Three's a Crowd

I had in mind a series of pictures based on a scenario I had witnessed a few times over the last week. The first shot looks like this. The second one has Rory's big head stuck in front, looking at the little black interloper and trying to sort out where he must have gone wrong. I'll post it later when I can find it. The third one was never taken, but involves Rory trying to squish his sizable frame onto the bed with Seth and Toby. I was laughing too hard to actually get the shot. No doubt you'll get the idea though. You can tell just by looking at Seth and Toby that they were not accepting applications for bedmates.

Sunday Adventures

Sunbeams. Not just for cats. Toby found the 'dog' spot in our kitchen and willingly gave up blankets and a fluffy bed to lay on warm tile. Our Ridgeback Sage used to drag her blankets around to the sunbeams, but Rory and Seth aren't quite that innovative. They'll sometimes give up blankets to sleep on tile too.


Today's open house vanishing act saw us visiting the other side of River Park at Sandy Beach. It's the only dog beach in Calgary...and obviously it's not the ocean, but it does the trick.

I don't know if Toby has ever been near the water before, but Rory knew what to do. Good to drink, okay to get your feet wet on a hot day, but after that it's back to dry land for him.



Noelle, don't freak out...it only looks like he's drowning. He does splash a lot, but he actually swims.









See? His little prancy legs doing the doggy paddle. He LOVED it!!

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Mutt and Jeff

We have a house guest this week. My daughter has graced us with the presence of her MinPin Toby for a week while she is on vacation. After reading the detailed two-page instructions that accompanied him I wasn't sure I was up for the challenge. But I've decided Toby is actually not that bad. Of course, it's only day Two. Ask me again at the end of the week. Our house is up for sale, so getting it spotless, while packing and decluttering and looking after three dogs is, well, a lot of work.

On Saturday we all had to be gone for two hours because the realtor was over having an open house, so Norm and I packed one teenager and three dogs into the truck. Seth went to my mother's to hang out in her yard while she did her gardening. The rest of us went to River Park to kill some time.


This is Rory doing his usual beeline thing that he does when he sees something smaller than he is. He hasn't encountered rabbits yet, but I suspect he'll know exactly what to do when he does. The end result of this is that Toby gets a Ridgeback "poke".










Rory doing what he does best...sniffing.












Toby on guard. For everything. He's a very alert, bright, curious dog. But absolutely no sense of humour. He's the same age as Rory but only deigns to play when HE wants.













Rory found somebody else his age who knew how to wrestle like a Ridgeback. I don't know if you can see it, but Toby is eying them quite carefully. No way is he going to budge (he's not intimated at all) but he's not going to lower himself to slobbering and loping all over the place.








We did find a little girl Ridgeback for Rory to play with too. And then a young Dane joined in.
















By now they're both getting tired...

































Keelan thought this shot was great. It's a little too much teeth for my taste, but it's what they do.

Do these pants make me look fat?

After those shots from the other day, especially the one that added about 20 pounds to Rory's 104 pound self, I thought I'd make sure certain people saw some photos that didn't make Rory look like he sits in front of the TV all day eating Doritos.



















See? Ribs! A waistline! Whew!



















Now, if only I could say the same for myself...

Can dogs get square eyes?

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it? Can you see what Rory's doing?
(This is not as difficult as a "Where's Waldo?" puzzle...really folks)




















When my 3-year old nephew visits, I have a rule about when the TV goes on. Loosely interpreted, the rule is simply that the TV is off unless there is a specific show that makes for worthwhile watching, after which the TV is promptly turned off again.





















Goodness knows I don't have the same rule for my dog. In fact, I've never had a dog who watched TV. This is Rory watching "DogTown". I understand now why some parents would use television as a babysitter.

It works.






















What really gets me going though, is HOW he watches. Sometimes he walks by and stops in front of the TV when something catches his eye, or he paces in front of the TV like he's trying to figure out where the characters are going when they leave the screen. Most often, though, he plants his butt right on the couch like a person. He knows he's not allowed on the furniture, but in the spirit of picking my battles I don't fight over the position that involves his front paws staying on the floor and his hind legs dangling over the front of the couch.















...and Tamzin, if you're reading this, I just want to say that the picture above isn't doing him any justice - he looks rather portly (I'm quite certain that's the word you would use), but rest assured it's a combination of his position and the angle of the camera. He's far too body conscious to get portly....he'd be mortified.

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What I want to be when I grow up

Still here...for those of you asking.

Committed to blogging about something this weekend. Pictures too.

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(De)construction

Pardon weirdness if you login while I'm in the middle of switching things up a bit. I figure so long as the text isn't upside down, people will be okay until I've finally figured out where I'm going with this.

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