I don’t have an alarm clock, I have a 3 month old blue tick hound. Nothing like the sound of howling in your ear to start the day. So restful. And if there is no reaction a nip on the ear is apparently acceptable behaviour. I haven’t slept late since he decided that it was his duty to wake up the household. Thanks to Disco, I put my running shoes on every morning. Mainly just to get away from his noise but who said motivation had to be positive?
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| Disco - such a proud pup |
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| Heading out with Dad |
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| Sleeping in the car |
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| I'm so cute when I'm asleep |
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| Getting my Support on! |
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| Eating Mom's carrots - 'cos I can... |
He is not yet old enough to run but he sure wants to. He
waits by the door while I get dressed and bounces eagerly as I get ready to
head out the kitchen door. The only way I can actually get out of the house is
to put a bowl of milk on the floor and shoot out while he’s distracted. I know
it’s a bit below the belt, but skulduggery is honestly better than hearing him
crying mournfully when I shut the door in his face.
My running buddy is, however a pointer called Kwezi. She is black as pitch and as energetic as anything. We can go for a 12km run and when we get home I’m absolutely finished and she vigorously bounds off when I remove her leash as if she’d like to go again. This is terribly annoying but seeing her cheerful face every morning does aid the belief that happiness can be found in simplicity. She is what I like to affectionately call ‘touched’. I’m almost positive she has an imaginary friend. You’ll hear dogs (plural) playing and making a racket together, growling, jumping and generally having the time of their lives, come around the corner and its just Kwezi. On her own... Ergo... ‘Touched’...
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| Kwezi Bear |
I don’t know what I would do without the furry fraction
of my family. And I thought this would be an expedient occasion to introduce
you to the Motley Crew of Melody Ranch. We have a cat-dog called Calypso – I
think she’s not entirely sure of her nature and the only thing tying her to the
feline way of life is her love for sleeping on the curtain rail and her
aptitude for murdering feathered friends. Otherwise she sleeps with the dogs, rough-houses
with them, has no aversion to water and goes along for walks along with the
rest of the troop.
"A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution."
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| Calypso |
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| Just hanging out |
Barley is next on the list – she is a Husky-Lab cross and
her personality is just that. She is terribly mellow and just sits back and watches
the world go by. She absolutely loves swimming and sometimes on a hot day
you’ll hear splashing in the pool. A peek out the window confirms Barley doing
her morning laps. She also runs with me on occasion but the constant dreaminess
and sudden desire to smell flowers or lie in rain puddles isn’t conducive to
effective training and usually results in me face-planting over the leash.
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| Barley and a brand new Disco |
Lily is a Jack Russell or Jackal Russ as Sean calls her.
She believes she’s the Leader of the Pack and is probably our most aggressive
dog – thank goodness she’s only half a foot high. She is obsessed, to put it
mildly, with anything round that can be thrown. Once a ball is tossed for her,
as many an unsuspecting visitor has discovered, she will retrieve the
ball/stick/stray avo and spend the rest of the day bringing it back to the
person and waiting, shaking in anticipation, with her one paw in the air for an
encore.
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| Its MY ball, don't touch it |
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| Lily the Pink |
Then we come to the grump of the family. Sabre. She is a
Rottweiler cross Labrador – don’t hold it against her, she’s really a lovely
animal. She and Sean have their differences however. She was a puppy when Sean
and I started dating. She literally hated him. She chewed up anything that
smelled like him, including a jacket of mine he had borrowed! She is truly the
most loyal dog I’ve ever had, she would protect me with her life. Although,
granted she sometimes protects me from my husband which is not always ideal,
she has her heart in the right place. She is very vocal, especially when the
attention isn’t entirely on her. She likes to be a part of the conversation, she isn’t a
fan of public displays of affection (she slinks between us and growls
menacingly at Sean) and she also believes she is a lapdog - All 45kg of her!
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| Sabre chilling on the mat |
They make a noise, they break things, they make muddy paw
prints all over the house when its raining, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. There’s not much in this world as beautiful
and true as the unconditional love of an animal. They don’t care if you’re not
wearing makeup, if you have morning breath or have put on a few pounds.
They bring us joy, they make us laugh, they make us
love... Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole...
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The Three Musketeers
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| My Furry Family |
