Cattle Dog Christmas Party

...And you thought Jake in his Santa hat was bad! I am not alone here, folks, in subjecting my ACD to costume time. This dear little face is Posey. I love to take pictures of Posey because she's the only cattle dog I know that can hold still for more than one second while you snap the picture. Thank you, Posey!

We've all been looking forward to this Christmas party and match ever since it was announced. Jake was in high spirits that day. He was rambunctious, crazy, wild, over-the-top, no holds barred, ...you get the idea. He was driving us nuts because he needed someone to help him burn all that energy. Who better to help Jake but more cattle dogs?

And then Jake saw PEPPER! He was dancing and spinning and getting all tangled up in Pepper's lead. You see, we weren't sure Pepper was going to come to the party. Pepper had been naughty throughout the week and her mother threatened to leave her at home. We begged and pleaded on Jake's behalf and were well rewarded by their antics.

Jake and Pepper got to play in a fenced-in cow pasture full of agility things. A big tree provided shade and sticks for throwing. Those of us down by the show ring could see two sets of big black ears bouncing around over the grass.




Soon Pepper and Jake were joined by Peachy for more rounds of stick chasing.

While our dog was being silly and romping and getting generally worn out, other dogs in our group were strutting their stuff in the conformation and obedience ring. Some of the dogs even surprised their parents by winning (right, Pia?). All of the dogs got a chance to compete in a game of Bobbing for Hotdogs. Puppies got two minutes and adults got two to try to eat as many hotdogs as they could. We figured we'd let Jake have a shot at a hotdog although he'd never eat one before. Jake dives for ice cubes in his water bowl so why not a wienie? Because, it turns out, that Jake doesn't like hotdogs. He got one out, put in the ground, sniffed it and proceeded to peck at it with a look that said, "This is gross but I'm working on it for the crowd's sake."

Pepper just stuck her feet in the water and tried to figure out why she was having to go through this event. Apparently Jake is not alone in Hotdog Dislike.


Poor little Lumpy gave it a valiant effort to drink all the water in that big, big bowl but the little pieces of meat at the bottom just didn't seem worth the drowning.


And then there was King Daddy of the Hot Dogs, Kogi! He snarfed one, inhaled another and then figured out he could grab three at time. Kogi got dragged away before his two minutes were up to save hotdogs for the other dogs who hadn't gone yet. Kogi still reigned with 9 hotdogs!


After the only game of Yankee Swap (or White Elephant) that I have ever played where NO ONE took anyone else's gift, we headed home with one tired pooch. Jake was unconscious on the short ride back to my in-law's house. We thought we were in for a nice, quiet evening. We were so wrong! Like a human child who is over-stimulated and needs to go to bed badly, our Jake was totally out of control. He was shrieking and zooming around their new house with its wooden floors and vaulted ceilings. The noise was deafening. After several hours of everyone in the house trying to control Jake, Jake finally crawled off under our guest bed and fell asleep. When I went looking for him, I noticed that Jake had taken the time to steal all of our socks out of our suitcase and make himself a nice sock pillow. That stinker!

New Uses for a Tug Toy

For those of you who don't already know, Jake loves tug. Any toy he owns, any stick, any sock, and anything else he can get in his mouth becomes a tug toy sooner or later. Many of these items we discourage. Many of Jake's toys were either purchased or made by me just for tugging. Now that the stage has been set...

Approximately ten years ago, I dislocated my right shoulder. My chiropractor has always put it back in place when need be. My chiropractor moved to Oklahoma a few years back but the shoulder hasn't been a problem. Yesterday myhusband and I were working our tails off wiring our accountant's new house for home audio and video needs (you have to take care of your accountant!). Since we were in a hurry I was lifting more than I normally do to make less trips. So today I'm at home putting up dishes. With an armful of dinner plates I feel my shoulder slip out and start really hurting. After struggling through folding a pile of laundry, I was trying to figure out what to do to ease my pain. My husband is working a good half hour away installing a central vac system. Hmm, I look at my sleeping pooch and think, "Jake could tug my arm back in place." I wake him up, give him a good brushing with the Furminator (brushing always gets him riled up), and then hand him his Holee Roller. Jake latched those crocodile jaws on his ball and immediately fell into Tug Mode. I switched the ball to my right hand, lined my arm up for the way I wanted it to be pulled, and used our normal let-the-games-commence command, "Jake, PULL, PULL!" Jake lunged straight back on those powerful little legs of his and I felt my shoulder snap back into place. Ahh, relief! I'm sure both my family doctor and chiropractor would be horrified to hear this story but Jake got a huge pile of doggy treats for his efforts.

