THE THINGS ONE HAS TO PUT UP WITH SOMETIMES!

I am not my normal happy self at the moment. :(
This is on account of our doggy runs all being gotten ready for the winter down here near the bottom of the world, and I sure wish Daddy would hurry up and get them finished!
I was not happy when Daddy took Howard Jr to the GSD Specialist shows on the weekend - he should have been at home fixing my run!

When mommy was cleaning my doggy run on Friday morning before she went to work she found that some of the steel mesh that is normally under all the stones (but isn't cause there are a few hollows where I've worn a track in there) is broken and has got a couple of sharp edges on it.
"You can't go in your run Xena," mommy told me, so I stayed in my crate on Friday.
Saturday and Sunday I was allowed out into Howard Jr's run which is all safe and ready for the winter now.

This morning it was all bad though! :(

I should have known that things were going to be bad when Daddy didn't let me out potty when he got up. :(
Daddy let all the others out and then put them back in their crates, but forgot about me going potty. He did give me my pre breakfast bowl of food though.
I was so upset, I cried and cried, and did my very loud Xena HOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWL. :(

Mommy got up and let me out to go potty. When I came in I snuggled down with my teddy bear and went back to sleep.
I was woken up again by mommy with my breakfast, and I actually thought the day might have been improving.
How wrong was I about that? Little did I know when I was let out of my crate that I was going to have to spend the day sharing Howard Jr's run with him. :(

Howard Jr rules his run with an iron paw, and I can't stand his strict rules for behavior while in his run. :(

Howard Jr always sits in one corner of his run in the sun, and he silently demands that I have to sit in the opposite corner.
When you are in Howard Jr's run if you get caught short and have to go potty in there, you are only allowed to go in the fartherest corner at the back of the run in the sawdust. :(
No one is allowed to ever sleep on the roof of Howard Jr's kennel. No, one might have to endure his gleaming white razor sharp teeth snarling at one until they got down. No one else is allowed to sleep in HIS kennel either. :(
In Howard Jr's run you aren't allowed to bark at butterflies, birds or bees. If one dares even utter half a bark at these things before you remember you're not allowed to bark at them, one gets a cold doggy stare as if you are a naughty little girl! :(
Daddy cut Howard Jr some large pieces of a tree branch for him to play with in his run, and Howard Jr likes shifting them around his run during the day. No one else is allowed to play with those.
If mommy gives you your doggy rope chew to play with for the day it suddenly becomes the property of Howard Jr - even though he doesn't like your toys. :(
You're not allowed to play in the automatic water bowl in Howard Jr's run either - he doesn't like doggy paws in there and silently demands that it be kept clean at all times. :(

So, as you can probably tell I'm really hoping Daddy can fix my big run ASAP.
Honestly, Howard Jr is such a grump and so particular about everything I think he should join the police force as a K9 officer!

Howard Jr is in trouble - He He!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still having to share Howard Jr's big run with him, and I'm getting rather tired of him. I think he's the doggy fun police at our house, and I really don't know why he thinks he rules our pack!

I was shocked when daddy actually pulled a whole wooden panel off the far side of my run that runs alongside our huge potato and pumpkin patch. It was the oldest wooden panel that is part of the wall that shelters our big dog runs from all the cold winterwinds that blow up from the Antarctic and was about 10 feet long by 8 feet high.
I was most upset when Daddy pulled it down and I barked and barked at him.
"It's rotten from all the winter weather Xena," daddy told me, "and being next to one of the gardens over the years hasn't helped either."
Daddy said 10 - 11 years was a good life for it, taking into account he would never use treated timber in building any of our runs because it has poison in that sort of wood. :(

The rest of my run is looking good though, and most of the new deep layer of smooth round stones are almost all in place. That is apart from the bit where the piece of wall is missing. Daddy has given my kennel a bit of a makeover too. Even though 3/4 of my run has a roof over it, and I never sleep outside at night, I still like having a kennel to lie in during the day for a snooze. :)

While Howard Jr might think he's so great, he sure ran out of the house at 5am this morning when mommy and daddy got up to us - he he! :)
Mommy fed Georgi's puppies. Daddy let Georgi out into the yard and then put Freddie and our doggy boarder Phoenix AKA Nixxy out into one of the smaller outside runs and gave them their breakfast.

