A doggone good time

Here's a little update on Emmie and Pearl. If you don't know about my dogs, you can check them out here.
Since they tag along with me 99.9 percent of the time, they have been wracking up the miles this month too. Their update is more of an "us" update.


As mentioned, we've traveled a lot, and made it home for Thanksgiving, where we ate a lot and enjoyed the family. Pearl also enjoyed attacking the parent's new house cat, and is under strict watch around "Kitty" now. (I find it amusing that she can whip a cat bigger than she is...which probably doesn't help the situation). Emmie, always the polite one, avoids any conflict, including cats when possible.



We made several trips to the Black Hills to then boyfriends house. We have since parted ways, and by that I mean he left me, so that little drive (about three hours one way) is no more. Emmie and Pearl did enjoy chasing deer and turkeys on his place, and Pearl loved chasing ping pong balls in his unfinished basement. But neither one appreciated being confined to the basement. This was because I wasn't about to let my two hairy, smelly (the smelly part is coming up) dogs in the upstairs of his brand new house, complete with tan/beige carpet. Long, black dog hair just doesn't blend with beige carpet.




While home we also partook of some feeding activities. Like I said, they pretty much go everywhere with me.
However, I did meet my dear father on the side of the road in Casper last week and threw them in his semi with him. This was to prevent them from having to sit in my car the entire following day while I was at a Beef Production Convention in Torrington.
When I lived in N.M., I frequently drove back and forth to Wyoming with both Emmie and Pearl. They can handle a 12-14 hour drive with no issues, so a few hours is no biggie for them in a vehicle.




But there are times they enjoy being in the back too, supervising the feeding activities, snapping at any calves that get too close to the back of the pickup, and just being the little rockstars they consider themselves.





They are also happy to supervise just about anything else, including ice chopping, food preparation, cat partol (Pearl on that one), bone chewing, rabbit chasing, sniffing of anything interesting, motorized vehicles, strangers, strange dogs, and dead animal control...






Which is what lead to a few of these over the past few weeks too. Pearl doesn't really mind, and doesn't have enough hair to make washing her much of a job anyway.






But Emmie is a completely different story. In the amount of time it takes to get Emmie wet you can Pearl completely done with a bath. Emmie also hates baths, and while she is a very well behaved dog, getting her to stay in the sink for bath was one of the hardest things in her training.
If you have never spent a three-hour drive in a car with two little dogs that have rolled in dead sheep, dead rodents, and anything gross and disgusting, then run around in the snow to get slightly damp (to further enhance the scent I think) you are missing a critical life lesson.
I may, or may not have, sprayed Emmie with the FeBreze Pet Odor control I keep in my car....





We have also done lots and lots of this. And by we I totally mean them this time of year. Since the winter months hit my running schedule has ground to a total halt and been replaced with indoor workouts. Pearl and Emmie do not support this decision.





In pastures, on roads, chasing rabbits or following a vehicle, they really cover the country.








This is all they ask for on a day-long trip. One to two miles jogging down the road between interviews and they're set. They don't usually go on interviews, but this particular day I was coming from then boyfriends house because it was 2 hours closer to my 8:00 am interview than my house is, so they were along.






If I stop to take pictures they know the drill and continue on. Occasionally they will stop and check to see that I am indeed still snapping away, or have started towards them again. They typically stick right to the road, following a few lessons on proper etiquette when running near cattle your master doesn't own. However, should an unexpecting deer, or even better, an antelope, cross their path, they toss etiquette out the window and give serious chase. Nobody ever told them they were "little" dogs.