Cat and Butterfly (or "Herding Cats")

We had a nice day at the home office today. I heard Mom say something about a couple of afternoon appointments cancelling, so we spent the afternoon lounging in the office before going for an early evening run. Well, actually Buzz, Flash and I were lounging and chewing our favorite bones – Mom was at the computer all afternoon, as usual.

While we were there, a lovely butterfly flew into the office through the open side door. It went directly in front of the computer monitor and seemed to mesmerize Mom for a moment. Then, my brother cat, KittyHawk, saw it. That was fun! He came up from behind Mom and jumped right onto the desk – which he’s never allowed to do – knocking a bunch of papers to the ground. Mom caught him and put him back down, and he got right back up again. So she picked him up and put him outside the office, and proceeded to chase the butterfly herself. It appears she wanted the joy of butterfly chasing for herself. She did eventually catch it and then walked it to the door and let it fly away. KittyHawk was wondering what the point is of catching a butterfly – or any critter, for that matter – if you’re not going to continue to play with it? Personally, I like larger critters, like sheep or even cats like KittyHawk himself, to herd around.

Yes, herding cats – I have occasionally been tasked with this. KittyHawk happens to be a bit of an escape artist sometimes. When he does bolt outside, Mom sends me out with the usual “go by” and “away to me” and then some “walk up” to bring him back into the house. The odd thing is that when I do walk up, he doesn’t move away from me the way that sheep do. He just sits there and hunkers down. I wasn’t sure what to do with that the first time that we practiced it, so Mom told me to “get the kitty”, and I just held him there until Mom came up the hill to fetch him. I’m still not sure why he’s not allowed outside, but it makes for good practice, since I haven’t seen sheep in a while. Hmm… sheep… I love herding sheep… sure hope we could do that again soon.

Flyball and boy troubles

I got to run in my first tournament yesterday since coming off of “injured reserve” as Mom called it. It went really well – Mom and I had a lot of fun, and she did mention something about our “starts” going well, so she seemed happy. It’s always fun to play flyball, but particularly when Mom is also having a great time. I also got to run for my Uncle K a few times – that was also great fun. After the racing, Mom brought me a cool new stuffed toy – Buzz and Flash each got one, too, so I guess that means that the racing went well. New stuffed toys are the best, and so much fun to practice arthroscopic squeakectomies on!

On a bit more solemn note, I saw my old flame; I’ll call him “Harrison” (not his real name). I hadn’t mentioned anything about “Zip”, but I wonder if he knows? We flirted a bit, but he seemed edgy. Not sure if it was because his granddaughters were there, or if we were just getting ready to race, or if it was something else, but I really wish I’d had more time to romp with him.

“Harrison” has always been a favorite boyfriend. He’s a 6 year old, intact Danish Swedish Farm Dog and he and I usually flirt quite a lot. He’s very athletic, with beautiful black, tan and white markings, and such a handsome face. I believe he has an actual mate, whom I’ll call “Janna”, and with whom he’s had puppies, but it doesn’t stop us from flirting and playing whenever we see each other. I hope that he’s not jealous – perhaps he smelled that I’d been flirting with Zip the other day (though 2 days had passed already, so probably not.) Hopefully that’s not the case. Next week, when I see him at practice again, I’ll be sure to flirt with him again so he knows that I still really like him. Did I mention that he's a favorite boyfriend? sigh...

They call me a "cougar"

I finally got to go back to my agility class this afternoon after having to take 3 weeks off for my torn toenail. What fun! I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it, and my mom and I were truly in sync today. Really fun courses.

At class, my favorite boyfriend was there. Let's call him "Zip" (not his real name). He's just 14 months old, but intact and completely adorable. He invited me to play, as usual, and since I was off-leash this time, I accepted his invitation and we romped for a moment, until Mom called me off and I had to go back to work. -sigh- He's absolutely dreamy! He's a gorgeous black tri-color border collie with a mostly white face and the most amazing bedroom eyes I've ever seen. (meow!) And his coat is simply luxurious!

After my course run, I was put on a down-stay just 10 feet away from where he was laying, and I had to turn away so as not to tempt myself further. I overheard my mom and the other ladies chatting about us, and one of the gals, the mom of a young Malamute in the class(he's also kind of cute) mentioned that she didn't approve, and that I was just *much* too old to be with "Zip". I have to say that I couldn't disagree more, and if I wasn't spayed, I think we'd make the most perfect couple.

We have SO much in common: we both love agility, love to work, adore our moms, enjoy romping together now and then, and we're both in households with multiple sports dogs in our families. We'd have a lot to relate to each other about. Ah well, but it will never be. Like Romeo and Juliet, our parents won't ever let us actually be together, so I guess I'll just have to dream about him and his fluffy tail and smiling eyes. -sigh-

Learning to read

I'm Claire, a 7-year-old blue merle border collie, and I'm kind of bored these days.

Last week Monday, while playing with my favorite brother, Buzz, and my "other" brother, Flash, (eesh) I caught my front toenail in a tree root and ripped it out completely. TALK ABOUT PAIN!! At first, I thought Buzz had done something, so I set out to punish him appropriately. Luckily, Mom knew better, stopped me in my tracks, and proceeded to look me over. She cleaned out my toe and took me to the vet, where my foot was promptly bandaged, and the vet then told my mom that I was not allowed to exercise for at least *two weeks!!* What on EARTH is a border collie to do with two weeks off? I thought I was going to go crazy!

Of course, I did think about some options for my time off:
* I'd love to take a cross-country road trip to sheep country. Problem is, I can't drive; my legs are too short, and without opposable thumbs, working the steering wheel would be sketchy at best. Not to mention, the challenge of turning the key to start the engine in the first place. -sigh- so much for that idea.
* Then, I thought about redecorating the house. I would just love to have more indoor trees, and fluffy dog beds in every corner. Sheep print wallpaper also came to mind, but last time I went to Lowes, they told my mom that I was no longer allowed inside - something about big dogs?

So, since my mom has been working on teaching me to read flash cards, I thought, "why not start a blog?" Oh sure, my mom thinks that all I know of reading is sit, down, wave and stand. I have to be sure she doesn't find out about this blog, or she'll have me reading and performing all kinds of silly tricks in front of her friends. I am so *not* into Letterman's stupid pet tricks.
So, here I am, blogging. How do I type, you might ask? Well, it's not easy, but it is possible by using my toenails - all but the one that is missing, that is. For now, I'm just using my left paw, until I finally get the bandage off of my right paw. Then things will go more quickly.
Uh oh, I hear Mom getting home. Gotta go before she sees me.