I was quite happily lying in my doggy crate chewing on a doggy treat when daddy came back in to let Howard Jr out for the day.
Mommy went over straight away to get Howard Jr's bedding to wash it, and that is when she got real grumpy. :)
Seems Howard Jr "marked" his territory in his crate last night, and mommy fair hit the roof - he he! :)

As we all snuggled down into the fresh, clean sleeping bags in our crates tonight, we all made special note that Howard Jr's bedding in his crate smelled as if it had received an extra strong dose of white vinegar and more than the three drops as is usual of Tea Tree Oil when it was washed early today!

DADDY WENT AWAY.

Daddy went away last week. I didn't notice that he wasn't there the first night he was away, but I sure noticed that he wasn't around the next day.
Nixxy (Phoenix) our doggy boarder noticed too, and the second night Daddy was away she sat on his chair beside the dinner table with her "Paddington Bear" stare on her face and wouldn't get down.
Suzy Q (who was the very sick one of Georgi's puppies that Daddy has lovingly handreared) noticed Daddy wasn't there either and she cried and cried for him lots.

All three of us missed Daddy, and all three of us were naughty in his absence.

Suzy Q got so upset she crawled through a hole that only a mouse could crawl through under the house and wouldn't come out. Mommy was really pleased having to change into her old clothes and battle the spiderwebs to rescue her just as she was laeving to go to work one day. I think Suzy Q's crying for Daddy got on all our nerves the most though.

Nixxy's protest at Daddy's absence was to sit on his chair in the evenings, refusing to move, and she went off her food too. Mommy kept finding Daddy's socks from the laundry washing in her crate every morning - one of which was half eaten! A shirt of Daddy's was found hidden under her sleeping bag also, plus Nixxy got really haughty and wouldn't do anything Mommy asked her to. She wouldn't come, she wouldn't wait and it was as if the command NO was license to do what Nixxy wanted.

I missed my evening runs beside Daddy's pushbike, and found mommy walking me in the paddocks was barely tolerable.
I even stopped trying to steal mommy's washcloths to wash my face on - instead I stole Daddy's washcloth from the shower and hid it under Daddy's side of his and Mommy's bed.
While mommy always uses that flowing soap for bathing, washing her hands etc...... Daddy always uses an old fashioned cake of soap. Every cake of soap on the house sudden had my teethmarks in them and appeared as if I had licked them!
I opened the door of Daddy's closet and rolled around in his shoes, pulled down some of his shirts and hid a whole lot of things from there under his side of the bed where his washcloth was too.
My countersurfing skills were put to good use, and a whole 2 1/2lb tray of ground beef went missing in a matter of seconds! I enjoyed the wood smoked salmon, and mommy still has no idea what happened to a whole stick of butter!
All of this time I was very naughty and wouldn't listen to Mommy or obey any of her commands.

I think mommy was at the end of her tether with Nixxy's and my trash can raids the moment her back was turned too.

Finally mommy took extreme measures and got (you probably guessed it) Howard Jr out on patrol of the whole house - geesh, he sure is the Fun Police. :(:(:(

Nixxy and I were confined to our crates, and all the others got that gloating "You've been REAL BAD" expression on their faces everytime they walked past us!

Finally there was the sound of familiar footsteps walking through the back door of the house, and then we heard Daddy's voice.
What a noise Nixxy, me and Suzy Q all made. Nixxy barked and barked, I screamed my best Xena howls and Suzy Q cried louder than she has ever cried in her whole short life.
We were all SSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PLEASED TO HAVE OUR DADDY HOME.

It wasn't too long before Suzy Q was fast asleep in Daddy's arm against his chest, Nixxy was asleep on his knee, and I was sleeping at his feet - all of us behaving like such little angels.

