As Halifax Broad would say: "@$#& *$^#" !!!

Local blogger,  "Halifax Broad", calls 'em as she sees 'em.  I admire her free and liberal use of cuss words in her ascerbic, tongue-in-cheek Blog.

My Blog is a kinder, gentler Blog and I studiously avoid the use of naughty words so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of my dear readers.  (BTW - Did you notice I now have OVER six followers ? )

But today ?

TODAY I want to SCREAM:  " (*%!$#  %*  #*^$%   %$&*   +*!;@#"   !!!!

Oh that's not all.

Not done yet. 

I've saved the "best" for last.

Once we ensured that no one had quills inside their mouth, we set about the painful task before us. 

We took care of Wendy and Chandler first as they had fewer than ten quills each.  Kait held each dog and I snipped the end off each quill and then pulled it.  Snipping the end changes the pressure and makes the quill easier to pull.  That's the theory anyway.  They both were pretty well behaved and it was over in a few minutes.

We pulled the quills out of Trey's face, chest and leg pretty easily but his foot was another matter.
The quills were deep, between his toes, and there were a lot of them. 

He didn't understand that we were trying to help him and he used his great strength to struggle against us. 

And to hide.

Can you see him ?

Can you see him now ?

Poor Trey.

He was utterly miserable.

I stayed in the bathroom with him for over an hour and one by one yanked those buggers out.

I may never go into the damn f**king woods again !

Ooooops sorry. 

Couldn't help myself.

Wendy's turn ...

Out of our pack, errr I mean, our drapery of dogs, two are mine.  Chandler, the overly self-important mini Schnauzer, star of a recent Blog, and Wendy a pretty, easy-going lab/whippit cross.

 As Chandler is a year older than her, Wendy has always accepted his domination with good humour and resignation.  They make a nice couple and are great company on camping trips, never making-strange with strangers and sitting quietly at our campsite watching the world go by.

Wendy isn't really fond of dogs and is only one herself by virtue of the fact she had no choice in the matter. 

When Trey (Kait's pitbull cross) came on the scene last fall , Wendy was less than thrilled. Not being a dog herself, she doesn't know how to play with other dogs and in 5 years has rarely played with Chandler, despite his repeated efforts to initiate games. Instead she'll lie, with her head on her paws and slyly bare her pearly white teeth at who ever is making playful advances.  But 6 month old Trey did not get the hint and would keep trying to play, and sometimes, just sometimes, Wendy would roll over and a silly game would ensue. When Sooki, Kait's tiny red-nosed pitbull pup came along a couple of months later, Wendy would succumb more easily to the constant puppy pestering and actually engage in play. Wendy has lightened up a bit.  Apparently old dogs CAN learn new tricks !

Wendy lives for chasing the ball and swimming and hanging out with her fellow humans.

I try to get to the beach every day.  Because of their mutual love of ball chasing, Wendy and Trey are easy dogs to hang out with there.  While Chandler is problematic because of this desire for adventure, Wendy and Trey are happy to endlessly run after the ball.  Again.   And again.   And again.  

                                      

Wendy is pretty low-key with one very irritating exception.  She is very excited about greeting the other people who live in our house.  She doesn't greet them coming in the front door.  No.  She gets all excited when she hears them get up in the morning.  She parks herself at the top of the stairs with a ball or some other beloved object in her mouth, wags her bum and cries pittifully.  Right now she is lying on the couch. She has heard sounds from downstairs.  Is someone up ?  Her tail thumps LOUDLY against the back of the couch.  She looks at me and whines.  She's stationing herself near the top of the stairs, ready to welcome whoever comes upstairs as if they'd be gone for weeks.   I never get this sort of greeting !   But hey  I'm just the human who feeds her, walks her and pays the vet bills !

     

Like I said.  She's a pretty easy-going dog.