Name Confusion

Hobbs has been extremely mopey and sad sense Dodge came to stay with us...he is still here. The first thing I did with him was give him a bath which turned into a wet wrestling, yelling ordeal, and Hobbs watched the whole thing. After that, the depressed Hobbs showed up. I was terrified that I had traumatized him by being so rough with Dodge. It was necessary because he kept trying to jump out and I didn't have enough arms to scrub him, hold the shower head, and hold him in the tub all at the same time. Hobbs kept looking at me like he was shocked that his "mommy" had turned into a monster. I know dogs don't think like that, but his face looked so "horrified" that I couldn't help but wonder.

I tried to keep from really yelling at Dodge, but the boy just doesn't listen unless the instructions are shouted at him. The shouting is usually not angry, but is firm. The last couple days I have noticed that anytime I say Dodges name firmly, Hobbs gets nervous. So Robert and I discussed that maybe the names are so similar, that he thinks I am talking to him! That would make sense because Hobbs and Dodge sound alike when said quickly. The poor boy is just confused that his name is being shouted all the time now! I can't wait for Dodge to go home.

On a better note, the city dog park is FINALLY open, and we had a blast there last night and this morning. We went for like 20 minutes last night before Hobbs' class, and for about an hour this morning. Last night Hobbs became the humping target for most of the dogs in the park so it was good that we had planned to only stay for a short time. Also Hobbs kept trying to play chase with some of the dogs, and one dog in particular (a little cattle dog) would rush at him and snarl and bite at him until he was too afraid to move, let alone play! Its owner just sat across the park and yelled at him. This morning there were only a few dogs, and Hobbs had a great time playing chase with a HUGE Great Dane puppy (he was about a foot taller than Patriot). Patriot had fun both times, and only tried to break up one play session. Hopefully we can avoid the cattle dog, and have a good time this summer at the park.

Re introducing.....

Dodge!

All three boys

Reunited after a year and a half

For those who don't remember who Dodge is, he is Robert's dog who we gave to his parents. What was the reason we did that? He and I DO NOT GET ALONG!! He is one of the only dogs that I have ever honestly said that I hate. It isn't really his fault either. He was a shelter puppy the Robert adopted at the age of like 8 weeks or so. The mom was a lab, so the shelter said, and I am almost 100% convinced that the other significant breed in there is a whippet or greyhound mix of some sort. That means, he is a crazy, cant-ever-stop-moving, whiney, speeding bullet! Even when he was a baby puppy when all dogs are cute and love able, I didn't like him, and I don't really know why.

When Robert and I got married, I tried to instill some self control/obedience in him via both GDB training methods and clicker training. Neither did much, but he can sit and down(usually) when told. His recall is not so great for me, but he is attached at the hip with Robert so it isn't a problem. After about 9 months of living with him, we decided to let him go live with Robert's parents so that he would be able to have room to run and play. He was just not sane in an apartment! Unless he was tied down he would pace constantly for no reason! I blame him for Hobbs' barking at the door habit. I do believe he is happier being able to live outside, but I wish that I could get a long with him because Robert loves him.

Anyways, that was a long intro! Robert's parents are going to Florida for a vacation for the next 10 days and needed us to watch one of their three dogs. So it was either Dodge or one of their little dogs....something I can't handle for 10 whole days! I at least know I can survive living with Dodge for that long. I will try to post some more pictures as the week progresses, but for now here are a couple of him out in the yard with the boys. They all get along, thank heavens!

A standing picture of him. He is MUCH heavier than when he left us, and will be slimming down in the next 10 days.

You can see that he and Hobbs aren't the same color anymore. I think it is just his winter coat though.

Patriot doesn't care for him that much (probably because he keeps walking under Patriot's belly) so he was ignoring him as much as possible.

***Update***

Hobbs and Patriot both seem very stressed about Dodge being here. It is odd because they usually don't mind new dogs being here. Dodge has been his normal figity, nervouse, stressed self and i am wondering if it is having an affect on the boys. I am hoping they get used to eachother, otherwise this will be an even longer week than I thought it would be!

Pictures....

Here are some pictures I have taken recently



Don't worry I folded his lip under....he isn't really growling.


Just a really cute shot



Laying all twisted on the floor


Robert and i tried to get pictures of Hobbs and Hal together at the last puppy meeting....not the easiest job in the world. Hal wouldn't hold still being close to any dog let alone Hobbs, and Hobbs doesn't like being near dogs who are out of control so he wouldn't even stand close to him let alone sit.