Daddy certainly wasn't happy when he heard about how naughty the three of us had been, in fact he said he was quite horrified all three of us were so naughty.
AND Daddy and Mommy still wonder why I licked and put my teeth marks in every cake of soap in the whole house!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND the problem- is..........................................................- ...........................

Those Human people have been mumbling about me.:( They say that I have a problem, and have sort of been whispering "There's something about Xena!" :(

I don't really care about what anyone thinks, but things sort of came to a crisis point when Daddy went away for a couple of days the other week and mommy was left looking after us doggies all by herself.
Daddy, the MOST WONDERFUL person ever in my whole life was gone.:(
The first night he was away wasn't so bad, but then I missed him more and more every hour he was away. Nixxy our doggy boarder missed him just as much too.
We were both sad together, and then we became naughty - VERY naughty without our wonderful Daddy. The last day Daddy was away from us saw both Nixxy and me confined to our crates, with mommy taking us out to potty on our leads!
Daddy couldn't believe that we were both extremely naughty when he was away, but Nixxy and I sure licked him nearly to death when he came home.
Daddy, my wonderful Daddy is the person I love more than anyone else in the whole wide world, and he is the only person I will allow to handle me. I truly am what some people call "a one person dog."

This sort of brings me to the extremely traumatic event that took place in my life this last Saturday afternoon after the dog show we were away at for the weekend.
Daddy had booked in for a special show handling workshop with this man by the name of J.R. Alcantara who our family met up with at our National Dog Show last year. Mommy and Daddy took me and Howard Jr over to the big sand arena where all the training was being held.
Daddy took Howard Jr for the first part of his training session which made me cry! Mommy had to take me outside because I wanted to be with Daddy, which made me so sad I barked at my friends the Borzoi Hounds. The lady who owns the Borzoi's laughed at me.
"Do you miss your Daddy Xena?" she asked with a smile. I guess she knows my Daddy is my favorite person too. Maybe everyone at the dog shows knows!:(

After about 20 minutes Mommy took me back to the arena, and there was Howard Jr standing in a perfect show stance beside Daddy with J.R. Alcantara patting Howard Jr's head as he told Daddy that Howard Jr is a good dog - trust Howard Jr to give people that false impression when I know the truth about him being "The Fun Police!"
That was when Daddy brought Howard Jr over to mommy and took me over to J.R.
"Xena," J.R. Alcantara addressed me. "I know all about high energy dogs like you," and without so much as another word he took my lead out of Daddy's hand and proceeded to position me into a show stance.

My eyes widened in shock and then I gazed at the hand holding my lead - it wasn't my Daddy's hand!
Before I could even whine holy dog J.R. was looking at my teeth, running his hands over me, and then he was walking me away from my Daddy!
I turned and whined, trying to run back to my Daddy, but J.R just kept a firm hold on my lead and kept on walking away from Daddy. :(
So, I decided to follow him, but as soon as I saw a break in the arena barrier I tried to run out of it - the lead just firmly kept walking me around the arena.

J.R. Alcantara and I walked right around the arena, past Daddy (where I whined and tried to run to him) and around again.
"Come on Xena," J.R. Alcantara said to me as I started to settle and walked out in front of him working into my lead. We got to the top end of the arena, and that was when he told me to gait. I flew down the long side of the arena with my toes well and truly flying out past my nose.
We came to a halt right beside Daddy and I stood in a perfect show stance.

Daddy and J.R Alcantara had a bit of a long discussion about me after that. It seems that J.R. Alcantara really likes my angulations and thinks I am a very good type for my breed, however my being a high energy dog is a problem in the fact that it has to be controlled.

I get my high energy (or fizz as mommy calls it) off my mama Bella, and she got it off her mama Jade. They were both one person dogs too.
Daddy thinks of it as a challenge rather than a problem, because on the days when I really listen to him and work for him - no one can beat me, just like my beautiful mama.
Mommy says I'm taking just a little bit longer to settle into the show ring than my mama did.
I did learn a lot from having a very experienced dog handler handling me though. I learned that even though my Daddy is the only person for me, I can still work for other people too, but it made me love my Daddy even more than ever and as we walked back to our crate camp I jumped up and smothered Daddy with lots and lots of Xena kisses. :):):)

I had a sleep at the vet's today.

