A Trip to the River - Twig

Hello fans, my name is Twig and I'm adorable.

Bet has explained that some of my expected duties here in my new home is to "blog" my adventures.  Seems a bit strange to me, but she says it's important, so here I am.

I must say that I'm enjoying my time here at North Wapiti Kennels.  My mom told me that is was a great position, and that I would lead a very exciting life.  I was expecting a full time position where there actually were some sheep, but apparently my job is to help herd "Pretty Curly Tails", which are actually Siberian Huskies that pull sleds for fun and sport.

My owner is called "The Musher" although I'm pretty sure she has never in her life said "mush", she actually does this high pitched "lululululululululu" thing, and since her cooking is actually very tasty, I'm pretty sure it's not a nickname for her culinary skills.  This confuses me, as I like things to be pretty cut and dried.  I've managed to glean from conversations that her real call name is Karen, but I'll stick to her nickname for continuity sake.

One of the good things about being a puppy apparently is the small size of my head.  This allows me to reach the good parts of the leftover peanut butter in the jar.

I wholeheartedly approve of peanut butter, although the fat content could lead to weight issues.  I don't expect this kind of a treat every day, just when the jar has been used up, so I don't see a problem with the calorie content.

Seeing how I'm expected to grow quite a bit until I reach adulthood, I don't expect another jar to be emptied before my head is too large, so I'll just enjoy this little treat while I can, and feel fortunate that I arrived at the ritual empty peanut butter jar time.  Bet says she usually gets the jar, but seeing how I'm new, she let me have the honors.  That was very nice of her.

Bet has also been very gracious to let me share her dog bed.  She says it's officially called a "clouch" because it's a cross between a cloud (one type of foamy dog bed) and a couch (although this one doesn't have legs, but it does resemble a couch).  Not wanting to appear as though I don't appreciate her generosity, I too shall call it a "clouch".  I had no idea that I would also need to learn a whole new language in my new home.

I don't want to appear as though I'm just taking over the place, so I find it easier and more polite to sleep up here.  It's pretty comfortable.  Yes, I realize that there is yet another of these "clouches" right behind me, but this is the one that Bet "gave" me, and I don't want to overstep my bounds until I can figure out the whole routine, and pecking order of this new home.  Plus, it's just not nice to come in and take over.  I know I wouldn't appreciate a young pup like me just glomming on to my things, so I try to be gracious about boundaries and rules.

Although this may not appear to be a comfortable position, it actually is, as I don't have to worry about rolling over and landing on Bet (who tends to be a bit flighty about some things... I'm curious to experience these horrible creatures she calls "pointy pointy beady eyed birds").

The other day the "Musher" told us that we were going to the lake for an adventure.  I'm very keen to experience new things, and I haven't seen a lake yet, so I was raring to go.  Of course we had to wait until Bet had picked out an appropriate "ensemble" and then decide that she wouldn't wear one because it might get muddy, and that was a whole process that took forever, but eventually we got to the lake and it was wonderful!

There was squishy mud that feels really funny between your toes, and it smells slightly gross, but a wonderful gross, and there was this rock!  What a great rock that was!

The water was a bit warm and muddy, but tasty.

I saw another rock and I told Bet that it would be fun to splash through the water and get on that rock, and she was like all "watch out, there's creatures in the water and muck and the Musher will give you a bath", but I was all like "watch me run out there and be queen of the rock!"

So I did, I got on the rock!

I looked really close to the water and didn't see any creatures.  Sure there was muck, but muck is fun!

I tried to get Bet to come in and play in the water and play queen of the rock, but she said something about mussing her furs or something.

When I got out Bet gave me a lesson on water safety.  Something about stretching, and then not getting into the water until an hour after I ate, something about cramps, and the proper way to give CPR.

Thankfully she lost her train of thought when we heard a sound in the woods.  She's worried about bears, but not the bodyguard variety Bear.  I heard her chastising the "Musher" about not bringing the Homeland Security crew with us, but the "Musher" said we'd be fine, so I figured she knows what she's talking about.

I went and played in the long grass, because it was fun and there's cool bugs and things in there to chase and eat.  The grass wasn't that tasty, but I chomped a path through it.

