This post is written for Emily <3
We have a lot of animals in our home, although we do our best to make it so that people don't know that.
You know those crazy animal people? People who can talk about their animals ad nauseum? Those "love me, love my dog" kind of people? We aren't those kind of people. In my mind, crazy animal people are people who care more about animals than about people, and while animals need to be protected and defended (and become beloved family members), people (and especially family) should be more cherished than Fido. I try to be sensitive to the fact that some people don't like animals, or don't want cat hair on their coats, or have allergies.
I've probably just offended half the planet.
In my mind, our animals are for our enjoyment, but when other people are around, they become second-class citizens. I don't allow my cats to jump in people's laps when visitors come over. I put my dogs away for parties, dinners, or barbeques. My animals definitely don't rule the roost in our home. In fact, I have an electronic fence inside my home to keep my dogs in just my mud room and kitchen (they aren't allowed anywhere else in the house).
Too, I expect my dogs to be on their best behavior with us. I say something once (like "leave it") and I expect them to listen and obey. Thank goodness I have smart dogs! When I take them for walks off leash, they come to me when I call them, and they come immediately. It's truly a joy to work with such an intelligent breed of dogs.
All this being said, we love our animals. We love our dogs. They have a sweet, sweet life here in our corner of central Pennsylvania. They have over 4 acres to patrol, and they can't wait to head out each day. They have a separate, fenced-in enclosure outside that rivals the size of most people's backyards. John custom-built a shed for them that matches our home. It sports a window so that they can still see the walking track that adjoins our property and can still feel like they are "on watch". We put them in the enclosure if we're gone for the day and the weather is nice.
Our dogs aren't friendly dogs, because they are herding dogs. When I originally researched a breed, I wanted one that I knew would protect our family. They are bred to be territorial and to protect the flock, so when strangers approach, we must be careful. Once they know that a person is our friend, they are completely fine to lay down and go to sleep, but until then, they are wary of anyone.
Because they are all Australian Shepherds, they share similar qualities: superb herding instincts, intelligence, sticking to us (Aussies are nicknamed "Velcro" dogs) and an insane desire to please us. However, they are still individuals, and it's those individual qualities that we love.
Here are the pups (aka "the crazies"):
Roxy was our first Aussie. She's a blue merle. She's our "trick" dog, knowing how to do all kinds of things like roll over and "find it". She's the boss among the dogs, but everyone is always trying to overthrow her. She just gives them a quick growl, and they are put back in place. She is Ethan's favorite dog, and he has a special thing he does with her: he sits on the ground and she comes up and puts her head on his shoulder. They'll sit there like that forever. Because she wasn't socialized as a puppy, she's not good with other people, so she's always put away when people are around. However, she's loyal to our family to a fault--she would never let anything happen to any of us.
Next comes Dash. He's undeniably Mark's dog. In fact, Mark doesn't always mention his sisters in his letters home, but he always remembers to ask us to give Dash some loves for him. We actually had Dash groomed for Mark's senior pictures!
Dash loves to catch the frisbee, more than any of our other dogs. Mark will throw it for an hour for him. He's obviously photogenic. This was my FB profile picture for a long time. He's looking at the kids, throwing the frisbee.
He is also our goofiest dog. He runs into things and slips a lot, and fills iPhoto with funny shot after goofy shot after funny shot. He also speaks on command, and is more than happy when we ask him to do this.
Here are the two "man dawgs" as Mark calls them: Chief, and Dash.
Chief is our youngest Aussie (in fact, his hair isn't quite grown in for this picture), and he's put in his place quite a bit by the other dogs. He's my favorite dog. He's friendly, and happy to please. He loves to steal the ball from Cherry, but he'll catch the frisbee too. He always looks like he's dancing when he runs. He's also a coward--he's scared of everything, including dogs that are smaller than him.
Pearl is our most beautiful dog. She's pretty much worthless as far as an Australian Shepherd is concerned. She has absolutely no herding instinct, or any kind of instinct. She's a prima donna, always growling at any dog that comes too close. It is nice though to have a dog that doesn't do much--she's happy to just sit. In fact, I call her our Aussie ambassador, because she's good with strangers. She's John's dog, although I think she secretly loves me the most. While she doesn't appear very smart, she CAN open doors, and the gate to the enclosure. John says she just hides her extreme intelligence.
Because she wants to do nothing but be near us, she follows us incessantly into the bathroom. We can't even get the door closed before she's in there. I had to take a picture of "potty love"--what we see when we're ... um ... taking care of business :-)
Finally, there's Cherry (and believe me, that statement is LOADED with meaning). Cherry takes the most out of us. She's always on high alert, watching out the windows, running the property line, barking at people. She's a NUT, and yet we adore her. She will literally fetch the ball until she's about to pass out, even in summer heat. She's the tiniest of all the dogs, but she packs the most punch. Glo would be lost without her. In fact, as soon as Glo gets home and starts her homework at the kitchen table, Cherry is underneath Glo's feet where Glo (without thinking) pets her belly (with her feet) for as long as her homework lasts. I think it's the only time Cherry is still!