The Tugmeister

Jake LOVES to tug! He has since day one. We had read that it wasn't always a good idea to play tug with dogs that could be aggressive. Well, in Jake's case, that's blah, blah, blah. Our favorite part is to swipe at his front legs while he's tugging. He must have incredible peripheral vision because he always sees it coming. He tucks his legs first one way and then the other. If you swipe at both legs at the same time, he tucks them back and hangs from the tug. Jake makes the most amazing noises while you're tugging -- somewhere between a Tasmanian Devil and a screaming banshee. The minute you tell him DROP IT, he sits back on his haunches with a big grin on his face, tongue lolling out to the side. We've gone through quite a few toys that didn't stand up to the Jake tug test. After some searching on the internet and watching a little flyball competition on Animal Planet, I discovered fleece tugs. How easy is that, I thought. So I set out to make my own. I made him three different kinds and we went to tugging. They made it! Over the last couple of months I've seen the ones they sell in stores in person and decided I needed to make a new and improved version for my little crocodile. All this tugging has only made him stronger and more determined to hang on with all his might. So yesterday he got a Mighty Tug. After Jake put his spit of approval on the Tug, I couldn't help but pat myself on the back. An easy-to-make, inexpensive toy is a great discovery! We passed on his first little tugs to a friend who is just getting a puppy for Christmas.

Jake, aka BamBam

Jake loves my nephew's big plastic softball set. He pounces on the big white softballs, which pop up and around on our wooden floors and go in all directions with quite a clatter. It's one of the few games that Jake doesn't feel that he needs humans in order to play. He's been playing with the softballs for the last couple of months. This week he discovered the bat! It's a good thing I had already put away all of our breakable things a long time ago. He winds through the chairs at the dining room table, through the open coffee table, and through your legs with that big old bat. He goes running at full steam in big circles around the living room with it in his mouth, smashing and banging as he goes. What great fun!

Everyone who has met Jake knows that there is not a mean, aggressive bone in his little body. So far in Jake's life he has not met a person he didn't greet with a wagging tail and totally wiggling body. I've seen him growl at noises and bark until he can identify a sound but I've never seen him feel like anyone was a threat. Soooo, yesterday we're driving down Gervais Street (one of the main streets in Columbia) which always has a lot of pedestrian traffic. We drive down this street normally a few times a day since it's not far from our house. We were waiting at a stoplight when a man walked down to the road and stopped, waiting for the pedestrian crossing light to tell him he could cross. Jake had been looking out the window. All of a sudden, Jake is snarling and snapping and lunging at the window. Seatbelt be darned, he was going to get that Bad Man. There were two lanes of cars between us and the sidewalk so the poor old lady next to us probably had a heart attack when she got to see all of Jake's teeth. I wasn't sure what to do at first b/c Jake's never done this. I trust his instincts, though, so I just put my hand on his back and told him, "Okay, Jake, I hear you, " which is what I say when he barks at a knock on our front door. He normally quiets down right away b/c he's done his job and now it's my turn. Unfortunately for me, we hit every red light on the way to take Joe some equipment and this same Bad Man walked several blocks in the same direction. Each light produced the same result. I was so thankful when the man turned. We headed for the next light with more pedestrians and I wondered if we were in for some new protective phase of Jake's. Nope, he wagged his tail and grinned at this new group. Something must have triggered him about that one particular man. It was just a little scary to see Jake become that maniacal dog. My window was totally slobbered after those few blocks but Jake obligingly licked it all off when he got bored so now it's just big streaks. He was completely happy with himself -- big ACD grin and lolling tongue.

Santa's Little Helper

I promised Jake that if he would be patient enough to pose for these pictures that I wouldn't make him wear another costume for the rest of the year. My husband pointed out that the next year was just around the corner. I told him I only make promises I plan on keeping. =) ACD ears are just so in the way when it comes to wearing a hat. Jake kept shaking his head to free up his ears and the hat would slide around since it was tied under his chin. Jake got lots of marshmellows for his efforts!