Thursday, February 24, 2011

A Dog's Life - 6/52

Photo of Iris.  She's asleep on the couch with her head on a pillow and and front paws wrapped around the pillow.
 A Dog's Life - 6/52

I'm not sure Iris quite understands that she's actually a dog.  Iris often sleeps on the couch, with her head on the pillow.  At night, she always sleeps on the bed (which is funny because for the first two years I had her, she completely refused to sleep on the bed).  The other night, she woke up in the middle of the night and started scratching.  I rolled over and nudged her since she has a tendency to scratch herself raw when her allergies act up.  Iris indignantly hopped off the bed.  I could hear her moving around in the dark looking for a place to settle down.  Then very slowly, she crept back on the bed.  And stood there.  Staring at me.  As if I wouldn't notice her getting back on the bed as long as she did it slowly?  I told her she could lie down, and she very happily settled back down on the bed for the rest of the night

I was thinking about it the next day, and I'm pretty sure she got back on the bed because she couldn't figure out where dogs are supposed to sleep if they're not sleeping on the bed.  Spoiled much?

Another photo of Iris asleep on the couch with her head still on the pillow.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Will Work for Food - 5/52

Dogs in the kitchen while I'm cooking is a huge pet peeve of mine.  I just don't enjoy having to fight with the dogs for foot room while I'm getting food ready.  To keep the peace, Iris is trained to stay out of the kitchen while I'm in there unless I invite her in.  She can sit the doorway and watch, but she has to stay out.  If she's already in there (or in there uninvited), I can tell her "out," and she'll go sit in the doorway.  When I was living with my dad, all three dogs were pretty good about staying out of the kitchen.

While I was visiting my dad for the holidays, I was in the kitchen helping my sister clean up.  My dad's house has a much larger kitchen than my condo, but the large kitchen very quickly fills up with seven people and three dogs in the house.  Without really thinking about it or even looking at the dogs, I said "Out."  Iris immediately went and sat in the doorway just outside of the kitchen.  The boys continued looking for crumbs on the floor, so my sister turned to me and said "Show off."

Just so that no one thinks my dog is a perfect angel, she regularly rebels against the "no dogs in the kitchen" rule with just one front paw.

Iris is sitting on the carpet just outside of the kitchen on the left side of the photo.  One of her front paws is on the kitchen floor.  Her blue bowl is in the kitchen on the right side of the photo.

Will Work for Food - 5/52

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

GSDs?

Does anyone know of a good German Shepherd breeder?  I have a friend who grew up with GSDs and is looking for a puppy.  I prefer my Shepherds to be the crazy red merle variety, so I don't actually know any good GSD breeders.

Anyone out there know of any GSD breeders?  All my friend is really looking for is a healthy pet and he really loved the GSDs he grew up with.