Dogs Days @ Christmas

Hello. 

Foster here. 

I have the "Slight Detour" podium today, and I'd like to share my side of the Christmas 2015 experience.   

It's been a full week of "Christmas cheer," as the my human family members would like to have you think.

I can tell you with certainty, however, that it hasn't been all sugar plum fairies and tidings of great joy. 

Quite the opposite if you're a dog, especially a "top dog" in the house, having to cope with a new little brother.  

Oh, I know that I'll eventually get used to Liam, and I've been pretty darned good at learning to share the space inside the house that used to be all mine----even MY bed. 

For now, though, there are times when I could just GROWL.   And, I do.

Liam is pretty cute, and that's what causes most of the problems.  He's getting all the attention, and sometimes those "Puppy Love is Blind" peeps think he's so cute that he gets away with way too much nonstop rambunctious behavior. 

I actually like hanging out with Liam when we're outside because I've been able to show him around the Lovestead, and there's no way he's gonna rough house with me cuz he's on a leash, and I can just run a whole lot faster. 

We take off racing down the No. 1 and No. 2 trails all around the yard, and then we head to the south woods, running full speed through deep snow and around the trees.  It's pretty fun, and I look forward to our time spent outside.

Inside?  That's a whole different story.  

I can tell you that I haven't gotten much rest lately because Liam seems to want to wrestle and roll around on the floor all the time.  It wasn't that bad two weeks ago because I was bigger than Liam. 

That size dominance which I've so enjoyed for one brief, welcome moment of my life has almost ended.  

Liam grows about an inch a day, and when all that fuzzy bundle of Border Collie energy comes leaping through the air and lands smack dab on top of me or grabs my collar and tries to drag me around the living room, I hardly have a chance to take a breath, let alone retaliate.

Last night Liam came down really hard on my front leg.  

It hurt.  I shrieked and then milked it for all the sympathy I could get.  Eventually, I quit limping, and eventually Liam was scooped off and taken to his bed out in the garage with Kiwi.  

Relief!  

I love it when Liam has to go to bed at 8 p.m. sharp every night.  Once again, I get the whole house and all the peeps to myself, and it's quiet and life is good. 

In addition to this old, tired 4-year-old dog teaching the pup new tricks---like how to leap over tall snow drifts and where to find the delicious horse apples and such---the peeps have been spending time and a lot of Wheat Thins, educating Liam.  

He now sits, lies down and rolls over.  

One thing he still can't do---thank God---is to jump up to the couch.  I'm still relatively safe up there, but Liam has been pretty persistent at his practicing.  As long as Annie keeps that single Wheat thin just inches away from his nose on the couch, he gives it his all.  

Don't tell anyone, but I think Liam definitely has a few spark plugs missing in his brain.  

Sometimes, he takes off a few feet away from the couch, launches off and misses.  Liam's sense of spatial issues still needs some major development.  

Add to that the fact that he's still crawling under that bench next to the couch whenever he gets in trouble by the peeps or when I growl at him.  

He hasn't figured out yet, that as fast as he's growing, there's gonna be a time one of these days pretty soon when he takes a long winter's nap and grows so much during that couple of hours that his big body will no longer fit through the openings under that bench.

I can't wait to see that!  

Maybe I'll be safe for along time, but then again, those peeps spoil him.  Would you believe that I even heard Bill suggest that he might put blocks of wood under the legs on that bench so Liam can get in and out easier. 

Talk about helicopter parents!  Sheesh!  

Nobody ever went the extra mile for me.  I have always a good boy----even cooperating when they dress me up in ridiculous outfits like those goofy jingle-bell Christmas collars.  

Liam actually liked his and never complained a bit, but I felt kinda stupid whenever I'd go outside to dash through the snow with all those obnoxious jingle bells hanging and ringing around my neck.   

Let's just say in general, life hasn't exactly been a bowl of Friskies or Atta Boy----oh yeah that reminds me----what a pig that Liam is.  I go to eat my dinner under the Christmas tree and the dish is licked clean.

Don't get me wrong.  I do like Liam, but this getting used to sharing my domain with him has definitely come with a steep learning curve. 

We all adjust.  I'm sure I will, but for now I'm too tired to say anymore.  

So, stay tuned.  I might get the podium for "Slight Detour" again on another day and fill you in on Foster's life with Liam.  For now, I'm praying that Liam will never learn to jump on the couch. 

Happy Sunday from the Lovestead where some dogs need to learn some new tricks----like how to escape the occasional misery of puppy power. 

Sincerely, 

Foster

'Nough said for now; I'm too tired to talk anymore.