Cats? We have those too!
Jake is the oldest, and funniest. We brought him over from Germany, and he only speaks Deutsch :-)
He sleeps anywhere...
The girls dress him up in whatever they can find, and he's good with it. Here is his impression of "the Hawaiian Lion".
Now that he's older, he only goes out when it's warm.
He helps mow the lawn...
He likes to play board games and do puzzles...
Don't let this picture fool you. He looks like he's getting a drink from our pond (while perched precariously on a rock), but really he's scoping out the location of our fish!
Ranger also came from Germany. In fact, he followed Ethan home one day from the Metzgerei in Preist (and Ethan didn't even have any meat with him). He's 100% Hannie's cat. In fact, they have routines together--getting ready for bed, waking up in the morning, saying "hello" when he comes home from the Battle Barn. He's a scrawny little thing, but his heart is big.
Hannah has only taken about 1,000 pictures of him. He can't do anything without her saying, "Isn't he so cute?"
And finally Scout. When we first moved here, John attended Scouting Roundtables at our local Scout Camp. A red tabby stray kept trying to climb through the window to get something to eat--he was a starved, dirty kitten. John brought him home, and we named him Scout. Little did we know that the "little" wouldn't last for long! He tops all the cats in weight, and just last night we wondered if he had overtaken Cherry on the scale...
Turns out, Scout has an anxiety disorder. During the winter months, when he can't go outside (or chooses not to), he licks his fur off. As of today, he has no fur on his belly, back legs, or front legs. Spring can't come soon enough!
Too, Scoutie drools. Yes, as in saliva drips from his mouth when we pet him. Needless to say, we make sure he's NOT in our laps when he comes up for some attention.
He's a friendly thing though, always wanting to be near us.
I know, I know. We seem like crazy animal people, but we really aren't. I promise!
And the only thing I ever practice on the piano is the music that I need to play to accompany my kids for competitions. That's it. Pretty much all of skills are in the garbage. I guess that's what happens when I'm taking care of EIGHT animals! :-)
Thanks for asking!
We have a lot of animals in our home, although we do our best to make it so that people don't know that.
You know those crazy animal people? People who can talk about their animals ad nauseum? Those "love me, love my dog" kind of people? We aren't those kind of people. In my mind, crazy animal people are people who care more about animals than about people, and while animals need to be protected and defended (and become beloved family members), people (and especially family) should be more cherished than Fido. I try to be sensitive to the fact that some people don't like animals, or don't want cat hair on their coats, or have allergies.
I've probably just offended half the planet.
In my mind, our animals are for our enjoyment, but when other people are around, they become second-class citizens. I don't allow my cats to jump in people's laps when visitors come over. I put my dogs away for parties, dinners, or barbeques. My animals definitely don't rule the roost in our home. In fact, I have an electronic fence inside my home to keep my dogs in just my mud room and kitchen (they aren't allowed anywhere else in the house).
Too, I expect my dogs to be on their best behavior with us. I say something once (like "leave it") and I expect them to listen and obey. Thank goodness I have smart dogs! When I take them for walks off leash, they come to me when I call them, and they come immediately. It's truly a joy to work with such an intelligent breed of dogs.
All this being said, we love our animals. We love our dogs. They have a sweet, sweet life here in our corner of central Pennsylvania. They have over 4 acres to patrol, and they can't wait to head out each day. They have a separate, fenced-in enclosure outside that rivals the size of most people's backyards. John custom-built a shed for them that matches our home. It sports a window so that they can still see the walking track that adjoins our property and can still feel like they are "on watch". We put them in the enclosure if we're gone for the day and the weather is nice.
Our dogs aren't friendly dogs, because they are herding dogs. When I originally researched a breed, I wanted one that I knew would protect our family. They are bred to be territorial and to protect the flock, so when strangers approach, we must be careful. Once they know that a person is our friend, they are completely fine to lay down and go to sleep, but until then, they are wary of anyone.
Because they are all Australian Shepherds, they share similar qualities: superb herding instincts, intelligence, sticking to us (Aussies are nicknamed "Velcro" dogs) and an insane desire to please us. However, they are still individuals, and it's those individual qualities that we love.
Here are the pups (aka "the crazies"):
Roxy was our first Aussie. She's a blue merle. She's our "trick" dog, knowing how to do all kinds of things like roll over and "find it". She's the boss among the dogs, but everyone is always trying to overthrow her. She just gives them a quick growl, and they are put back in place. She is Ethan's favorite dog, and he has a special thing he does with her: he sits on the ground and she comes up and puts her head on his shoulder. They'll sit there like that forever. Because she wasn't socialized as a puppy, she's not good with other people, so she's always put away when people are around. However, she's loyal to our family to a fault--she would never let anything happen to any of us.
