Dogs

I love dogs; they are like 4-legged furry children. We currently share our home with two. Peanut is a 9-year-old red merle Queensland Heeler. We rescued her when she was 9 months old; her previous owners gave her up but we don’t know why. Spud is a 4-year-old black and tan phantom Miniature Poodle. We rescued him when he was 11 months old; his owners moved and left him with a neighbor who turned him in to the Humane Society within 2 days. Both of them came with ‘baggage’ that we have learned to live with. Peanut comes when we call her but with head down and almost crawling on her belly as if we’re going to hit her; Spud is insecure and marked everything when he first came home (he’s much better now but still occasionally freaks out and marks something).

Peanut took to Spud right away, even though he bugs the heck out of her. And there are times when she aggravates him. They fight over toys; each one always wants the toy the other one has. And Peanut tattles on Spud when he’s outside barking; she comes barreling in the doggie door yipping to let us know Spud is being ‘bad’. But she also is very protective of him and will get between him and danger every time. She doesn’t like when I bathe or brush Spud because she thinks I’m doing something bad to him.

They keep us entertained when they are playing together; they love to snuggle with each other and with us on the couch or in the bed.

Peanut is a herding dog, and when we had cats she would try to herd them. Now anyone who has been owned by cats knows you can’t make a cat do anything it doesn’t want to do! But she tried. She also loves to chase toys; we throw and she catches. The only problem is she doesn’t want to quit.

Spud is an athlete and loves jumping up and down as if he’s on a pogo stick. He can take a flying leap from the bedroom door and land in the middle of the bed; a distance of at least 10 feet. He also loves running circles; from the backyard, into the house, onto the back of the couch, back outside. Peanut just sits and watches as if she can’t figure out what he’s doing.

I love my dogs!