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Posts Tagged ‘play’

Into The Fold

Posted in Art & Photography, Life & Musings, Play & Recreation, tagged acceptance, Dog, dogs, friends, Friendship, Grimm, life, musings, Pets, photography, pit bull, play on March 15, 2013| 13 Comments »

Being the new kid on the block can bring challenges. You have to make new friends, avoid new enemies, prove yourself worthy in a lot of ways. Making that transition can be hard and finding new buddies to share life’s experiences can be that much harder. So, when you are finally accepted into the fold, life feels complete. What could be better?

Rufus was accepted as one of the gang right off the bat…even before I officially decided to keep him. I thought Grimm might be a little jealous of the new guy since his position of youngest was being usurped by a new hellion. I had visions of gang initiations and hazing going through my head. I could just imagine Grimm, Zella and Charley making Rufus dress like a cat and meow all day or forcing him to give them his ration of treats and food as tribute. But did they? Nope. They took him in and immediately made him feel welcome–sharing their toys, their food, their beds, their love. He became their newest little buddy.

Maybe, I thought to myself, the dogs knew at that time that he wasn’t supposed to be a permanent resident. They were just being polite. Now that I’ve officially adopted him (and by officially, I mean I just said, “Okay, I guess you can stay”), I thought maybe the jealousy would start. Dogs can sense so much–surely they can determine through their canine superpowers when something is temporary versus permanent. Surely they would gauge the subtle shift in the environment when Rufus was given tenure. Surely the petty squabbles would commence.

Unless playing tug of war with a stick counts, then I was completely mistaken. You see, that is what is remarkable about dogs. They have an innate sense of goodwill (well, most dogs, anyway) about taking things at face value. The newbie didn’t have to prove his worth to them or remake himself to fit their ideals. He could be himself, and they theirs, with no apologies for their quirks, no expectations to become something more or less…no hidden agendas, no subterfuge, no scheming or gossip. How refreshing it would be to live in a world such as this! To be able to just say what you mean and mean what you say…well, why can’t we?

Rufus couldn’t be happier about being accepted into the fold. To belong to something…to be part of something…isn’t that what most of us desire? Don’t we, too, understand the feeling of wanting to fit in and the joy of finding true friendship? As long as we can be ourselves and be true to our spirit, then finding our niche should bring us joy. Love your friends and accept them for who they are. And if your friends also love to tug on sticks as much as you, well that is a huge bonus! Tug away, my friends…tug away.

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Rise Of The Doofuses

Posted in Art & Photography, Humor, Play & Recreation, tagged Dog, dogs, doofus, Dufus, Grimm, Humor, Pets, photography, pit bull, play, Puppy, Recreation on February 24, 2013| 18 Comments »

How can two very lovely dogs go from this

to this

in a matter of three seconds? If you answered “brain damage”, I suspect you might be right. I think my dogs have been eating lead paint…or drinking…again.

King Knucklehead (that would be Grimm), however, chose not to participate in the day’s shenanigans. (Shocking, I know. I checked his brow for a fever.) However, just because one does not willingly join in with the antics of others does not mean that one is immune to being pulled into their affairs. See what I mean?

Zella the Zany and Rufus the Dufus (or Doofus, however you want to spell it is fine) were determined to drag Grimm the Grump into their canine capers. Grimm, however, just wanted to bask in the warmth of the sun. The wild woofers, however, just kept gnawing at his leg until he said, “ENOUGH!”

Rufus couldn’t help but give a little sass back, but he and Zella decided to leave Grimm the Grumpy Pants alone. With a huge, dramatic sigh, Grimm went inside to lie down next to Charley. Even though Zella and Rufus were leaving him alone, being next to Charley would guarantee that they wouldn’t try any funny business. No dog dares to wake Charley without a very good reason. Charley may be old, but he’s fierce and doesn’t take kindly to being roused from his beauty sleep by the likes of barbarian canines.

