Going to the Dogs

I've had cats. Their okay I guess. I don't really have anything against them. I'm a dog person. Most definitely. I guess my personality has a lot of dog-like qualities. Sometimes I like to lounge around and do absolutely nothing. I'm friendly when I want to be, bark when I need to, sometimes for no reason. I have a short attention span. Playful one minute, protective the next. It takes a while for people to gain my trust, then I'm pretty loyal. Every time the wife thinks she has has me trained, I pee on the floor.

Just kidding.

I currently have four dogs. A lhasa apso that gets called a handful of different names, a pair of Australian shepherds named Duff and Sophie, and my old girl Sable, a lab shepherd mix.

Duff is the puppy of the bunch, he's a year and a half old. One of the smartest dogs I've ever had. No he wasn't named after the beer, he was named after the bass player Duff McKagen of Guns N Roses. Duff likes the snow so much he'll bury himself in it.

Sophie here is Duff's sister from a different litter. She is Paetyn's dog and she's about three years old now. Her main function is to mess with Duff. She doesn't like to have her photo taken. The only way we can tell her and Duff apart is to look at their feet. She has white socks, Duff doesn't. Her face is a little narrower but it's hard to tell when they are moving so fast.

Australian Shepherds are diggers. They love to hunt moles. Duff here is doing his ostrich impersonation. One day I found him carrying a wool sock around in the backyard. Turns out it was a mole. Ewwwwwww.

This is my old girl Sable. She is such a regal dog. I got her and her twin brother Coale about nine years ago from the pound. Unfortunately Coale got poisoned from a snake bite. Sable is the grand dame of the backyard. Her favorite thing to do is get food, set it in front of her, and dare the other dogs to touch it. Sophie will tuck tail and run. Duff hasn't figured it out yet and will go for the food. For such a smart dog, he aint too bright. Sable will tear him a new one. She got out one day and got hit by a car. She ran off and hid for two days. I finally found her in the bushes. Her leg healed all right but she doesn't run too often. Most days she just sits back and watches the other two play.

Duff is a lot of fun. He can sit and shake most of the time. He'll come when you yell. Doesn't bark too much. Paetyn taught him how to fetch. I love to take snowballs and throw them. Duff will run after the snowball and gets utterly confused when he can't find the snowball in the snow. Maybe he isn't one of the smartest dog I ever had after all.