I have to admit it got a bit dense in there, and then Bet had a conniption about not being able to see me, so she made me come back.

WHAT???

I tried to get her to go wading in the water with me and chasing these creatures she keeps talking about, but she said she was muddy enough.

So I'm like "fine, I'll go hunt for creatures by myself or something", and that got me a lecture on creatures and how they'd eat my face.  I'm beginning to wonder if Bet needs to be on some meds or something.

So I stalked an evil lake monster into the water

It was huge and ferocious, but I caught it and subdued it!

It nearly pulled me into the water, but I was able to capture it and kill it!

Then I found some delicious smells and followed their trail to the water again

I was pretty sure I captured it, but it turned out to be a blade of grass and not a giant worm set on destroying the world.

I heard some splashing, so I went to investigate the noise

I discovered that you can't smell things in the water because that muck goes right up your nose, but that didn't stop me

Where is that splashing thing, I shall capture you too!

I think it was a fish!!

Here fishy fishy, I will capture you!

Fish apparently swim very fast, but I was hot on its trail!

Come out, come out little fish

Hey!  Was that the fish?

Since I was getting pretty wet and muddy, Bet wanted me to come back to shore

Hey!  Come back on the shore, you'll be eaten alive!!

Helloooooo, did you hear me little missy????

It was pretty fun out at the lake, even with worry wart Bet around.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have someone looking out for you and all, but eeesh, I'm a growing puppy and I don't need a nanny!

-Twig

Troubling Times - Bet

Sigh,

Howdy Ho Everybodies... sigh.

Although I've recovered from my slight shoulder strain, I must admit that there has been something weighing heavily on my mind.  I tried talking it over with the sheepie things, but they're pretty dense.

Hey, so what do you think?  Seriously?  COME ON!

I've spent a lot of time in my cooling bucket trying to sort it all out as well.

There has to be a perfectly logical and innocent reason for all of this

But no matter how much I thought about it, or pondered it... it could only mean one thing.   Before I came to that end conclusion, I had to get some much needed advice.

My friend Nel (one "L") came for a sleepover.  Nel also flunked out of baa baa sheepie herdy herding school and is one of my closest confidantes.

She's been leaving without me, and when she comes back, she has strange furs on her and she smells like another dog

The Musher is cheating on me

Nel is very smart in these things, and she offered to host an intervention.  She got her human to confirm my deepest fears. For security reasons, I brought Bear along.  I've seen shows where people throw chairs when confronted by uncomfortable things and stuffs, so I just wanted to make sure I had some muscle on my side.

So it's true????  She's cheating on me?????

Stay tuned for the exciting season ending

Teaching the Musher - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!

As you may already know (and if you don't, where have you been, my goodness, keep up peoples!) I'm teaching the Musher how to herd sheepy sheeps.

Yes, yes, I flunked out of the Alta-Peet Stockdogs school of herdy herding, but it was a lifestyle choice really.  I had a higher calling to herd Pretty Curly Tails, but whatever, the Musher started going to her friend's house and they have sheepy sheeps, and they have herdy dogs, and she seemed interested in the whole process, and she also likes whistling really loud, so seeing her interest in the job I figured I'd oblige her by giving her some training.

Frankly, I hope she loses interest in this soon because I'm the one doing all the running around, but I can't resist giving her something fun to do.

Anyhooooooo, so we went out to a real field the other day.  It seemed as though she was ready for that next step.  You start out doing it in a small field because if the sheepy sheeps go all wackadoodle and run off... well, that's never a good thing

Photo: Alamy

Instead of going big, we went small, with a nice bunch of sheepy sheeps.  I didn't want to overwhelm the Musher on her first big field event.

It's ok Musher, they're very nice sheepy sheeps, they won't stomp on you

I had a talk with Manny, Frankie, Lou, Nelly, and Lucinda and told them to go easy on the Musher, as she was new to all of this.  Then I took the Musher aside and told her that she would do just fine, just lay off the "down" stuff.  Even though it's a big field, things still poo on it, and I'm not laying down in poo.

So I started them off for a leisurely run to get some real estate between them and the Musher, just to see if she remembered the whole "come here" command.