I had a nice, peaceful sleep at the vet's today. When I opened my eyes and saw mommy standing there I tried to leap into her arms, but fell over on the soft recovery bed I'd been sleeping on!

Four nights ago I went for my normal 5 mile gait with Daddy beside his pushbike, and all was well with me.
The next morning when I woke up I couldn't walk on my back left hind leg.
Mommy examined my paw and leg, gave me some Rimadyl immediately, made a vet's appointment for me, and I spent the day in my crate singing protest songs. Even though I sleep in my crate every night, I don't like being in it during the day when I should be outside playing! :(

The vet's receptionist called Daddy just before mommy got home from work and rescheduled my appointment for the next day. Apparently they had a lot of doggy and kitty emergencies that day, and because they know mommy and daddy really know how to look after us well, they knew they could reschedule me without any problems or whatever was wrong with me deteriorating.
So, I continued being confined to my crate, only going potty on my lead, and mommy kept me on Rimadyl.

When Marcella the vet saw me the next day she didn't know what was wrong with me, and thought it might be my cruciate ligament - YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She booked me a slot in the xray room and then the operating theater for today.
Mommy and Daddy were both upset to hear this news as curciate ligament problems for a highly active doggy like me are best fixed with some rather expensive surgery, and the recovery period, rehabilitative physiotherapy is quite extensive - plus I would have to be crated for several months. :( They didn't have any hesitations about booking me in for the surgery ASAP though.

I sure didn't like the sound of that, and mommy and daddy didn't know if they could stand my singing and howling from being crated for several months either! Over the 24hrs I'd been crated I'd already shredded two sleeping bags, drenched my teddy bears in slobbery licks and kisses, plus driven everyone crazy with my singing and howling!
Daddy said I'm a Drama Queen, not a Diva. :(:(:(

So, first thing this morning I went to the vets, and was put into a kennel near the operating ward. There was a Rottweiler in the kennel next to mine, and I must say that he had no appreciation for my singing!
Rowan my vet nurse told me to be quiet too!
Finally Rowan took me to the big X-ray room and she held me while they put a needle into my leg.
I had the most peaceful sleep, and dreamed sweet doggy dreams until I heard mommy's voice. Mommy's voice woke me up real quick, and I was so pleased to stagger out to our van.

It seems that I have an infection in one of the pads of my hind left paw, which Kirsten my vet thinks has been caused by something sharp piercing the base of my toenail.
I'm so relieved I didn't have to have my leg operated on, and I won't be complaining about taking Rimadyl or my antibiotics for the next week either!
A poor doggy that had an accident and a very sick kitty were lucky enough to have my scheduled surgery slot, and I'm now tucked up in my crate on a fresh sleeping bag with the door of my crate wide open.
Mommy doesn't think I'll be going anywhere in a hurry for the next couple of hours. :):):)

Thank you efurryone.

Thank you everyone for all my wonderful birthday gifts and wishes, and I am going to thank you all individually soon as I organise my mommy.

I'm being a very good girl, taking my meds and keeping out of trouble, although living conditions in the yard are a bit trying at the moment on account of Georgi's puppies being there and the puppy barrier is up.
We all miss Georgi now that she has gone to live with mommy and daddy's daughter in the country, but we'll be seeing her from time to time.