So, for now, Grimm is safe from the doofuses (or is that doofi?). I fear, however, that it will not be long before Grimm reclaims his role as their witless leader. If he doesn’t, Rufus may take the role…if so, God help us all.

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The Frisbee King

Posted in Art & Photography, Humor, Play & Recreation, tagged addiction, disc, Dog, dogs, frisbee, Grimm, Humor, Pets, photography, pit bull, play on January 25, 2013| 16 Comments »

My dogs love frisbees. LOVE them. The problem, though, is that these plastic discs last about two seconds around my house. They can only hold up so long against the catching, chomping, chewing, crunching and tugging done to them by my canines. Until I go shopping again, they are an endangered commodity.

Somehow, Rufus found an almost completely intact specimen today. This is like finding the Holy Grail–it’s rumored to exist, but no one knows where to find it. Where it was discovered, I’ll never know. Perhaps it was one of Grimm’s secretly hidden discs. He has a few caches of favorite things around the yard; problem is, he forgets where he places these items. My guess is that Rufus just happened to stumble upon one of these treasures.

Rufus started to munch on the frisbee, savoring the subtle flavors of the plastic and further mangling its rim. Of course, his crunching sounds of contentment soon attracted the attention of the current frisbee king at my house–Grimm.

Grimm: What’s this? What you got there, Rufus?

Rufus: Nothing, I don’t have anything. Just chewing on a stick.

Grimm: Oh, no. I know what chewing on a stick sounds like. You’ve got a frisbee, don’t you? Is that one of MY frisbees?

Rufus: It’s mine! I found it all by myself. Just go away and leave me alone.

Of course, now that a frisbee was involved, Grimm had no intention of just walking away. Where frisbees are concerned, Grimm is like a crack addict. He would definitely end up as a destitute frisbee whore turning tricks on a corner if I didn’t keep him regularly supplied. Since stock was running low, Grimm was getting a little edgy about his next fix. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so Grimm decided to just steal the disc from Rufus.

Grimm took the frisbee and ran. The adrenaline sparked by his theft coursed through his veins, providing extra speed. Rufus’ short legs would never be able to catch him and both dogs knew it.

Rufus was devastated. He was so mad at Grimm–Grimm was the one who introduced him to the awesomeness of frisbees to begin with! He felt betrayed, humiliated, and downright angry.

Zella tried her best to console Rufus. After all, she knew what he was going through. Many a beloved disc had been run into the ground, sometimes very savagely, by Grimm. She comforted Rufus as best as she could.

They both looked over to where Grimm stood, smugly crunching on the stolen frisbee. Enough was enough. They decided then and there it was time to de-throne the self-proclaimed Frisbee King. Rufus started work on a plan to win back his disc.

Hiding behind some sticks (not his best camouflage, I know, but Grimm was paying more attention to his contraband anyways), Rufus observed his opponent in order to find an area of weakness. Unable to find any, he proceeded to his backup strategy: act like a crazy, rabid dog and just flat out attack Grimm.

His daring move caused Grimm to momentarily drop the stolen disc. Rufus jumped and growled and brought forth his best impersonation of an ogre in order to try and gain possession of the frisbee. Grimm, though, was up for the challenge.

Both dogs proceeded to try to overcome the other. The epic battle for the frisbee began. Seriously, folks, dogs the world over will be woofing about this battle for decades to come. Grimm eventually got too hot to continue warring with Rufus. No way was Rufus calling a time-out for Grimm to cool off–it was either stay and fight and get heat stroke, or just give up the frisbee already. Grimm decided to go take a swim in the water trough instead.

Rufus claimed his prize–the shabby, worn piece of plastic. He went back to his chewing spot and commenced the whittling of the disc. Grimm, impressed by the littler dog’s courage and fortitude, let him be. Rufus became the Frisbee King, for today at least. I better stock up on more discs, and soon, before more havoc strikes my canine kingdom (or Grimm starts showing up on street corners jonesing for a frisbee fix). Maybe it’s time for an intervention. Anyone know of any good canine frisbee rehabs?

