one evening just after getting home, I get a call from the wildlife rehab center I volunteer with that there is a baby gray squirrel near me asking if I could go pick it up for her. so, I hoped in my car and went to get it.
As a young kid growing up we lived about a mile away from the lake access so my best friend who was like a sister to me, Ally, and I would take the dogs with us for a walk down there to swim. Many times in the summer my parents close friends three boys, who are like my brothers, around our age would be over as well. One day our parents were going out and left us in the care of the oldest brother, telling us not to go to the lake while they were not home. Well, as you can imagine with 4 kids between age 9 and 12 we were going to go as soon as they left on such a beautiful day. We all waited impatiently as our dads putzed around and made sure they had everything before they headed out. FINALLY! They were gone. So us kids got all dressed in our swimming attire and got a bag together with snacks, towels and drinks and started off on our quick walk there. Of course we would not just go on our own, the dogs came with us, one of which was my Collie dog Lady. She would defend us to the death and it had been proven in the past. As we rounded the corner about halfway to the lake we come to the top of the hill. A sudden chill of something being wrong hit all of us as we noticed roughly 10-12 dogs all packed in the road at the bottom of the hill. Before we knew it they charged us. Turning and running scared for our lives many things crossed my mind. For one, we were not supposed to leave the house, for two, there were a lot of dogs chasing us and not very nice! We came to the end of the road we were on where we would then turn and be on a straight stretch for the drive when we see the one dog already to the drive way disappearing into the curves of the drive. I came to a screeching stop and instantly knew where Lady was. I turned back around and ran towards the dogs. As I came to the top of the hill I saw one dog running away yelping and one dog fighting with Lady. As I ran down the hill towards them the other dog took off yelping as well. In the road was hair and blood and I was certain my dog was hurt. Upset over what had happened to my dog we got her home and started cleaning her off. As the blood started washing away from her nose and coat we noticed she was not bleeding at all, all the blood was from the other dogs whom she had fought off for us. We came clean to our parents even tho we would not have been caught. Needless to say, we never left when our parents weren't home again but were very confident no matter what could threaten us Lady would protect us from it. Stella the quirky 17 week old Collie Puppy has gained another new quirk these days. As many of you know, she likes to throw tantrums like a toddler when she does not get her way. Which is always in her mind. She also likes to sass you when you reprimand her for doing something naughty. This does not make her a bad dog, this simply gives her character, even tho it tests your limits to the end. Well, back to her new quirk. Knowing full well before she does something naughty that it in fact IS naughty, she will rub her face on the couch and moan and then turn around and RUN full throttle for what ever she shouldn't be doing and does it. This is not only hilarious but it also gives us the satisfaction and knowing that she is learning and trying to behave! The night we brought Stella home we knew she was going to be a handful. We got her home and the first thing she did was pee right on the carpet next to the hardwood flooring. After we had cleaned up the mess she yelped from Case stepping on her. We reprimanded him and they went back to playing gently. She managed to sleep through the night fully next to me on the couch which was a blessing.
The next day, we drove to St. Cloud area for some supplies and we found out she gets car sick. (She has still not outgrown this) She also cried the entire 2.5 hours there and back for the most part. That night friends came over for a bonfire and she was doing very good. She was already for the most part potty trained and behaving well. She yelped when Case was near her and we all witnessed he brushed her with his tail then, she sat down holding up her paw looking at us with a look that said, "Isn't he going to get in trouble now?" We knew then she had been playing us on when we thought he had been hurting her. She was constantly underfoot and my husband turned around, pivoting his foot around not even putting it down and he touched her foot. Just like that she started yelping like he had just broken her entire leg, ran up the stairs and to the water dish placing her paw in it that he had supposedly stepped on and looked at us all with the most saddened expression. After a few seconds she was back up and running causing more trouble. The Hutchinson, MN Rabbit show Memorial weekend 2013 couldn't have been made more interesting had we tried. On top of a car full of rabbits for the show we had 3 infant Red Squirrels and 5 adolescent Gray Squirrels in tow.
