Dog Hangover

[baymule]

Ah, the Holidays!! We are a doggy family. DH and I have 3, DD and DSIL have 3, my sister has 9, her half sister has 2, SIL has 4........you beginning to get the picture? When DD and DSIL come visit us, they bring their dogs, a mini weiner named Pedro and a silky terrier named Pippa. They recently adopted a chocolate Lab they named Lucy. When they come, I call the dogs the "cousins". Our Aussie, Polly has a pained expression the whole time as her world is invaded by 2 little brats that get all the attention that should belong to her. Parker, our black Lab/Great Dane cross has extra playmates (that come up to his ankles lol) Well, this is the first time they brought Lucy. They came Wednesday afternoon. Our son showed up and added to the general confusion. He took over cooking supper for me because our DSIL took Lucy out to potty and Polly and Parker took off for parts unknown. Lucy was on a leash, but our dogs weren't, so they ran off. My DH and I got in his truck and found them a block away. Our house was a madhouse of dogs.

Our son in law thought he would just put Lucy in the backyard with Paris our Great Pyrenees on Thanksgiving Day. Not happening, I told him. No way. The backyard belongs to Paris the Queen. I had to break it down for him, how GP's have been bred for hundreds of years to protect their territory from other dogs and animals. Our own Polly can't even go in the backyard. Paris likes Parker, but sometimes she plows into him and he is smart enough to run away from her. Well what were they going to do with Lucy? We were going to my sister's for Thanksgiving dinner. I told them to use a cable I had and tie her to a tree.

When we got there, my sisters horde of yappers did just that. They barked, barked, barked and barked some more. I guess they had to prove how bad they were to this big interloper. There were 2 more little yappers visiting and they joined in the fun. Lucy was terrified. SCORE!!! for the little yappers. Lucy behaved herself all day, my DSIL took her off the cable and let her run around their 3 acres and play in their pond. Lucy had fun, except for the 11 mean little dogs that didn't like her. If our house was a madhouse of dogs, my sister's house was the insane asylum of dogs.

Our daughter, son in law, grand daughter and their 3 dogs spent Thanksgiving night with us, more fun with all the dogs. Five dogs running all over the house, grand daughter chasing them all, my 90 year old mom navigating the melee with her walker, DH ensconced in the safety of his recliner, our son's long legs stretched out from the small swivel chair that obviously didn't fit his stature, so DD and I left it all with them and we went to WalMart. The wall to wall press of bodies in a frenzy of spending money, was somehow not as stressful as staying home.

This morning, things got back to normal. DH went to work, son left last night, DD, DSIL, grand daughter and the 3 dogs left for home. Polly laid out on the dog blanket and absolutely passed out. Parker found a place in the sun in the backyard and bellied up, sprawled out in total deep sleep. Polly slept hard, exhausted, twitching in her sleep. Dog Hangover. They both slept for over an hour and napped off and on all day. Dog Hangover. As of right now, they both are snoozing soundly. Dog Hangover.

 

[so lucky]

That sounds much more chaotic than a house full of kids. Glad you were up for it!

 

[bobm]

I like dogs and we had quite a few working / guard dogs over the years on our ranch. However, a bunch of years ago my wife's uncle and his wife came to visit us one summer on their annual trek to Canada. They brought Sammy , a medium sized all white , long haired mongrel with NO MANNERS whatsoever and constantly yapped, lifted his hind leg on our furniture, and kitchen cabinets, and left a pile on the middle of our LR carpet. I BBQ ed some steaks and set them down on a platter at the center of the dining room table. I then went back outside to make sure the grill fire was off and the next thing was I heard my wife yelling ( her last straw ) at that damned dog who was on the table and eating the steak and her uncle just looking on and said "Sammy sure likes that steak"! My DW's uncle's wife started to sob and was upset that my wife yelled at their dog. I gave the uncle the riot act and told them to get that blessed dog back into their travel bus and to NEVER bring it to our house again. That type of company we can do WITHOUT ! We then told every family member and friend to NEVER bring their dogs to our home again.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Baymule, sounds like fun to me!! For a while we had 4 dogs, and sometimes i really miss that! I love to watch the body language and communication between them, sometimes it makes more sense to me than people communication! But the reality of that many dogs for me was that it was too expensive, so i think we'll stick with 2 like we have now. The 2 couples who joined us for thanksgiving each brought their two dogs, so we were a pack of 6, ranging in size from our 20# llasa apso to a big fat border collie mix of 80#. Everyone had a great time!

 

[so lucky]

BobM, that type of dog has the same problem that unruly children do: bad parenting. I don't blame you for banning them from your house. You probably aren't the only "host" that had to do that with that couple. Sheesh!

 

[897tgigvib]

Bob, that sure was a Dear Abby day, wasn't it?

Oh... Bay! Was that a true DOG DAY AFTERNOON OR WHAT? I woulda been hiding in the back bedroom, or closet thereof, with my 2 cats!

 

[baymule]

Having our DD's dogs was fun. Pedro, the mini weiner, she got when she was in college, so he spent a lot of time here. We called him our "grand-dox-son" They have had Pippa for 2 years and Lucy, the Lab, for 3 weeks. They were all well behaved and there was only 2 tinkle accidents by Lucy, both times right in front of the door. At least she had the idea of where outside was, even though she was on the wrong side of the door. Lucy and Pippa are our "grand-dog-ters"

 

[bj taylor]

we had a bunch of folks over for Thanksgiving. some we knew & some we didn't know so well (that's another story). we acquired a HUGE dog kennel & put our two dogs in prison for a day. they both sat looking on, from a little distance, but no barking, whining, or other bad behavior. sam did manage to look pathetic the whole time sitting there with his frisbee in his mouth. they both forgave us when they got their goodies & a long walk as a reward.

 

[so lucky]

Just wondering--do dogs hold grudges, like cats are said to do? I would think they are pretty forgiving for most things. Of course, cruelty or really bad training might show forever.
One of our cats used to seem to hold a grudge for hours. Well, both of them did, as a matter of fact.

 

[897tgigvib]

Cats can hold a grudge, but their grudge is different.

Like, Clevland was snoozing so nicely on the desk chair when I needed to use it, so I picked him up trying not to even wake him up...but he did...and I set him on the loveseat. He promptly jumped off of it and gave me his look that made me feel so bad. But, right now he's snoozing where I had set him. Didn't even see him jump back there.

Nobody here probably even knows this, but the 2011 grand champion, and a great many other awards winning Abyssinian, Huey of Narleekatz Abyssinians in Melbourne died yesterday, so in the world of show cats it is a sad day.