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Carry A Big Stick

Posted in Art & Photography, Humor, Play & Recreation, tagged Dog, dogs, Grimm, Humor, Pets, photography, pit bull, play, Recreation, sticks on November 28, 2012| 4 Comments »

What is it about a stick that attracts a dog? Sure, they are fun to chew on and chase and even carry around at times, but when the stick is as big as the dog, you would think things would get a little awkward. Obviously, Zella doesn’t care:

Yippee!! I found a stick that is as long as me!

**Prance, prance, prance**
Sure, this may look awkward as this heavy branch pulls my head sideways, but boy am I having fun!

I present to you…my stick. Please oh please oh please throw it for me! Pretty please?

Grimm, like any younger sibling, coveted the big stick that Zella had found. He tried to steal it from her a few times and even offered her a chewed up frisbee in exchange. But really–who in their right mind would exchange such an awesome piece of wood for a ragtag piece of plastic?

Not to be outdone, Grimm found his own stick–the mightiest stick of all (at least that could be found in my backyard at the moment):

Ha! My stick is bigger than your stick, Zella! Who’s more awesome now, huh?

Grimm’s stick was so long and bulky, he had trouble carrying it around. He kept tripping over it and finally he settled for just chewing on it. When he got tired of munching on his tree branch, he just sat and stared at it and laid by it and babysat the stick for a while.

Zella saw the monstrous stick and of course she wanted what Grimm had found. No way was little brother going to have the more mighty length of wood. She didn’t try to bargain for it or perform some covert operation to steal the stick–she just flat out took it from him.

I’ll take this, thank you very much.

You would have thought that the stick was big enough for them to share–Grimm could gnaw on one end while Zella pulverized the other. Oh, no…Zella wanted to drag the giant stick around the yard–without Grimm’s help. She got stuck a few times trying to bring her prize with her, and even tried to bring it indoors at one point, but no way was she giving Grimm back his stick. It was hers now. Grimm had to settle for her cast-off branch.

This giant stick sure is tasty! It may take me a while to turn it into sawdust.

What was Charley doing, you may ask, while the younger ones battled over stick supremacy? Well, Charley doesn’t really care about sticks. He only would ever fetch sticks when swimming was involved, and since he doesn’t do much of that anymore, he proceeded to perform the one skill he has absolutely mastered over the years: steal my bed.

Those wild young ‘uns can keep their rough, hard sticks. I prefer comfy, soft beds. And yep, you ain’t seeing things. I do have my rump on my owner’s pillow. I make my own rules–ain’t nobody gonna tell me I have to use a pillow only for my noggin.

Well, guess who’s changing their sheets today? Thanks, Charley, for putting your dog butt on my pillow. Just glad you are comfortable.

**Sigh.**

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Life in the Fast Lane

Posted in Art & Photography, Canine Training & Behavior, Humor, Play & Recreation, tagged behavior, Dog, dogs, Grimm, Humor, life in the fast lane, Pets, photography, pit bull, play on November 3, 2012| 4 Comments »

Grimm has been operating in only two modes lately: dead to the world and go speed racer. He is either passed out cold or running full blast. I bet you can guess which rate of motion drives me crazy. Why can’t he have a happy medium? To make things even more interesting, he somehow enlisted Zella in on the action, so now it is double the anarchy, double the fuss.

Charley tries to help me keep the younger ones in line. He referees their play and corrects them when they get too rowdy. When they are especially bad, Charley bores them to tears with stories of life when he was younger. “Back in my day, we didn’t have them fancy frisbees you young ‘uns love to chase. We had to chase old tin pie pans…or rocks…or if you were really lucky, you got to chase a stick.”