Next comes Dash. He's undeniably Mark's dog. In fact, Mark doesn't always mention his sisters in his letters home, but he always remembers to ask us to give Dash some loves for him. We actually had Dash groomed for Mark's senior pictures!
Dash loves to catch the frisbee, more than any of our other dogs. Mark will throw it for an hour for him. He's obviously photogenic. This was my FB profile picture for a long time. He's looking at the kids, throwing the frisbee.
He is also our goofiest dog. He runs into things and slips a lot, and fills iPhoto with funny shot after goofy shot after funny shot. He also speaks on command, and is more than happy when we ask him to do this.
Here are the two "man dawgs" as Mark calls them: Chief, and Dash.
Chief is our youngest Aussie (in fact, his hair isn't quite grown in for this picture), and he's put in his place quite a bit by the other dogs. He's my favorite dog. He's friendly, and happy to please. He loves to steal the ball from Cherry, but he'll catch the frisbee too. He always looks like he's dancing when he runs. He's also a coward--he's scared of everything, including dogs that are smaller than him.
Pearl is our most beautiful dog. She's pretty much worthless as far as an Australian Shepherd is concerned. She has absolutely no herding instinct, or any kind of instinct. She's a prima donna, always growling at any dog that comes too close. It is nice though to have a dog that doesn't do much--she's happy to just sit. In fact, I call her our Aussie ambassador, because she's good with strangers. She's John's dog, although I think she secretly loves me the most. While she doesn't appear very smart, she CAN open doors, and the gate to the enclosure. John says she just hides her extreme intelligence.
Because she wants to do nothing but be near us, she follows us incessantly into the bathroom. We can't even get the door closed before she's in there. I had to take a picture of "potty love"--what we see when we're ... um ... taking care of business :-)
Finally, there's Cherry (and believe me, that statement is LOADED with meaning). Cherry takes the most out of us. She's always on high alert, watching out the windows, running the property line, barking at people. She's a NUT, and yet we adore her. She will literally fetch the ball until she's about to pass out, even in summer heat. She's the tiniest of all the dogs, but she packs the most punch. Glo would be lost without her. In fact, as soon as Glo gets home and starts her homework at the kitchen table, Cherry is underneath Glo's feet where Glo (without thinking) pets her belly (with her feet) for as long as her homework lasts. I think it's the only time Cherry is still!
Cats? We have those too!
Jake is the oldest, and funniest. We brought him over from Germany, and he only speaks Deutsch :-)
He sleeps anywhere...
The girls dress him up in whatever they can find, and he's good with it. Here is his impression of "the Hawaiian Lion".
Now that he's older, he only goes out when it's warm.
He helps mow the lawn...
He likes to play board games and do puzzles...
Don't let this picture fool you. He looks like he's getting a drink from our pond (while perched precariously on a rock), but really he's scoping out the location of our fish!
Ranger also came from Germany. In fact, he followed Ethan home one day from the Metzgerei in Preist (and Ethan didn't even have any meat with him). He's 100% Hannie's cat. In fact, they have routines together--getting ready for bed, waking up in the morning, saying "hello" when he comes home from the Battle Barn. He's a scrawny little thing, but his heart is big.
Hannah has only taken about 1,000 pictures of him. He can't do anything without her saying, "Isn't he so cute?"
And finally Scout. When we first moved here, John attended Scouting Roundtables at our local Scout Camp. A red tabby stray kept trying to climb through the window to get something to eat--he was a starved, dirty kitten. John brought him home, and we named him Scout. Little did we know that the "little" wouldn't last for long! He tops all the cats in weight, and just last night we wondered if he had overtaken Cherry on the scale...
Turns out, Scout has an anxiety disorder. During the winter months, when he can't go outside (or chooses not to), he licks his fur off. As of today, he has no fur on his belly, back legs, or front legs. Spring can't come soon enough!
He's a friendly thing though, always wanting to be near us.
I know, I know. We seem like crazy animal people, but we really aren't. I promise!
And the only thing I ever practice on the piano is the music that I need to play to accompany my kids for competitions. That's it. Pretty much all of skills are in the garbage. I guess that's what happens when I'm taking care of EIGHT animals! :-)
Thanks for asking!
I loved reading this! How fun to get an insider's view of how your animals fit in your family. I have to say, Rocket is definitely Cherry's pup, always ready to take care of business!
ReplyDeleteThese are our dogs and cats and though they sometimes drive us crazy, we love them!
ReplyDeleteThe cats and dogs are cute, the kids cuter, but that beautiful lady in a few of the pictues is a hottie!
ReplyDelete