhide treats. We know you get them everyday. We don't have any, so we think you should bring lots and share with us.
-your food dishes - we don't have extra lab sized bowls.
-your food. Lady says we don't want dogs with upset stomaches from a new food. We think that can be fun.
-your leashes. Maybe we can go on some fun walks or go to the beach.

The itinerary:
You can't live with our Lady and not feel the need to make plans.
This is what we have planned, but being far more flexible than our Lady are open to suggestions.
Thursday evening: Dinner, drinks and play
Friday - breakfast, walk, maybe a swim if the weather allows (our Lady loves wet dogs in the house), play, nap, play, nap, dinner, play, nap

Tendra

Saturday - see Friday
Sunday - see Friday
Monday - breakfast, a last play before we say goodbye.

We look forward to seeing you and wish you a safe journey.

Love
Hailey Bug and Phoderick Von Lickdenstein (aka Zaphod Bebblebrox)

A New Friend

Phod and Bar playing

The Big guy and one of his dogs came to pick up Grammie on Monday. (The Big Guy thought being alone in the car for 700 km with the 2 labs may be a little much). He brought Barley with him.

None of us had ever met Barley before. He went to live with Grammie and the Big Guy in the summer. He is a rescued Lab (he is the product of a divorce). He is 4 years old and is easy going and cool like Phod.

Phod and Bar had a great time playing.  It was very interesting to see our usually submissive dog Phod, holding his own with Bar. When Bar tried to get on the couch, he blocked him. Not so much in an aggressive way but more in a this is my house, I am above you in the pack. Really the 2 boys had no serious issues, and they played amazingly well.

Lee sulking

The cats spent the night in the laundry room as Bar is working on getting along with cats!

As for Hailey Bug, she spent the evening sulking. She was mad that another dog was in the house and that Grammie wasn't giving her all the love.

We hope Bar and the other lab Tendra can come and visit again soon! [Maybe with 4 no one will feel left out!]

Company - by Lee

2 big guys lovin'

My Lady says she was a bad blogger over the weekend cause we had our first over night house guests out here in Paradise. Her parents, also known as Grammie and the Big Guy came for a visit. I was so excited to see my Grammie. She is one of my very favourite people in the world. I just love to jump and climb on her.  I love the Big Guy too.

They had never met Zaphod, and I am a little put out that they said they wanted to take him home with them. Actually when I have had some of my misadventures, my Grammie has always thought my Lady may drive me to her house and leave me there. I don't think I would be any more relaxed there.

Me snuggling with Grammie

Big Guy and Phod played so much ball, that he threw up, so at least he wasn't perfect.

My extended pack got to see me truly anxious for the first time. Grammie said it broke her heart. We had rain on Friday night and some fireworks on Saturday. I had to wear my thunder shirt. It was horrible. Before the fireworks on Saturday we all had a snuggle on the couch. 4 adults, the 2 dogs and Nin and Baggy.

The Big Guy said next time they come they may bring their dogs, Tendra who I love and Barley who I have never met. They are big fun labs. This house and lot is big enough for 4 big dogs. My lady's city house was not. It wasn't big enough for 2 big dogs. That will be fun.

It was nice to have my pack visit.

So I am sorry we didn't get to blog over the weekend and my Lady says to tell you there won't be a blog on Thursday and Friday as she is away for training. She is sad about missing our lives, but says things will quiet down come October and we will get lots of love and snuggles.