Grimm never just walks anywhere anymore. He sprints…and makes himself an obstacle course, too. For example, if he and I are leaving the bedroom to, say, go to the kitchen, he sprints out the bedroom door, jumps completely over the two steps that lead into the living room, jumps onto the couch, runs it’s length two or three times, jumps off the couch and runs a lap or two around it, scoots under the kitchen table, commando crawls under a dining room chair, then speed slides into the kitchen where he comes to an immediate halt and sits pretty, waiting for a possible treat. Makes me tired just typing it. At this point, I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if my Evel Knievel canine decided to add a circle of fire to his route. Why he can’t just walk straight from the bedroom to the kitchen is beyond me. My room is only about 25 feet from the kitchen–Grimm’s circuitous route has to at least triple the distance. Seems to me the shorter route would get him to the treat faster.

*Boing*! Gotta keep moving! Come on, Zella, no time to waste!

My wild dog does the same thing outside. I expect him to run around when he’s out there, but there’s run around and then there is run A round. Grimm literally runs three full, perfect circles of the yard before he commences exploration of his terrain. He makes up obstacle courses outside, too–over the bush, through the culvert, backflip off the deck and weave through the bamboo. I get dizzy just watching him.

Now I know what you are going to say: you must not be exercizing him enough. Unless I can find an Olympic marathon runner who wants to have a tag-a-long canine training partner, there is not much more I can do. I run him. I work him. I let him play with his canine buddies for hours (three hours today). At this point, I feel like I am just helping him increase his stamina and am shooting myself in the foot. Don’t get me wrong–I tire him out and he sleeps like the dead, but once he’s refreshed, well, life in the fast lane commences–again.

I brought back my frisbee AND Zella at the same time!

Lately, he can’t even seem to just sit still. He’s constantly shuffling his feet and his butt keeps bopping from side to side. I frequently find myself telling him, “Calm your body!” When he’s in a down, he slithers side to side like he needs to itch his back. Really, he’s just inch-worming his way slowly across the floor. Technically, he’s doing what was asked–he’s still down–he’s just not staying put. I have to make everything extremely clear with him. It’s like making a deal with the devil–gotta read the fine print or else he’ll walk on a technicality.

Grimm’s crazy energy seems to correspond with the cooler weather we’ve been having. If it actually gets really cold, maybe he’ll hibernate and I won’t have to worry about wearing him out. This life in the fast lane is tiring business. I’m ready for a slow ride–it’s time to take it easy.

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Devil May Care

Posted in Art & Photography, Humor, Play & Recreation, tagged Costume, devil, Dog, dogs, Grimm, Halloween, Humor, Pets, photography, pit bull, play on October 31, 2012| 12 Comments »

Since Grimm has been extra mischievous and impish lately, full of the devil as they say, I thought it was only fitting for him to become one for a day. What better time than Halloween for him to live out his devilish fantasies?

I placed the horns on his head and tied his cape and collar around his neck. I thought for sure he would then proceed to buck and writhe in an elaborate attempt to rid himself of his constricting garments. Instead, something strange happened. The little hellion actually just sat there…and watched me…and then proceeded to parade around the house like a proud peacock.

Can a dog get into character? Because I swear this one did. If he had been given a pitchfork, I’m fairly sure he would have started poking and prodding Charley and Zella with it. I had to look closely–was his tail developing a swelling at the end resembling a pointed spade? Were those horns really part of the costume or part of Grimm? I think I saw him looking for the matches and I’m pretty sure I heard him asking Zella what brimstone was.

Grimm: Come, my minions. We must venture forth and tempt the righteous and collect the wicked.

Me: Um, Grimm? Where are you taking Zella and Charley? You guys aren’t allowed to leave by yourselves.

Grimm: Begone, foolish human. I am the Prince of Darkness, el diablo malo. I am off to bargain for souls and I need my underlings to help keep track of my converts and to bring the hellfire and brimstone. Zella, you’re in charge of fire. Charley, you get the brimstone.