Beautiful grouping guys, but don't make it too easy on her!

The Musher is having a LOT of difficulty remembering to say Come-Bye or Away to Me because she's so used to Gee and Haw.  When that happens, I just glare at her.

Seriously?  Gee?  Do we not remember our sheepy commands?

Sometimes I just can't help myself and just take over... I mean I don't want to go chasing the sheepie things when she lays out a Walk Up while the sheepies things are running full tilt bozo in the opposite direction.  The Musher gets a bit frustrated when I take over, and I try really hard to let her make mistakes, but eeesh.

Watch out Musher!  Don't walk in front of the sheepie things, they'll smoosh you!

She gets frustrated too, so when that happens, I ask the gang to cut her some slack, and hopes she remembers the "There" so I can "Walk Up" and move the sheepie things at her.

Ok, seriously?  How much closer do you want them, and NO, I'm not laying down, there's a bug on the ground here

She also likes to have things "just so" and all perfect.  I guess she's never heard "close enough for sheepy things work", so I asked Manny to step on her foot.

There!  Um... how about a "That'll Do?"  I'm thirsty you know

She did very well today, despite some challenges, and I think she has a lot of potential, if she can forget all of those mushing commands, but I have a feeling that this winter, she's going to be out on the training trail and TOTALLY freak out the team by yelling COME-BYE!!!

That'll be fun to watch.

- Bet

That'll Do Musher - Bet

In case folks haven't figured it out, I LOVE that wacky Musher of mine.  Yup, I have a lot of human souls that I love and own big pieces of my heart - but that silly, waffle-making, bad ensemble, silly tennis shoed, slightly neurotic, scarf-loving human is in a league all of her very own.

For those of you that don't know, the Musher's passion is racing Pretty Curly Tails, and they are EXTREMELY accomplished in the pulling of Musher sleds and racing.  Crunchie is practically a legend.  The Musher comes from great genes, my Grandmom makes the bestest pancakes, and warms my butter and syrup for me.  The Musher just didn't fit into the city life or show her potential for filing and collating, and that is how she ended up here in the wilds of North Wapiti.

I've written OODLES over the years about that, and her job at the kennel, so I won't go over it all again here.

In her travels with me over the last 6 years, we've come into contact with baa baa sheepie things numerous times and I've made it VERY clear that I needed to concentrate my mad skills on herding the Pretty Curly Tails, training the puppies, making sure the cloud, clouches, and couch were worn in properly, and not something that I could add to my very busy schedule.

All that changed last month though.  We just happened to be in contact with baa baa sheepie things again and I thought "Ya know, the Poutines of Anarchy are getting bigger, and it's getting nice out, which means long runs with the Musher on her stupid bicycle, and sitting by the ponds, lake, water thingie, so why not do some herdy herding to keep my muscles toned?"

As I do have the Musher wrapped around my little paw toe, she took me across the valley to Lisa's house once a week for some lessons.  I'm a bit rusty since my training at Alta Pete Stockdogs and Ms. Jenny's comprehensive training program.  This weekend Lisa was putting on a seminar, so off we went to Landing Trail Stock Dogs.

I got tired of the amateurs running around, willy nilly, not even keeping the baa baa sheepie things in line, and making all sorts of mistakes, so I may have gotten a bit emotional with the yelling and backseat driving instructions, so the Musher had to put me in the van... harumpff.

When it was my turn, for the amount of training I've had, I did a GREAT job. It felt good to get back in the baa baa sheepie ring again.  Of course I was wearing my FASHIONABLE collar that makes my furs pop.  They are the bestest collars and all the rage with other herdy herders (thanks to me).  If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to do it stylish, right Ms. Jenny?

Part of herdy herding baa baa sheepie things is "lie down".  This is not my favorite part of the herdy herding process.  It's like the Musher has no idea how much baa baa sheepie things poop.  That stuff is all over the place, and who wants to lay in that?  I'd rather just stand, thank you very much.

We also worked on doing Figure 8's with pylon things and stuffs and that's pretty hard.

Whoopsies, my bad

At the end of our session, she patted her leg, said "That'll do Bet" and she looked down at me with that tired satisfaction that I see so often in the Pretty Curly Tail eyes, things are RIGHT in my world!

