What we did while they were at dog show

Shaker went to bed and then asked that I turn the #$%%% lights off.

Rainbow played in the backyard.

And when they got home, all the dogs ran around for two hours romping and frolicing.

The After Thanksgiving Event

Rainbow Helps Get Ready

In the past 2 weeks, I have been so amazed at the similarities between Russ and Rainbow. Let's see Russ' alter ego is Rosario and we have met Rainbow's alter--Rambo already!

Today Rambo was in the house. I had show stuff set out and Ms. Rainbow decided to save me from having an iron in the motel room!

Yep today brought back Ruff Ruff's love of my computer keyboard, USB extender cords, and photo transfer cord!

Rainbow Turns Rambo

Rainbow has spunk. No, she has way more than spunk, she is truly gutsy.

Yesterday, she spent the entire day lipping off to her father (aka Ruff Ruff). She kept barking and barking at him until he sought refuge in a crate. But, alas, she followed him in.

Then she joined in on the game of backyard chase. When the big dogs did the great leap over her, she was totally honked off. She stood apart from the game and barked , barked and barked at them.

Finally, she decided to get the Louisville Slugger out. I assured her that in this house we do not use ball bats to get what we want!

Ella Bella Hides

Ella has this silly habit of rearranging the covers and then sliding under them. Problem is that sometimes she can't find her way out. When this happens she starts barking something like, "help, help, I've burrowed and I can't get out."

Circle Supper

Okay, we are having 16 people to dinner tonight. Sixteen people and 5 Cardigans...stay tuned I'll report on the mayhem...oh I really mean fun later!

Update: First let me say that all of our guests were dog lovers. Thank goodness! It made the general chaos much easier on the nerves.

From the start we made some calculated decisions, like while receiving guests we would only have the girls out and rambunctious boys would stay in the bedroom until everyone was settled. Of course, starter foods were set out on the kitchen table rather than on low lying things like coffee tables. I also deliberately choose finger foods that I thought the Cardis wouldn't like. (Turns out I was wrong about that...Ella liked mild peppers, marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts!)

So as the guests arrived the girls were reasonably good. No one ran out the door, or jumped on our guests but we did have requisite barking. (Apparently even the girls are of the school that Corgis should be seen and heard!)

Once everyone settled, wine poured, I let 'da boys out. Ruff Ruff made a run for the living room with his food alert on full power and landed right smack dab in the middle of the Mike's plate! Well the only saving grace was Mike was quick, he is a vet, and he laughed and exclaimed now this is the way life should be lived. (Thanks Mike!) So with Ruff Ruff being, well Ruff Ruff, Ella decided that is was perfectly acceptable to jump up in the window seat and cruise the guests. Not sure what all she came up with but she was smiling all evening. Rainbow puppy won the reward for best dog, but I think it had more to do with her being overwhelmed.

Once we moved on to dinner, the Corgis knew the best seat in the house was under the table, but it turns out that all the food everyone brought to share was much too good to share with Cardis. A very disappointed crew made their way to the kitchen for clean up. Apparently, Kathy wasn't feeling the need to hand out left overs because Ella came back to the table. Only this time she landed in my lap! Again it was Mike who exclaimed, "now that is a content dog." But what she really was cruising for unfettered access to the remaining plates. Foiled she sulked off.

Once the food was cleared and only table talk remained my little darlings decided talk was boring so they put on a "Frap Show." One dinner guest asked if they ever really settled down. My reply, "only when I put them on the bed."

So at the end of the night, we called it a success. It turns out Cardis and large dinner parties are compatible.

The Ella and Shaker Show

Ella is very agile, in fact of all my clowns she is the most agile. So when Shaker is bugging her, which truth be told, is very often, she floats her little self right onto the bed.

Okay this bugs Shaker to no end. He barks and whines and generally carries on until even Ella can't take it anymore. At which point she jumps down and the bugfest continues.

But today, Shaker really had his thinking cap on. When Ella made her floaty leap to the bed, he grabbed the bedspread and started pulling. Ella and the bedspread came right off! I seriously wish that I could have captured the surprised look on Ella's face. It was priceless!

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Yes it is a Rottweiler. A really cool Rottie named Madison.

We were at a friends playing this came of Corn Toss--yeah I know only in the Mid West. By the time we started playing the Corn Toss thing, I had been talked into drinking wine, and my aim was terrible. (Yeah I know it doesn't take much to talk me into drinking wine, but seriously I intended to be a very good girl and I had brought diet Pepsi with great intentions. But my wine drinking friend, also owned and operated by the above mentioned Madison, lured me to the wine side with Shiraz. Now, come on, how could I resist?) Any way with my aim being what it was, I had a lot of time to watch the dog.

As it turns out Madison, does this run out on the pool cover and hang out in the "water" until it the water completely freezes. I swear I have never seen anything like it! Every time she bounded across the yard and sailed in to pool I laughed myself silly!

P.S. For those of you looking for a Rainbow pupdate--she slept through the night! Yes it was probably me you heard doing a happy dance!