Me: Wait…what? You are taking this devil business a little too far. You are not really the devil. Well, sometimes you act like one…but that’s beside the point. You are only wearing a costume–it’s pretend. As in NOT REAL. And when did you start speaking Spanish?

Grimm: Oh. So I don’t have to really gather souls and live underground with fire? Whew. That’s a relief. Fire kinda scares me. I do like having horns, though. Can I keep the horns? Oh, and my friend Chico the chihuahua has been teaching me a few words in Spanish. Did you know that caca means…..

Me: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lose the cape and horns, Lucifer. I want my Grimm back.

So things have pretty much returned to normal. Grimm’s happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care attitude has returned. He even redeemed himself of his wicked ways yesterday when he very graciously donated half a liter of blood to a very sweet, but very sick golden retriever. I think I may have even seen the hint of a halo around his head when he ran through the sunlight this afternoon. Angelic Grimm has made an appearance–we’ll see how long it takes for the devil to return. In the meantime, have a safe, fun and happy Halloween!

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Choosing a Costume

Posted in Humor, Play & Recreation, tagged catahoula, Costume, Dog, dogs, Grimm, Halloween, Humor, Pets, pit bull, play on October 21, 2012| 8 Comments »

Halloween is almost here and it is time to answer the all important question–which costumes should the dogs wear this year? This is more difficult to answer than one might think. First of all, do I buy off the rack or attempt to put something together? There are a few (okay, quite a few) problems with me making costumes. I really can’t sew well–or at all, really–and trying to be creative and come up with something new just isn’t happening. So, off the rack it will be.

Now, since I have medium to large dogs, finding already made costumes to fit them is rather difficult. Most of the cute or more original stuff is made for the smallish tykes. Most times I have to look at children’s costumes to see what is available. The other option, I guess, is to put girdles on all of them and tell them to suck in.

Zella looked pretty darn cute as a squirrel, although she thought her head piece made a better toy than a hat. She would take it off every 5 minutes and I would find her carrying it around like it was one of her stuffed babies.

Lastly, I have to consider the complexity of the costume. Charley, my old boy, isn’t fazed by much and I could dress him in the most complex of style without any problems. Zella is a little fussy about too much head ornamentation so I have to limit her costume to more simple styles.

Charley makes a mighty fine cowboy. Over the years, he has also been dressed as an angel, a convict, a shark, a pig, a devil and a lobster.
I have way too many dog costumes.

Grimm has never dressed up for Halloween before–this will be our first together. I already know his costume will need to be fairly simple. Anything around his legs or feet will be eaten in less than two seconds. I’m pretty sure anything tied around his head will have him rolling around on the ground like a spastic inchworm trying to get it off. Plus, I have a sinking suspicion he may try to eat the other dogs costumes off of them, too. Hmmm…I need to incorporate a muzzle into his costume, I think, and all I can think of at the moment that may work is Hannibal Lecter.

Grimm scared Zella senseless when he pretended to be a demon ghost.

Grimm is no help when I ask him what he wants to be for Halloween. First he wanted to be a frisbee, then he wanted to be a flip-flop. I explained to him that frisbees and flip-flops aren’t really scary, so he needed to think of something else.

Grimm: So, I need to dress up as something scary? Is that the idea?

Me: Yes, exactly. The scarier the better. Think of what is scariest to you to help you decide.

Grimm: [thinking hard, smoke is coming out of his ears] Okay, I know what I’m going to be.

Me: Okay, what?

Grimm: A vacuum cleaner.

Okay, so maybe I should have clarified a few things for him before we had this conversation. He is still trying to grasp the trick-or-treat thing. I can understand his confusion. For him, it has always been trick-then-treat because I use a lot of food and treats in training. The possibility of getting a treat without a trick baffles him. I’m afraid this holiday may turn him into a real monster. Treats for free from lots of awesome people? Well, Halloween just may become his favorite holiday. I may never get this dog out of a costume ever again.