Oh, and she made me waffles for breakfast this morning.  Did I mention that she just can't say "no" to me?  hehehehehehe

- Bet

Driving Miss Bittie - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!

I don't have an interview this week, and this bloggity blog post is late because I was doing my new Baa Baa Sheepie thing... thing and then there was some other stuffs and things, and, and...

Anyhoooo,

Last week the Musher asked if I wanted to drive down to Montanana with her to drop off Gem to Karen E Minion (all things shippy and packy).  Gem will be an agility dog and I can't think of a better career for her, since she lives to jump on things, run through things, stomp on things, leap over things.

So I packed my overnight bag and got in my front seat, and here is our whole trip in one bloggity blog.

We drove.

 Bet: Are we there yet?
Musher: We just left
Bet: That didn't answer my question.

Bet:  Look!  There's a cloud that looks like a unicorn jumping over a marmoset!
Musher: I can't look, I'm driving.

Bet: It's a shame you missed it, probably never ever ever ever ever happen again... your loss

Bet: Gem, get your feet off the ceiling and stop bouncing around!

Bet: Don't make me stop the truck and come back there, and turn that music down, I can't hear myself think!

Bet: Is it just me or are the trees exactly the same for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles...

Bet: ... and miles and miles and miles and miles..

Bet: Ok, I know we've been driving forever, but did you turn the oven off?  I didn't turn the oven off, did you turn the oven off?

Bet: Are we there yet?

Bet: I spy with my little eye something that begins with "T"
Musher: Is it a tree?

Bet: No fair, you guessed it right away, I don't want to play any more

Bet: OOOH MUSHER!  It's a baa baa sheepy thing!  Let's go herd it!!!
Musher: I don't think those kind of sheepy things like to be herded, Bet.

Bet: Wow, there's more of them, come on!  Let's herd them!
Musher: I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like to be herded Bet, those are wild sheepy things

Bet: It's a whole gaggle of sheepie things, and they do look all clumped up, but I say we go herd them any way!
Musher: They have sharp pointy point horns Bet.

Bet: Oh... they do?  Well, maybe we can herd them on the way back or something.

Musher: I spy with my little eye something that begins with "M"
Bet: Stop it, I'm not playing that game because you cheat.

Bet: Oh stop pouting, fine... is it Moose?  Of course it can't be Moose because that begins with "S" as in Stompy Moose.
Musher: It's Mountain

Bet: HEY!  What, I only get one guess and then you ruin the game and tell me... you don't know how to play this game... hey look, there's a mountain!

We finally get there, and drop Gem off with Karen E and then did a little sightseeing before we head back.

Bet: Make sure you get my good side while I'm posing as a dog looking at a mountain

Bet: did you take the picture yet?  The wind is blowing my ears back, did you get the picture?  Hello???

Musher:  What's wrong with my shoes?
Bet: Um... nothing, they're fine... really... totally fine... seriously... no really.

Bet: Ok, let me get this straight, you want me to look longingly into the distance while I lay in the window of some old building... right?

Bet:  Nailed it, just take the picture now, this concrete is cold and hard.

Then we drove back and on the way we stopped at Grandmom's house.  I love my Grandmom, she's the bestest Grandmom in the whole wide world.

Bet:  Um, Musher, we're late for Grandmom's house, just get your coffee and stop drooling on the steering wheel.

We got to Grandmom's house and had a wonderful time.  In the morning, Grandmom made me breakfast.

Bet: I love how you ensembled your house Grandmom, the counters really make the place pop!

Bet: I was just wondering if you could talk to your daughter about her choice of footwear... have you seen those things?

Grandmom:  Oh I know Bet, but you can raise them, but you can't get them to buy FABulous shoes.
Bet:  Yes, I've tried, and I know you've tried... can I have a little more syrup and if you don't mind, can you melt some butter for the pancakes?
Grandmom: Oh, of course, I can't have you eating cold syrup and butter!

Bet: om nom nom... this is perfect Grandmom!  At least you did teach the Musher your fantastic cooking skills!

Bet: The warm butter and syrup really makes the pancake, you are the bestest Grandmom!

And then we drove home.

- Bet