It happens every night

Here's a sneak peek into what happens in our backyard every evening when we come home from work:

Cassie backs Greta into the fence.

Greta retaliates.


A give-and-take romp ensues for 5 to 10 minutes.

Time for a water break.

And then it starts all over again...

Greta's fetish

On our walk yesterday, I saw up ahead on the sidewalk what appeared to be a Barbie doll. As we got closer I saw that it was a leg-less Barbie doll. Poor thing. I wonder what torturess acts had been done on her. How did she lose her legs? And why was she just left out in the cold (well, really it's been pretty darn hot)?

Greta, too, was intrigued by her, and almost had her scooped up by her shiny blond locks before I even noticed. I gave Greta a big tug and Barbie was dropped to the ground. I could just imagine us finishing our run through the neighborhood with leg-less Barbie and her golden locks streaming from Greta's mouth.

It's not the first time Greta has been obsessed with a female doll. When we first adopted Greta, our backyard wasn't fenced in. So Greta spent a lot of time in our garage. I could blog all day about the mishaps there, but I won't get in to it here.

One time in particular I walked in on Greta after she had just torn into a plastic box of Halloween decorations. Eyeballs, streamers, spider webs strewn everywhere. But in particular was a small stuffed witch. Now ... a beheaded witch. I clearly remember that when the box of decorations was sitting on the shelf, the witch was in clear sight. I think she must have been taunting Greta from inside the box. Well, Greta took care of her. Off with her head!

Too smart for us

I haven't blogged in several weeks because, honestly, the girls haven't done anything very exciting. It's been business as usual around our household.

But the other night, Cassie proved just how smart she is, and it frustrated me so much. It was pretty hot when I got home from work, maybe about 93/92 degrees, so I let the girls come inside while I cooked dinner. They'd been outside all day.

They love it when I cook. They're very well-behaved and just lie down on the kitchen floor, I suppose waiting for me to drop some food by accident so they can scoop it up.

I rewarded their behavior by giving them each half a piece of cheese. They love cheese.

When I finished cooking dinner, it had cooled down considerably outside, and I wanted to eat in peace, so I grabbed some doggie treats and headed for the door.

Greta, like the good girl she is, followed me right outside. Cassie, on the other hand, stayed in the kitchen. She and I then proceeded to play a really annoying game of hide- and go-seek around the kitchen and dining room table. She wouldn't leave the kitchen area.

After a few minutes, I realized what she wanted. She knew she'd gotten a piece of cheese as a treat earlier, so she wasn't going to settle for a stinky old treat when I put them outside. And she was going to play this game of cat-and-mouse until I got the cheese.

Greta was sooo confused. I had left the back door cracked and she kept racing in and out wanting to know what was going on.

So I caved....because my food was getting cold, and really I had no choice. She had outsmarted me.

I grabbed the cheese and she followed me right out the back door. She sat and acted like she was the most well-behaved dog in the world.