Around about 6:00am Darlah has to check her pages from the night before to ensure that they went live correctly. Darlah builds pages in advance and posts them onto what is called a staging server. That server automatically pushes them live at 6 but Darlah always checks to make sure that everything is working as designed.
Naturally, when she gets out of bed so does "the pack". And off they go downstairs, Darlah to check her pages, the dogs to do their business outside. They don’t all go. Risa isn’t getting out of bed unless or until I do, Same with Wasabi. And Yvonne’s Maggie. The rest are off and running. This morning that meant they went outside into about 5 inches of new fallen wet snowball snow.
They played for 10 minutes, did their business and then came running back inside wired for sound. And where do you think they went to next? Yes, back to say hi to "daddy" who was, fool that he is, still trying to sleep at 6:10. Yvonne’s Downsey and Lola stayed downstairs with Darlah. The rest came piling back onto the bed, soaking wet and settled down to go back to sleep but not without first saying good morning to me. I’ve now been tongue washed by 5 frenetic dogs.
Risa can be heard telling her pack very nicely that if even one of them comes within a foot of her she will rip their lungs out and feed it to them. Maggie, behind my head on the pillow, is saying the same. Kat ignores all of them and curls up against my chest. Shoshi takes one look at this sad state of affairs and decides to cuddle up against my leg because Kat has beaten her to her spot. Abigail decides to flop down between and on top of my legs and Risa has now moved to my feet. I not only can't move a muscle but half the dogs on me are soaking wet. I stick it out for 10-15 minutes but it's a no go. And then Risa decides if she doesn’t eat shortly she will die. So she gets up and collapses on my chest, looking me straight in the eye and then slowly licking her lips so that even a not especially bright human such as myself cannot mistake her meaning. Either I feed her right now or she starts on my leg. I give up and get up, escorted to the bathroom by 8 Havanese.
They watch impatiently while I throw on a few things and then escort me down the stairs to the kitchen where the pack assembles, doing their best to intimidate me into feeding them RIGHT NOW!
I ignore them and make sure the coffee is on if Darlah hasn’t already done so. Some of them go back outside. The rest wait. I lay out the bowls; 2 larger ones for the Golden Retrievers and then 10 small stainless steel bowls for the Havs. Yvonne’s dogs eat different food then ours so I prepare theirs and then ours. I know, by bowl position, which bowl is whose. Besides the Fromm’s Chicken A LA Veg we are currently feeding them I usually add something extra. This morning it was some leftover chicken fried rice and a small bit of Fromm’s chicken in the can. This morning Yvonne’s dogs got their own dried food plus canned chicken and leftover rice too. I plan on feeding them steak every day for a week before Yvonne comes home so that her dogs all throw a complete fit and go on strike when she takes them back home. I will, of course, be totally innocent of any crime and scratch my head in complete puzzlement while assuring Yvonne that they ate no problem while here. That is pay back for the text messages we keep getting form them down in Florida bragging about the 90 degree weather.
Well, it is now 7am. Time for me to eat a bit of toast, drink a cup of coffee and read the morning newspaper. The dogs line up beside Darlah, as per usual, waiting for a bit of crust or anything else they can sucker out of her and then she blames me when the dogs put on weight.
After breakfast I head out to the backyard with the dogs and do a patrol, picking up what needs picking up. This morning I also shoveled the entire deck. Then back inside to check my email.
Shoshi lies on my left foot, Kat’s on my right. Fiona is in a cushy bed under the desk. Risa is in a donut behind my chair. Wasabi is in another donut behind Risa. Maggie is in yet another donut behind Wasabi. Flora is usually on a mat next to Maggie and by now on the other side of my desk and Abigail may or may not be in the crate under my other desk. That done I head upstairs to finally take a shower and get dressed. The pack accompanies me in case I need help or get lost or plan to sneak out on them from the second floor bathroom. And so the sun rises in Richmond Hill.
Nathan
PS: and if you want to know about the rest of our day - it has been event-filled. Sweaters or jackets on, out we go, inside, sweaters and coats off and into dryer - brusha, brusha, brusha and then we do it all again!
Poor Wasabi - you can tell just by looking at her that she finds this experience - oh hum ever so delightful --Darlah
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 11:01AM 
We were lucky enough to witness first hand mentoring at the Caledonia show by Dr. Robert Smith and a junior handler that was a tad young for the job. When Nathan complimented Dr. Smith on the patience he had taken with this very young girl that really did have trouble walking the Chihuahua. Dr. Smith replied that if we don't take the time and effort to invest in the juniors who will replace us when we are gone. That was most apt and of course Nathan agreed.