I was lying on mommy's bed this morning thinking of what it would be like living out in the country like Georgi does now.
Apparently Georgi has two kitties, two ducks and lots of horses to keep her occupied during the day. Mommy's daughter told mommy that Georgi likes the ducks and is furiends with them.
I don't think I'd have two ducks for my furiends! Daddy said if I was there "duckicide" would probably be committed sooner rather than later! :(
Daddy also knows that I would never be furiends with two kitties either!
However Georgi is happy there out in the country with her ducks and kitties.
Seems she has found it a little unsettling adjusting to a new much more relaxed routine at her new forever home. Georgi is still adjusting to the fact that she isn't expected to get up at 5.00am every morning, her mealtimes aren't always at set times, and instead of being in a doggy run during the day - she now has the wide open spaces available to her with no restrictions as to where she goes on the farm.
When I think about things I don't think farm life would suit me at all, cause I like chasing things that move (like ducks, cats and horses), I become very unsettled if my routine is changed, and there would be no La Porchetta around the corner at the bottom of the street!

Daddy is hoping that the puppies that are being sent to our vets for me are going to help settle me down a bit.
The puppy stuff is in the country now, but not at my vets yet. When it does arrive at my vets daddy will take me to see the vet and get the puppies put inside me so that they can grow. I sure hope those puppies like pizza!
Mommy says she hopes I don't get that thing called morning sickness that afflicted Holly when she had her puppies, and my mama when she had me and Holly.
Fursonally I could never imagine anything making me not want to eat pizza, or a cheeseburger at least.

I wonder what my puppies will be like. Daddy told me that the puppy father is a big black and tan boy, so my puppies will probably be a mixture of sable colored like me and black and tan.
The thing that worries me about my puppies is that I want them to be perfectly behaved, and I will be bringing them up a lot differently than Holly brought up Howard Jr, and Georgi brought up her puppies too!
3 of Georgi's puppies are staying here with us to become a part of our show team.
Mommy named one of them "Bella" after my angel mama, another one "Angel" and the boy one is called "Jake."

Bella is a cute pup, and she wants to be in the house with mommy all day. Daddy harvested the pumpkins the other week, and Bella has decided that one of the small pumpkins is her toy. I must admit this is a good idea for a toy, because when you've finished playing with it you can eat some of it.

Angel likes digging holes in what used to be the yard garden, and she spends her days playing with Jake. Some other people are going to show Angel, but she's staying with us for the meantime and mommy is training her for the showring.

Jake is a very annoying pup, and he always wants me to play with him. I find this rather tiresome, and told him off today - which made mommy tell me off.
"You have to be nice to the puppies Xena," mommy told me. "No growling at them, OK."
I don't think mommy understood that Jake was trying to take Bella's pumpkin off her and I had only intervened and told him it wasn't a shared sort of pumpkin!

Think I had better go and check on those puppies again. I can hear Jake trying to be bossy, asnd I'm currently on puppy supevision duty!

Unsettled times.

One of Georgi's puppies has fractured a bone in her leg which has taken up virtually all of mommy and daddy's time with vet visits, x-rays, scans, and consults with different vets about it when they weren't working for the entire two days before today. The pretty little girl pup was supposed to be going to a fabulous forever home this coming Tuesday, but now she will be staying with us untill our senior vet Kirsten gives her 100% health clearance.

Trust one of Georgi's puppies to cause such drama! :(:(:(

Very early this morning, just after the sun had risen mommy and daddy took me and Howard Jr to the big German Shepherd Specialist show, along with Georgi's puppy who is having special care at the moment.
It was very cold and foggy when we arrived at the show, and daddy didn't feel well.:(:(:(
It's not that good when your daddy doesn't feel well and he is showing you.

Mommy and Daddy sometimes compare the German Shepherd Specialist show ring to the Roman Collusseum of old where the gladiators fought to the death - many a German Shepherd Dog's career in the show ring has been broken in this arena.

Howard Jr is still only young, and while he was very naughty for daddy who was handling him and didn't go well, mommy was very pleased with his verbal critique which was given in the ring by the judge at the completion of his show class. All of Howard Jr's strengths that the judge high lighted in his verbal critique like having a correct front, masculine head, good pigmentation etc......... were all the things the judge said in his speech at the prizegiving after the show are lacking and of concern in the dogs in our country at the moment.

