A game of tug o’ war is always great fun
Charlie looking quite dashing
Orso is just Orso
Category: dog ownership
Early Morning Photos
Silly geese swimming toward us
Charlie and Orso checking for new smells
Calm waters in the early morning
Sunday Snaps
Some photos for Sunday morning
“My teeth are bigger than yours!”
“This is deep enough thank you very much!”
Just chillin’
Photos taken with my Canon Rebel
Just Another Monkey in the Show
I had to have the talk with Charlie. You know the talk where I had to explain who was the boss and who wasn’t. Charlie likes to think he’s the alpha dog in this pack and we have to remind him constantly that he’s not. Charlie sees it as his mission in life to be the tattletale on Orso. He used to rat out AJ before he died in December, but now he focuses all of his attention on Orso.
Poor Orso, who doesn’t quite get it, usually is standing there with a big sheepish look on his face, as if saying, “What! I didn’t do anything. Why is everybody looking at me?”
Charlie is a bully and we have to watch him carefully to put a stop to his bad behavior before it escalates, because it can and has. Orso, the recipient on the bullying, looks so pathetic after Charlie is mean to him that it makes me what to hold and cuddle him, to protect him. Of course with Orso weighing in at ninety-eight pounds, I cannot hold him. So he gets lots of hugs instead.
For anyone who didn’t know Charlie’s history, they would think he was a rescue that had been abused. But no, we picked out Charlie in a litter of three puppies. He’s known nothing but the good life from ten weeks old to his present eight years to date. Our supposition to his bullying and animal aggression behavior comes from being attacked as a puppy by a dog who was walking on one of those retractable leashes and was way too far away from the owner. It’s been downhill since then.
Just the other night, Charlie was sitting on the edge of the bed when Orso walked in the bedroom and decided that this was his room and Orso didn’t have the correct password. I had to explain to Charlie that he was not the ringleader here. He was just another monkey in the show.
In this three ring circus, I am the ringleader and there’s not enough room at the top for another one. I don’t share well with others.
Saturday Morning
Saturday morning at the dam. Charlie and Orso checked out all of the new smells.
Somebody was definitely here before us.
Charlie hot on the trail of a strange scent.
Orso suddenly remembered that he doesn’t particularly like swimming.
Both dogs enjoyed the morning outing.
My Hooligans
What is up with these two? Orso and Charlie are at it again. Once again they lulled me into a false sense of security thinking that they could be trusted to have the run of the house while home alone. I was sure that since AJ was gone that these two hooligans would behave without AJ to instigate raiding the pantry. And once again I was wrong. I should be used to being wrong.
I know that with my foot surgery things have been thrown off. Their routine has changed drastically. But it’s not like they are getting no exercise. We have our best friend coming over every day and walking the dogs, giving them lots of work and exercise. So what happened?
I came home from work and was greeted by Mitch telling me to go check the kitchen and see the gift that the two had left for us. Knowing that was not a good omen, I hobbled into the kitchen to find a mangled jar of my favorite local honey on the counter. Evidently someone, my guess, Orso jumped up on the table and snatched the bottle of honey off the table and chewed the top off to enjoy my honey. There was more than half gone. I hope he gets sick, but not in the house. But he won’t, he’s a Labrador retriever.
At dinner though we discovered another surprise. Mitch went to butter his baked potato and looked at me and asked where the butter was. Not on the table. We went on a butter tub hunt throughout the house, kind of like an Easter egg hunt. We searched under tables and dressers, under the bed and in the corners. No luck. The tub of butter has disappeared. No slimy smears, no bits of plastic about. Nothing, no clue, just no butter. It was as though a master cat burglar had come into the house stole the butter and disappeared without a trace.
Now comes the fun part, watching the dogs closely to make sure they don’t get sick. Poop watch, checking for bits of plastic, is so much fun and something I thought we were beyond now that AJ is not here. Wrong again.
Orso My Big Sweetie
Yesterday I posted pictures of Charlie. Today is Orso’s turn. He’s my big sweetie weighing in at 98 pounds. He’s kind of a goof ball, but that’s what makes him so endearing.
Orso is playing King of the Bed taking on all challengers
This was taken in December on our very frigid hunting trip.
Kind of a clown, daring the squirrel to come down.
Photos taken on my Canon Rebel
Charlie Wants Snuggles
Charlie wants Mitch’s attention
Charlie full on trying to not fall asleep on Mitch’s back
He didn’t succeed. Mitch has a very comfortable back.
My Poor Charlie
Poor Charlie, he’s having a bit of a struggle getting used to this total disruption into his world. Most dogs prefer a routine. They like a schedule, getting fed at a certain time every day, taking their walks at the same time daily and knowing that you’ll be there for loves are their whole world. Charlie is the poster dog for routineness. So these latest events, my surgery, Mitch walking the dogs alone in the evenings and our close friend walking them in the mornings and not at the usual 4:30am pre-surgery routine has thrown Charlie for a real loop.
He’s become clingier, staying very close to me or if I’m not in bed, laying in my spot. He has started growling at all of us. Charlie has always been a bit psychotic, but now he’s going round the bend. He was lying in his bed by the bedroom door when Orso walked in from the living room. Charlie growled at Orso and wouldn’t let him in the bedroom. Orso sat in the living room looking very pathetic waiting for me to get out of bed and crutch over to the doorway, blocking Charlie so that he could come into the bedroom.
Last night I came into the bedroom to find Charlie lying in my spot all cozy and had no intention of moving. I told him to go and nudged him, he responded by growling at me. I looked down at him and thought, “Are you kidding me? Not me! Huh uh!” So I told him “off” in no uncertain terms and gave him another nudge, to which Charlie responded by getting up, giving me a deep open throated growl, jumped off the bed and when to sit in his dog bed looking very unrepentant. I’m pretty sure that he was thinking, “How dare she make me move. I was there first.” I think he was plotting to eat me in the night while I slept.
Charlie doesn’t handle change well and this is clearly apparent with his behavior. When we brought Orso home for the first time Charlie wanted to kill him and tried a few times. That took hiring an animal behaviorist to get back to a harmonious house. I’m not sure how to fix this new wrinkle. I’m at a total loss.
Short of tranquilizers, for him not me, I am not sure what to do.
Charlie Guarding My Foot
Charlie is making sure nobody gets close to my foot. I just hope he doesn’t change positions.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 