Girls rule, boys drool!

Come to think of it, these girls may drool too...'cause they're puppies!
Three beautiful sisters that are about 3 months old:














and a fawn colored girl of about the same age:














Thank goodness we've had a helper! Yay, Emily!


















Reggie helps keep an eye on them too:














fascinating:














Daisy is doing great; she's having fun being bigger than the newbies!














Pretty Daisy:














A picture of each of the 3 sisters.
#1:














#2














#3














and three pictures of this little beauty:

Please don't count the daisies

An infinite amount of thanks to Anna & Bogus, our first helpX-ers; because of them our property is tidier, our bikes are in better shape and my nervous breakdown has been postponed! A little help can be awfully helpful. More of Anna's pictures at 
http://kaniuta.com/






 





I do have my suspicions however that some counting of the dogs may have occurred... as those of you who've followed this blog already know, that just makes another show up...We're calling her Daisy.
She intercepted Sean and his running dogs as they were heading home Saturday morning, just around the bend from our house.
She was covered in some kind of grease.


















After a box of baking soda














and a couple of baths


















it turns out she's mostly white,


















is especially cute upside down,














and loves Tito.














Rainy season is over.














Days are getting warmer so, despite my pesky ankle problems and Sean's workload, we've been trying to get out on walks while we can. Soon only the earliest hours will be fit for man or beast (isn't that redundant?).












 





Elewah braves the frigid February waters (I kid, it's salty foam).



















Elewah sails over high grass; she is an unbelievably fast little dog.















Striking a pose while waiting for us slowpokes.















Tito swears that cow owed him money.















Otto and his brother doing what they do best.















Rufus is always ready to play.














He gets his toy, I get a face full of sand.














Rufus is a fun guy!














Alice and Shirley watch the sun set on another day.

let sleeping dogs lie

...or the short, violent, life of a well-loved hammock.

Cool temperatures have made my hammock the place to be.
Tito and Shirley demonstrate how to get cozy in 3 easy steps.
1:














2:














3:














Henry likes hammock now that his fur is short (and he's much more pleasant company since having his teeth cleaned).
Henry and Otto are a light load for hammock:


















Lucy joins Otto, the weight increases:














Lucy stretches out for a snooze:














Shirley gets rowdy:














She promises she'll behave:














Thleepin'.













Poor hammock, a hole means it's not much longer for this world.
Monkey's alignment is chaotic neutral:














Bette, Shirley and Tuesday form a solid lump of coziness.
Hammock is straining:














Valiant hammock has survived the year.
Tito and Henry join the girls for a nap:

a dog by any other name

...would be as sweet.
I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family...but he doesn't have a name yet.
Ivan?Beauregard?Leroy?
Sam?
I'm long past hoping that he's lost or that I'll be able to find another home for him.
I try to stay positive here but, I have to admit, I find humans to be consistently disappointing -hamstrung by stunted imagination and conditional compassion.
Not worth the gunpowder to blow them up, as my dear Grandma used to say.














I went out to investigate some canine goings-on on the beach. Occasionally the dog of one of our distant neighbors gets left behind on walks and has to fend for herself; I hate to see her get harassed by strays, so I go out and play chaperon. This time it wasn't her and instead I broke up a dog sex party...a bitch in heat and a few determined males. That explains all the noise at night lately.
I scooped her up (really she jumped into my arms) and headed home with her suitors in tow. She'll be going to the vet to be spayed just as soon as our truck is working.
After that I don't know.


















Soon after she was taken out of play the males wandered off, but for one.
He sat at the gate looking forlorn and wouldn't be run off.
He's big, scarred, covered with bite marks, ticks and fleas
and is perfectly wonderful.














I went out to see him and fell in love. Seriously unbelievable...
intact, with a bitch in heat around and yet everybody liked him immediately.














Even Bosha, the weirdest dog I've ever met
(she's our neighbor's dog and is staying here while her human is out of town.).
Bosha and Maggie


















We built a pen for him to stay in at night and when the bitch is loose,
but within a day or 2 he has taken to sleeping on the upstairs porch.
He hasn't ventured inside more than a few feet; he isn't sure about those ceiling fans.














He looks like a cross between a yellow lab and a pit bull to me.
Sweet, silly and slightly cross-eyed; you couldn't wish for a nicer dog.
Well... he is a little too interested in the chickens, but we'll work on it.













Update: We're calling him Floyd. He's a sweet, fun guy -an overgrown puppy with plenty of bad habits. He also seems to have some vision trouble that we're trying to understand. He's been neutered and blood tests turned up ehrlichiosis, a common tickborne bacterial infection that would prove fatal if untreated. So, a pill a day and lots of discipline for Floyd.

Final Update 10/11: What began so well has come to a sad end. Once Floyd was comfortable his dominant/territorial tendencies came out. We soon realized he couldn't be trusted around other males or too many dogs at once. Despite our best efforts over the course of a very stressful 9 months, we had to admit defeat and have him put down; we didn't have the space, resources or manpower to safely keep him.