Dawg Update

It's been a while since I wrote about my dawgs, so I'll give y'all a story from a while back.

DragonWatch has a link up to a story about an 11 y.o who went hog hunting. That reminded me of the head, hump and tail the Dearly Beloved brought home from a Feral Hog hunting trip. He has wrapped them in burlap and then in a tarp and thrown them in the bed of his truck. When he got home, he called me to bring Ben and Boo outside to see what he had brought home.



They were cautious at first. Both dogs approached the head on VERY stiff legs, would take a tentative sniff and then back way off. IIRC, Boo was even growling low and softly, deep in her throat. Once they realized it was not alive, they approached and sniffed for longer and longer periods. My fear of Ben grabbing the head and prancing around the yard with it in his mouth, like some kind of bloody chew toy/trophy, were not realized.

Later, we took it to a Taxidermist out on the Eastern edge of the County and had the skull mounted. Those tusks are impressive.



Boo got groomed, professionally, today. I've been having some back problems, probably due to all the rain, dangit, so I paid someone to bathe and shave her for me. Dog Days of Summer is next Saturday and I want her to look especially gorgeous for the crowds, the Adoring Crowds, doncha know?



Tipper Sharpton has gotten a reprieve from the neutering process until August. I was going to have it done in June, but Peter suggested I check some Vet sites on the web. I did. The spay/neuter sites all want you to neuter ASAP. The Vet sites recommend 6-7 months as the optimum age for neutering. Tipper will be 6 months in August.

He has been watching Boo and learned a new, useful trick. Our back door has a Lever-type knob. If I leave it unlocked, Boo can hit it with her paw and the door will swing open. Now, Tipper can do the same thing. Only the Big, Blond, Dawg doesn't know how to open the door. He just stands there and scratches or barks. I was gonna call him the "Big, DUMB, Blond Dawg", then I realized...he's got us trained to jump up and come let him in whenever he "calls", so he's not so dumb.

Tipper started doing something kinda funny/weird in his antics with Ben when he was much smaller and he continues to do it now that he's reached the gawky stage. Although he's gotten taller, he can still stand up under Ben, 'cause Ben is just that tall; so Tipper will get under Ben, stick his head through Ben's back legs and then turn his head and start to bite the back of one of Ben's hind legs!
Ben's reaction to this aggression is to turn his head and look at Tipper as if he's thinkin', "What are you doin' NOW?" If someone had told me Ben would be this patient and long suffering with a puppy, I would NEVER have believed them. He is just incredible. He is teachin' Tip how to be a DAWG. And Tip follows Ben around the house and the yard, like a shadow. They do perimeter patrol together, they bark at other dawgs walkin' down the street together, they greet visitors together, they honor Boo's alerts together, they snooze together, they steal toys from one another.
It used to be Ben stealin' toys from Tipper. Now Tip will wait until Ben is distracted, steal the toy back and take it under a chair, or under the dining table where there is a "nest" of chair legs. Ben can get under there to retrieve the toy and Tip will play with the toy there, or sometimes just deposit it there, knowing it's safe from Ben's thievery.

Boo is above it all. She curls up in the corner on the tile floor by the front door or on the floor by me. Ever once in a great while her blood will get "up" and she'll take part in a Group Gambol, but that's fairly rare.

Oh, I almost forgot. Tipper's hormones have kicked in. He has decided that he needs to hump something. He got a small hole in one of his floppy ears from Boo for his trial with her. So now he tries his luck with Ben. It is just a laugh riot to watch this pup try to mount a dog 3x his size.

Once UPS delivers my Kodak Z710 digital camera with its 7.1 mega pixels and its 10x zoom, I'll be posting some pics. {I just thought I'd slip that one in nice and smooth like}