Daddy Russ and Rainbow

Russ is the best Daddy and I couldn't be happier. He is gentle and tolerant. The series of pictures shows his good nature off. He drug that old cat bed into his crate and he just loves sleeping all stretched out and upside down. But Rainbow had other ideas so he moved to the back of the crate to give her some room. But by the end of the evening Rainbow wanted the whole bed to he moved to the side! ( Oh that toy in front is one of his favorites and he even lets her play with it!)

Good Boy Ruff Ruff!

Teach Recall and Hug Your Dog.

Accidents happen. Accidents happen in a split second. Sometimes, including today, the difference between life and death, is instant reaction to your commands. Today Ella and Shaker are alive because of that. So what happened?

The dogs and I were out playing in the back yard. This happens every day many times a day, but today was just a little bit different. When it was time to go in the house, I opened the door and Ella and Shaker bounded up the stairs. Nothing new there, except today I saw the garage door was opened and I heard a car running.

I quickly commanded the other 3 (although the puppy just went along ) to "get back." They did immediately and I closed the door and was up the stairs pronto. One might even suggest that I made the top of the stairs faster than I had since I was an in shape teenager! I yelled STOP, but the car kept moving backwards. I SCREAMED STOP as I made the back of the car. Ella's head was about 8"from the tire. She was trying to figure out what I wanted from her. She astutely figured out I wanted her to get away from the car, and she bolted up the driveway. (Oh Shaker had already made the crest of the driveway and was headed for the bright lights of New York!)

Okay the dogs were clear of the car. So then I went into puppy fun mode. I joyfully sang out Ella Bella, Shakey Bakey Come! Ella turned on a dime and ran at me like a missile driven bullet. The joy of watching my dog heading toward me at rocket speed was unmeasurable. But I still had Shaker on the loose. Well it was 10 seconds into Ella running toward me that Shaker decided that the bright lights of New York wouldn't be much fun without his cohort in crime and he too came bounding down the driveway.

The entire incident was over in less than 2 mins, but the fear, adrenaline and joy will live in my muscles for at least a week!

This part of the post is purely for Ella. For all my complaining about her slow recall today when it really mattered she had rocket recall. I am sorry for ever doubting her. Now Shaker on the other hand, I have long bragged about his beautiful recall. Turns out when the chips were down, he easily could have had other plans. So tomorrow, Shaker is in recall Boot Camp!

Hug your dogs and teach recall!

Don't Kiss The Puppy!

Rainbow is her Daddy's puppy to be sure! When Russ was little he loved nothing better than finding a smelly fish on the shore of the great Mississippi River and roll in it until I physically picked him up and moved him along.

We don't spend as much time right on the shores of the river right now so Rainbow had to find her own smelly yucky stuff to cavort in. For dear little Rainbow it is dead rotting voles. I swear that dog can put her nose to the ground and come up with a dead animal in seconds.

First she dug one out of the pond. I saw her running with something in her mouth that didn't look much like one of the famed toys we have purchased for her Cardigan pleasure. And as Kathy is going to train this puppy I hadn't worked on "leave it" and "drop it"! Fortunately for me, Russ was quite willing to take it from her, and he has a rock solid "drop it".

Once I had the disgusting vermin isolated from the Cardis I found myself in another pickle. I was in the middle of the yard and an implement with which to dispose of the thing was in the shed. With not a chance of maintaining control if I left to get the shovel, I rooted around in the leaves and found a passable stick.

While the thing was flying over the fence, I thought, "there that is taken care of." Only problem was the puppy had a second one... And yes, we essentially repeated the entire performance, only this time I had a stick ready to go.

Rainbow and Daddy Russ

We have an old cat bed that I bought at a cat show over 20 years ago. It is quite durable, survived many washings. Russ used it when he was a puppy. Rainbow tried it out and liked it. Probably because it is near a food dish.





After Rainbow tried it out, Russ had to see if it still fit. Pretty snug.

Rainbow and Kenzie

When everyone is cleaning and putting away Halloween decorations, what should the little ones do? Why, socialize, of course! The two littlest creatures of the house spent most of the day just hanging out and being way to cute!

Home Free

Remember playing "Hide and Seek" in the back yard with a gaggle of kids? Remember the rush of making to "Home Free Zone" before being spotted?

Well it turns out my Cardis have a similar game and Home Free spot. They have a raging game of chase lead by whom ever gets a wild hair. As soon as one of them starts to run the others (even little Rainbow though she can't possibly keep up) engage the chase.

Now this game has been going on and developing its life for some time now. The Home Free Zone is quite new. It seems that if the dog in the lead position can either jump in the dog pool or get under the Boxwood bush they are saved from the rolling maul that ensues if the "leader" is caught.

I swear Ella smiled today when she made the Boxwood without being touched!

Mom, Dad and Rainbow

Rainbow is settling in nicely. Ella has taught her to steal my shoes, Russ and Music (aka Mom and Dad) are super protective of her and Shaker well he just has his nose out of joint!

Oh and she loves to play in oak leaves! I try to get some pictures of her cavorting in them.

For now here's a couple of the parents hanging out their baby.