Friday, June 08, 2007

Finally home


Hi everydog!,

It's me Pippin. Do you remember me after so long? I hope so. My people have been doing many things--flying around the world (Copper, you were right, my person was in Hamburg, Germany), doing things on the computer, doing things in the garden, going places in the rolling living room, going away for many hours and then coming back, and then to top it all off, we all went to herding camp together for a couple of days. It's been quite a time this last few weeks, but now we think that things are going to be back to normal. We hope so.

Here are some highlights from the last few weeks' activities

1. We had two days' of herding camp and on the first day, Hamish was AWFUL. He chased a poor sheep around the whole field, even outrunning a four-wheeler that was trying to catch him to make him stop. The poor sheep ran into the fence twice and we thought she'd broken her neck the second time (but luckily she didn't). Our person who was running him was mortified. On the second day, he got some tough lessons on listening to what the people say. By the end of that day, he was back to being a pretty good boy. Still, since his first trial is coming up in a few weeks', his performance that first day earned him a week-long pass to herding school at our trainer's. He'll be packing up his stuff and staying with her starting on Tuesday.

2. I was perfect both days' of herding camp.
(comment from Hamish: Don't believe a word she says)
(comment from Rafe: Believe her on Hamish)
(comment from Hamish: Rafe's just a goody-two shoes who was too much of a weenie to really take matters into his own paws. Who gets to go to herding sleep-over camp after all?)
(comment from Tansy: Gentledogs, both young Dogs tend to speak too Well of Themselves. Pippin, also, may See Things differently than the People do. I, however, was Truly perfect. My person will Verify. Indeed.)

Hey, tail out you three--my post, my version. If you want to tell your story, get your own blog.

3. The people tried to make me sleep loose in the hotel room since they only had crates for Kyzer and Hamish. Boy, did I feel frisky. I woo-wooed at 11 pm, 12 am, 12:30 and 1:15. Then the people made me and Hamish trade places. That suck-up didn't even bark once--he was trying to be on his best behavior after the debacle on the herding field. But Rafey did bark and there was nothing the people could do about it (but they did threaten to make us all spend the night in the car--except Tansy of course).

4. Renzo stayed home while we were at herding camp, but he had his own adventures, including a sleep-over at our neighbor's house and a double dinner when some communication broke down.
(comment from Renzo: The double dinner thing was a well-orchestrated and rehearsed plan on my part. You Border Collies aren't the only smarty-pants in the family, you know)

5. The person who went to Germany brought back much chocolate and gummy bears, but she has not shared them with us. We are planning our revenge.

6. We have now confirmed that Kyzer has his father's eyes and his mother's ears. We await to see what kind of sheep herder he will be because he is still a wee bit afraid of the sheep, but he runs like his mother.
(comment from Kyzer: I'm my own boy and will do my own thing. My existence isn't only about who my parents are. Jeez. I am not afraid of the sheep. I just don't want to scare them before I learn to harness my power and intensity.)

7. Renzo caught and killed a squirrel in the backyard while we Border Collies were playing ball with the person. Renzo did not receive sufficient reward for his good work. In fact, the person threw things at him and acted like she didn't like him for several days. Most perplexing for us all.

8. Many flowers are blooming in our yard. We agree with the people that they are quite lovely. The people are not sharing their strawberries with us, however (and they have so many that they are having to freeze them).

9. Now that we are all back home and back into our routine, we will be blogging and visiting our blogging friends more regularly.