Crowded House

Friends will know that this movie character, Grandpa Castorini, from Moonstruck is one of my cinema heros. He parades around the movie with his pack of dogs; I have long aspired to be just like this old man, and at four dogs I'm almost there. Well, my good friends Georgie and Mary gave me the chance to live out my fantasy this week. I am watching their two "kids" Bella (a very large and strong Great Dane/Malamute mix) and Mikey (an adorable terrier mix who bears a fairly strong resemblance to Toto from the Wizard of Oz). That brings my total to six for the week and it's been an adventure to say the least.

They dropped the dogs off on Saturday evening and they all played well together - just a couple of excited piddle puddles. Settling down Saturday night was a little difficult. I couldn't get Mikey to join us on the bed and couldn't get them to settle down on the moving pad/fleece bed by the window. They wanted to stay right by the closed bedroom door as if their folks were just on the other side, so I moved their bedding to the door and they eventually settled in.

Bella made her first escape Sunday morning - I may have mentioned this in my post about the porcupine. Got her back after only about 15 minutes when she got herself "trapped" on the neighbors deck. Suddenly she"sat" and was all sheepish - "Gee, what did I do, Unc, I'm a BAD girl..." I snapped the leash on and brought her home - no anger, no hollering, she knew she had goofed.

So Monday morning, I'm more careful and she has no opportunity to push past me at the porch door. The other guys are running around and I keep her with me in the porch while I do bunny chores - yes, I have two rabbits as well - my family says I have a petting zoo. Before I know it she's bopped the door to pop it open and off she goes - me chasing after her in my bathrobe and slippers - and about 1/2 " of snow on the ground! Got her back again, this time she trapped herself UNDER the deck. Monday evening I take her out with the rest on a horse lead - this big long strap to give her running room. She is able to romp with the neighbor dog and all is well. Unfortunately I stop paying attention and "crack" I here my finger make a nasty noise as she jumps off unexpectedly and snaps my finger unexpectedly. Luckily it's just sprained and I've learned that lesson as well. Proudly two days have passed since then without incident. The dogs are getting along fine, I love them all to death, and I am happy to stay at four dogs. Bella and Mikey will go home on Friday night. Oh, yeah, I did forget one thing - I ran into town today and when I came home this is what I found them up to. Those rascals, eh?