We finally got them to sit nicely for litteraly only as long as it took to take the picture and Robert ended up cutting half of Hobbs' head off. So we gave up and these are the only two salvagable pictures of them.


New puppy in our club "Barron"


His nose reminds me of snoopy's in charlie brown




One of the Dog Parks in Bakersfield. This is where we take Dodge once a week to get all the crazyness out.....for that week anyways


Another shot of the dog park. Dodge is the little black dog saying hi to the greyhound.

AAAGGHHHH!!! We are becoming "pet collectors"

Robert and I live above a couple who feel the need to feed all the stray cats in the city. J/K, at first there was just a momma cat with three babies (who are now big cats) then there was another momma cat (who attacks the dogs when they look at her or her three new babies), then a couple of daddy cats drop in once in a while so both momma cats are pregnant again (which makes a total of ten cats around the bottom of the stairs our dogs walk up to our house! Finally this tabby momma cat who had obviously been someone's pet started coming around and was starving to death....and is very pregnant. Soooooo.....

Robert and I adopted her!! We got all the stuff for her and plan to get her spayed as soon after she gives birth as possible and then we will keep her and give her babies away to people who are going to care for them! We don't have a name for her yet so her name is Momma Kitty for now. She already has milk coming in so the vet says she could be anywhere from one to two weeks from having her kittens! Here are some pictures:

I really like this picture! It is very rare that I like how I look in pictures.

And this is why! She was a bit upset because hobbs kept trying to nibble and lick her toes.

Hobbs is doing ok with her in the house. He has seen enough cats to be ok with them, but he wanted to play with her...as in pounce on her and race around in circles around her. She has obviously lived with dogs before and only hisses if hobbs tries to pounce on her. I don't blame her she is pregnant! She keeps trying to steal his new bed and that worries him quite a bit, but we kick her off every time. Dodge on the other hand is not a happy camper! He tried to run through the side of his kennel to get to her the first time he saw her. We are going to take it realy slow with them.

Here is an update of pictures for everyone so this post might be really long! Lol!

Hobbs and the bear he "picked out" for me. Really it was a gift from my husband.

Hobbs discovered the joy of destroying the bathroom trash and tore all the paper off the roll (not un raveling it he tore big chunks off!) he knew he was in huge trouble though and hasn't tried it since!

Ok, this one has a story behind it.

Hobbs' medium Kong got left at another raisers house quite a while ago and we bought him a large one at Fun Day. When we got back the medium one was returned and Hobbs was thrilled! He proceded to run from room to room and brought all of his kongs togeather and laid down and played with all of them! Robert and I couldn't stop laughing!

Hobbs' new bed

With the blanket on it....and Hobbs!

Lol, we covered him in his blanket and he slept like that for a couple hours!

Here is my Patriot! From when I went to Utah


The boys waiting for our walk....yes I walk them both together, one on each side

....not all the time though.

And finally Hobbs just looking cute!

Day at the Lake

Robert and I took the dogs out to Lake Webb which is about 35 minutes from our house. It is a smaller lake where bakersfieldians like to go water skiing. At both ends of the lake there are "slow zones" where people can swim and take their dogs in the water safely. Dodge is slowly getting over his fear/intence hatred for the water and Hobbs got to swim for the first time in his whole life! He has been in water up to his belly but never had to swim in any. We had they both on long 30' lines so that they could get back to shore when they felt they needed it.

Hobbs did awsome and thought it was great fun to climb up on my chest and put his front legs over my shoulder so that he could stop swiming in the middle of the water. He got tired quickly and just got to watch for a while. Dodge swam for quite a while and then we walked them around the camp grounds for a while letting them dry before getting back in the car. The horrible part is that I forgot my camera and have no pictures of the fun we all had. I will have to take some next time. We are going to stay for the weekend next time which will be a blast. Patriot would have loved this place, but he has his own lake back in Utah that my parents take him to a lot.

I have a ton of pictures of other things that I will have to post later sometime.

Moving Day!!!

My husband and i have been working on moving into a two bedroom apartment in our complex since the end of march and today is the day! Finally I will have more than a pathway through all of our stuff and our boxes will be hidden from sight! I will have room for the puppy I am getting tomorrow and still have room for my husbands dog Dodge! Even though I hate moving because it takes sooo much time and energy I am excited to finally feel like I have my own place and am not just living in a bachelor pad. Lol, ok it wasn't that bad....we just didn't have enough room.

The only thing that worries me is that this is a lot of stress for Dodge to take in just a couple of days. First the move and then he has to learn to share attention with the puppy. Lets hope that is works out!