It's a dog's life

I was visiting my parents this weekend, so Sadie got to spend some quality time with her sister, Lucy. When they get together they spend all day outside chasing sticks or chasing rabbits (which always outsmart them) or watching birds. Some days they also have their own fake version of WWE Smackdown. My dog, the Thug Bug, usually wins. (But I think Lucy lets her.)

In the evenings, they come inside and fight over tiny remnants of old squeaky toys. A tiny scrap of an old toy keeps them entertained for hours. At night they have a slumber party in the living room, surrounded by fluff (usually from a recently destroyed squeaky toy or, in this case, from Lucy’s bed, which she likes to eat in her spare time). It’s not long before you can hear Sadie snoring. It’s really sort of embarrassing how loud she is.


Millie, my dad’s ever vigilant Border Collie (and a case study in neurotic herding behavior), keeps a close eye on them.

Trapper (name picked by my dad, unfortunately) is the newest addition to the family. He’s the resident case study in neurotic stick-chasing behavior. My dad found him on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere just a few days away from death.

Now that he’s been nursed back to health, he’s too cool to be caught at a slumber party. So, he gets “The Chair.” It’s the only piece of furniture the dogs are allowed to get on. When Sadie isn’t around to keep her preoccupied, Lucy sits around dreaming up ways to get Trapper out of the chair. My mom said Lucy’s been known to bark at nothing in particular, and as soon as Trapper comes to see what the fuss is about, she darts into the room and gets in the chair. I think those people who say that dogs can’t reason have never actually been around dogs.

Trapper went to bed early last night, and guess where Lucy went? Ah, a dog's life...