Early Days Yet

After the Dog Whisperers' visit...we were filled with renew vigour to combat this anti-social behaviour from both our doggies. As is the practice - the morning yard shift for these furry criminals fall to me whilst the late night yard shift falls to hubby.

Descriptions of our furry inmates:
Poppet - Tall, Long, furry, furrows on his forehead (especially when he looks at wolfie). convicted of grievous bodily harm to wolfie, aggression towards other dogs and general feelings of jealousy.

Wolfie - short, stout, furry (with a penchant to produce adorable squeaky noises at anyone other than poppet). Convicted of grievous bodily harm to Poppet and me and hubby, general manja-ness and displays symptoms of been bitten by the tsetse fly.

Both inmates are kept separate from each other unless there is supervision by the house wardens - me and hubby. Most stressful times for the warden are in the mornings and evenings - as this is when they are allowed yard priviledges

(dun ask me why i'm relating my experiences as if we really did run a prison for doggies - must be the stupid documentary hubby was watching last night - gave me inspiration!! I mean if you had seen how the prisoners fight - the violence is similar to that of a dog squabble!)

Anyway.......every morning when i wake up - my heart is filled with dread (the vigour left me an hour after the Dog Whisperer went home). But i pull myself outta bed and haul ass up the stairs with much trepidation. Upon reaching the landing - i see my first inmate - Poppet. He is happy to see me and wags his tail. I give him a brief pat on the head and go to open all my gorgeous windows to let fresh air into the house - he tags along - secretly i think all male species like watching women work!

I go to pick up both his and wolfie leads to get ready for the morning yard exercise (walkies), arm myself with a spray cannister filled with water. I open the door slightly. both dogs have their noses in the small gap and immediately the growling starts. I squirt water on both inmates and tell them firmly NO and then i close the door. Remembering what the Dog Whisperer told me to do - if they start to look like they are about to start any fight just spray water on them and tell them NO in as firm a voice as one could muster! Yeah right! That's gonna work! :(

whilst regaining my composure i remembered him saying that if a fight did break out - i was to remove myself from the scene, let all hell break loose on the other side of the door. His reasoning is that they are fighting over me (awwwww....that's way too sweet!)and if i'm not there to witness their bravery/sutpidity - they will stop. So i try again - i open the door just a tinnie weenie bit but this time poppet gets past....i hear them growling and the sounds that accompany the beginnings of a fight....I spray water all over the place except where it should have been sprayed...and the dogs are off - fighting that is...I close the door rest my forehead against it and pray for my car!

I dunno how long i was in that position but i suddenly realised that it was quiet. Not sure if either or both doggies were dead...I bravely put my crocs on and stepped out. My my....maybe the Dog Whisperer was right....they were not fighting just walking around and looking tough.

I put the lead on Poppet and then on Wolfie. And we started towards the gate. And we almost had a fight on our hands but no CIGARS! (Not that i want the bloody CIGAR!!!)Thank GOD for the spray cannister and a deep sort of panic induced high pitched voice (mine of course)!! we continued on our walk without any incident and returned both inmates safely into the compound

In summary, YARD duty is toughest in the mornings i think. But over the last couple of days, hubby has made a very concentrated effort in helping me out in that department (I'm so proud of him)and every morning that goes by without a fight amongst the inmates makes me believe that we will be a happy family one day!