Do You Know This Guy?

Why Bell?

Bell's idea of real comfort is to drag her bedding out of her pen and 'arrange' it to suit her wherever she decides she want's to sleep. Only Bell does this. Nick will simply throw herself down in any old likely spot.
However that does not mean that Nick is without her own oddities. Nick likes to 'steal' any and all chew toys from Bell's pen every morning. She insists that Bell's chewies taste better than her own.

Perhaps in retaliation....every once in awhile Bell will steal the tennis ball (often while in mid-air) from Nick while her and I are playing fetch. Nick is an avid fetch player....never tires of it (much to my dismay sometimes). Nick will then stand over Bell and stare at her while she has Nick's ball. She never attempts to take it from her even when Bell loses interest and goes to sleep. Nick will continue to stare at Bell as if that will somehow miraculously make Bell decide to give back the ball. I've never seen that happen yet.

This is not to imply that the girls don't ever get along. They formed a different type of game with the tennis ball a long time ago. They don't always play this game but often enough. It starts with Nick bringing the ball to me and spitting it in my lap. That means 'I want you to throw this for me until your arm falls off, ok?' I will throw it (because I am the best trained one of all of us I suppose) and Nick will go get it. On her way back with the ball, (this is the tricky part) Bell will intercept her and Nick will actually do a 'hand off' of the ball to Bell who will then bring the ball to me. The ball is transferred from fuzzy mouth to fuzzy mouth without dropping it. It's really quite amazing since they developed this form of sharing the game on their own.
I'm still trying to get a picture of them doing that. Sometimes I wish I had a hidden camera to capture some of the crazy stuff these two do.

After Our Bath

The girls are drying off on the porch after their bath.

It's incredible how long they stay wet. I think their type of coat holds water longer than other dogs that I've had...that is once it actually GETS wet. The water just rolls off them at first too which makes it very hard to work up a good lather.

I've been told that hounds tend to have more oils in their skin because they've been bred for hunting which often ends up being in mucky wet areas. I suppose the oils protect them from getting wet in much the same way ducks repel water.

So basically I've got a couple of very large ducks here. But they are very shiny ducks!!

Behind The Couch

Well the question of why Nicki kept going nuts trying to get behind the couch....and repeatedly knocking over the small side table and lamp is finally answered. Kaylee didn't like her dinner and figured this was the best way to get rid of it. Of course! Just throw it behind the couch.
What? You got a problem with that??!!

Hogging The Toys

Bell somehow ends up with all of the toys around her and for some reason Nicki won't go near her to take them back. Bell has never been possessive with toys so I have no idea where Nick got the idea she can't take them back. Nicki is obviously being a wimp today. :)

Swimming....kinda

Brave dog going right in the water with Kaylee.

Nick came out to me when I called her.

And Kaylee had a blast with them too!
It was great to find that my two dogs aren't afraid of water. Every other dog I had (Irish Setters too!) were water shy. This is going to be fun!

Anyone For A Swim?

I bought a small dog pool for the girls because it's been so hot lately. I ended up using it to give them a bath outside. THAT was interesting! Then Kaylee used it a few days later to get some relief from the heat. She barely fit in it....it's that small.
The girls have shown no real interest in this pool. I think a trip to the lake may be in order. I need to know if they are going to be a couple of fun swimming companions or a couple of dead weights that insure a close look at the bottom of the lake!