The show continued over the course of the day, and then it was my turn to make my debut into the "Open Specialist Girl" class as the second to youngest entrant in that class.
As I walked into the ring at the back of a very long line of extremely beautiful titled and graded older German Shepherd girls I'm sure there wasn't anyone at the show today that wouldn't have not taken any of us home in their doggy trailer - we were all soooooooooooooooooooo extremely beautiful.
All of the GSD girls in front of me were all seasoned GSD beauty queens, each in their own right. Competing for the first time amongst such GSD stardom was more than a little humbling for me even being in this class competing with such.

I was very unsettled because my daddy was handling me and he wasn't feeling well - he wanted to be home in bed sleeping rather than here with me because he felt so sick, and because daddy wasn't feeling well - I just wanted mommy cause you are ALWAYS safe when you are with mommy.
Mommy knows more stuff than anyone else on this planet. Mommy rubbed me warm as I took my first breaths in life. Mommy was my exclusive trainer until I was 6 months old, and mommy is always there whenever I go to the vets.

Mommy is ALWAYS there, and because the tension from daddy transmitted down my lead I responded in true Xena fashion - I became extremely naughty and unsettled - not a good look in "The Open Girl Cless."

My individual workout was dismal because daddy was angry with me and my behavior by the time he and I were standing around as the judge worked through all those girls older than me.

I WAS VERY NAUGHTY, cause I wanted to be with mommy!:(

We were all called into our placings after our individual workouts, and the stress levels rose - I could tell by the tension running down my lead I wasn't in first place.
I could hear mommy's voice calling me, telling me that I was a good girl when I was doing good - this being "The Open Girl" class when we are expected to work around this big ring for up to and more than an hour while the GSD Specialist show judge assesses whether we are actually true representatives of our breed.

I have been graded "Specialist Excellent" before, but this time it was extremely different - I was competing against the elite, so many Best In Show winners, so many titles, so many medal winners, so many claims to excellence as a representative of my breed.

The judge called out his order of preference after our individual workouts, where I had been extremely unsettled, and I was called out within reach of the four winners pegs.

AND SO, I embarked on an extremely important journey in my life around the huge taped GSD Specialist show ring as a German Shepherd Show Dog.

Mommy was calling me and I pricked my ears at the sound of her voice - the judge made Daddy move me up a space.:)

Beautiful GSD beauty queens moved up and down their placings, but I only ever continued to move up


At the end of the endurance test, while I wasn't on the first four pegs my mommy and a whole lot of other people sure did cheer as I stood in 9th place above some very creditable German Shepherd Divas and the judge graded me "German Shepherd Specialist Excellent."

Daddy spoke with my judge Frikkie van Kraayenburg after the show. My judge told daddy that I am a very beautiful girl, and he gave my daddy a few pointers about me - mommy bought his book.
Mommy says about his book about genetics she bought after the show that he and his wife have written makes her wonder if maybe she knows more than he does! :):):):):):)

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT!

It's really quite cold down here. It's 9.30am in the morning and it's still only 28degrees farenheit!

I got up early this morning and lay beside daddy on the sofa with my haed in his lap while he watched the O;ympic Games ceremony opening.
It was most peaceful Daddy and Xena time.
We heard mommy and Holly get up, but they headed to the laundry, and then outside into the cold.
Mommy and Holly went into the kitchen, and I could hear them getting all the breakfasts ready, but that didn't worry me. I lay with my haed in adddy's lap, gazing up at him as he gently stroked my head and watched the TV.

The most annoying noise shattered the ambience of the moment, and I dived under the sofa.
"Who did this?" Mommy's voice echoed down our very long hallway.
Daddy got up to investigate, and I could hear him talking to mommy.

MOMMY - "Take a look at this. My washcloth has been taken from the bathroom and put fair and square here in the middle of the duvet."
DADDY - "Hmmmmmmmmm, it is your washcloth in the middle of the duvet."
MOMMY - "Why don't they ever take your washcloth? I bet it was Xena!"
DADDY - "Well, it wasn't Xena. She's been lying on the sofa beside me since 5am watching the Olympic Games."
MOMMY - "Are you sure about that? Are you sure she didn't sneak out when you went to the kitchen to get another cup of coffee?"

