Two Collies and a Mutt

Two Collies and a Mutt: April 2012

4.30.2012

Crushin' Bottles

Lassie, for as long as I can remember, has absolutely loved the sound of crushing a plastic bottle between his teeth. So when he found this plastic bottle it was just asking to be crushed.

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Literally.
So he crushed it between his teeth and looped around the couch as he crunched on it. I went for the camera and he ditched the bottle on the floor, of course, so I missed getting any pictures of him with the bottle, but I did get a few of Petal with it. She's fond of crushing them, too, but mostly she likes to chew the tops.

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"What? You and Lassie said it yourselves: it was asking to be crushed!"

Ella thinks they're both insane, of course, chewing up squeakers pulled from innocent stuffed animals is where it's at!


Snoopy's Dog Blog

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4.28.2012

Fun and Games Equals a Sleepy Collie

What's the best part about playing fetch with a brand new ball?
Is it how cute it is?

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"Look at this new ball, Petal, it smiles at you!"

Or how yummy it smells? (Or tastes.)

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"Mmm, nom nom nom, it tastes good, too! Like vanilla!"

Or is it how much your dog enjoys it?

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"Hey! Come back here, ball! I wasn't done tasting you!"

Or maybe it's the sleepy dog you earn after a fun game of fetch.

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Or maybe it's all of the above. ;]

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!


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4.27.2012

Should've posted this a week ago

I had these pictures all ready to go for a blog post days ago (nearly a week ago, heh) and... well, it just never happened.
But before we get to the pictures, let me give you all a little update on our temporary neighbors.

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April 1


Our temporary horse neighbors have moved back to their home across the street.
They moved back about a week ago and since they're no longer living in the yard that backs up to a portion of our yard (we have two separate fenced-in areas to our huge yard, the area pictured above is to the side of the house and is the largest and the most fun. The other area is directly behind the house and is smaller, but it's the best pen to use when there are too many distracting things going on on our street or when there are horses living right beside the larger pen and your dog (Ella) is afraid of horses), Ella can come out and play in the big pen again, yay! She hadn't been out there since March!
(Yeah, all those action shots featured here and here were taken in March)

So, a week ago, the dogs celebrated like this...

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"C'mon, Ella! Let's play soccer!"

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4.26.2012

Rainy Day

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"I see... "

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"A storm coming!"

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"A storm? Who cares about storms? There's no thunder or lightning, so... "

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"Let's play!"
"Alright. I guess a game of Collie soccer wouldn't hurt. I'll do commentary."

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"Petal takes off after the ball! The ball hits the fence and Petal is forced to make a sharp and rapid turn to avoid smashing into the fence and becoming a Pug."

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"What do you mean becoming a Pug?! That's not how their faces came to be all smashed, is it?!"
"Of course not, it was only a joke."
"Oh, well, stop your joking around and—"

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"throw my ball!"
"Fine, fine."

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"YES! I GOT IT! I GOT IT!"
"No one cares, Petal, not when I'm looking this handsome in the wind."

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"Look at how it ruffles my fur."

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"Oh! Ow! Rain in my eye! Rain in my eye!!"
"HA HA HA, very handsome!"

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"Get over here you little twerp!"
"Aaaahhhhh!"

There's nothing like starting off a rainy day with a game of soccer out in the yard. :]
For those who might be wondering, while me, Lassie, and Petal spent our morning playing the rain, Ella spent hers curled up in the warm house; she's not a fan of the cold or the rain.

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4.25.2012

Wordless Wednesday: Faster than a speeding bullet!

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4.20.2012



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4.24.2012

Collie wrestling and different playing styles

I love watching Lassie and Petal play together.
It's so fun to watch two dogs of the same breed play. Of course it's fun to watch any dogs play and interact together, regardless of breed, but there's just something about watching dogs of the same breed.
Collies, for example, like to herd. They like to challenge their minds and they're quick thinkers and learners. So you'll see them putting these traits to use when they're playing and since they both have the same instincts, it's interesting to see them use them on each other.

Like, for example, the way Lassie and Petal wrestle is very different from the way Petal and Ella wrestle or even the way Lassie and Ella wrestle (if you can call it wrestling).
Petal often gets her butt kicked by Ella in the wrestling department. Ella will smack her down to the ground and they'll wrestle and wrestle and then break off into a run (which Petal starts because Ella gets too intense for her sometimes).
Lassie and Ella don't wrestle much anymore. Their wrestling matches consist more of Lassie sunbathing and Ella coming up and smacking him until he gets annoyed and then she runs off, hoping he'll chase her, and sometimes he does.