We made it through the entire first day of shows and drug ourselves back to the hotel hungry and exhausted just as the restaurant in the hotel was done serving food. So we did what anyone who hadn't eaten all day would do, we ordered a drink and sat there for a while. Half way through one drink, both Brittany and I were feeling pretty buzzed so we finished our drinks, ordered one for the room and headed up to the room. We ordered pizza and while we waited decided it'd be a good idea to let the Gray Squirrels run around in the room. There is a video of that experience and I have to admit, it is pretty darn hilarious. The one and only girl in the group, Gizmo, HATED Brittany with a passion! She would charge her and try to jump at her and act like she was protecting the boys from her. Brittany still dislikes little Gizmo even long after she's been released. As the knock at the door came we then had to rush to get the babies into their enclosure so as they did not try to climb on the delivery man. We managed to get all 5 back in their pen and get our pizza. Upon many naughty antics he pulls, Nash has decided that when I open his cage to give him food and water he is going to jump out of the cage, (it opens from the top) sit there and wait for me to bring him his food. He will follow me along the tops of the other cages in his row and follow me back to his cage. As soon as I place his food dish in the cage, he jumps back in and waits for a pet on his head then dives into his meal. After 4 years of begging and pleading with my parents for another dog to be able to be more active with I had finally worn them down and they had agreed to let me get a puppy. But this puppy had stipulations. For instance, puppy had to be around 50 pounds full grown, puppy had to have a name dad approved of and puppy had to be paid for by me in full, Vet and all. So I started looking at some. I found Petfinder, before the Facebook group occurred, and found a local rescue. Low and behold they had two brothers, 5 months old and approximate adult weight would hit around 45 pounds! I was so pumped. The one brother, Little Bear, was just adorable and the other brother, Big Bear, not so much. So, my parents decided to let me go look at them, just looking no buying. When we pull into the drive of the house there are two black puppies in the yard, one was a female who was not one we wanted to look at but they thought she fit what we were looking for (except that I did not want a female) and then Little Bear. When we approached Little Bear, he slunk down cowering and peed on the ground. This was the one thing I knew I did not want as it is not a training issue but either they out grow it or it happens for ever with that dog. So I asked if we could just see Big Bear after all. The woman, in a wheel chair with a broken leg and arm in a sling, looks at her oldest son who looks back at her apprehensively as if he wanted nothing to do with going in to get this puppy. Giving in, he slips in the side garage door without letting us see inside, suspicious but I was getting to see the puppy. All of a sudden we hear crashing, banging and the door begins to rattle. Something is desperately trying to get out of there. A little nervous my parents and I stood back a bit more as we saw the door open just a hair with the boy holding the door closed by putting his foot in front of it. A nose emerges between the door way and the door and without further warning, flings the door open sending the kid flying back into the garage. He comes tearing out of that doorway like a flash of lightning and runs up the stairs to the deck where the woman is sitting, nearly knocking her down the stairs head first, jumps up onto the tables they had lined up along the railing and runs up and down the line with his nosed glued to it as if he were on the trail of something and jumps down running back down the stairs barely missing the woman a second time. He then run a big loop around the yard as her 3 boys dive for him to try and catch him, runs a tight circle around each of my parents and then comes to a screeching halt into my shins nearly taking me out at the knees. I bent down and picked him up and he just melted in my arms. I knew right there, that was my dog. My moms eyes were about to pop out of her head from the scene she had just witnessed, a doggie tornado really. I turned to her with a smile on my face bigger than any I had had before I said, "I want this one." She was obviously in shock when she spoke, "Are you sure you want THAT one?" Her voice cracking slightly. We all knew right then, that was my dog. We had just dove head first into the start of the horror story of the first 2.5 years with Harley. |
EnjoyThe stories on this blog are actual events that I hope you can get as good of a laugh from as I have. Archives
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