Friday, May 26, 2006

Why Boo is Smarter than Ben

Or - Why it's so much fun to do yard work with the assistance of a 100 lb. Lab.
Well, it was mowing time again this AM. I got up at 6:30 and was out there by 7. Wanted to get started while it was still cool, ya know.
Whenever the Dearly Beloved or I even look at the door the dogs go into paroxysms of joy, wanting to go outside. Today was no different in that respect.
Ben, the Lab, has a problem with lawn mowers. He evidently has in it his thick, square head that the mower is pulling me around the yard. So, his solution to this cruel attack of the mower upon his Mama is to run backwards in front of the mower attempting to bite the front wheels.
And the Weedeater? OMG! He's even worse with it! Barking and charging and nipping at it, even when it nips back. Today it got his lower lip and tongue. He already rubs his back on the carpet by moving like a sidewinder, the Dearly Beloved says now he'll be called "Barks with Forked Tongue".
Boo is the smart baby girl. She is Aussie Shepard crossed with Weimeriener. Absolutely gorgeous. Blue left eye, green right eye, outer coat of coyote brown, under coat of white which gives her a "ghostly" appearance. She is smarter than Ben because when the loud machines start up she looks at them, finds a shady spot, curls up and lies down for the duration. When the noise stops, she comes over to see what's goin' on. If nothin' interests her, she goes back to the shade. See, smarter, right?
They do work well as a cat and squirrel chasin' team though. She chases them on one side of the fence and he covers the other side. Or they circle the tree, and if another dog, or a pair of dogs comes in the yard, it's Katie bar the door! She herds, Ben pounces. They are formidible!
Beware of Dawgs!

HollyB

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have some friends that had a Great Pyrenees, he'd circle the house every night, checking his territory.

We had an Australian Shepherd when we moved back to MO. My Beloved and XY child were running the fences when a neighbor's dog came up on the other side and Stormy lit out after him to protect his "charge." This same dog walked the kids down the 1/4 mile driveway to the bus in the morning, and was down there waiting for them when they came home.

Then there was my dearly departed Bear, who was MY dog and my Beloved professed not to like, even though Bear was at the top of the stairs just a wagging his tail and waiting when he got home. The Beloved was out of town once when a co-worker, who had been to the house before, came and brought a huge pumpkin to us for Halloween. Bear was evidently not pleased to have some other male in the house when it was just me and my 2 y/o son. So when poor Henry turned his back to leave, Bear went after his ... uh, privates.

The vicious guard dogs we have now bark at strange cars that come down the drive--then lick the people to death if they get out of the car. Once of them "prances" when she comes up for attention and is just so proud of herself as she carries around a large stick or picks up a 2x4 from the house construction. Hubby gets irritated because he never knows if he'll run something over with the tractor--I just tell him that if he'd keep things picked up............ The other dog comes up with his head going back and forth, with what looks like a snarl on his face, which you realize is a smile when he immediately plops down and rolls over on his back.

As for Boo and Ben, Boo is a sweet Southern Belle, and in Ben's defense, he's still just a rambunctious child (and probably always will be).

But what would we do without our precious critters?