Four Parts Salt, One Part Pepper, Five Excited Dogs

You will have to excuse us down here in South Florida.   We may be a little cranky.   If so, it's because we may have a little extra moss growing on our North Sides.  It's been a long weekend, if not a solid week of some very heavy rains that got in the way of our usual outdoor plans.

When your house has "outdoor rooms" you get a little claustrophobic when you can't use them.

The rains would let up just long enough to get out, inspect things, pick up others, and get back under cover before the next rain would start. 

Even the Dog Walk Hour would get truncated to fit between thunderstorms and general weather yuck.  When it would let up, I'd grab my nearest computer and check radar.   If there was a gap coming up within the next half hour, I'd be making my plans to run out the door with Rack the Dog in tow and do a quick lap around town.

I know I wasn't the only one doing that because the neighborhood was chock full of people who I know by the dogs being walked first. 

Rounding the corner, I spotted the twin white German Shepherd Dogs, and the couple walking them.  Being abysmal with names, I didn't know them that well, but I do know the dogs, and they did like Rack.  Rack spotted them and began pretending he was a Kangaroo. 

Leaping into the air and yipping with joy, my black and white puppy was shoulder high with excitement.

We all met up at the corner, two white German Shepherds, my black and white McNab, and paws and puppy play all around.  Rack making a racket, yipping, the German Shepherds rolling in the wet grass and reaching out with paw to play.  

A pause in the action happened when Rack spotted The Girls.   The Girls are sister Samoyeds, giant puffs of white fur, just past puppy-hood themselves.  I knew at this point it was going to be chaos.

The Girls, since that is how the neighborhood seems to refer to them, were straining at the leash to get to the party, Rack wagging his black and white tail and slapping the two German Shepherds in the face with it.  

I made sure there was a strong grip on the leash, the German Shepherds' owners were laughing at the scene as their two dogs stood up.

At that point it was a bit of a blur.  Four large white dogs were wrestling on the ground, leashes tangling, with my own black and white Rack weaving among the pile.   It looked like someone tossed a bit of pepper with the salt, a giant pile of canine excitement.   Any hope of control that the humans had at that point went right out the window, and there was puppy joy for all, even those dogs who were past that sort of thing themselves.

Four female dogs, and my male rumbling around in the grass, you know there was going to be a favorite somewhere.   Fiona, the Samoyed and Rack the McNab were the couple.  The German Shepherds realized they were the odd dogs out and slowly unraveled themselves from the writhing mass of fur, owners backing off and saying it was time to look into dinner.

Rack was climbing on top of Fiona who was laying flat on the ground.   Happy sounds muffled by Fiona's paw in his mouth, Rack was using this much larger dog as a chew toy while sister Olivia was howling in amusement.

Long lost furry friends, out on a grey evening between passing showers, greeting each other in a pile.

Just as with children, the excitement peaks then wanes.   Something was on the air and all the dogs sensed it.   Their owner, Jim took this as an excuse to say his goodbyes, and we were all on our way. 

April Showers may bring May Flowers, but July Showers bring puppy piles of returning joy.

Olivia, my Dog's Nemesis

Just as some people are Ford Families, or are from the "Right Religion" or have to have a Pool in the yard, there are some families that insist on a certain breed of dog.

Every breed has a personality.  English Bulldogs are a friendly stubborn doorstop.  Yorkies are yappy little terrors.  Mc Nab Dogs like my Lettie make all other dogs look like they're brain dead in comparison.

My neighbor had a very old Samoyed.  A beautiful older dog with a gentle personality that insisted that you say hello and then she'd go on about her own thing.  That dog, Priscilla died a while back and I wrote about her absence here.

They had said that eventually they would have another.  Their own experience with Priscilla was one that they wanted to have it again.  Recently, about a year and a half after Priscilla had gone, they returned with Olivia.  Where Priscilla was regal and gentle and slow from her advanced years, Olivia is all energy.  She's basically a snow white charger running headlong to greet the day, any person or dog, or tree in her path.   Typical puppy, she'll stop and look at you, bark and then go on what she was doing, which is to say at that point I am greeted by white paws usually jammed in my crotch and my doubling over to avoid further contact.

All that energy has to have an outlet, and my own Lettie, now nearing 11 years old on Thanksgiving, has realized that she will be part of that.   Olivia is harmless, completely.  Lettie on the other hand is terrified.  Put the two together and I become the center post of a furry merry-go-round, spinning to avoid being wrapped up like a Maypole. 

Since the 5:00 hour in the evening is the Dog Walk Hour, everyone is out.  My neighbor usually gets out before we get a chance to get Lettie leashed and around the corner so they're gone and out of sight.   That is until we round our respective corners. 

At that point, Lettie immediately tries to go at right angles to our current travel, and Olivia becomes a white charger towing her owner towards us.  I have given up trying to get Lettie to be social, at 11 years old it won't happen.  Olivia is friendly and exhuberant and all fur, bounce and bark at this age. 

This has become a canine illustration of the Immovable Object and the Irresistible Force.  An amusing interplay of an unsocialized older dog and an over eager pup.  Chaos ensues and it is always entertaining. 

Soon, this rebound hound will end up with another white streak.  They're going to have a younger sister for Olivia.  Lettie doesn't know what's in store for her then, poor thing.  She's in for a thorough sniffing then!

High energy dogs always require a special care and I'm looking forward to see what the addition of the other dog will do to the dynamics.  Here's hoping they entertain each other and they're beautiful additions to the neighborhood.

Goodbye Priscilla

Around the corner, just near the beginning of my walk lived Priscilla. 

Priscilla was a 15 year old Samoyed.  As an older dog, she was a very quiet dog, possessing a quiet dignity.  She would be out with her owners while they would go about their business, and she'd go about her own.  A large dog of 15 still had business to do, but they do their own thing and do it slowly.   I was told by one of her owners that she'd take about a half of an hour to walk around the block and she'd do so smiling all the way.  After all, the Samoyed is known as the Smiling Dog.   The breed is known to be a free thinker, more independent than a trick dog that will entertain you.

Priscilla didn't resemble a dog so much as a snow white pillow that would lounge around regally as the world would go through its own paces.   After all, she couldn't move terribly fast so she'd be content with watching things go by.  I have a Border Collie, Lettie, who is terrified of dogs larger than she is and Priscilla was probably twice the volume with all that fur.   Priscilla would slowly walk over to Lettie and try to greet her and Lettie just wouldn't have anything of it.   Lettie would try to get as far away from Priscilla as my arm and leash would let her, and Priscilla would wear her down by merely slowly walking over like a Canine Tim Conway shuffling along.

I'd walk past their house with the large mostly glass front door and Priscilla would be watching back, lying on the floor and smiling.  She'd be there most of the day and night, and I had gotten to the point where I'd expect to see her, like an old friend.   Every time I'd have Lettie with me, she'd glance over and then avoid by picking up her paces and looking away.   Silly Lettie! that dog can't get to you let alone harm you!

Goodbye Priscilla, I'll miss you too.