Jack’s mom is still living with us. I don’t know when Jack will drive her back to Oklahoma. She’s not complaining and the mini wiener dogs, Maggie and Gretchen, are settling in. Maggie and Gretchen (the girls) tolerate our dogs, JJ and Benny (the boys). There’s occasionally a little smooching. Maggie wants to play with the boys, but only on her terms. She doesn’t allow any paws in her face or loud barking. Benny tries really hard to play but the minute his paw shoots out in her direction she’s pissed. She snaps and yaps, attacking Benny. Benny is exasperated. Jack’s mom often attaches the leashes to Maggie and Gretchen’s collars before their walk. Then she takes her time getting ready. The girls walk around the house dragging their leashes. Last night, I noticed Maggie standing in the hall, with her leash on, not moving. That’s unusual I thought. As I rounded the corner, there was Benny with his paw on the end of her leash. He almost visibly smiled; now he had her.
Benny is a loving, happy dog but a bit of a wimp around other dogs. He’s not an alpha dog. He gets mugged for his treats and bones by JJ and Maggie constantly. His sharp barks mean he’s once again missing his treat or bone. The other night I climbed out of bed because Benny’s sharp barks emanated from downstairs. Jack and his friend Gene were engrossed playing the game of Titan. Jack ignored Benny’s pleas for help. Jack’s mom thought Maggie grabbed Benny’s bone but she couldn’t find Maggie. Jack asked me to go upstairs to get the long handled grabber but I didn’t want to do that. I thought I could reach into Maggie’s hidey hole to get the bone. I crawled under the coffee table, in my nightie and robe. Maggie growled at me, sitting protectively over her prize. It’s almost as big as she is. I grabbed a nearby tennis shoe and punched Maggie with it. With little room to maneuver I used the shoe, huffing and puffing, gradually pulling the bone to me. The extraction took about 8 minutes. Gene told us we missed out by not videoing my bone rescue. He’s sure it would go viral as it was hysterical.
Do your antics with your dog entertain your friends? I’d love to hear your story.
Life and Befuddlement 
Dog funnies in our house usually involve getting punched in the face (accidentally) by a happy greyhound. Greys have giant claws, which because of the shape of their paws can’t really be cut any shorter, so this generally doesn’t end well! Alas, so far nobody’s managed to video this happening. But naturally, when they do it’ll get slapped on my blog with all possible speed, as I have become what I’m terming a Blogwhore – any and every thing that happens to me is now fair game for sharing with the entire planet. The other day, I was struggling to put together a desk I’d got from a furniture recycling centre, and after a couple of hours with a drill and screwdriver, I was finished. I swear I lay panting under the desk, realised I’d got carpet burn on my shoulderblades from all the screwing – OF SCREWS. INTO WOOD, OK – and got an insane fit of the giggles thinking of the tweets and blog posts I could make from that. “Panting on the bedroom floor with carpet burn on my back! LOLZ” Even the thought of my Mum and Dad possibly reading it one day didn’t deter me. Blog. Whore. I rest my case.
Your struggle with the desk is definitely a Does This Happen to You moment. I’m always looking for those. I’d love to read a blog about that one.