Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The dog life goes on


Regardless of how long a vacation is, or how far away it is from home... life reverts to routine once you arrive home. Sophie is back to her 'advanced' obedience lessons. Last night we practice the 'park it' command, where her job is to park her little butt on her rug upon command. If this command 'takes', we will have to teach all the dogs to 'park it'. I am excited!

In the meantime, the house cleaning had to be done. Sophie follows me everywhere as I carry the dust rag and vacuum around. She watches my every move, as if she wants to try it herself. The vacuum noise does not bother her in the least - she 'parks it' (unintentionally, sigh) and observes the hose go back and forth, back and forth...

Meanwhile, Gus sleeps through it all. When you finally reach his 'perch', he lets you vacuum right over him. He loves the hose - nothing upsets this big guy! So I vacuum his fur and his toes,

and then I encourage him to move. He does - and waits for my work to end before returning to his perch.



Shado hates the vacuum. He hides outside underneath the gazebo glide. Toby watches with one eye open, the other asleep. He moves when he sees you are ready for his spot.

Before we left on vacation, we had all the dogs vaccinated for kennel cough. The vet also weighed each one. Gus is down a few pounds (hurrah!), and Sophie is up to 75 lbs. WOW. She doesn't look like a 75 pound pooch - she is so sleek and long legged. She reminds me of when I was so stupidly anorexic, weighing a mere 87 pounds myself. When I finally gave up the game, I gained to 100, then slowly to 120. No one ever mentioned my metamorphosis. At 5'8", 87 pounds is deadly thin. As Sophie grows up and fills out, I hope I notice her transformation. I don't want to miss it!

6 comments:

Ashley said...

I'm totally jealous of Gus. I wish I could vacuum my dogs!! :)

Anonymous said...

My god girl, 87 pounds? I'm so glad you were able to get over that so your lovely thoughts and voice could continue.

Margaret said...

My dog Scout hates the vacuum. Advanced obedience. That's very impressive. Is Gus the de facto leader? Do you teach him things before you teach the others because the other dogs defer to him?

Brenda's Arizona said...

Oh Margaret, if it only worked that way! Whereas Gus thinks he is the 'honcho', he could care less about learning anything new. Unless it is something new to his palate. But he is the most docile and most laid back - either by breed or by his age.

Margaret said...

Good to know, actually. I just have the one dog so dog group dynamics are a mystery to me. Scout is also willing new learn new foods, which is another way in which she beats my kids.

Brenda's Arizona said...

We have four canine. Now that we have them, I am at ease. I used to think of anyone with 4 dogs as a 'crazy dog person'. The dynamics in our household have all worked out, but I think we are lucky? Each dog seems dominant at a different task. Or maybe each is talented at something unique to its breed. And yeah, we are the crazy neighbors on the block. No kids, all dogs.