Dog House

Our house was taken over by dogs this past weekend.  We litterly had a dog house, or mad house.  Really just depends on how you look at it.

While Tara and Scott (my sister- and brother-in-law) took a nice, relaxing vacation to sunny San Diego, we watched their 2 cute pups - Nellie and Oketo.  If you're doing the math, that equals a total of 4 dogs when you add in our 2.  Nellie and Oketo are Yorkie-Poos. Mix of Yorkie and Poodle, but I'm sure you already figured that out.  They are litter mates, so they are true brother and sister. Here is where they spent much of their time this weekend...

As you can imagine, there was lots of barking, running, playing, barking, potty breaks, barking, sniffing, oh, and more barking.  We still rely on the 'ol Bark Collar, but when you're dealing with 4 different dogs, one of them is bound to think they saw something they need to bark at, which in turn makes the rest of them think they also need to bark.  Quite aggrivating if you ask me. I think this picture was taken during one of the only times they were all laying down and being quiet.

Generally, the pack gets along well, but when food is involved tensions seem to rise. And when you add in some jealously issues...ahem, Sophie...things just escalate. We only had one tiff this weekend, and it was between Sophie and Oketo.  Oketo was slowing eating his breakfast. He is a pick-n-run kind of guy.  Meaning, he takes a couple pieces of food then walks away.  Comes back, takes a little more and walks away.  This really wouldn't be a problem, however, when you're trying to feed 3 other dogs at the same time, and they all think they need to eat each other's food, and when the food is different...well, it does tend to cause some problems.

Ok, so back to the fight.  Oketo was eating and somehow Sophie snuck up behind and of course all hell broke loose.  It would be fine if the fight was simply between just the 2 dogs, because then I would say - let em fight it out.  But, Oketo and Nellie are very protective of each other - so when one is involved, the other joins in. It goes from being a fight to an all-out brawl.  Funny thing is, the fights are always between Sophie, Nellie and Oketo.  Neeko could care less and never steps in to help out Sophie. In fact, he usually turns his back and walks away.  Makes me laugh just thinking about it.  Apparently Neeko is thinking, "well, you got yourself into this situation, so good luck to ya chick".  At least, that's what I would be saying.

See, here is a perfect example of Sophie being a little instigator...and she wonders why they attacked.  Geesh.

Regardless, all-in-all the weekend went over pretty smoothly. They are all very sweet dogs and can be lots of fun.  My ears may still be ringing just a tish, but we're glad we could help out Tara and Scott!