Happy Sixth Purrday Taxi

My gentle giant.
My brick wrapped in silk.
My precious boy who opens doors so he can be where I am.
My darling "uncle" Taxi who helps me introduce and acclimatise new furbaby family members.
My sweet Taxi who hardly has a voice but who talks to me nonetheless.
My Taxi who all but does backflips to try and lead me downstairs to his food bowl in the mornings.

Furbaby Proximity

The fuzzballs love that I now work from home! Yesterday, as I was finishing up answering emails and the like after a couple of hours on the laptop, I heard a noise that made me look down and to my right, and discovered Turk curled up in the open picnic basket!

Then, as I pushed my chair back to go to the kitchen and start baking, I discovered Magic curled up in the donut at my feet!

And when I stood up, I discovered the other three furbabies asleep on the table behind me!!



Angel Has Dogs. Playing.

They don't.
Thelma and Louise don't play.

Louise gets very excited when she sees her leash or when we arrive home from work- so we do not put the leashes on either dog until they've chilled and calmed down- but I assumed her excitement would translate to playfulness.
It doesn't.
I've tried a few different toys including a hard rubber ball, a tennis ball on a rope and a rope in its own, but apart from Thelma running after the ball once or twice it seems they have no idea what to do with the toys! And they react very badly to anything resembling a stick, their cowering makes me wonder if they weren't beaten by whoever abandoned them.

How do I teach the girls to play?

A Must Read!!

Adam and Eve said, "Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here, and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us."

And God said, "I will create a companion for you that will be with you and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves."

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve. And it was a good animal and God was pleased.

And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail.

And Adam said, "Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."

And God said, "I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG."

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them. And they were comforted.

And God was pleased.

And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well."

And God said, "I will create for them a companion who will be with them and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration."

And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.

And Cat would not obey them.

And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.

And Adam and Eve learned humility.

And they were greatly improved.

And God was pleased..

And Dog was happy.

And Cat... didn't give a shit one way or the other.

Diva's Place

Our queen of cute, the mistress of the house, has a new hidey-hole!
She has discovered that when one of our towelling dressing gowns is draped over the top of the clothes-horse to dry, she can turn it into a hammock of sorts that only she can utilise as the boys are too heavy! The boys also have no idea where she is when she makes her little bed, and she can sleep up there for hours undisturbed!

What Do You Mean I'm Capped!??!

I haven't even published my blog post for today!

Angel Has Dogs. Walking.

Louise has got so much energy!
We went for a walk around the block the other evening, and when we got back to the house she was still bouncing with excitement and I'm sure she would happily have gone around the block again!

Brother And Sister

How cute are these two? Turk is still so much bigger than his sister and I doubt she'll ever "catch up", but they often snuggle up and sleep together.

Meaties!!!

Our furbabies all know what it means when two very specific stainless steel bowls are tapped together in the kitchen- it means they're going to get some soft tinned meat!
Its a rare treat as I watch their diets very carefully, and perhaps once or twice a month they'll get a tiny tin of meat to share amongst the 5 of them!
Tapping two of the bowls together- which are different to the ones they eat their daily food out of- is guaranteed to bring them all running to the kitchen no matter the time of day or night!!

Angel Has Dogs. And They Smile!

I have been dying to get a picture of the way the girls smile when they greet us!!
Louise and Thelma both have the funniest habit, they "smile" and snort and sneeze in greeting when we go outside or arrive home, and its just so sweet!!
I finally got pictures of Thelma smiling- with my son's help- but no pictures of Louise doing it...

Here's Louise running to greet me- she is starting to learn to "say woof" funny enough!

Angel Has Dogs. Training.

And they're learning so beautifully!
They "sit", and they're learning steadily to "stay".
If I tap on the entrance to their igloo and say "box", they go inside, and usually stay there till I call them out.
When I go outside with their leashes they know they're not going to get walked until they calm down and wait for me. And when we are walking they are well behaved and don't yank me all over the place.

We are doing some car training as well because I would like to take them to a dog park more often, but Thelma gets car sick and Louise gets very shaky and nervous. Right now, we're working on getting in and out of the car without hesitation, and then we'll move on to short trips, going further and further until they are okay in the car.
We did take them to the dog park once, and they are so well behaved with other dogs I was very pleased indeed. I am so glad I can let them off leash and let them walk free without worrying about fights or something.
We just need to work a little harder on them coming when called when we're not at home.