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!