Though Lassie won't wrestle Ella anymore, he will wrestle Petal. Why? Ella's style is too rough. Petal's style is much more like Lassie's, so he prefers to wrestle with her. Lassie and Petal don't pin each other to the ground, ever. But pinning Petal to the ground is Ella's favorite move. Lassie and Petal's wrestling matches are also considerably more moderate than Ella's. And, in a way, they're more graceful too.
But they're also louder, because they like to trash talk each other. ;)

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These pictures are about a month old, but this is how it's done. ;)


Petal likes to wrap her front paws around Lassie's neck and bite at his ears and mane. Then when he bites back, she leaps away and runs a circle as he nips at her. Then they nip at each other's faces and bonk their long noses together (I call this sword fighting, haha). They bark, they nip at each other's feet, they duck out of the way, they jump back, they run a circle and come back for more. It usually ends in a high speed chase around the yard and then it's over and onto the next game. They won't go at for ages on end like Ella likes to do. With my Collies, they like to play a few different games during their play sessions outside and nearly all of their games involve me in some way. Ella is the opposite. She'll play one game (wrestle, chase, or fetch) until she's tired and then she digs (of course) and the only game she needs me for is fetch (unless we're playing indoors, then she does like to play tug with me).

It's fun to see how different they each are. Even Lassie and Petal, being the same breed, are much different from each other. And even though Ella's our resident mutt and mystery dog, she has some things in common with Lassie and Petal.

What about your dogs? How do they like to play with other dogs? What's their favorite game to play with other dogs?

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4.23.2012

Petal's not the only one...

We've all seen pictures of Petal barking, right? We all know how much that girl loves to talk.
But what about Lassie? What about my well behaved gentleman?
He probably never makes a sound. He's too well behaved and dignified.

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3.25.2012

Wrong.

He's quite the rebel.


Snoopy's Dog Blog

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4.21.2012

My Dog Does the Grocery Shopping

I was pretty impressed when Petal, on her own accord, began raking the yard for me one afternoon. I thought, "Hey, let's see if she can do dishes, too." I knew, of course, that she could do laundry as well, I did teach her that, after all. ;)
But now, Petal has decided to take over the grocery shopping as well.
I wasn't buying enough dog treats, so it was time to take matters into her own paws.

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"Got a shopping cart and I'm ready to go!"

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"We're in dire need of some dog biscuits!"
"Funny that dog biscuits is written ten times over on your list. Also funny that it's the only thing you wrote on your... 'list'. What are us humans suppose to eat?"
"Quiet Human, you're only here to photograph my skills. You'll eat dog biscuits with the rest of us. If they're good enough for us they're good enough for you!"

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"Excuse me, do you work here? Do you know where the dog biscuits are kept?"

Having your dog do the grocery shopping for you might not be such a great idea.


Happy Saturday! Enjoy your weekend!


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4.20.2012

Collie Soccer

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"Hey you, lazy human, put that camera down and come play soccer with me!"

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"Unless you think you can't handle it."

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"Wow! That was a good kick! Come back here, ball!"

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"I'm right on your tail now!"

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"Well played, human."

Petal's way of playing soccer is actually very amusing. She often looks like she's trying to herd the ball. She also likes to run around with it in her mouth and it's a good sized ball (from Planet Dog, just incase you were wondering, not endorsing anything ;), as you can see, so she drops it often and goes after it again. I should get a video of her playing with it, because it really is very adorable.

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4.19.2012

Post-bath: Lassie

Yesterday you saw this:

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Which after hours and hours of brushing, bathing, drying and brushing again resulted in this:

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Look at that, he's literally sparkly clean.
It's just too bad you guys can't pet his silky fur or smell how wonderful he smells.
And no, petting his picture on your computer screen won't work, unless your screen is made of Collie fur.
Smelling his pictures won't work either, unless you have a scratch and sniff computer screen.
So you'll just have to take my word for it. He is soft and he smells wonderful.

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By the way, I wasn't exaggerating when I said he took hours to bathe. It takes me around 2-3 and a half hours to bathe him. Depending on when he was last brushed and bathed and depending on whether or not I bathe him at home or at the self grooming station at our local pet store, Urban Dawgz. It's much faster at Urban Dawgz with all their great grooming equipment, but I didn't have $10 to spend on his bath this time (and I couldn't remember which days were self-grooming days and which days their groomer was in, hah), so we did it at home, which takes longer.

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I spent days brushing him before the actual bathing took place.
I had fallen a little behind on the brushing.
Okay, maybe a lot.
But he looks great now! Haha.
Anyway, enough of my commentary, just enjoy the rest of his pictures. :]

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I just love smooching that nose!

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4.18.2012

Wordless Wednesday: Soggy Doggy

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