This caused a groan from me as I was hiding under the sofa! I actually hadn't taken mommy's washcloth this time!!!!! :(
Holly's paws sounded as she walked down the hallway on the wooden floor....., and there was a gasp from mommy.

MOMMY - "Holly it was you!"

Seems Holly jumped up on mommy and daddy's bed and started washing her face on mommy's sweet smelling washcloth.
I breathed a sigh of relief, crawled out from under the sofa, and lay back down and waited for daddy to come back and stroke my head.
Daddy came back, sat beside me and I put my head in his lap.
"I don't know Xena," he mumbled, "it seems as if you get blamed for everything that ever goes wrong around here. You're always guilty until proven innocent!"

A secret little smile creased my doggy lips as I thought of how I'm training up Georgi's puppy who had the broken leg to get into lots of Xena mischief.
Mommy and daddy have decided she's going to be staying here and have called her "little Holly" because she looks identical to Holly.
I can't think of any puppy more appropriate to teach naughty tricks to - a puppy that looks just like my sister Holly!

THE FUN POLICE IS IN THE YARD!!!!!!!!!

When you have as many doggies as us all living together in the same family there are inevitably some problems.
Over the years mommy and daddy have done a whole heap of training, dog whispering stuff etc......... but at the end of the day they have come to the conclusion that if we are to be kept as entire breeding doggies there are always going to be power struggles amongst us to see which one of us is the dominant male or female.

The incident that sticks in mommy's mind the most is of the day years ago she and daddy took my grandma Jade to the beach with two of their other girl GSD's and they had a completely unanticipated silly fight over a stick which ended with my grandma having the back of her head bitten open.

Mommy and daddy both learned an awful lot from that one incident and have been extremely vigilant with us all ever since, because GSD teeth can do a lot of damage in a very short period.
They don't keep us separated all of the time, just times when they anticipate there could be problems.
Most of the time this works out, but there is always the 0.00001% of the time when something out of the blue happens - thankfully nothing like what happened to my grandma at the baech though.:)

Some of us girly doggies have been going through our cycle with it being the middle of the winter down here near the bottom of the world at the moment. It seems our bodies are thinking about having puppies in time for the spring.
This is a good time of the year for our bodies to be thinking about puppies, as it means the puppies will be born in the springtime. Puppies born in spring have all of the summer to grow big and strong in the beautiful weather, and by the time next winter comes they will be more able to deal with the cold then puppies born at other times of the year.

Daddy and mommy have been keeping a very close eye on us girl doggies at the moment, and have been keeping those of us cycling separate from the others - which brings me to the events of this morning.........

Our doggy boarder Nixxy (Phoenix) has just finished her time in her cycle when she was being kept separate, so mommy and daddy have let her back into the yard off the side of the house the past couple of days with Freddie and Georgi's 3x 4 month old girl puppies.

It was a very peaceful normal morning this morning when our day started at 5am. We had our early morning dog biscuit, were taken potty and then put into our various runs/yards etc... for the day before daddy went to the gym.
By the time daddy came home from the gym I was in the kitchen eating a most delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs.
Mommy was just about to hand daddy a cup of coffee when there was a terrible noise in the backyard. We all rushed to the windows to see Nixxy beating up one of the baby puppies while the others stood around and watched daddy march out there and restore the peace.
"I'm not putting up with that nonsense," daddy said in the most grumpy tone as he walked through the house and headed for the backdoor.
I turned and looked back out into the yard. Nixxy was now beating Freddie up, and I got the impression she thought she was the boss of the whole yard and she was letting everyone know!!!!!!!!

The sound of some big paws on the tiles in the backdoorway got my attention, and I hid around the corner of the box window as I recognised who they belonged to.:(
Daddy had Howard Jr on his lead and was taking him into the yard where Nixxy and the others were.

When Nixxy saw Howard Jr coming into the yard from the house her whole expression changed.
Her eyes widened, her tail dropped between her legs, and she got a "Holy Dog Biscuits!" expression fair across her face!!!!!!!!!
Howard Jr calmly walked across the yard ignoring them all and lay down in his favorite place without so much as twitching an ear.

It's all very peaceful in our yard now.
I'm sitting in the big box window in the living room watching Freddie playing with a rope chew toy. Baby Angel is playing hide and seek with baby Bella around the dog kennel on the stone area. Baby Holly is climbing all over Howard Jr giving him kisses - I think she needs therapy for that!
And as for Nixxy, she's sitting on the deck ever so quietly glancing at Howard Jr from the corner of her eye every now and then, too afraid to be anything but an angel!

GOOD DOGGY. :)

There was a lot of flooding around our town yesterday. It had rained so hard in the night it kept waking me up as I lay sleeping on the bottom of mommy and daddy's bed! :(
This wasn't good at all, and mommy woke up real grumpy like when I moved up and lay beside her with my ears under her pillow so as I couldn't here the rain on our tin roof - what was her problem?

Anyways, mommy and daddy had to go out and clear the old field drains 1st thing in the morning to drain all the lakes of water out of our paddocks because the lakes were threatening to go into our big doggy runs at the back of our property.
When we came inside for lunch there was a phonecall from our butcher man to say our weekly order was ready.
So, mommy and I went out in our van to the butcher's shop.

I love going to the butcher's shop because sometimes the butcher's boy who carries our order out to the van gives me a meaty treat.
There was no meaty treat this time though, because it was too wet and rainy.
Mmmmmmm...... the smell from the bags and boxes of meat was simply divine.
I could tell there was a roast of pork for mommy and daddy, along with some steak, sausages, and two bags of stirfry.
Mmmmmmm........ the bags for us doggies smelled even better though. There was a bag of ox kidneys which daddy cooks up and chops into little pieces for training treats for us. There was a whole bag of lamb livers that mommy uses to make our liver cake training treats.... mmmmmmm our most favorite. There was also a big bag of meaty brisket bones.

Mommy and I went down the road to the vegetable growers shop next to get our weekly 50lb bag of carrots and green vegetables for us doggies and some vegetables for her and daddy.
Our vegetables haven't been that great lately because our home vege garden has come to the end of it's season.
I sat in the van guarding the meat from the butcher while mommy was in the shop buying the vegetables, and when she came out the meat was still safe and sound in it's boxes and bags.

When we arrived home and everything was unpacked mommy got out the huge pot she cooks our dinner in and I watched her chop up the carrots, broccoli heads, and cauliflower leaves which went into the pot to cook for our dinner.
Our dinner last night was truly delicious by the time mommy had added rice and diced lamb from the petfood supermarket into it.
I licked my bowl clean and then thought of how daddy would give us all two big doggy biscuits just before bedtime - yummy.

I looked around at the line of empty doggy supper bowls in the kitchen and thought of how daddy had taken the baby puppies out potty before he put them to bed. Howard Jr and the others were out in the big runs, the S/Vallhunds were playing with their squeaky toys beside the fire, and mommy was finishing her dinner as she watched the news on TV.
Hmmmmm......... I still felt hungry, and then I glanced up on the kitchen sink bench where half a pork roast was sitting on the meat dish!

"XENA!" mommy yelled angrily at me about 5 minutes later as daddy pulled me out of my crate. It was too late. There was only the bone of the pork roast left on the floor of my crate.
"I honestly don't know what goes on in your head Xena," mommy scolded me as daddy held the pork bone up from the back of my crate. "You are completely trustworthy 99% of the time, but every now and then you do something like this!"

Hmmmmm, I think I'll lay low for a while and be extremely good the next couple of days until mommy gets over the pork roast being eaten!
Maybe I could offer mommy and daddy some lamb from the petfood supermarket for their dinner tonight to make up for there not being any cold pork roast!
The pork roast sure did taste good though, and it had just the right amount of pork crackling on it too. It's just a pity I didn't get any applesauce to go with it!